minicrazy592
Member
Hey guys! Haven't posted here in a long time! I've since moved over to FW again and stumbled upon a new local company that may be of interest to you guys still on the fence about LED fixtures or was going the DIY route like I was, it's called buildmyled.com. I heard about them via a friend at my LFS. I got ahold of Nick, one of the co-owners, about a new fixture for my latest planted tank. We discussed what I was after and got to see a demo of their fixtures a couple of days later. Needless to say I've been very happy with them, so much so I have 3 in various spectrums and lengths. 
This one is for a FW tank so don't freak out when you see the build sheet!
I'm going to review my 12" fixture as it's the easiest to photograph because of it's size.
Here's the build sheet:
What I've learned from my 36" fixture (the first one I ordered) is that despite you really wanting to hit that 480nm and 650nm range you'll end up with a purple light no matter what. So what you have to do is have only a couple of of blues and reds. Further you need to balance out the color more towards the warm range, that's why I used the 4500k and 5900k you see there to achieve something the plants will like and something you don't mind looking at.
For comparison here's my 12" (on the left) and their standard "planted" spectrum:
And 6500k spiral CF bulbs:
Now onto up close pics:
The driver pictured here isn't a final version. They have been updating their equipment over the past couple of weeks since I bought my 36". The CAT-5 connector you see here will be molded into the driver in the final version that's coming in 3 weeks give or take. It connects to the dimmer which is a 10v single analog system I believe. As a result you can connect it to most light controllers.
This is their manual dimmer for those interested:
Waterproof connector:
It's not very big either:
The hanging attachments slide through here:
Standard included hanger:
Ceiling (shelf in my case) mounted option:
On the tank:
Now I just need to plant this tank.
Obviously this tank has no plants or anything in it. However my 12g has been running their fixture for 3 weeks as of today (and since planting). The plants are responding very well to it!
PAR readings:
Right below the fixture under water: 530 PAR
3" below: 390
6" below: 200
12" below: 140
16" below: 90
It's freaking amazing all that comes from that little light!
If you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them and if not, I'll forward you onto them!
This one is for a FW tank so don't freak out when you see the build sheet!
I'm going to review my 12" fixture as it's the easiest to photograph because of it's size.
Here's the build sheet:
What I've learned from my 36" fixture (the first one I ordered) is that despite you really wanting to hit that 480nm and 650nm range you'll end up with a purple light no matter what. So what you have to do is have only a couple of of blues and reds. Further you need to balance out the color more towards the warm range, that's why I used the 4500k and 5900k you see there to achieve something the plants will like and something you don't mind looking at.
For comparison here's my 12" (on the left) and their standard "planted" spectrum:
And 6500k spiral CF bulbs:
Now onto up close pics:
The driver pictured here isn't a final version. They have been updating their equipment over the past couple of weeks since I bought my 36". The CAT-5 connector you see here will be molded into the driver in the final version that's coming in 3 weeks give or take. It connects to the dimmer which is a 10v single analog system I believe. As a result you can connect it to most light controllers.
This is their manual dimmer for those interested:
Waterproof connector:
It's not very big either:
The hanging attachments slide through here:
Standard included hanger:
Ceiling (shelf in my case) mounted option:
On the tank:
Now I just need to plant this tank.
Obviously this tank has no plants or anything in it. However my 12g has been running their fixture for 3 weeks as of today (and since planting). The plants are responding very well to it!
PAR readings:
Right below the fixture under water: 530 PAR
3" below: 390
6" below: 200
12" below: 140
16" below: 90
It's freaking amazing all that comes from that little light!
If you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them and if not, I'll forward you onto them!
