# Just want to brag about my lights



## 1tank1man

1st, If your looking for lighting, check out Build My LED For anyone looking to get a lighting system: Check out Build My LED
These people know what there talking about. I spent some time on the the phone about my planted tank and what I was looking for. Cara knew exactly the plants I talked about and knew that my lighting system had to benefit, not only the plants and the growth demands, but also knew the color range that would look the best to show them off. I made my order and had a request in the building of my lights. After about an hour I received word that my request was going to be filled and will ship as soon as they are done. 
As a business owner and someone that gives quality to there custom I have high demands on other companies I do business with. It is nice to know that this company is about the customers end result and making sure there quality of making these LED lights is high. I received an email telling me more of there process on building these lights. It was nice to know that these lights are not made by faceless people. I had requested that the power cord (that normally comes out the side) be positioned in the top middle of the light so I could fit in under my canopy. These people were very accommodating to my needs (I think they may soon offer this on a request basis in the future). 
I love the fact I could design the lighting to my specs and alter it to match my needs and get the best possible color of light. I now have 2 lights, a 48 inch and an 18 (very high outputs) and I am now trying to build another light for my poison dart frog vavarium. 
I have looked at hundreds of lighting systems and have owned lights since the out dated lightbulb days and have always been dissapointed one way or another (ie. good color, expensive bulb or great lighting bad design on the housing) So without trying to sound like a commercial, I just wanted to brag a bit about the great system they made for me.


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## Zapins

Glad they were able to make you the lights you were looking for. I'd like to see pictures and long term updates on how they work when you get them. I've often wondered about high end LED systems since I have not tried them yet. The only LED I have is the 10 watt floodlight that I have over a small emersed setup with anubias.


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## 1tank1man

I have the "Dutch Planted 6300K - XB Series" 48 inch for the 55 gal that is hooked to the apex system (because they are dimmable either manually or by a system, 10% to 100% on). I also have a custon 18" standard brightness on a manual dimmer that is a little bit different then a 6300K. It has a hint more of 560mb red light and a little less blue (there a little on the pink side of lighting but I'm hoping to get max light for the plant and not for looks.
I will be keeping a log of these lights and put a new post as I notice any changes or how things are going with them. I have a lux meter along with a few other magical pieces of equipment that most people don't even know they make (I use own a video production house, I used some high tec toys used for specific coloring in my shots and balance of colors for accuracy in multiple camera, multiple shot recording). So yeah, I will be able to show if LED starts to depreciate and in what Kelvin lighting is decreasing and if its possible, an increase in other colors. I think a few people might be surprised by findings. So look for a post in about 6 months on this


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## Zapins

PAR meters are all the rage nowadays for planted tanks. I personally don't own one, but they seem to produce good data on lighting intensity.


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## UDGags

I think the toughest thing to do is bring out the deep reds using LEDs instead of T5's. Looking forward to see if you can do it.

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## 1tank1man

Actually the leds can bring out reds much better then T5's. I took these from another forum that I was just reading this morning. As you can see the led 10K has red 560mn leds (whitch is were some photosynthesis takes place in plants) and with a bit of a warmer tone versus 10K t5's. the 1st image: 10K T5HO x 2-39W














PAR readings are ok, but I find them to be a waste of money, only because, once you have the lights setup and you get your reading, your done using it. For myself, I personally like to be able to check my blue, yellow and red lighting to make sure I am still getting the amount I need for best possible growth (unfortunately the setup I have was very expensive and I would have never purchased my equipment just for this purpose, but then again, Take advantage of my findings as they should be a general guide (+ or minus say 20% of what these LEDs standards should be). I think the second picture is a bit off color in the photo as I know the 10K are not that redish purple looking, but you get the idea.


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## BruceF

Are these lights ul tested?


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## AquaBruce

BruceF said:


> Are these lights ul tested?


From my understanding, I don't think many aquarium lights are UL Certified. It's a very expensive process.

Even some larger companies like Marineland only have the power supplies/ballasts UL Listed but I don't believe many of the actual fixtures are.

UL, although the most recognized, is also not the only Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory approved by OSHA.


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## BruceF

Interesting. I am always assuming I will eventually electrocute myself.


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## TAB

BruceF said:


> Interesting. I am always assuming I will eventually electrocute myself.


People pay lots of money to have curly hair. 

What was said in the post above about ul listing is true. Its costs money to have your stuff tested. Lots of it


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## Zapins

1tank1man said:


> PAR readings are ok, but I find them to be a waste of money, only because, once you have the lights setup and you get your reading, your done using it.


I agree, which is why I don't own one. I've never found lighting to be that much of an issue that it needs constant PAR monitoring.

I can see how they would be nice to have for a club or scientific testing though.


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## 1tank1man

UL listing is nothing more than a company telling another company (UL) that this product is to be tested for exactly what the company tells them it is suppose to do. If the company says a product will not burst into a ball of flames and that it holds paper down (a rock) that is what it gets tested to. These LED's are built to IP66 standards for splash-resistance, Since the ballast is not in the unit and is on the plug, you can not get shocked by the light as it is a DC current in the lights and not 110V AC current. Not to mention the 3-year warranty, even on the manual dimmer. 
ALSO, this is the process they go through to make the lights:
We use a combination of state-of-the-art robotic equipment and good old fashioned craftsmanship to create each fixture. My associates and I start with one 12” printed circuit board for each 12” of fixture (nano fixtures use 7” boards). We build the LED board from scratch using a robotic assembly machine to place the combination of LED colors you’ve selected onto each circuit board. Once the LEDs are positioned on the circuit board they are slowly run through an oven (sorta like a hi-tech pizza oven!) that gradually heats the boards from 75 to 465 degrees Fahrenheit. This melts the solder evenly and permanently fuses the LEDs to the circuit board. If you ordered one, we will also attach your dimmer to your fixture and test it. This not only tells us that the dimmer works correctly but is yet another test the LEDs must pass. If an LED doesn’t dim correctly the fixture is scrapped.

They have so much info on there web-site it's almost scary. Lighting concepts to understanding PAR, why you shouldn't just look at Kelvin light color and what colors of light will help specific needs. Also the Design your own LED light is awsome (even though I found it a great tool, it's not somthing I am willing to attempt just yet, but with the help of there staff I altered one of the units). And just as a bonus, they also build lighting for horticulture. They really do have a great web page, even if your not purchasing, you can learn more then what the big companies may not want you to know LOL.





When they cool we check them by eye for obvious problems and electrically test each LED board to make sure they are performing properly. Once everything looks good, we begin the assembly process. Up to this point, we have spent about an hour working on your fixture.



Once the LED board is assembled, the rest of the building process is done by hand. We start by mounting the LED circuit boards into the aluminum fixture case. We’ll wire the system, check and secure the connections and align our highly reflective optical system. We then install your selected lens onto the fixture and seal it to protect the fixture from water damage. End caps are added and the fixture is then ready to bench test. 



First, each fixture (and the power supply that will ship with it) is plugged in and tested for at least 4 hours -- we call this the “burn-in” process. If there is a bad LED it will fail within a few minutes but we also want to make sure we catch any short circuits or poor connections that we missed in our earlier visual inspection. It is also a final test of the power supply. We use an incredibly cool hand-held laser scanner that quickly reads temperature with tremendous precision. We run the laser along the fixture looking for warm or cool areas -- a sign that something is not right. If we find an area with a temperature variation greater than +/- 4 degrees F, we assume there is a problem and the fixture is scrapped.


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## jpsquire

That's a benefit to LEDs: they are low voltage, not line voltage like other systems.


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## TAB

jpsquire said:


> That's a benefit to LEDs: they are low voltage, not line voltage like other systems.


I don't see that as a bennfit, its not just lower its also dc

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## 1tank1man

Every electronic item in your home (except for a very few select items) is actually DC. AC current was produced and used for the sole purpose to transfer power over long distances and at a high amp to supply electricity for alot of things thanks Tesla (ac power didn't drop volts over miles of wire like dc current does). Before I get yelled at, let me explain: *fluorescent*: AC electric current passes through the ballast. The ballast will step up 120 AC volts (in the US) to 216 V, next the power passed through a 'choke' or 'reactor', this limits current and prevents the lamp from creating a type of short circuit which would destroy the lamp. All arc discharge lamps need a choke to limit current. current passes from your cathode to your anode (electrode to electrode) through the argon gas. Because your dealing with AC power, the cathode switches back and forth. AC power is good for the lamp because if the lamp was DC, the cathode side would be brighter and more intense since there are more free electrons spewing off of the tungsten electrode there. Also if the lamp was on DC power, the electrode which is acting as the cathode would become weaker as it lost tungsten atoms and the lamp would not last as long. Since we use AC the electrons or ions break off one side, reach the other, then on the next cycle are sent back. Also the lamp tube has a nice uniform brightness on both ends. With me so far? I hope so, when we talk about electronic ballast, there are a few things to be aware of. Electronic ballasts are usually viewed as being more efficient because by running a lamp at a higher frequency you get more efficacy or brightness from the lamp above 10kHz. This is in theory, however poorly or cheaply constructed ballasts will ruin the advantage of the electronic ballast. Most electronic ballasts are cheaply constructed in China and there for have less likelihood of actually producing the light color you think you have and are using, this is mainly shown in the compact flourescents and not so much in the t5's and t8's but there is evidence to suggest that a cheap ballast is not producing what it should be. 
*LED's*- Led's consume D.C to produce light and are generally meant to be operated on D.C. but they will operate on A.C. However with A.C. of equal voltage the value of the current limiting resistor will have to be adjusted to achieve the same brightness. This is because with A.C. the led will only be lit when the current flow is in the proper direction. When the current flow reverses the led blocks current flow and remains unlit. Thus A.C. applied to an led will cause it to blink on and off even though at high enough frequencies it will appear to be lit continuously. To make a blinking led appear as bright as constantly lit led the current limiting resistor's value is lowered to allow more current flow causing the led to be brighter when lit. This causes a greater average light output and thus a brighter appearing led. This trick of the eye is a phenomenon known as persistence of vision. This is also the reason the led appears to be continuously lit when it is actually blinking. 
There is an led type specifically meant to be operated on both A.C. and D.C. They are called Tri-color led's and as the name suggests they are capable of producing three distinct colors. They are actually composed of two led's one red and one green, wired cathode to anode and anode to cathode. This arrangement will cause the led to light up red when D.C. of one polarity is applied and green when D.C. of the opposite polarity is applied. The third color is generated by applying A.C. which alternately lights the red and green led's. The rapidly alternating colors mix visually to produce the third color, a greenish yellow. This is the kind of led used in moving dot displays that can change color. So in essence of the Quote made by jpsquire and the comment made by TAB respectively, Unless you have a few $1000 laying around for just the board and A/C current LED's and anoth few bucks, you wont be using A/C voltage in LED's and most of what is on the market is D/C LED's.
I have worked on the giant screens that are RGB (colored screens) that run A/C current to the LED's, just to replace a square or patch (3 LEDS is a patch consisting of red, green, and blue) run about $60 for the pack of 3. imagin that time 20,000 sets per screen (yea it takes a while to go through and test each set, about 9 1/2 hours). I hope this may clear up a few things, either that or I am way outdated on my eletronics and need to go back to school for it.


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## 1tank1man

On a side note: I am merely guessing these LEDs from buildmyLED are DC current at the LED. I will check to make absolutely sure about that and I apologize if I am mistaken. However a DC led can be extremely bright, notice your flashlight in your cell phones? My Cadillac Escalade has LED headlamps, and a lot of billboard lights have been switched over to LED, just to name a few Do not assume because it is D/C current that it is low voltage, that is apples to oranges


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## TAB

I am very well aware of what low voltage dc can do and just how much power there is there, but every time you make a change from ac to dc(or the other way) there is always a loss of power and something else to go wrong. I am all about kiss.

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## Michael

1tank1man, thanks for your very informative posts. Bringing the discussion to a very practical level, there is a lot of confusion in the hobby about LED lighting. Our club has a PAR meter, and the LEDs we've tested have been all over the map from useless to very good. BML seems to address most of the issues. I will be very interested to hear your long-term results from their fixture.


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## 1tank1man

I was asked a few questions on BuildMyLEDs XB series and thought I would post the answers I got from them.
*1st qustion:* "How do you think they can get 40% more light from a led with the same wattage, XB series. Do you think they over drive the leds? They did not provide the power usage difference between the two leds."
*ANSWER:* Nope, we underdrive our LEDs for greater efficiency and longer lifespan. The increase in light, which varies depending on spectrum from about 20-42%, is due to running more efficient LEDs (higher quality and more expensive, too). This means the same power draw as our Original Series spectrums but more light intensity.
*2nd Question:* Are the LED's running on A/C or D/C? The wire coming from the ballast to the fixture, is it A/C OR D/C?
*Answer:* "The power supply (on the plug) converts A/C to D/C and our LEDs run on D/C. But please...if a fixture falls into the water unplug it first and then grab it! Our fixtures are sealed to an IP66 rating so they are splash-proof and, while not warrantied to go under water, will likely survive a quick dunk. Just unplug, grab, wipe them off, and set them back up."
On there web-site they have 2 different lighting systems, the first is there standard series and the 2nd is there high output series that came out in December. These are the XB series that the 1st question was aimed at.


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## TropTrea

AquaBruce said:


> From my understanding, I don't think many aquarium lights are UL Certified. It's a very expensive process.
> 
> Even some larger companies like Marineland only have the power supplies/ballasts UL Listed but I don't believe many of the actual fixtures are.
> 
> UL, although the most recognized, is also not the only Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory approved by OSHA.


Aquarium lighting would be very difficult to have UL approved. The entire system would have to be sealed so if someone dropped it into the water they would create shorts or shock anyone. However they could easily get them approved for use on terrariums since there is no body of water they would dropped into to short them out.


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## TropTrea

I have built many LED systems in the last 5 years. I will say there is a big difference between the various LED manufacturers as well as the various series of LED's even made by the same manufacturer. As someone said some LED fixtures are virtually useless other than producing some visual light, Other systems can be fantastic. 

Led technology is also changing very rapidly today. Only about 3 years ago getting past the 80 lumns per Watt out of a LED was nearly impossible. Today the quality manufacturers are pushing 120 + lumns per Watt. Cree is claiming to be able to hit the 200 lumns per watt range on the market by year end. 

Yes with LED's as someone said running them at lower wattage's does increase there efficiency. However it can also be a negative return when compared to cost. The 10 Watt Cree LED's are most efficient when running them at slightly over 1 Watt. However when you building a fixture it takes 9 of these LED's running at 1 Watt each to produce the same light as you can get with one of them running at 10 Watts. So your LED cost gets multiplied by 9.


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## 1tank1man

update- Got the LED lights today and hooked them up (pictures will follow as I get a chance) The unit is solid and has a nice smooth feel, the cord coming from the light unit (I had my units wires relocated to the middle and top of the unit, instead of coming out the side which they did at no additional charge) and it has a 2 wire plug that screws together (not sure on the wire length will get that with pics) and then into the ballast. The ballast is a 75W and has an additional wire (about 6 inches) that you use to plug in the optional dimmer or the Apex system. From the ballast there is about 2 feet to the power plug. They included hardware to mount the ballast. Turning on the light (using the dimmer control) I set it to 10% which is the lowest setting. At first appearance the light filled the tank with a nice dim light that almost reminded me of a nightlight that you would have in a small bathroom, just enough to see everything but dim enough not be obtrusive. I turned the dimmer up slowly to see the how evenly the light would brighten (very impressed) not jumping, just a solid power increase in lighting. I hit 75% and had already beaten the light intensity as the 4-65W compact fluorescents could achieve. The light is very strong and and at 100% it was like being outside on a summer day. with my substrate being 19 inches from the waters surface, I find it absolutely possible to grow glossostigma in this tank without any additional lighting. I have a canister filter that ripples the water which I have purposely set to do, but without breaking the surface tension and this light dances on the swells and reflects it movement on the water so perfectly you would swear your under the water in a lake. After about 3 hours of the light being on, I checked the tempature of the light at 100%, it is just above 94 F and the ballast is room temp. The 6300K lighting shows red very well and greens look very bright. My drift wood (which is red cedar, which I have tested repeatedly and found that it is almost inert of chemicals) was a somewhat brownish red under compacts (65K) now have a red to dark brown appearence and the grain really stands out and gives them a bark type of appearence to them. slate looks very natural with a hint of orange coloring and field stone takes on a whole other look with a deeper orange and brighter white looking coloring then when under the other lights, it was more tan with a grey to bronze look. 
I will get the pics up soon and give a first test of the lights with color spectrometering soon.


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## TropTrea

Havoing build several LED fixtures I will say the output of light per watt does beat the T-5's, Metal Hides and especialy the Compact Florescent Bulbs. But comparing the 75 watt LED's to 4 65 Watt Compacts or 360 watts is unbelievable. That is unless the compacts were in a spectrum that is not ideal.

Yes the running the LED's at a lower wattage does increase their effeciency but also increases the cost of the fixture. They run there LED's at roughly 1.25 Watts each and a 60 LED fixture uses roughly 75 Watts. At optimum they would be getting 128 Lmns per Watt or a total of 9,600 from this fixture. Running LED's at 5 watts each would give you about 108 Lumns per Watt so you would need 89 Watts of Power. But if you looking at the cost of the fixture it would cost considerably less to build a system with 18 LED's rather than 60 LED's. Note the cost for me to purchase 60 quality LED's and the driver to run them would be close to there price. However building the system with 18 LED's would drop the price to less than 1/2. 

I would expect one of these fixtures to produce more than enough light for a planted 55 gallon tank. However this would also be dependent upon the selection of the LED's used in the lighting fixture.


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## AquaDada

I have two of the 10K Planted Orignal series fixtures running off an Apex system and about to add a Dutch Planted for accent as a 3rd fixture once the multi channel fixture is launched that is currently in testing. They are very good fixtures. Best I have owned when it comes to freshwater. Just don't run them at 100% right off the bat or for very long or you will see Algae problems. These fixtures are a lot stronger than you might think. 

They use Phillips LEDs which IMO are the best on the market. 

The XB series is mostly aimed towards those with tanks deeper and geared towards reef tanks. There would not be a use for them in a Planted tank unless your tank is over 24" deep from substrate to fixture. 

1tank1man, wait till you experience the "Flash" when it goes off and comes on. Other than that, it does dim and ramp very smoothly and is not even noticeable at all.


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## 1tank1man

AquaDada said:


> 1tank1man, wait till you experience the "Flash" when it goes off and comes on. Other than that, it does dim and ramp very smoothly and is not even noticeable at all.


I saw that last night LOL. My poor neons were flying all over the tank. I wonder why they didnt throw in a drain for the power (like a switch or possibly a drain cap (something to take the load when the power is cut). 
You said you have yours with the Apex, does this light work with the "cloudy day, and storm" features?
I read how the apex can do this, but I'm uncertain because they talked about it with certain LED lights only.


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## 1tank1man

TropTrea said:


> it would cost considerably less to build a system with 18 LED's rather than 60 LED's. Note the cost for me to purchase 60 quality LED's and the driver to run them would be close to there price. However building the system with 18 LED's would drop the price to less than 1/2.


only problem here would be the color combinations. buildmyled uses a sequence of different color LEDs. If you would build one with 18 instead of 60, you would not have the colors mixing together to form the 63K, it would look more red in 1 area, blue in that area and white.....

On another note:
Anyone can build an LED lighting system, there are plenty of info sites and with practice ANYONE can build, but with that said, it is very hard to acquire quality LEDs at the price manufactures can purchase them for (they buy thousands in bulk). I also, after reading about light values and PAR values along with multiple other LED facts about what companies have the latest tech as well as who has better quality, decided to leave it to the people that already have it figured out. I got a high quality light with a 3 Year Warranty (that in itself is worth it). There are a lot of companies making LED light fixtures, this company is a smaller USA made company that works on your order once you purchase them. They dont just mass produce, and I can say I have talked to someone there and feel they are not just a faceless company that buys a light and has the manufacturer put it in a box with there name on it. (Most companies DO NOT make there products, they purchase there lights (most likely produced by LG as they are the sole manufacturing company for TVs,laundry machines, and many other items you use everyday) from a manufacturer and have them build it to there specs, or what they want to spend per unit, then they have a company design packaging and mass produce a fixture and advertise the hell out of it to get people to believe there product is better than there competitors LED system that was built by the same manufacturer. I have worked in this field for over 9 years and have seen first hand how this all works. With build my LED, they do one thing and one thing only, they build lights and they work with there clients and from my point of view, they did a great job. For the money spent, I could have gone the cheap root, I could have built my own lights and yes I think they would have worked very well, but if something goes wrong or if I would have to rebuild them with in 3 years I would double the cost of having this company build them. Sorry is this is long winded, I spent many years working with faceless companies that wont return calls or help you with a problem, this company worked with me to get me exactly what I wanted and even helped me to work out a few other issues I was having with horticultural lights, thats a USA business I can feel good about.


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## AquaDada

1tank1man said:


> I saw that last night LOL. My poor neons were flying all over the tank. I wonder why they didnt throw in a drain for the power (like a switch or possibly a drain cap (something to take the load when the power is cut).


They didn't really know it was happening until some of us reported it to them. It doesn't just happen when the fixture powers off, it also happens with it powers on. I have talked to Cara and Nick about it and it seems to be a driver issue. I have suggested maybe using a Meanwell Driver as that will allow the fixture to dim completely to 10% without having to cut the power to it unlike now where it can only go to 10%. I do know they are currently working on a fix for it. So hopefully they will have a solution for it soon. It is annoying at times but it a very small issue and doesn't effect the overall performance of the fixture and what it is capable of doing.



1tank1man said:


> You said you have yours with the Apex, does this light work with the "cloudy day, and storm" features?
> I read how the apex can do this, but I'm uncertain because they talked about it with certain LED lights only.


No, this fixture is only a single channel and that feature on the Apex is for the AI fixtures as the AI fixtures have those functions but, those fixtures are made for reef tanks and not planted tanks.

BML is currently working on a will soon be releasing a multi channel fixture but it still won't be able to do those functions but you can at least multi channel ramping to create morning/noon/night sequences and with the Fusion upgrade Neptune is about to release for the Apex it should be a game changer.

I will have to second your comments about BML. Cara, Nick, Randy, all those guys over there are really great people and will bend over backwards for you to make sure you're happy. For me that goes a long way in my book. It is one thing to have a great product but, it is another to stand behind it like they do and offer great customer service as well which is hard to find these days in a lot of companies. They are based out of Austin, Texas and all fixtures are made in house and they don't make them until you order them and they are throughly tested before they are shipped out. I know what you're thinking, since they are custom made when you order them I bet they take a long time to get them. Actually no, they have a 5-7 day turn around from the time you order to the time it ships and they will even send you an email give you a timeline and break down how the fixture is built and what all they are doing. If you decide you don't like the fixture you have and would rather get something different. No problem, they will send you email you a return label and you drop the fixture off at FedEx and send it back and they will send you something you will be happy with. Need something custom, no problem. I couldn't be more pleased with this fixture or say enough good things about this company and their dedication and quality. Are they pricey, yeah sure maybe a little and for some but compared to other fixtures out there in the reef world these are rather cheap and remember, you get what you pay for and the fact they have dimmers, they are about to release an automated dimmer and it works with an Apex system you can't beat that or find another fixture for planted tanks that will do that. It was worth every penny spent which is why I am about to buy a 3rd fixture and will be buy many more for my other tank projects. If you're in the market for a new fixture or have doubts about them then don't think twice. It will be money well spent and you will be very happy with them and their performance.


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## TropTrea

1tank1man said:


> only problem here would be the color combinations. buildmyled uses a sequence of different color LEDs. If you would build one with 18 instead of 60, you would not have the colors mixing together to form the 63K, it would look more red in 1 area, blue in that area and white.....
> 
> .


BML is probably one of the better comercial fixtures at this point. But still much more expensive than DIY.

As far as mixing colors with banding that depends on the build. If you repeat a color every 12" inches without lenses it will not band the colors as you suggest. When you use lenses then you need to get the repeat pattern closer together and this depends on the angle of the lenses your using. Looking at a 18 LED system you can build it for around $120 without any issues. If you want to go with more LED's the price goes up but so does the capability of getting more light.

I use Cree LED's almost exclusively and while others might argue about what is higher quality few can stand up to Cree leds in all the varieties they have available. There only big shortfall is in the UV lighting range but those are not needed for planted tanks.


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## Chris Noto

Karen Randall, stalwart member of the AGA, and a fine presenter on planted tanks, has two of the BML LED fixtures over a 75 gallon tank, and speaks of them, and recommends them, very highly.

Check out the AGA Facebook page if you are a Facebook user, it is not restricted to current members of AGA. Photos of Randall's tanks are posted there.


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## Zapins

I have no personal experience with these lights but I thought the write up was interesting and it has a lot of promise. I do not know how much these fixtures cost but I'd bet they cost a good bit more than other lights due to the ridiculous control you have over them.

http://www.guitarfish.org/


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## Iggy8194

I just snagged an Aqualighter Nano for my 3 gal shrimp tank, and I could not be happier, it's OSRAM LEDs put out an exceptional amount of light.


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## Scipio

P h o t o s !!!!


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## Iggy8194

Only has 8 LEDs in there too, as you can see pretty bright.

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## TropTrea

Yes LED's are bright if they are quality. I'm running a single led under 3 Watts on each of my 10 gallon breeder tanks and have hornsworth growing like mad in them.


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## Scipio

You got the light and the bragging stopped? What ever happen to the photos? I was thinking of getting a 6300k Dutch too and I have been checking for the photo since March. 

Their website show terrible photos that all seemed washed out to my eyes. Anyone have photos of their 6300K Dutch or the 10000K Planted?


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## The Rockster

I got one in March, and am luving it.

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## Scipio

The Rockster said:


> I got one in March, and am luving it.
> 
> Sent from my SGH-M819N using Tapatalk


Which one did you get? Do you have any photos?


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## The Rockster

No photos. Got the 6300 Dutch XB in black, with the dimmer. Plants pearling like crazy, soon after lites come on.

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## TropTrea

iseethruyou1 said:


> I run 2 buildmylight.com fixtures and love them.


For there price range they are probably one of the best commercial fixtures. However you need to know what you want to the spectrum before ordering from them. I have heard of people that were loved and others that hated them and when it came down to why it was because of their selection of LED's. Remember that different plants need different light and different individuals have different preferences in the way they want tank to look. With there custom build you can get anything you want.


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