Illusion of depth from more blue in back?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anyone ever arrange lights to be more blue in back to give an illusion of depth?

If so, did it work?

 

[Miami Reef]

Unintentionally.

My T5 fixture has a 2 bulb feature for dawn/dusk.

I use a blue and a daylight bulb. It’s pretty cool to see the difference when the blue is behind vs the daylight.

 

[seandanekind]

I used to do that in Freshwater african cichlid tanks with flourescent bulbs... putting a daylight in the front and a 50/50 in the back on a 120 XH (60x18x26). used to make it look like way more than 18"

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I used to do that in Freshwater african cichlid tanks with flourescent bulbs... putting a daylight in the front and a 50/50 in the back on a 120 XH (60x18x26). used to make it look like way more than 18"

Did you like the results?

 

[Useful_Idiot]

No. But have you seen the LED screens for the background of freshwater tanks? Current USA and others make them. Works well for the depth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks. I've not seen those (just plastic sheets and such), but the back wall of my tank became mostly opaque with stuff growing on it anyway.

 

[Miami Reef]

I have the Aqua Blue Special bulb back because I like highlighting the coral’s fluorescence in the front with the blue bulb.

I find putting the white first washes the LPS colors out.



This is front:

This is back

During the peak, I have all the bulbs scattered in a uniform spectrum.

 

[RedReefer]

I have the Aqua Blue Special bulb behind because I like highlighting the coral’s fluorescence in the front with the blue bulb.

I find putting the white first washes the colors out.



This is front:


This is back

Same. When I was running T5'S. My white bulbs were always towards the middle of the fixture. I always had blue plus bulbs on the front and rear.

 

[Miami Reef]

Same. When I was running T5'S. My white bulbs were always towards the middle of the fixture. I always had blue plus bulbs on the front and rear.

Putting the white behind highlights the algae on the back, so that makes total sense. That’s how mine currently is, but I don’t mind it.

I prefer to have the spectrum uniform and even, especially during the peak.

 

[lbacha]

I tried an opaque background with led lights behind the tank and so far I like the results. It may be a pain to keep looking as clean as it does right now but we will see. I wanted the tank to look like a shallow reef so a dark background didn’t make sense. This may make picture taking of coral a pain but only time will tell.

Here is a picture with the lights out but the tank back lit in the evening which looks really cool. The tank will eventually be enclosed in a floor to ceiling cabinet so you won’t see the light spill.

Here is the tank at mid day when I run almost all whites

 

[seandanekind]

Did you like the results?

Loved it. My local freshwater club actually asked me to give a talk on how I did it.

For the youngsters... This was like 20 years ago, and most FW hobbyists were using pretty generic daylight bulbs, Reef Hobbyists were still using Iwaki halides + VHO Actinic. Double ended bulbs & HQI ballasts were still dominated by european brands, and LED's were the old school diodes, only really used for moonlight.

 

[jonelder68]

I built a “shadow” box behind my current build. Been playing around with different spectrums and rock colors but here’s a ramp up evening/dusk blue and a day light during peak hours. Sorry didn’t take much pictures and tanks currently moved to tile before filling and off to the races!

 

[jonelder68]

I built a “shadow” box behind my current build. Been playing around with different spectrums and rock colors but here’s a ramp up evening/dusk blue and a day light during peak hours. Sorry didn’t take much pictures and tanks currently moved to tile before filling and off to the races!

Hopefully you get the idea as the back box lights increase gradually just like our tank lights. Build up to peak light then ramp back down. Overall I think it’s pretty good. Keeping the glass clean might be another story.

 

[Backreefing]

I tried cutting to size and tapping a large mirror to the back of my aquarium. It does reflect light back into the aquarium and adds depth. But it’s the room the aquarium is in as the depth. It’s not the same as water depth. Plus I had fish constantly fighting the with themselves. lol . And water can get between the aquarium and mirror and be hard to get out . It takes forever to dry. Now I just paint the back glass a deep blue and call it a day

 

[BeanAnimal]

Anyone ever arrange lights to be more blue in back to give an illusion of depth?

If so, did it work?

I tried with a blue background and also backlighting when I first setup the tank over 20 years ago. I found the light background to be very distracting to me. I could never get the effect that I was looking for. I do not feel that it ads depth, but that just may be me. I tried some darker shades, even as going as far as a deep violet color. In the end have settled on black as the most preferable to me. A gradient would likely have worked better in a linear or even radial pattern. I think a custom background like that is far more attainable than it was then.

I have never tried top lighting with blue in the back.

 

[Krux]

I believe Weast may have done this years ago to an extent on his old 800, you might ping him. I recall he had a variety of halide bulbs to create different visual effects.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the info, folks!

 

[oreo54]

Thanks for the info, folks!

There are some backgounds that may work ok.

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something simple.. Of course your back glass needs to be clean

Open Ocean Background — Aquarium Vinyl

Self-adhering, reusable vinyl aquarium background depicts a striking open ocean scene with sunbeams shining through the surface of the water.

www.aquariumvinyl.com

Apparently Mr Weast is "the" guru.
Starts with the initial design though..

Oregonreef.com