How low can i get a viparspectra

[Nor'easter Reefer]

So long story short, I have a 4ft giesemann stellar t5 hybrid and a pair of viparspectra 165w. I know the ideal mounting height is somewhere in the 12-16" range for the vipars, and around 6-8" for the t5. Would installing the 120° lenses for the Viparspectras allow me to set my fixtures closer to the 6-8" range without such massive hotspots/poor color mixing? Was going to build a way to keep them at ideal mounting heights but it won't really work with my future canopy setup/long term i intend to upgrade lights

 

[billyocean]

You could open them and remove the lenses..just pop the plastic housing back on with no lens inside.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

You could open them and remove the lenses..just pop the plastic housing back on with no lens inside.

I feel like a read somewhere that removing the lenses dropped par significantly.. im starting to fixate on acros now sooo...

 

[billyocean]

It will drop par a good bit but ypu may be close enough to thr water to not have an issue...plus you have t5s in there if you need extra juice. Can always start with the 120s and see if that works or vice versa.

 

[billyocean]

Taking thr white led lenses out is the first thing I do on mine...blends it better vs having them on. The white channel suks on vipars..lol.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Taking thr white led lenses out is the first thing I do on mine...blends it better vs having them on. The white channel suks on vipars..lol.

Im actually only using the blue channel on my viparspectra currently I use the t5's as my white channel, hence why I'd like to get them lower. I'm in the middle at the point where neither is ideal. 11" from water surface for the t5 and the vipars about 10" from the bottom.

 

[billyocean]

If ypu dont have the lenses yet you could try the no lens route and see if its good enough.

 

[Rocks reef]

I second taking the lenses off and see what the PAR meter shows.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Taking thr white led lenses out is the first thing I do on mine...blends it better vs having them on. The white channel suks on vipars..lol.

You even seen videos of people changing some of the white out for uv/blue diodes? I feel like im wasting the light only using the blue channel lol.

 

[billyocean]

Ive seen it...just haven't done it..lol

 

[fish_collector]

You even seen videos of people changing some of the white out for uv/blue diodes? I feel like im wasting the light only using the blue channel lol.

I did that to my Vipars. I run them with blue at 80% and whites at 10%, lights are 13" above the water, lowboy frag tank. My par is very high directly under the lights, 350-450, and tapers off rather quickly out to the edges, the light spread is horrible. I had thought about removing the lenses as well but I have not done so yet. It's easier to put the 3 Reefis I have over my frag tank and have ultimate control over the light.

Fwiw, I have tried to ramp up the white channel to 20% but it increases the par so much I get bleaching in my acros. Vipars would be great suspended a few feet above the water lol. I have an Apogee par meter but haven't played with the vipars too much other than removing a bunch of the whites and soldering in 420 and 450nm diodes. The color is great but the hot spots are horrible.

Page 3, post #56 has some photos that are spot on with the color and par for my modified vipars. If you browse through the beginnings of the thread there are some photos of how I modified them. Telegraham is the mastermind of these modifications.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-my-lowboy-frag-tank.1104235/​

 

[IntrinsicReef]

I run 2 Viparspectras 8" above the water surface on this 4ft tank and it works well.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I did that to my Vipars. I run them with blue at 80% and whites at 10%, lights are 13" above the water, lowboy frag tank. My par is very high directly under the lights, 350-450, and tapers off rather quickly out to the edges, the light spread is horrible. I had thought about removing the lenses as well but I have not done so yet. It's easier to put the 3 Reefis I have over my frag tank and have ultimate control over the light.

Fwiw, I have tried to ramp up the white channel to 20% but it increases the par so much I get bleaching in my acros. Vipars would be great suspended a few feet above the water lol. I have an Apogee par meter but haven't played with the vipars too much other than removing a bunch of the whites and soldering in 420 and 450nm diodes. The color is great but the hot spots are horrible.

Page 3, post #56 has some photos that are spot on with the color and par for my modified vipars. If you browse through the beginnings of the thread there are some photos of how I modified them. Telegraham is the mastermind of these modifications.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-my-lowboy-frag-tank.1104235/​

I might have to look into doing this. Especially if I can get rid of the hot spots by removing the lenses. Local guys letting my borrow a parwise meter so I'll do some testing with factory leds. I assume as long as I can get my desired par with the blues and my t5's, or at least close to it, I cant complain too much if I can use the modified white channel to just get a better color for my eyes/maybe a bit better spectrum?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I run 2 Viparspectras 8" above the water surface on this 4ft tank and it works well.

What are the actual dimensions of that tank? I wonder if 120° lenses would be enough to do what I want. I like the spectrum of the t5's + the led so I'd like to capitalize on them, plus my rock work has a lot of potential for shadows that i'm trying to overcome. Should've thought of that when I built it haha

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I did that to my Vipars. I run them with blue at 80% and whites at 10%, lights are 13" above the water, lowboy frag tank. My par is very high directly under the lights, 350-450, and tapers off rather quickly out to the edges, the light spread is horrible. I had thought about removing the lenses as well but I have not done so yet. It's easier to put the 3 Reefis I have over my frag tank and have ultimate control over the light.

Fwiw, I have tried to ramp up the white channel to 20% but it increases the par so much I get bleaching in my acros. Vipars would be great suspended a few feet above the water lol. I have an Apogee par meter but haven't played with the vipars too much other than removing a bunch of the whites and soldering in 420 and 450nm diodes. The color is great but the hot spots are horrible.

Page 3, post #56 has some photos that are spot on with the color and par for my modified vipars. If you browse through the beginnings of the thread there are some photos of how I modified them. Telegraham is the mastermind of these modifications.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-my-lowboy-frag-tank.1104235/​

Also, that seems like some really good color. As is right now that white channel is AGGRESSIVE lol. Hence why I opted to use the t5's instead of my whites

 

[IntrinsicReef]

What are the actual dimensions of that tank? I wonder if 120° lenses would be enough to do what I want. I like the spectrum of the t5's + the led so I'd like to capitalize on them, plus my rock work has a lot of potential for shadows that i'm trying to overcome. Should've thought of that when I built it haha

Dimensions are 48L"X24W"X31"T. I just remeasured to make sure I wasn't making stuff up =) Bottom LED panels of the lights are almost exactly 8" above the surface of the water.

 

[fish_collector]

ViparSpectra lights used to have channel increments of 1% but for the lights sold in the last 3 years or so it's only adjustable in 10% increments. For me and my tank that is a huge drawback, on my modified diode white channel, 10% isn't enough and 20% is too much, all at once anyways. I'd certainly pay more money for a light that will do a 30 minute ramp and have 1% increments.

I suppose that's where Reefi comes in lol. My Reefis are quite possibly the best light on the market at the moment. I have them over my FOWLR only because my Vipars are growing corals and I don't want to upset them by switching lights. It isn't about change in PAR but spectrum too, it would likely set off a bleaching event, I've had the issue before and it takes 6 months to grow out of it.

 

[jsmkmavity]

My vipars are about 8" above the water and i dont get too much heat but i use no or very little white channel. If they spread enough you could use them as is but you might want the wide lenses to get more coverage width.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Dimensions are 48L"X24W"X31"T. I just remeasured to make sure I wasn't making stuff up =) Bottom LED panels of the lights are almost exactly 8" above the surface of the water.

I was gonna say, I have a 4ft 120 and yours makes mine seem short! This input from a few people makes me feel like 120°/no lenses and 6-8" above the water should be no problem!

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

ViparSpectra lights used to have channel increments of 1% but for the lights sold in the last 3 years or so it's only adjustable in 10% increments. For me and my tank that is a huge drawback, on my modified diode white channel, 10% isn't enough and 20% is too much, all at once anyways. I'd certainly pay more money for a light that will do a 30 minute ramp and have 1% increments.

I suppose that's where Reefi comes in lol. My Reefis are quite possibly the best light on the market at the moment. I have them over my FOWLR only because my Vipars are growing corals and I don't want to upset them by switching lights. It isn't about change in PAR but spectrum too, it would likely set off a bleaching event, I've had the issue before and it takes 6 months to grow out of it.

Yea, a light upgrade is inevitable, I just dont have it in me at the moment haha. These seem to be working decent enough and they're only a year or 2 old. I'll look into the reefi when its time though as it seems much more cost effective vs radions. I had been looking at eventually filling my giesemann with quanta bars up until now.