Foil VS paint in a PC grow

Curious as to what you peeps think is the best liner for a PC box grow. I am constructing dual PC grow boxes atm and I have heard differing opinions as to use white paint for the inside of the box VS foil. Personally I was thinking of going foil (potato chip bags?) for the lining as imo this would give the best results. Wondering what has worked for you.

I am a total newb and this will be my first grow.

be careful with what kind of 'foil' you use

I use panda film my self.. u should try to get a 25' roll of mylar... not that expensive

Imaulle,

Thanx for joining the discussion bro, any suggestions? Remember, total newb here.

Most cases are already made from sheet aluminum(excellent reflector). No additional reflectors required.

However, they usually have a very diffuse finish(and sometimes an additional matte overcoat which is designed to lower reflectivity). Aluminum foil is always going to be better than white house paint at reflectivity. People who claim otherwise are just plain wrong(and they often insist they are correct without a shred of evidence). But it has been proven time and time again that aluminum is much better at reflectivity, even foil.

Try it: Paint something clear(like glass or plastic). Put light to it. Quite a bit of the light 'glows'(transmits) right through paint. How is it a great reflector if light is just going through it so easily? See how many coats it takes to stop this from happening. But realize, even if you can stop the transmission, that light is just being absorbed in addition to the light already being absorbed.

Another way to test the reflectivity is to put two *white* plates out in the sun on a piece of cardboard. Cover one plate in aluminum foil, leave the other uncovered. You must get the foil as fitted as possible, leaving as little air gaps as possible. Go check on them in 20 minutes or so. Whichever plate is hotter is the inferior reflector. (*cough* the un-foil-covered plate will be hotter)

Thanx a lot guys, I went out today, bought some mylar and outfitted the case, looks nice and shiny now. I wanted to put something in so it was a little more stealth, covering some of the small rivet holes that were left after I gutted. Thanx again for all the comments, greatly appreciated.

Mylar is great for reflecting propertys but with that come's heat issues so make sure that you have a good exaust fan.If it is just been used to get plants going in a cloneing room under cfl/flouresent lighting then i would 100% go for mylar.But the anti detection black and white backed plastic is just has good i use this in my flowering room.

Tyke,

Thanks for the heads up on the heat problems I might run into. I am actually living in China and waiting on some seeds. Maybe I will do a test run in my box with some other plant, see what kind of heat issues I mat have. My case is running 1 intake and 2 exhaust but I think with my current set up, exhaust fans at about 75% height in box, that I might run into some problems with heat trapping in the top 25% where the lights will also be. I'll run a test with it for a while, see what I come up with. I have 2 towers, I plan to run 1 for veg and one for flowering. This way I can have a nice harvest rotation if everything works as planned, which usually isn't the case.