Buildmyled.com

[jweis]

Just had a great chat with the owner of the company. His background is in horticulture where he worked for the country's largest horticultural lighting company developing lighting systems for some huge names in the horticultural trade and he decided to go off and start his own company. He definitely knows what he's talking about. I'm looking at some non-aquatic/emersed uses so we had a great converastion about some of the latest research done.

All that said, he asked for foot print, height above the leaf canopy the non-aquatic fixtures would be, amount and type of material between the emitters and the plants, such as glass canopies, etc, and will develop a lighting system for that set up.

I'm pretty stoked.

Cheers.
Jim

Yes, I thought they knew their stuff too. They have some great videos posted on their website and their light spectrum calculator tools are pretty cool too. In addition to a 30" fixture, looks like they will also have an 18" fixture available soon too. This makes me happy because my 11g needs an 18" fixture (I have this habit of buying odd-ball size tanks).

[DelawareJim]

So here are the PAR models he sent me. Red represents the highest PAR readings and going through the spectrum to purple being the lowest PAR.
First model is a 50-gallon breeder, 36 x 18 x 18 empty/emersed setup with a glass canopy and a 36 inch fixture with a 60 deg. beam angle.
Second model is a 50-gallon breeder, 36 x 18 x 18 empty/emersed setup with a glass canopy with a 75 deg. beam angle. (Lower but more uniform PAR)
Third model shows a 11”x22” nursery flat (highlighted with the dotted line) with a 24” fixture. He used a 45 degree beam at a 2’ mounting height.

36 inch 60 deg.jpg (190.51 KiB) Viewed 4685 times

36 inch 75 deg.jpg (175.24 KiB) Viewed 4685 times

24 inch 45 deg at 2 foot mounting height.jpg (111.37 KiB) Viewed 4685 times

Cheers.
Jim

[jweis]

This company is really great. I sent them picture and dimensions of my canopy and they are making two custom 29" length fixtures for me to ensure I have enough room for the cord bend. They are doing this at no extra charge. It will have the same # of LEDs, but the fixture will just be a little shorter.

They are also in the process of making their website more useable for the non-techie/light geeks of the world. Also, this summer they are coming out with an automated dimmer that will allow one to adjust the light to come on/off slowly throughout the course of a day.

Finally, I spoke with him about becoming a sponsor/vendor for GWAPA and he said they would love to do that and as soon as they get the website done in the next few weeks, he will reach out to us and do that.

I've been looking for the past few months at various LED options, and in my opinion this is the best option on the market.

[DelawareJim]

I've been looking for the past few months at various LED options, and in my opinion this is the best option on the market.

I totally agree. While I'm very happy with the TMC lights I got from American Aquarium Products, the owner of Build My LED is a light geek and he can show you how your light will actually perform. They're also the only company I've run across where you can buy LEDs by wavelength instead of by perceived colour temp.

Cheers.
Jim

[Jim Miller]

From the TPT "Hoppy" article on lighting, high light is anything above 50umoles. The 48" Freshwater standard product is 85umols. It sounds like a single 48" might be adequate for a planted tank. Am I too optimistic?

EDIT: Just went to their forum and it appears that a single stick with 90d angle would work fine mounted directly on the tank. Need to understand the mounting arrangement. I love their vertical dimension only being about the same as a quarter!

jim

[jweis]

[quote="Jim Miller"]From the TPT "Hoppy" article on lighting, high light is anything above 50umoles. The 48" Freshwater standard product is 85umols. It sounds like a single 48" might be adequate for a planted tank. Am I too optimistic?

EDIT: Just went to their forum and it appears that a single stick with 90d angle would work fine mounted directly on the tank. Need to understand the mounting arrangement. I love their vertical dimension only being about the same as a quarter!

jim[/quote}\]
I recommend you call them. Nick, one of the co founders, answers the phone and he gives very good advice. He can talk light geek stuff with you all day long. Also, there is stuff they are doing and will be offering soon that is not on their website yet, so it's worth the call. He doesn't try to hard sell you stuff or anything like that.

[Jim Miller]

I'll call them as soon as they wake up. Santa may be coming early this year.

IP66 means really nicely sealed up for both dust and water.

I think I would go for the Freshwater Show model, 48", tank mounts and whatever else is needed for their RSN autodimmer option.

jim

[jweis]

I'll call them as soon as they wake up. Santa may be coming early this year.

IP66 means really nicely sealed up for both dust and water.

I think I would go for the Freshwater Show model, 48", tank mounts and whatever else is needed for their RSN autodimmer option.

jim

I decided I wasn't going to throw another dime into my T5s. I'm pretty excited about the fixtures. The person who is building my LEDs send me a step by step progress report. I'm still amazed that they are building me a 29" fixture at no extra charge.

[jweis]

Oh and one other thing -- you might look at the other freshwater spectrum too. I think the SHOW version will be very stark and might now show off reds well. Although I would defer to whatever Nick tells you.

[Jim Miller]

Yeah, I was looking at dumping another $40 on lamps but saw the price on this and it's a no brainer!

jim