The InSitu light with 6 LED strips puts out more light than most dart frog hobbyists desire or need.
As with all controllers. there are 4 light cycles-- 11, 12, 13 and 14 hours. However, the Insitu option only has 3 power profiles (all other controllers have 4), all of them lower intensity than the programs written for other lights and displays.
In brief, with the InSitu programming the "Low" profile peaks at only 40% power, the next profile reaches a max of 60% and the"Hi" profile hits 80%.
I've also added the additional male "output" plug on channel 4, which incorporates both daylight and nightlight programming.
For daylight only programs, plug your light in the channel 1 output. For both day and night, use the channel 4 plug.
The nightlight program runs the light at 1%. It comes on when the daylight program finishes and runs until 2am, when it also turns off.
This unit is not designed to run more than one light at a time. If you need to power and control two displays or up to five, then a controller/driver combo will be needed (like the Mean Well LRS350).
]]>So far my testing looks very positive. If the manufacturing consistency is there, this should solve some (or all) of the warranty and defect issues that were showing up over the last 6 to 8 months.
]]>But now I think the "covid effect" has finally kicked in with items that come from China. Everything in my inventory now was made when China was locked down tight and I'm seeing new and unique quality control issues now. Higher fail rates than ever before.
Cables from a new manufacturer are set to show up soon. Hopefully this cures the issues we've been seeing over the last 6 months.
The current inventory of TC420 controllers has to be tested way more than I ever thought necessary before they go out the door. A new batch of those should arrive in the next few weeks as well.
So if you've had issues, please don't hesitate to call me so we can get things sorted out. 425.471.1425. (CST)
]]>A month after leaving WA, the 2nd moving truck finally showed up here in Ozark, Arkansas with all my work gear. 'Nuff said.
I'm really excited to walk into this shop everyday now. This was essentially a 5 year plan and now it's come to fruition. I hope to attend regional reptile shows here in the South once i get settled and caught up.
Thanks to everyone for your patience during this transition, the next big task is finding a better vendor for plugs and cables. The fail rate on that last batch is unacceptably high.
]]>* Wednesday July 26th update * The "movers from hell" told me the truck with all my work stuff will finally be here on August 4th, so I hope to be back in biz shortly after it's arrival.
If you'd like to order a light while my move is in progress the system will still take orders, just realize that I do not anticipate being able to ship out again until the 3rd week in July. If you place an order and would like to cancel, just call me. 425.471.1425
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
]]>
Some plants definitely need a window of high intensity light, specifically the brightly colored broms. So these "InSitu specific" programs assume this type of plant mix.
]]>The display is custom made by me and is 24x24x32. Here's the before conversion images, with a light panel that used a combination of both LED strips and some large diode spots (10w). Note, the vent is in front before conversion.
To properly position the new UVB emitting T5 bulb over the center of the tank, the screen vent will be moved to the middle.
The finished conversion looks like this:
The new combo light panel put in place looks like this and measures 24x17 (2 inches tall):
It's hard to say how much UV saturation dart frogs need, when they do just fine without it, but I use a separate timer (and driver) to control the T5 bulb. I run it for about 4 hours at midday, any more and there appears to be some adverse effects to the selaginella in there which is fairly sensitive to being over cooked.
My impression is that the Diablo's are starting to get redder.
All of these UVB and LED combo panels are custom made, but in general the sizes are constricted around the T5 bulb sizes, so I can accommodate most any specs. The bulb sizes I'm working with are 10", 22" and 34". The power output choice is up to you -- 6%, 10% and 14% UVB. Do your research.
Realize that the T5 bulb HAS to sit over the top of a screen vent to allow any light to penetrate. UV light is very effectively filtered out by glass, even special formulations of glass.
]]>My friend Brad Cooper suggested the use of "full spectrum" diodes to get a better PAR reading. I intentionally don't measure PAR because the effect I'm going for is an overall light quality that is nice to look at, even if it doesn't grow some plants as well as PAR optimized light sources.
All of my experiments in light have shown that the best PAR readings tend to come from light sources that are not the best for human eyes. I want to build lights for show tanks, not plant nurseries. I already know that my lights grow plants about as fast as most people need them to.
However, some people are willing to deal with light that might not look perfectly natural. Early on I did experiment with the "full spectrum" diodes that produce a pinkish colored light. I quickly rejected that option. U_G_L_Y light.
But Brad convinced me to give it a shot again, so I have been playing around with 10w diodes used in combination with 6500k "white" diodes right next to them. The overall effect is still slightly pink, but its not so annoying that its game over.
In the title pic for this post you can see a diode arrangement that I'm now experimenting with here over the top of a couple of vivariums.
I'm not offering this for sale at the moment, but if you're interested in testing out this arrangement, drop me an email and we'll figure something out. So far my experiments don't show any noticeable differences in plant growth or color, but I need to get more testing going under different conditions.
These are 10w diodes only at the moment. Larger ones turn the entire tank way too pink. If you have a tall tank that requires a 20 or 30w diode, then adding a full spectrum 10w diode is also an option.
]]>I've been doing a lot of tinkering, as always. The bad news is that I should have had these new design tweaks and features right from day one.
The good news is that the large diodes (10w, 20w, 30w and 50w) are now mounted on a "plug and play" heatsink/fan unit, which makes the entire system removable should any issues arise. It will literally take 10 seconds to replace a failing large diode, or even to go from a 20w unit to a 50w.
This is the 16x12 panel with a 20w large diode which is intended for tanks that are 36" tall. It works perfectly for 36x18x36 exoterras, or over the top of a 40g breeder vert conversion.
The diode and heatsink up close.
I'm also working on making the cooling fans "plug and play" replaceable as well. That design should be completed in the next week or two.
Since I feel guilty for not having this design ready from the very first day (and if you already purchased one of these style lights from me), if there are issues with your large diode(s) we will find a way to make it "plug and play" so your investment is protected from normal wear and tear.
Once out of warranty (1 yr) these units will be very affordable and easy to order via my store.
I've been working with these diodes and this design for awhile over my own vivariums and have not had any failures, which is why I did not feel the need to make them "plug and play", but there have been some issues with ones I've sold. Not many failures, but even a small number of problems for a one man business is too many. Hence the need for the design updates.
Thanks to everyone who has trusted me with their hard earned money and the care of their tropical plants.
]]>I've been using this heatsink with a built in fan that is generally very quiet to cool down 10, 20, 30 and 50 watt large diode LED chips.
It generally works quite well, but there's no guarantee that after shipping and getting my package kicked around by the delivery people that it will be as quiet as it was when it left my shop. I've also had noisy fans here on my tanks inexplicably become nice and quiet, so there's some sort of strange magic in there somewhere.
Here's where it gets even weirder ... I've tried the following design on multiple lights and it generally is quieter and often runs cooler; by removing the fan from the heatsink and placing it next to the hot running diode. So the point of this blog post is that I'm going to be using this new design both here on my tanks and on all orders from today forward unless you request otherwise.
The old design (below) is cleaner looking, but seems to have a few more issues. I just never know when a fan will suddenly and inexplicably make noise.
I highly encourage everyone with a light that has these large diodes, with a heatsink and fan, to routinely clean them by blasting them with a pressurized can of air that is used to clean the dust out of PCs. All the fans in my house seem to collect a lot of dust.
Also, do not expose these large diodes and heatsink/fan units to direct misting on a tank with a screen top*. Exposure to high humidity is not a problem, but mist can and will lead to fans that fail, which leads to a burnt up diode. I'm currently working on economical ways to make these large diode units easily replaceable when they have aged or failed.
Many thanks to my numerous loyal customers for their ongoing support, without you I could not keep doing this. I wish you all a happy and prosperous year, lit up and blessed by happy plants and critters.
* If you run a light with a large diode over a screen top viv, just place a small piece of glass directly under the diode and heatsink/fan so that it does not get directly misted.
]]>A client ordered this for a very large custom built viv, but strangely decided within a couple of weeks that the twin 20w spotlights were not powerful enough over the top of a 36" tall tank. Since I run many setups here that are almost identical, I know for a fact that this is plenty of light for that situation.
This unit also includes a blue nitelight, which is controlled best when using the digital controller/driver that I'm offering as a total lighting system here.
The height of the panel allows it to be placed right over the top of vents and misters.
Width is 28", depth is 24" and the height is 2.75"
If you've got a messy looking top on your large display tank, this setup will really clean it up and make it look professional.
The back side has a 7.5" opening, so there's very little light that escapes the hood which also greatly enhances the overall presentation.
The strips and the spotlights are on separate power cables so they can be controlled and adjusted independently. To read more about the digital controller go here.
This light and the controller/driver unit can be purchased as a system for a discounted price of $320. If interested, please contact me by email or phone.
]]>In general you want to use/cover as much of the top of the tank as you can with the light panel so that the light is spread out over a wider area. Because the various niches in the glass box hobbies all have different approaches to vents and misters, front or top opening, glass tops or screen tops, a lot of variables are in play.
So what you need to imagine is the maximum usable space you have available to sit the light on the top of the tank where it's not covering a vent (even though this can be done) and its not in the way of misters. You would then want to measure that space from left to right, and then front to back to get the dimensions (width x depth) for the light best suited to your situation.
For instance, most 18x18x24 vivs can accommodate the 16x13 light, because the 13" depth allows for either front or back placement of both misters or a vent. But some people do have situations where they need the 16x10 panel because of all the stuff on top of the tank.
I generally choose a width (left to right measurement) that allows for an inch on either side of the viv. It's not necessary to have a panel that exactly spans the top of the vivarium, but for some people, that's how they like it. Based on this approach, the recommended size for 18x18 top vivs is the 16x13 panel.
Once you have the general size figured out (the footprint for the panel), then we need to consider the height of your tank, which is critical to know because it greatly impacts which light you choose.
Almost all the time the LED strip only lights work fine up to 24" in height. Some people will quibble over whether that is too much light , not enough light, but for my purposes I've found it to be a very good solution (I've run strip only lights over a 28" high viv with what I considered decent results, but everything at the bottom was a low light plant).
I'm also working from the perspective that there can be too much light for some species, and most of my tanks house dart frogs. It's important to remember the natural light conditions in the habitat where the species you keep is found in the wild. Some consideration should be made for this and in my experience most dart frog keepers do not keep this in mind when they go for maximum light and plant growth over a more natural light cycle that would benefit the animals more than the plants. These lights were designed to be a balanced solution for both plants and animals.
Once we get up to the 36" height, that's where LED spotlights of some sort are needed to get enough light down to the bottom third of the tank. I currently have two options for how that can be done:
While the large diodes might seem like an obvious "no brainer" choice, here's some reasons why you might want to consider the MR16 (traditional style) spotlight approach:
A positive side to the large diodes is that they can very easily be placed just about anywhere on the panel you'd like them to go, so there is more flexibility there over the MR16 spotlights. The large diodes also allow for a very low profile top, only 1 inch in height, which is more efficient and attractive than the "cans" you see in the photo at the top which house the MR16 spotlights.
This post could get very long if I went into every nuance, so I'll try to keep it this short/long, and hopefully you now have a better feel for what is the "right size" for your vivarium.
]]>I've focused on two solutions so far to getting light down to the bottom of vivariums that are tall (which I consider anything over 30").
The strip based LEDs that make up most of my product line work extremely well all the way up to 24" tall tanks. I've seen reasonable results even up to 30" with those, but there's a lot of patience involved in that approach and plants that need a lot of light from 30" away from the light source will not thrive, but merely survive. That's not what most of us are looking for.
I started off using this approach for tall vivs ...
These LED based spotlights are made up of multiple diodes with a lens in front of them. There's several pro's and con's to this approach.
In order to get A LOT of light down into tanks that are anywhere from 36" to 48" tall (or beyond), these type of spots are not the best option. However, I have had success growing some plants with these from as high up as 48", so dont rule them out, just know the light requirements of the plants you're working with.
Then I started to explore the large diode LED technology. Again, there's a list of pro's and con's to consider:
But here's the real reason I'm writing this blog post.
The 15w spotlights at the top of this post have a more focused light spread (beam angle), which can be desirable for some people based on the effect they're interested in. I find it creates a very nice "vignette" effect in the viv, which can highlight a featured plant(s). The large chip diodes have a much wider light spread which in theory more people will find suitable, as it provides more usable light for the entire vivarium.
But the choice is up to you based on what aesthetics you're looking for. The good news is, you've got this choice.
Here's an example of a light panel that combines LED strips with a single 15w spotlight. In this situation it creates more light in the middle front and less around the edges of the viv, adding a vignette effect that I really enjoy.
]]>UVB emitting LEDs exist now but they are prohibitively expensive and just do not emit enough UVB for the needs of our hobby.
So currently there are two options for usable UVB light, T5 or T8 florescent tubes, or these small spotlights (in the 2nd image), which also produce more than enough heat for animals that like to bask in warm or hot temps.
Here's a current T5 based light (Arcadia 22" T5 'dragon' 14% UVB):
Here's a light based on the Chinese UVB/basking bulbs:
The T5 based light is suitable for animals that do not need or want a lot of added heat. It does not run hot enough to be considered a basking source for any of the lizards that like heat, such as chameleons or monitors.
For those species, use the UVB/basking spotlight style light. These 25w bulbs emit a massive amount of heat. These are unbranded bulbs from China, so there's no data or claims made as to how much UVB light is emitted, which is obviously not helpful. This style bulb also comes in 50 and 75w versions, which I have tested, but they emit so much heat that I don't believe they're even safe.
I've been testing this 25w version bulb over the top of my Veiled Chameleon and it's still alive, thriving actually, so I'm now ready to begin selling it to others without much worry that it's going to go seriously wrong and someones going to end up with a dead animal.
These UVB spots are marginally dimmable, which allows you to roll back some of the heat.
]]>All seriousness aside, I'll be displaying a new light design at this show, as well as showing and selling all the designs that are now becoming quite popular around the country in the "glass box" hobby.
All reptiles can do with some UVB light, but some can live OK without it. But for others it's essential or they'll end up dead. Either way, this new light panel takes the best of the LED world and combines it with a UVB bulb into one seamless and attractive light panel that does it all.
The bulb that's being used is probably the best UVB producing light on the planet right now -- "Arcadia D3+ T-5 22 Inch 24 Watt 12% Desert UVB" This light is specifically designed around this bulb, but other 22" T5 bulbs can be used as well, like the Arcadia 6% UVB T5 bulb. Same tube, just a different level of output.
The light includes a separate "ballast" for the fluorescent T5 bulb, which helps to drive it properly. That also means that the LED and T5 light are controlled and powered separately.
This light can include the 20w large diode spotlight you see in the picture or not. It's a good idea to have it if your display is 36" or taller. 24" displays do fine without a spot. The spotlight is mounted on a heatsink with a fan for proper cooling.
This light is only about 1.5 inches tall. 24" wide is the minimum since the T5 tube takes up that much space. But a larger light panel can be made. Arcadia makes 34" and 46" versions of this same bulb. I can easily accommodate the 34" bulb into a combination light, but have no plans to feature the 44" version at this time.
* ophidiophobia, is a fear of snakes.
]]>Here's some examples that show how challenging a good lighting solution can be:
To fit this tank with a top that includes vents, misters and then effective lighting can challenge any vivarium designer. So a very unique lighting layout was just designed for this type of aquarium which looks like this (I'll hopefully have pics of the finished viv when its done).
This tank is only 24" tall, so it can use only LED strips, but large diodes can be added as necessary for taller displays to get proper lighting down to the floor.
The following pentagon layout is more common. The design of the lights is again driven by vents, misters and how it opens up.
This one has a custom made top that opens on the left front side, so the light panels are sized and shaped to match that requirement. Under these panels are vents which the lights sit over. I don't notice any adverse effects; to the air circulation or the lights because of this overlap. These particular lights have several 10w diodes added which encourages more vigorous growth on the floor of the display. That's always an option on every light you'd like to purchase.
]]>Finding a good UVB source and getting it into your display so it can be effectively adsorbed has been a problem in the dart frog hobby for some time.
A UV source will often run too hot. It can't pass through glass, so it has to pass through a screen. A UV light that is strong enough for the animals to benefit is not a suitable source of light for the entire display and the plants. Almost everyone knows these issues all too well.
Because of these issues, I've always been trying to find an elegant and easier solution. Currently there are 3 sources that I'm using and testing as sources for UVB and they each address a need for a different niche of the herp industry.
Here's a new display (30x20x20), still being built, that is designed to get a high level of UVB into the enclosure for dart frogs that need it for good color and health.
Notice that the center vent is where the UVB light has to enter the display, so the tank and the light need to be designed in tandem to work effectively. With these design criteria in mind, here is a light panel that lines up the UV source with the vent and includes LED strips that will grow plants extremely well and provide optimal light for viewing your animals.
The T5 bulb pictured is the "Arcadia D3+ HO 14% UVB Dragon 22 inch" which retails for about $35, so the parts for this light are expensive. A florescent bulb also needs it's own power supply, which allows you to control the T5 and the LED lights individually. The overall height of this light panel is still quite sleek at only 1.5 inches.
That makes for a compact and clean look when sitting directly on top of the glass and over the vent.
It should work well to support the color and health of some really nice red frogs.
For lizards and animals that require both UV and heat from a spotlight, I'm using and testing a light panel that looks like the one below. The overall height is just 2.5 inches. As I write this blog post, neither of these light panels are offered for sale in my store, but they will be there soon.
If you're interested in helping to test these, please contact me via email or phone.
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All panels are 34" wide and about 1" tall. From left to right the widths are 5", 6" and 7". The spotlights alone add up to 120 watts, but because everything in this light array is dimmable, this design offers a lot of plant husbandry approaches. When adding the driver/controller option all this power can be properly harnessed and put to good use.
The controller is programmed to do a nice sunrise and sunset. With so much wattage in this array, my approach is to only hit the plants with 100% of the possible lumens for about 1-2 hours a day. During the rest of the cycle the controller is ramping up the power and then after a midday peak, it ramps back down to a nice sunset. This natural light cycle approach should encourage your finicky plants to do well.
But as with all vivariums or terrariums, placement of delicate or hard to grow plants will be critical to success. Since the driver/controller combo can easily be programmed by you (if the already provided programs do not meet your needs) you can fine tune the light cycle to your precise specifications.
With lots of light usually comes lots of heat, and these large chip LEDs are no exception, but the strips hardly generate any heat at all. Each 30 watt chip needs to be cooled with its own fan and heatsink. All the fans are wired into their own channel so that the fan speed is fully adjustable, which helps to reduce the fan noise to the lowest possible level while still cooling the chips properly.
]]>One option is to use large flat LED diodes.
The problem is, they create a lot of heat and have to be cooled with a heatsink and a fan of some sort. The good news is that this is not very hard now, and it can be done in a very low profile lighting unit, as you see here.
These are about 3/4 of an inch tall.
This light design combines a large diode panel in the front (two 20w 6500k chips with fans) and a LED strip light panel in the back. The combination spreads the light out over the entire tank. Using a broad spectrum of white color temps also helps to create a more natural overall light presentation, not just the harsh light we see with 6500k light sources.
The front panel is 22" wide 5" deep. The rear panel is 22" wide and 15" deep. Having two separate panels like this allows for some placement flexibility.
The fans are being powered and controlled separately, so they can be adjusted to run at a speed which reduces the noise to a very quiet and tolerable hum. The diodes in this design are 20 watts, but 10, 30, 40 and 50 watt diodes are available, very affordable, and work well.
I'll be designing many more configurations to solve all sorts of tricky lighting issues. Just contact me via email (kurtjensen@spectraldesigns.com) if you'd like to work out a custom design to meet your needs.
]]>The obvious solution is a light design that mixes both technologies together, but this can create a kluge on the top of the tank, which might necessitate the need to build a custom cover to hide the mess. Especially if you're making a featured display tank.
By combining both lighting types into a single panel, a lot of problems go away or are at least mitigated.
Pictured here is a 22"x13" combo LED panel which has been added to The Store. The vivarium is 24"x24" and 32" tall. This design is intended for use over the top of any 24" x 18", but in this it's case specifically designed for the Exoterra 24"x18"x36" vivarium.
It features:
• Three 15w LED spot lights running at approximately 6500k (45w total)
• Five custom LED strips using a blend of 6500k, 3500k and red and blue diodes (about 40w total)
• No fans required, due to very low heat emission
During the two-plus years I've been working with and testing LED strip light products, I've found that they usually provide good plant growth in tanks up to about 24" high. They will maintain plant health at heights of 30". So the lighting design will often depend on what species you plan to use and their location.
Also note, holes can be drilled in these light panels to allow for misters to be mounted right through the panels (the tubing would be run over the top of the panel). This greatly helps to bring the aesthetics together and make your design look much more seamless.
You might also notice, that because the lights sit directly on top of the glass, there isn't much light leaking out all over the room, which will often light up things you don't want visitors to focus on. The panel is surrounded on three sides by edging, only the back is open to vent what little heat is emitted. The wires are also routed in such a way as to minimize their impact.
As with all lighting systems designed by Spectral, they can be customized to solve any lighting issue.
]]>
I had this problem for a number of years when running stock, off the shelf lights from the local Big Box pet store. Those were all based on under powered T8 and T5 florescent tubes. I switched to the store bought LED lighting when it first became available in those same stores, but that was only marginally better and usually expensive.
Once I got into designing my own lights I finally started to get much better results with all the colorful bromeliads. Fireballs now look like their name. Super Fireballs have a lot of red, and so many others broms finally look like the sales photos when in my glass boxes. Old greened out ones will color back up in time, once they're under the proper lighting.
A big part of that success was adding the red and blue diodes to create a custom LED strip product. The following photos are not great (some are shot through glass or screen vents), but they show the kind of color that we all should be getting when you choose to grow the colorful bromeliad species and their hybrids.
]]>Where you like to place the top vent in your vivarium also greatly impacts what kinds of lighting you can use -- front, middle or back vent? It seems like everyone's got a different opinion about what works best. It's often contextual though so having flexible options means that you're not locked into one overall design formula.
This new viv, with the "poor man's Lehmanni" (banded leucomelas) has a center vent and a long width with not much depth (38"x15"x22"). Just one long strip light won't cover it well from front to back, so two lights would seem to be the obvious choice. But there's really two options here as well.
It can be done either way shown here. I've found that covering the vent in places with these light panels has not been an issue, either with ventilation or the effect the humidity has on the light itself. There is some cosmetic discoloration of the LED strip over time, but it's not affecting the performance of the light.
*Two 16" x 13" panels over the vent
*Two 36" x 5" panels that do not touch the center vent
The later choice is the one that literally everyone goes with, but there are situations where the first lighting layout might make sense for you. If so, that's a choice that's a viable option now.
]]>To get more info, click here to see the event on Facebook.
I'll have a lot of lights there to sell and display, but it's a great chance to discuss custom setups and design ideas, so come out and lets talk lighting. The more feedback I get for what it is that people need and want, the better able I am to plan my product design to meet those needs.
I know that many hobbyists are eager to have a light fixture that blends both UVB and regular visible light LED strips into one seamless solution and I'm definitely working on that right now. Keep in mind though that your vivarium needs to be designed such that the UVB light can reach the inhabitants, which means that no glass can get in front of the UVB light source. That means some type of mesh screen vent is really the only option. The light panel will need to cover that vent and have the LED diodes that produce the UVB light right over the top of that screen vent.
This habitat is designed with that type of light source in mind.
Currently it just uses two different light sources. LEDs for the light that grows plants and makes the display pop, and an old school UVB florescent tube style light to meet the animals health needs. But eventually, just one panel will cover the whole top and have both visible light and UVB LED strips.
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So a huge shutout goes out to -- Stephanie Ryder, Jeremiah Lum, Brad & Connie Cooper, Chris Sherman, and many more people in the PNVS Facebook group who've answered all my annoying and tedious questions about this "glass box" hobby over these past few years.
]]>Almost a year ago I was ready to move into production, but the final prototype LED strips came in and when tested they ran too hot (running cool was a critical design point). So it was back to the drawing board. Having lost confidence in that manufacturer, I started my component search over from scratch. Ultimately I decided to use a totally different LED diode.
This store launch is coinciding with Frogday 2017, with the help of Chris Sherman who generously offered to display one of my lights on top of his amazing custom vivariums at his booth there. Over the past month Chris also supplied me with invaluable feedback and tips that only a veteran fabricator could come up with to make this a much better product.
I hope that the Design page will answer most of your product and technical questions, as time goes by I will develop a FAQ page which should help even more.
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