The quietest LED? Photon vs Hydra fan noise

[Elena Y]

Hello, please help me to choose new LED for my home office mixed reef aquarium. Tank is 36''x12''x20'', 38 Gal, with black stripe in the middle. So far it is absolutely silent as it has no sump. I just bought ViparSpectra 300W. It makes constant loud fan noise. It is not defective. It is it's normal operational noise. I am sending it back. Reviews say Radion is louder then Hydra; also Radion is too steep for my budget. I am between 32 Photon V2+ and 2 Hydra32. I understand Hydra is better light, but all what I care about is the noise. Which of them is more quiet? Are they less noisy then Viparspectra, by the way? Bulk Reef Supply guys can not answer this question as they did not test for fan noise.

 

[Reefer40b]

You could easily replace the fans in the vipraspectra with ultra silent PC fans and it would probably be the quietest. I believe they are just 80mm. May be able to mod the top to do 2 big 140mm fan as bigger fans are usually quieter.

 

[Bpb]

I can’t hear the fans on my photon

 

[Elena Y]

You could easily replace the fans in the vipraspectra with ultra silent PC fans and it would probably be the quietest. I believe they are just 80mm. May be able to mod the top to do 2 big 140mm fan as bigger fans are usually quieter.

Yes! Thank you! It is exactly what I was going to do, but I was advised against it by my son, who built many PCs from scratch, because "PC fans are less powerful and lights will burn out soon". Have you heard of actual success stories of someone who did it and Viparspectra did not burn out ? That would be great. Thank you so much for your fast reply.

 

[windemerejack]

Cant comment on photons as never used them but my Hydra HD's were silent, and great lights too, easy to use the app and loads of downloads for pre-sets, all in all so easy to set up and use.

 

[Reefer40b]

Yes! Thank you! It is exactly what I was going to do, but I was advised against it by my son, who built many PCs from scratch, because "PC fans are less powerful and lights will burn out soon". Have you heard of actual success stories of someone who did it and Viparspectra did not burn out ? That would be great. Thank you so much for your fast reply.

Hmm I'm not sure your son full understands the product. The PC fans are the same... nothing special about the fans in your lights if fact the pc fan would be far better... usually better airflow ratings and quieter than the cheap sleeve bearing china junk they come with.