Ideal Settings for ViparSpectra 165w?

[diver22]

Ok. I added the lenses back in. It's definitely waaaaay brighter visually. And now I have disco ball effect. Oh well. Lol!

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[JJHtx87]

It's my understanding that blue light is every bit as capable of burning or bleaching coral as white light. It just doesn't look as bright to our eyes.

Think about it, what spectrum gives you sunburn... UV. And blue spectrum at 420-440nm is just a small step from 370-400nm UV compared to the rest of spectrum in white light.

I once thought like you, that white was just for our eyes... and that's still kind of true. Although corals do use spectrum other than blue. Blue is used by the zooxanthellae (not the coral) to do photosynthesis. But the coral does use light for other processes including pigment production.

Given your 4' tank and 31" depth, I think 3 Viparspectras are more than enough to provide all the light you need. Especially at only 8" off the water. I would recommend you run blue to white at a 3:1 ratio. I think 60:20 would be a good starting point.

Just a bit of background so you know where I'm coming from. I have used leds since the early black box fixtures came out. I've used quite a few different brands, I even worked for Ocean Revive for a couple of years. I was involved in the layout of their T247 led array and worked some with EverGrow (the Chinese manufacturer of several aquarium led fixture brands).

How long would you run both ? Hour wise ? Thank you in advance

 

[Ron Reefman]

How long would you run both ? Hour wise ? Thank you in advance

Most corals do photosynthesis for between 4 and 8 hours. I run strong blue (that's what coral uses for photosynthesis) and medium white (good for pigments and other chemistries) for 6 hours with a 3 hour ramp up and a 4 hour ramp down.

 

[billyocean]

Most corals do photosynthesis for between 4 and 8 hours. I run strong blue (that's what coral uses for photosynthesis) and medium white (good for pigments and other chemistries) for 6 hours with a 3 hour ramp up and a 4 hour ramp down.

If you are referring to viparspectra I don't believe they can ramp

 

[JJHtx87]

If you are referring to viparspectra I don't believe they can ramp

Yeah. They do not ramp

 

[BigBundee69]

I have a 60” 120 I think its 26”-28” deep. I run three of these mounted parallel to The front of the tank. 9” above water level.
I have my two outer lights at 69 blue and 17 white, the middle because it sits over a glass brace I have the blue turned up to 100. I don’t remember the white. I’ll check tomorrow evening.
im getting upwards Of 425ish par about 8” below the water. I don’t recall the exact measurements. All my sps seem happy and have nice colour. I have most at the top and some mid level. my anemone moved from the bottom of my tank to the top back and has settled there I’m gonna guess in the 350 par range. I can get exact numbers this weekend. I’m busy this week and don’t quite remember where my seneye is.
hope that helps.

Hey George81, what are your running hours for your white and blue lights?

 

[kp33]

I run mine around 45% blue/ 18% white for the 20k look, and par is around 400 at the surface with the lights 12" above the water, 175 in the middle about 12" down, and 90 at the bottom. I didn't mess with the lenses or anything, and these lights will grow anything any other led out there will grow. However, the clocks on these do not stay true, and you will have to adjust them every 6 months or so to keep them from getting too far off real time.

How do you get such specific numbers ie 45/18 the ones I have only do increments of ten. Thanks

 

[billyocean]

How do you get such specific numbers ie 45/18 the ones I have only do increments of ten. Thanks

The new ones only work in Increments of 10. The older ones or refurbished ones work in Increments of 1%

 

[kp33]

The new ones only work in Increments of 10. The older ones or refurbished ones work in Increments of 1%

Ah ok, so what do most run the blues at?

 

[klc]

On my SPS dominated 100g I use 2 ViparSpectra units lengthwise 8" above the water. I modified the white channel by removing 8 of the white LEDs on each and replacing with 445 and 470 NM blue LEDs. It wasn't too difficult.

I have been running the blue channel at 80% and the white channel at 40%. I tested the waters with the blue channel at 100% and the white channel at 50% but had some acro tips bleach back after 2 days so I have reduced the values back to minimum to let the corals recover for a few weeks. I don't believe there was any permanent damage done. I do feel a bit of "I knew I shouldn't have done that" after the fact lol, it was my favorite green slimer that took the most damage but again I don't think it will be a permanent issue.

The next modification will be to remove all of the lenses and see what it looks like. There are definitely hot spots with them.

When you remove some of the white LEDs and replace them with blues, the difference is dramatic and will allow you to use way more of the white channel. Sorry I have no photos, neither my iPhone or Nikon DSLR captures reef tank color well.

 

[billyocean]

125 gallon with the 300s about 14" above waterline blues only @ 85-90%

 

[BigBundee69]

I run mine around 45% blue/ 18% white for the 20k look, and par is around 400 at the surface with the lights 12" above the water, 175 in the middle about 12" down, and 90 at the bottom. I didn't mess with the lenses or anything, and these lights will grow anything any other led out there will grow. However, the clocks on these do not stay true, and you will have to adjust them every 6 months or so to keep them from getting too far off real time.

How long do you have blue lights on? White lights?