Steve the aluminum is not available at the hydroponics shop. The hydroponics shops has north american green house supply manufacture the reflectors they sell in the store. It is a rather large shop with several impressive looking machines, as well as a number of shears, breakers etc.
I talked to the guy that actually makes the stuff and they buy the aluminum in 10 foot sheets and refer to it as "spectral aluminum". It is coated with a blue plastic film to prevent scratching and it is certainly shiny. Because they go through quite a few sheets of the stuff they have some scraps around they use on smaller projects. They also have another dispersal type of reflector material that is shiny and bumpy.
One might argue that a material with a reflectivity that is 98.5% is better than one that is 95%. Once you place this materail in your hood and you expose it to a high mosture enviroment...well unless you are doing dailly cleanings there is not much difference. And even with dailing cleaning ... it only makes a difference for the first few hours.
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