Lighting Our goal is to show a waterfall edge similar to an infinity edge pool that is edge lit.  By lighting the water’s edge as it cascades over the waterfall lip the water glistens and has a particularly pleasing appearance, particularly at night when the only lighting in the room is from the waterfall.  The cascading water also casts moving shadows above the waterfall as the light shines up through the clear acrylic waterfall lip and cascading water. Most water walls simply shine halogen lights down onto the display from behind the top canopy.  While this has a pleasing effect, our waterfalls shine light through the waterfall water so the water tends to glisten significantly more.  In order to achieve this, very bright, small, lighting had to be developed to fit along the edge of the waterfall lip.  Some outdoor waterfalls use edge bleed fiber optic cable, but the light output is quite low and the hardware costs are high.  For our waterfalls we developed 0.25 inch diameter lighting that has high light output with a very white color, the white color promoting the crystal brightness of the cascading water.  The technology we use was initially developed to provide the back lighting for liquid crystal displays. Brightly lit small water sheet The 0.25 inch lights are mounted directly underneath the waterfall lip which is made of clear and black acrylic, or trimmed with stainless stell or copper.  The clear waterfall lip refracts a semi-bright glow to the infinity edge of the waterfall, while the black section hides the lighting from direct vision.  It is always better to view the effect of lighting rather than the source of the light itself.  The overall effect of the display is an edge lit infinity waterfall with a small, brightly lit, water sheet under the lip of the fall.  The lighting also casts moving shadows above the waterfall, and illuminates upward from the waterfall lighting the wall and ceiling above the display.  Light also falls downward slightly illuminating the waterfall’s stone and to a greater degree the bottom tank polished rocks. Even though the lights are bright there is not the volume/quantity of light to make a room too brightly lit.  Indeed, with only the waterfall lights illuminating the room, the room is lit to a similar level as you might expect while having dinner for two at a romantic restaurant.   Tanks Both tanks are made of acrylic (the same material as aquariums) and come in a high gloss black (grand piano black) and clear finish.  All the visible surfaces of the bottom tank are high gloss black or you may select stainless steel or a number of copper finishes to cover the acrlic tanks so only the trim is visible.  The bottom tank may be covered completely with stainless steel or copper, or you may choose to select from one of four types of polished rocks: Black White Light Brown Dark Brown The top tank is unique in design in so much as only about 1.5 inches of the top tank is visible.  This gives the fall a very unique minimalistic appearance – most other wall mounted falls have a much larger top tank/canopy that is used to hide lighting and water distribution mechanisms.  Our fall actually shows the water cascading over the top tank waterfall lip that has an appearance similar to an infinity edge swimming pool.   The waterfall edge is also made from clear acrylic and has the lighting mounted directly underneath the acrylic.