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Windswept Eternity

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Such a backlight is realy cool! In a way it just always pimps a scape to the max and brings a lot more dept. And makes it realy a mesmerizing display piece. I played a while with it and used RGB strips one placed at the bottom and the other at the top of the tank. Where i could control each channel seperately with controlers.. To simulate sun rise and sunset in the background ofcourse with the idea i have i how it would look under water from the surface down to the bottom. When for example tu sun rises it has an more yellowish hue which get more white while the day progresses. And slowly dimmes away into crimson at sunset to turn again into greyish moonlight.. In this heavily dimmed greyish moonlight it very nice possibility to create clouds sliding in front of the moon changing the color in the bakground greyish/greenish/blueish with very little delicate changes. All possible with RGB, color schemes are about endless where minute changes like 3% color difference can have real nice impact..

Then trying to imagine how this light from above would break through the water surface and change again in color due to the water colums natural color into teh depth towards the bottom. And make this change with that RGB strip from the bottom up. Like a deep blue color from bellow gradualy changing into daylight penetration closer to the surface.

If automated with a programable multichannel controller then an aquarium can realy turn into something better than a television. It makes a tank come to live day and night.
I tried to get an idea to watch under water video's and look at under waterhorizons to see how the light playes. and tried to simulate that and must say it works pretty good.
And because it's only backlight and very faint it gives a awsome depth to the scape, impossible to describe..

Only thing was it was just a test on a non display tank in the backroom. It was few months ago when the jungle wasn't yet a real jungle now my backpanel is almost hidden bihend all plantgrowth. So because i do not realy have to tank for it i did put that project development on a hold and only tested it for a few weeks. To see its potential.

But with such an open background scape as yours, man that would pop the hell out off it.

Anyway bottom line of what i'm trying to say, even without automation, and RGB where you can control each channnel can create much more natural colors which only would enhance this scape to the max. Seeing the above website and trying to create this colors with ledstrips, my eyes setled with the color Honeydew (grey) as best natural looking and relaxing moonlight color replication behind a tank. Honeydew from above, deep blue from bellow and these fade into eachother when comming near to the surface.

Quite a story, but just would love to get my hands on this tank and show what i mean.. Words don't do it, because it sounds like converting a tank into a luna park...
But on the contrary I bet you would drop your jaw if you saw it for real. 🙂
 
Doubu said:
Wow it's carpeting beautifully (very lush and compact)! May I ask if you trim it often or does it naturally grow that low?

Also, the emersed chat is great =).
Click to expand...
Thanks Doubu, it doesn't grow like that, given half a chance it'll just keep producing new leaves on top of older ones until it forms a dense cushion several cms thick.

Eventually the growth underneath goes yellow and dies back, and I've heard of entire carpets lifting and floating to the surface.
Mine is particularly prone to cushioning since the light isn't even across the substrate.

I've just trimmed it to a cm or so from the substrate and will have to keep trimming to keep it healthy (about once a month or so), it also promotes lateral growth and the spread of the carpet.

CooKieS said:
Great but I would like to see more stones and small plants on this HC carpet and the base of the Woods. 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks CooKieS, me too - I've got some more plants on order😉
The idea is to let it evolve slowly...

Plus I don't have as many plants as I started with - I had massive problems with melt and algae - most were in vitro and they sometimes don't transition well. This journal is warts 'n' all, so it's all documented in the previous pages.

I've taken a load of stones out to make way for the HC as it's grown and I'll be taking more out to make way for the plants I've ordered.
I want the scape to be plant heavy, not necessarily hardscape heavy - that is if you ignore the giant manzi burl😛

zozo said:
Such a backlight is realy cool! In a way it just always pimps a scape to the max and brings a lot more dept. And makes it realy a mesmerizing display piece. I played a while with it and used RGB strips one placed at the bottom and the other at the top of the tank. Where i could control each channel seperately with controlers.. To simulate sun rise and sunset in the background ofcourse with the idea i have i how it would look under water from the surface down to the bottom. When for example tu sun rises it has an more yellowish hue which get more white while the day progresses. And slowly dimmes away into crimson at sunset to turn again into greyish moonlight.. In this heavily dimmed greyish moonlight it very nice possibility to create clouds sliding in front of the moon changing the color in the bakground greyish/greenish/blueish with very little delicate changes. All possible with RGB, color schemes are about endless where minute changes like 3% color difference can have real nice impact..

Then trying to imagine how this light from above would break through the water surface and change again in color due to the water colums natural color into teh depth towards the bottom. And make this change with that RGB strip from the bottom up. Like a deep blue color from bellow gradualy changing into daylight penetration closer to the surface.

If automated with a programable multichannel controller then an aquarium can realy turn into something better than a television. It makes a tank come to live day and night.
I tried to get an idea to watch under water video's and look at under waterhorizons to see how the light playes. and tried to simulate that and must say it works pretty good.
And because it's only backlight and very faint it gives a awsome depth to the scape, impossible to describe..

Only thing was it was just a test on a non display tank in the backroom. It was few months ago when the jungle wasn't yet a real jungle now my backpanel is almost hidden bihend all plantgrowth. So because i do not realy have to tank for it i did put that project development on a hold and only tested it for a few weeks. To see its potential.

But with such an open background scape as yours, man that would pop the hell out off it.

Anyway bottom line of what i'm trying to say, even without automation, and RGB where you can control each channnel can create much more natural colors which only would enhance this scape to the max. Seeing the above website and trying to create this colors with ledstrips, my eyes setled with the color Honeydew (grey) as best natural looking and relaxing moonlight color replication behind a tank. Honeydew from above, deep blue from bellow and these fade into eachother when comming near to the surface.

Quite a story, but just would love to get my hands on this tank and show what i mean.. Words don't do it, because it sounds like converting a tank into a luna park...
But on the contrary I bet you would drop your jaw if you saw it for real. 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks Marcel...that I'd like to see for sure...it sounds awesome😉
 
Thanks Marcel...that I'd like to see for sure...it sounds awesome😉
Click to expand...
I've tried to get it on video, but when it comes to nightview back light the camera just doesn't pic it up as is real time.. At least not a regular camera. Like with only 8% total light intensity and little 2 to 3 % color changes or intensity change in the backlight coming and fading every few minutes like clouds in the sky play with the moonlight. I did this automated with max 50 random modes per say 12 hour cycle. And it just loops, starts at sundown and stops at sunrise depending on time of your but all programmable.
I did it with the backlight leds and main leds above the tank at the same time.. All not exceding the 8% intensity and play with only llittle percentages.

Such a controler does this in 1% steps each, so it's realy stepless fading without seeing drastic flashes. It's realy mesmerizing if this is done with natural light colors with different white balances. And to sit in a lazy chair watching a tank with such delicate lightplay. That's hypnotizing, beter than a watching movie.. Even the fish and shrimps seem to like it very much and react to it and are more active, most of them are night critters showing an totaly different behaivor than during the day. It's like play time, like they feel much safer and have other stuff on their minds.. And all is in perfect view, fish with flourecent markings sprankle and color up in a way and ambience never seen in a regular tank as we know it.

I've tried and would love to share it, but impossible to record the real deal on video, it never shows how it looks real time.. When i upped the intensity so the camera picked some of it up it always looked to drastic not even comming close.. Its just not enough light for a camera to pick up the little changes. (For your eyes only 😎😀 you can see what no one else can see..)

But our eyse do and the tank inmates too.

RGB leds are fun, it's like Bob Ross with lights. For example the color Honey is a very relaxing natural color which is created with RGB in 100% red, 90% green, 67% bleu.
A RGB ledstrip controled with these percentages gives an environmental light in that color.. If you step it down equally 50% red, 45% green 33% bleu, it's the same color dimmed 50%. So this way you can keep going down to 5% red, 4% green and 3% bleu and still have +/- the same light color. And then play with these littlepercentages up to 7-6-5 and 15 minutes later back down to 6-5-4 etc. etc. or change it a bot with more blue in another natural looking withe balance. :woot:

And it aint very expensive to make.. If you know somebody around comfortable with electronics and led drivers.. Drop 'm a ball and set'm up to it.. 🙂

Marketing wise this is nearly impossible to show the public what it can do via a PC screen or what so ever.. If that was easy, it definitely has the potential to become a very popular product in the aquarium hobby.
 
I know what you mean it is very relaxing and adds a whole dimension not just to the tank but to the whole room.
There would definitely be mileage in it right across the aquarium spectrum, not just us plant nuts. Could be worth investigating although I suspect R&D in to a marketable product would cost a fortune.
The Radion I'm using is pretty good I can do a lot more with it than I'm currently...I just need to sit down and figure out it's finer points.
.
 
Yes its ofcourse the whole design aspect playing a large role to make something multifunctional for all, pumping the costs sky high and false development expenses. But as custom DIY with a bit of inventiveness regarding mounting. Which is actualy very easy, i made small acrylic HOB clip mounts for the strip hanging at the top.. I would be up and running for under $40 with one 5 channel controller.. RGB need 3 channels.. If you keep 1 channel per strip same intensity all over it still can controll 2 RGB strips with remaining 4 channels. But actualy would need 6 channels for 2 strips.. The controllers are the highest expense..

If only use as back light, i guess design aint what you're looking for, rather hidden in the back behind a frosted panel what nobody sees. It's also what i don't like from a lot of the shelf LFS stuff, most of it is over designed and there for 3 times to expensive..

Here hangs my backlight strip at the (open) top, can't even see it from front view.
DSCF7403.JPG

Tho at the time i only use a daylight white backlight which i can dim on a free channel.. Don't have the extra controler, this one runs on the same controler as the main tank lights.
 
That's pretty cool...the back panel on my tank is already frosted so it would work well.
 
I made different models for different strips.. 🙂 all as tiny as possible. about 15 x 10 mm or so..

Well if you ever?? In time drop me a line. I'll make you a few LED strip HOB clips as tiny as possible. Only need to know glass thickness and what kinda strip comes on it.
Have acrylic enough laying around stumbling over it.. 😉 Just so you know.. No problemo. :thumbup:

:shh:
 
Thanks for the clarification Tim - that makes sense why my monte carlo is a big fat bush haha. It works in my case but for my other tank I'll definitely start to trim more aggressively.
 
I might do another one with the filter off and compare the results...
 
Yeah well...that'd be me😛
It was getting a bit cumbersome and slightly embarrassing introducing myself at events and meetings as Troi AKA Tim or vice-versa🙄
Click to expand...

be as that may ... some of us can hardly deal with such massive change ...
maybe a separate (warning) thread - so I don't spend days (& nights) wondering who the flap that OP fellow is ... too terrified to click ...
:nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:


I've no nails left now you know
😱



ETA & same goes with that odd Andy Thurston fellow :shifty:
 
Haha...I'm not the only one, a few of us independently decided to use our proper names😉
 
Thanks tim...

P.S. I would have used my real name from the outset but you beat me to it by a couple of months😛
 
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