Cara

We're located at 8708 S. Congress Ave, Suite A-190, about two blocks north of where Congress hits Slaughter (just W of 35) and on the west side of the street. You'll pull behind the streetside row of shops (a popcorn shop, a fitness place), we're the first unit behind it and you'll see our sign. Feel free to park anywhere nearby, most of the businesses are closed by this time and there will be plenty of spaces. You're welcome to bring snacks or drinks to share in the front lobby and we can get started once everyone arrives. Give me a call if you have any questions, since I'm guessing your emails got routed to the Hort team (??) and they're all on the road right now.

Cheers,

Cara

Hey Nick, I've had you on the calendar since you confirmed the date--we are swamped with business right now but the tour is still scheduled. Please reach out to us by phone at 512-382-5881 anytime you have trouble reaching me, because I'm not finding any of your emails in my queue. And I'll check with the person who assigns emails to see where these went.

Cheers,

Cara

Hi all,

Thanks for your interest! I recognize a few names here--I've spoken, emailed with, or even met a few of you before. We're now located in a larger factory on the south side of Austin, and I'd be happy to show folks around and discuss pro's and con's of lighting, spectrum design, and some of the research we're involved in within reef and horticultural studies...and I know if Nick's in town he'd love to join in! We're open to hosting a meeting and tour on a weekday evening after 6pm or a weekend and you're welcome to bring snacks or drinks for the lobby.

Cheers,

Cara

Winner receives a 24" MC Actinic fixture or credit towards a longer fixture ($275 value). All entries must be received by Thursday, 19 Feb. 2015. For all details, go here--

Multi-Channel Actinic Reef Spectrum design contest

Life governed by committee is not easy.

Hi Dennis,

Give me a call at 512-382-5881 and I'd be happy to discuss your tank goals and desired PAR and color rendition. We may have a standard spectrum that fits these parameters, but if not I can help you build a custom spectrum. Either way, the fixture will be built on demand and should be ready in 5-6 business days. Looks like you're relatively close to us here in South Austin, so you'll want to select 'Free Local Pickup' and not have to pay shipping.

Talk to you soon,

Cara

I agree, Juiceman...it reminds me of snorkeling over shallow reef. A nice warm spectrum that makes the red/pink/orange/yellow colors look lovely and then a faint purple pop to it. A more natural look, to my eyes, but with great fluorescing from the 400nm and 420nm LEDs too.

You can programmably control each channel with the Apex. Whether or not you'd need additional VDM's will depend on how you're running the lights, as you can use splitter cables and plug multiple channels (or the same channel from multiple fixtures) into the same port.

It won't be possible to upgrade existing fixtures...this setup requires a totally different configuration of wiring that would mean stripping out and re-building everything inside the housing. Also, for the time being Multi-Channel fixtures will only be available in XB spectrums.

Nick's already designed the Multi-Channel 20,000K and is working on one more reef spectrum plus the freshwater options. I expect these to hit the website relatively soon, although not before the launch of the Multi-Channel controller...I believe that one should be out in a matter of days.

Cheers,

Cara

I wish I had time to finally build my lights....

For the size of tanks you're looking at, a single Super Actinic strip should be all you need. It will provide ample blue pop and UV fluorescing with your T5 setup and should work fine with the MH's as long as you're not absolutely blasting your tank with white light.

Cheers,

Cara

Tough to say, because for human eyes the blue colors are very easily drowned out by daylight and parts of the spectrum we see more easily. You should still see fluorescence, but you may not see much of the blue. How big is the tank?

We put three strips over Gary's gorgeous reef tank for those photos. Four would probably be ideal, but three covered it pretty well when the lights were angled back a bit...that's a wide tank! Color rendition is really nice, a slightly warm daylight look with a slight purple pop to it. Red/orange/yellow/pink colors look fantastic under it due to the warmth, but greens look really nice too. Might be my current favorite reef spectrum!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers,

Cara

Still on their way. We'll launch the multi-channel controller with the multi-channel fixtures close behind. Time to launch is just a few weeks now!