How do we achieve this ? I want to go for that {SHIMMER} effect , -To see the watter dance off the bottom , (How do I GO ABOUT THIS??
Lighting , Shimmer Effect
- Thread starter master.k.
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LED Eahh , Ill give it a shot , I got my power head pointed rite at the surfaced now with t-8's and no ripple , So LED sounds like the source ?
Any point light source with moderate surface agitation. If you have too much surface agitation the shimmer is so violent it neutralizes the attractive effect that you're going for.
When selecting your lights, you need to make sure that they are a point light source. By this, I mean something with a sufficiently bright light that points most of its light down into the water. A cheap LED light or a fluorescent light won't do this, fluorescent lights shine in a diffuse manner and they are normally directed down by reflectors. Cheap LED lights like the Marineland Single Bright strip lights use a whole bunch of small, square, weak, dim LEDs to be fairly bright. They give off a whole bunch of light like the good, expensive LEDs but their light is much more diffuse and the shimmer effect, while present, isn't nearly as desirable.
I myself was suckered into purchasing the Single Brights only to be profoundly disappointed.
The ones you want use large, rounded LEDs that are 1 watt or 3 watt. Often times the manufacturers are quite keen on letting you know that their lights have these quality LEDs and will plaster it all over the packaging. These are the lights that will give you a first rate, primo shimmer.
Metal halides will give a superb shimmer as well, but they're often far to bright for what you need for a FW setup and are far more expensive than some of the LEDs that will give you the desired effect.
Now me, living on an enlisted man's salary, I tried to figure out a cheap way to get my shimmer. I bought a $5 clamp lamp from Lowes and a $20 cool white (5000k) LED spot light and put the two together. At first, there wasn't enough shimmer and I wasn't happy. I then realized that there was a diffuser on the LED. I took that off and it gave me a very good shimmer effect.
I'd recommend getting at least a 6500 or 8000k bulb however. The 5000k is still really yellow.
Hope this helps.
Also, I'm moving this to setup/filtration.
When selecting your lights, you need to make sure that they are a point light source. By this, I mean something with a sufficiently bright light that points most of its light down into the water. A cheap LED light or a fluorescent light won't do this, fluorescent lights shine in a diffuse manner and they are normally directed down by reflectors. Cheap LED lights like the Marineland Single Bright strip lights use a whole bunch of small, square, weak, dim LEDs to be fairly bright. They give off a whole bunch of light like the good, expensive LEDs but their light is much more diffuse and the shimmer effect, while present, isn't nearly as desirable.
I myself was suckered into purchasing the Single Brights only to be profoundly disappointed.
The ones you want use large, rounded LEDs that are 1 watt or 3 watt. Often times the manufacturers are quite keen on letting you know that their lights have these quality LEDs and will plaster it all over the packaging. These are the lights that will give you a first rate, primo shimmer.
Metal halides will give a superb shimmer as well, but they're often far to bright for what you need for a FW setup and are far more expensive than some of the LEDs that will give you the desired effect.
Now me, living on an enlisted man's salary, I tried to figure out a cheap way to get my shimmer. I bought a $5 clamp lamp from Lowes and a $20 cool white (5000k) LED spot light and put the two together. At first, there wasn't enough shimmer and I wasn't happy. I then realized that there was a diffuser on the LED. I took that off and it gave me a very good shimmer effect.
I'd recommend getting at least a 6500 or 8000k bulb however. The 5000k is still really yellow.
Hope this helps.
Also, I'm moving this to setup/filtration.
The beamswork led's are rounded and they give me a real nice shimmer at a real nice price
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