Hey Guys

Over the past few weeks, we've been putting the finishing touches & testing for our upcoming family of LED based Retros & Complete systems. In true Nanocustoms fashion, we will be releasing these kits for the entire Aquapod/Biocube/Nanocube/RedSea Max & more over the next few weeks.

This is the PFO powered line of LED retros we will be offering. Over the course of the next few years, we will be focused on pushing performance farther and farther.

Stay tuned. Feel free to ask any questions.

That looks pretty sweet, I take it the legal BS that came up has been resolved then?

Resolved.. No. But Im willing to take on some risk based on what I know about prior art. This should prevent any injunctive actions going forward.

Also note, the pics are actually of the 7.6 system. My power supplies cant handle all 7 running at 1000ma like I would like, so I had to back down to 700mA.

I will have a ramp up video too,

I have to say that I am VERY impressed with the rebel optics. Id say it easily triples output. I cant wait to get one for the Rebel Circles. (6 emitters).

PFO, of course has done a good job. Like ive said in many posts, the current rebel generation of Solaris has really hit the cover off the ball.

Chris

More deatils please. Dimming, programable, Light Color Adjustable or straight and simple operation?

Initial releases will be based on straight and simple operation & trimpot dimmability. Future releases will include all the goodies a PFO based unit would be expected to have, or other in house, community or open source based controllers. From what I've heard, PFO is working on USB programmable as well as Neptune integratability. We of course will only get trickle down technology from them, so we will have to lag by a few quarters behind their flagship products.

We will be cooking up our own designs and or sell someone elses.

Heres some comparisons with a Sunpod 250w - 20"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0slbYKrklo

Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard! Man that looks sweet!

How much would this set me back?

I have a very boring life. I work about 15-16 hours a day, and when most people are sleeping, I'm thinking about Nanocustoms.

In a tough economy, we will be rolling out our LED retro fits to be scalable from 1 to 7 sets of 6. This will allow the end user to scale into the system they ultimately desire without breaking the bank. I still have lots of number crunching, but I would anticipate the systems to retail for about 100/package (emitters/thermal management/driver).

Stay tuned.

Wow, looks pretty darn bright. Has there been any testing with water in the tank? I am curious how well the LEDs would penitrate the water down to sand bed level. Also if there would be any heat related issues. I know the stock 150 watt 28 gallon HQI does heat the water a bit. How do the numbers you are getting stack up to a 250 watt MH at sand bed levels? Sorry for all the questions, but this is exciting stuff. I am setting up my next tank and this could be the hot ticket for me =)

Oh so this is what you've been up to you sneaky devil. Looks awesome John good to see you've really taken this LED thing by the horns.

Looks sweet! I'm really impressed with the numbers you are getting.

I was also quite interested in the CNC work you have up there. I didn't know you guys had something like that in shop.

BTW, watch out for those gay dog nappers!

Any updates on the LED package? I have a BC 14 and I am greatly looking forward to this!! Great work as usual guys.

Need more info on the time frame for the Biocube 14. I miss the shimmer and being able to keep sps badly. This hobby ah costa me a lots a money

hmm so what would a fully lit bc29 cost? The main thing driving me away from your MH is heat & cost.

I might end up diying my own hood with leds tho

I have sent two emails asking similar questions. No answer? Sent them over the weekend....so...they may not have found the time to answer yet. Will pass along what I find out, unless they answer here.

Mark

Hey Chris,

Where did you get you PAR meter? Also I have read recently that the higher the Kelvin the less accurate the PAR meter becomes and when comparing PAR between lamps of different Kelvin ratings, a PAR meter is not accurate. The only way to do this is to use a spectroradiometer. Do you have any thoughts on this, and how this interacts with LED setups?

Keith

I have tried to contact nanocustoms since last Sunday, via email through this site, through nanotuners, with an IM and via phone. I havent been able to get any response....thus my post here.

Any email sent to you through nano-reef.com is bounced back with the address junk@ccjung.com.

Let me know how I can contact you about the LED upgrade for a 12G nanocube.

About to give up,
Mark

EDIT: I did not leave a message on your voice mail....maybe I should have.

Reply received.

Thanks nanocustoms.

OK its 2009 do you have the led hood??

Any updates on when you might release this LED retrofit?

I love nanocustoms...BUT... they were supposed to make one for me and gave me a price. Then they just quit responding to my emails...?????? I was almost begging them to answer. I finally gave up on them.

I just talked to Nick from Nanocustoms/nanotuners yesterday, and he said he's been super swamped and his partner can only make it in 1/2 time now. I'd give him a call, if you can't get him by email.

Any update?

+1

Hey Guys

I have some splainin' to do.


Mark, I answered your emails and gave you our price, but i dont know if you got it. You are one of our most dedicated owners, and I value loyalty. Over the past 5/6 years, we have served almost 12000 of you guys.

Its no secret that the economy has hit us hard. From 2005 to 2007, we grew at 300% annually. We had to bring in staff, and bring it in quickly. Also, to keep ourselves competitive and shipping orders ASAP, we built up a huge inventory, and would often chop up a tank because someone wanted replacement LEDs.

Those days are over. We have gone back to a skeleton crew. Its just me and nick now. His salary hasnt come down a dime, but his workload has tripled. I have gone from being "Chief Engineer" to CFO, trying to keep this company afloat through this economic crisis.

The books pile up, but the BILLS GET PAID ON TIME, and my personal bank account is drained. We FIGHT ON. Why? Because thats what americans DO.

PFO going bk was a big wrench in our plans to roll out LEDs. As you can see from the sneak peak, things were ready to go. I heard news of this impending issue with PFO early 2008. I never imagined (I talked to Pat 2 days before they went belly up) that they were outty.

The pricing and strategic partnership that PFO offered, coupled with performance in our studies led me to choose them as our "engine" for LED retros to come. (we have about 80-90 retrofits for 5-6 nano aquarium platforms)

Now, we've been trying to set up new strategic alliances with some of our old friends.

Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I'll have some news.

Good Luck,


Chris

sigh... i guess ill build my own.

. . . still holding my breath . . . . .

I still want one for my BC 29 when they get things going again

Great news!!!

I've put the pen to the paper and approved the latest revision of the Kit.

Heres the specs

Nanocustoms 5.6 LED Retrofit kit

Universal Heatsink (designed to bolt onto NC28, BC29, NC24, NC12, AP24, AP12*)
5.6 Edison LED modules (Daylight / Actinic / or 5050)
5 x Paclantic 700mA (120v to DC) dumb driver

EST retail price = 399.95

Performance levels - equivalent to 400w HQI

Final details and pictures, etc will follow.

Thanks for your patience guys. Performance and Value come first. The nasty Patent issues leaves us with our hands tied on the driver front. Spectral and spatial control of the LEDs.

stay tuned and thanks for the patience while we sorted out/optimized our designs.

Chris

Twiddling thumbs for the last 10 days.

I know that you have been waiting at least 3 years Mark. I've wanted to sell one for 3 years, but the pricing and power output of LEDs just werent compelling enough yet.

Now, I've got an extra year under the belt with the CNC mill, so i have learned a ton about the capabilities of the machine.

We've come up with what I think is an awesome way to approach retro'ing these things and right now its all down to the machine times. As of 10 days ago, the total mill time was 8 hours and 30 minutes per heatsink based on my machines capabilities. Now, we are looking at 2.5 hours. I want to squeeze a few more minutes out of this bugger and we are ABSOLUTELY ready to go.

Thanks for the patience.

In the meantime, Nick has gotten back into reefing after a brief hiatus. I have asked him to document his progress and take pics/shots of his setup. He will be running a 3.6 version of the LED retro on his NC12.

Links to come shortly.

Chris

Tagging along!

I noticed on Nicks NC12 that the lights in the strip are all white or all blue. Is this how you are going to do the NC28 Retro or will alternating white/blue be an option for each strip?

We have 3 types of MCPCBs,

Cool White - Royal Blue - 50/50

They will be selectable like PC bulbs are in our PC retro kits.

Chris, what's the life expectancy of these bulbs? I love my Nanocustoms NC24 2.70 + 2.18, but I'm thinking I might be able to cost justify an upgrade to LED based on a few factors...

1) Annual bulb replacement in MH of $150 for only 140w of HQI light + CF bulbs.
2) Annual splashguard replacement of $30 due to plastic becoming brittle and eventually cracking.
3) Electricity costs of running MH + Chiller.
4) PAR on the sand. My 2.70 + 2.18 does a great job at keeping SPS up high, but it seems that PAR drops exponentially the deeper you go. I think the system does such a good job of spreading the light, that a lot is lost by throwing it through the glass... lighting my floor and walls.

Any thoughts?

This product spent countless hours in thermal simulation so we could fine tune the performance characteristics of the heatsink.

Based on our simulations and our real world observed temperatures (130F) we expect the LEDs to run for around 7-8000 hours. They are normally rated for 60C (~150F), so we feel pretty confident in our claims.

About your lost light concerns, lenses are amazing at delivering the light down deep. Its the spotlight effect that takes some getting used to.