Need inspiration... "the gem cave"

[tinkgirl77]

Hello fellow ff viv builders. You all have truly inspired me to build great works of beautiful nature, but im a very visual person and im having serious writer's block. My next viv I'm building will be a 36h x 36w x 18 d exo. Im building a cascading network of drip pools using the drylok method for water feature area and titebond for other areas over gs or insulation foam.

Here's what I'm stuck on, I would looovvee to make it look like the water is dripping over a wall of a gem cave. I have been looking to use glass pieces or natural quartz clusters (non toxic with frog safe edges of course . Anyone have pics of a viv they have done this on? Or viv they have seen?

My other ideas I am throwing around is a way to illuminate these "gems" from behind so in low light times they will glow.

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. And thanks in advance!

[Skelly98]

Aquarium LED light strips. That could work for the illumination? You can get amethyst and quartz pretty cheap, a few bucks a peice.

led aquarium light submersible | eBay

50G Tibet Natural Clear Quartz Crystal Terminated Wand Specimen | eBay

[tinkgirl77]

That could definitely work for the illumination for gems close together. What about ones that are farther away from each other? Maybe just line up a few strips.

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[Heatheranne]

You could clear silicone the gems to glass and then run the lights behind it. Any GS foam with colored drylok could then be filled in around the gems.

[deranged chipmunk]

depending on how big the gem wall will be, you could silicone multiple lights to the tank wall and silicone the gems over and around the lights. different colors of light will create different effects. example, a blue one high, a red one middle and another blue low "should" give you layers of blue/purple/red/purple/blue-ish gems. that is, if you are using clear quartz and assuming a roughly 160 degrees of spread from the light strips. it's tough to see what vision you have in your noggin, but that's how i see it in my deranged mind

[tinkgirl77]

Mannn y'all are getting me all overloaded excited now lol. Bill, what type of lighting would you suggest?

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[deranged chipmunk]

i'm with Mitchell, i would use those aquarium led's. they would make it look groovy

[deranged chipmunk]

Another option is a halogen spot light, a color wheel and a disco ball!! Lol