Electroluminescent backdrop

[ekovalsky]

I've always liked tanks that have their rear panels illuminated through a diffusor. For instance see the December 2005 TOTM, a setup which has given me a lot of ideas.

Unfortunately I don't have space for a dedicated fish room behind the tank that could illuminate the tank, nor is there room for any type of conventional backlight (like fluorescent bulbs).

I therefore was curious if anyone has tried or considered using electroluminous film as a backdrop... http://www.luminousfilm.com sells just such a product. While not inexpensive, two 24x36" film lamps would be able to backlight my entire aquarium. Obviously the exterior-rated version would be required because of moisture. The luminous film would be placed behind a diffusor screen applied exteriorly to the rear panel of the tank.

Seems these luminous films never "burn out" although intensity does fall off with time. Most of the output is lost quickly, after that a lower output level is maintained for sufficiently long periods of time.

 

[H20ENG]

There was a company marketing this film for tank backgrounds once before. VERY expensive.
I have used this film several times (E-Lite brand) for backlighting art work. It uses a driver to produce something like 300volts at 400Hz and you can hear the high pitched whine while its on. Very cool looking, but definitely not practical yet for us. Plus, it'd be about $600 to get a setup to fit a 100 g tank.

 

[ekovalsky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9303609#post9303609 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H20ENG
There was a company marketing this film for tank backgrounds once before. VERY expensive.
I have used this film several times (E-Lite brand) for backlighting art work. It uses a driver to produce something like 300volts at 400Hz and you can hear the high pitched whine while its on. Very cool looking, but definitely not practical yet for us. Plus, it'd be about $600 to get a setup to fit a 100 g tank.

Thanks for your thoughts. It is definitely not cheap -- see the response from LuminousFilm.com which I quoted below. I'm probably going to just use an applied black film, but I am thinking about this since I love the look and I previously had thought about spending even more money on a set of reef ceramics back plates.

By the way, it seems that LuminousFilm.com is a distributor for E-lite, so the product is likely identical.

Eric,

We have 24-inch wide blue-green and white. The price for either color 24 x 72-inch panel with inverter is $1120.00 plus shipping. We have white in stock and can ship immediately. The blue-green can be shipped in about 10-14-days. If you can place a sheet of Plexi or Lexan over the panel, I believe you will have adequate protection from water and UV. If you want an exterior grade panel, the price will be $ 1650.00 plus shipping.

An occasional splash that is immediately wiped off, will not damage the panel.

For UV blocking information, please see this link.
http://www.luminousfilm.com/uv-blocking-materials.htm

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[EnderG60]

why not just mount a bunch of LED's under a smoked peice of acrylic?

 

[tush]

that was my thought... as a photographer i made my own light box (back when the only film was negative film...lol...)
and this was done with a frosted sheet of plexi and flourescents (white balanced)... if i remember the whole build for a 3x3 foot box was about 200 dollars...

you could use different colored plexis for diff effects... ... just a thought...

 

[ekovalsky]

Problem is I only will have about 1/4" clearance behind the tank as it is a in-wall (niche) setup.

That is the appeal of the EL sheets. If I had enough clearance, fluorescents with diffusors would be much cheaper.

 

[cyberdude47]

What I did for my 500g is I bought some transparent blue acrylic and put a obscure film on the back and lit it from the top with an 8" T8 fluorescent so when it is on it lights the top and washes down and because the film has a small bit of sparkle in it when the 4 400w halides hit it it looks pretty cool

 

[ekovalsky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9411227#post9411227 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cyberdude47
What I did for my 500g is I bought some transparent blue acrylic and put a obscure film on the back and lit it from the top with an 8" T8 fluorescent so when it is on it lights the top and washes down and because the film has a small bit of sparkle in it when the 4 400w halides hit it it looks pretty cool

Cyberdude,

Do you have any pictures ?

 

[cyberdude47]

I do but I do not nkow how to post pics on RC yet if someone can explaine how than I can do so

 

[ReefEnabler]

yay for reviving old threads I started a thread similiar to this in DIY but havne't gotten anything so far; this thread is the closest I've come to finding what I need.

cyberdude47,

"What I did for my 500g is I bought some transparent blue acrylic and put a obscure film on the back and lit it from the top with an 8" T8 fluorescent"

In this example, what exactly is the 'obscure film'? Is it necessary for it to work?

I would like to use dimmable LEDs so I can have a somewhat animated sunrise/sunset.

and to post images, goto the main RC page and click 'photo gallery' on the left navigation pane. On that page theres an 'upload photos' link, which takes you to upload photos to your gallery.

Ryan