Cattleya lights

[johnblagg]

The best surface for reflecting light is a flat white and I myself like the appearance better

[stefpix]

A silver finish reflector reflects way more than a white one

[BioWheel]

Looks like a great setup but are you sure that's going to be enough light? Your orchids will need about 2 - 3k footcandles but your leaves probably only getting about 500 or so with that setup. It will keep the plants green but not flower them imo. You should add a lot more wattage and raise the plants as close to the bulb as possible.

bioWheel

[johnblagg]

yes silver reflects better but sometime its reflects in too much of a straight line as opposed to a flat white ...you almost never see flouesent lights with a silver reflector because the white distributes the light more evenly.silver can cause what they call hot spots especially with hid lighting which is what I use.

[kinknstein]

Thats a great bit of info John!

[nhman]

Have you done measurements with a good light meter yet? It would be interesting what your readings are in terms of foot-candles.