Ichthys
Well-known member
This is non reef related so posted it here in Water Fountain. I posted this to Reef Frontiers in the hope of getting some ideas and suggestions. I have found this community to be very ingenious when it comes to DIY stuff, and seeing as some of the basic principles of what I am doing are similar to issues (water flow and LED’s) we deal with in reef keeping, I am hoping to get some good feedback.
I would like to build a Waterwall for my office. Rough dimensions will be 4 feet wide by 3 feet high and a few inches deep. It will be a sheet of some sort of translucent textured material that has a cascade of water moving down its surface falling into a reservoir where it will be pumped back up to some sort of spray bar which shoots the water back onto the surface. Behind the translucent waterflow surface will be an array of LED lights, preferably the RGB color shifting variety. The whole thing will be picture framed in Cedar.
Below is a pic of a commercial water wall feature. Also here are some links to videos of RGB LED lighting. The color changing LED’s with controller are key to this project, however cost of enough LED arrays and controller may prove prohibitive. One alternative would be to use LED Christmas lights with a built in controller, the issue there is finding the RGB ones. RGB is NOT the same thing as MultiColor, Multicolor are bulbs of different colors, whereas RGB bulbs colorshift thru a range of colors.
So first issue before I get to lighting is material for waterwall surface. It has to be translucent enough to allow diffused LED light thru. I was thinking of those covers they use for fluorescent office fixtures but they are only 2x4 and I had hoped for 3x4. Have also thought about using an old shower door, the frosted or textured kind. Obviously I could purchase textured or frosted acrylic or glass sheets, but part of the fun of this is re-using existing materials and making art from other peoples junk.
In an upcoming post I will talk about water delivery, spray bars, nozzles, pumps, and such…
Anyone’s comments, input, or suggestions are welcome
Thanks
Ichthys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBixxEptfAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0fBrlj37JU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7-YbPS9aXQ
I would like to build a Waterwall for my office. Rough dimensions will be 4 feet wide by 3 feet high and a few inches deep. It will be a sheet of some sort of translucent textured material that has a cascade of water moving down its surface falling into a reservoir where it will be pumped back up to some sort of spray bar which shoots the water back onto the surface. Behind the translucent waterflow surface will be an array of LED lights, preferably the RGB color shifting variety. The whole thing will be picture framed in Cedar.
Below is a pic of a commercial water wall feature. Also here are some links to videos of RGB LED lighting. The color changing LED’s with controller are key to this project, however cost of enough LED arrays and controller may prove prohibitive. One alternative would be to use LED Christmas lights with a built in controller, the issue there is finding the RGB ones. RGB is NOT the same thing as MultiColor, Multicolor are bulbs of different colors, whereas RGB bulbs colorshift thru a range of colors.
So first issue before I get to lighting is material for waterwall surface. It has to be translucent enough to allow diffused LED light thru. I was thinking of those covers they use for fluorescent office fixtures but they are only 2x4 and I had hoped for 3x4. Have also thought about using an old shower door, the frosted or textured kind. Obviously I could purchase textured or frosted acrylic or glass sheets, but part of the fun of this is re-using existing materials and making art from other peoples junk.
In an upcoming post I will talk about water delivery, spray bars, nozzles, pumps, and such…
Anyone’s comments, input, or suggestions are welcome
Thanks
Ichthys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBixxEptfAQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0fBrlj37JU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7-YbPS9aXQ
