But new fixtures, or replace leds?

[reefer37160]

I wish the blue, royal blue, and violet leds lasted as long as the white, green, red, and uv LEDs did. So when your LEDs start looking like a burnt marshmallow what do you do, replace the LEDs or the fixture?

 

[Reefering1]

What light is that and how long did it last?

 

[reefer37160]

It is a viparspectra 165 It was my first “reef light” got 3 back in 2018. 2 are burnt, 1 looks brand new. All 3 were installed of a 120g long. I also have a reef breeders proton 48” 300 something watt that all the blue, royal blue are burnt on. It was picked up in an equipment buy I got.

 

[JonoH]

Have this same issue with my Hydra 52HD's.

Could buy new pucks but the cost of them is similar to just buying new lights (especially the A8's etc)

What would you change to?

 

[Reefering1]

7 years is a good run, I would expect 5 and notice wear by 2 years. Rebuild or replace. I would probaly replace, there are many more good options now..

 

[reefer37160]

I can get new 3watt LEDs in the correct wavelengths for around 50 cents each. Replacement is not a big rush, it will be a while before I get the 120g up and going again. Going custom everything this time around.

 

[reefer37160]

I have a set of Popbloom t30x3 over my 150g tall and everything is going good. The controller is really nice, lots of features and settings.

 

[oreo54]

It is a viparspectra 165 It was my first “reef light” got 3 back in 2018. 2 are burnt, 1 looks brand new. All 3 were installed of a 120g long. I also have a reef breeders proton 48” 300 something watt that all the blue, royal blue are burnt on. It was picked up in an equipment buy I got.

The led replacement is relatively easy and inexpensive.
You can also, as many have done, improve the spectrum by, say, removing some whites so you can use more of the wattage.

Couple things to know though is the 165's aren't 165 watts. More like 110.
Same goes for the " 300" which is probably more like 220 watts but it would depend on the Photons design.
The LEDs are" 3 watt class" but generally run around 2 watts.
LEDs do fade over time and capacitors in the drivers can be the weak point.

The browing is the lens and the LEDs themselves are likely fine.

 

[reefer37160]

I was already thinking of removing some of the 14k whites and replacing them with 6500k. I would be using the viparspectrum above my grow out tanks. Give the corals the most amount of useable light.