Viparspectra 165w adjustments

[Nor'easter Reefer]

So i have the newer version that only does 10% adjustments in lighting intensity. Anyone got any tips and tricks for upping the lights? I would like to try seeing if i get some results from upping the intensity on my blues but I fear that 10% is a massive jump and could bleach my corals. Thanks!

 

[Prowler66gt]

I may be wrong but my understanding was that the newer version was 1% and older was 10%.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I may be wrong but my understanding was that the newer version was 1% and older was 10%.

That's what I thought, but mine are about a year old and do 10% increments. After looking for settings on here, I found a thread of people trying to get ahold of the old timers so they could do 1% increments. I'll try and find it again and share it here

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I may be wrong but my understanding was that the newer version was 1% and older was 10%.

Thread 'Viparspectra 165w (NEW MODEL FIX!!!!)' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165w-new-model-fix.1010411/

 

[billyocean]

The ones from ebay that are refurbished still go in 1% increments. 10% increase in blue should be fine. What height are you from thr waterline?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

The ones from ebay that are refurbished still go in 1% increments. 10% increase in blue should be fine. What height are you from thr waterline?

Im about 10"

 

[billyocean]

It may have a little bit of disco at 10". I took all of mine apart and removed the lenses from thr whites so I could turn those up more with better spread...and it looks better visually. I'm about 13" off of wl and run blues at 80-90% and whites at 10%. With blues only im 450ish at the top of the rocks and 200ish sandbed 25" tall tank. But..worth noting is i have 4 300s and 6 165s over a 300 gallon.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

It may have a little bit of disco at 10". I took all of mine apart and removed the lenses from thr whites so I could turn those up more with better spread...and it looks better visually. I'm about 13" off of wl and run blues at 80-90% and whites at 10%. With blues only im 450ish at the top of the rocks and 200ish sandbed 25" tall tank. But..worth noting is i have 4 300s and 6 165s over a 300 gallon.

Yea mines a standard 4ft 120g so 24" depth with 2 165w. A little bit of disco effect but not terribly awful. I didn't know you could take off lenses of specific colors like that :thinking-face: my next thought was to get a strip light or 2 and see if it would counteract the disco effect.

 

[billyocean]

It's pretty easy to take apart. Take the clear lenses out and pop the plastic (empty after lenses gone) back on. The leds are yellow and easy to spot.

You can also replace the 90⁰ lenses (all if you want) with 120⁰ lenses from ebay.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

It's pretty easy to take apart. Take the clear lenses out and pop the plastic (empty after lenses gone) back on. The leds are yellow and easy to spot.

You can also replace the 90⁰ lenses (all if you want) with 120⁰ lenses from ebay.

Oh sweet! 120° lenses would help softener hot spots theoretically correct?

 

[billyocean]

Either that or raise them up. I still have the 90⁰ on mine. Consider the light spill of no canopy also...but yes..it will widen the coverage. Not sure on how much it changes par but I don't suspect too much loss

 

[Prowler66gt]

Following as I have 3 of these to go over my 5ft 100 gal.

Also, good listen by BRS on the black boxes here

 

[skiergd011013]

DO these hold their power settings in a power outage? I read one account on here of someone manually turning theirs on then off to show someone their tank, and the light turned on at 100% power at the next auto on, and fried the corals. I currently have the willis 165w blackbox with manually controlled white/blue knobs. Im interested in the vipar, but the fully digital controls make me nervous. Is there a safety with these? Such as if the power goes out, it wont turn back on until you manually reset it?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

DO these hold their power settings in a power outage? I read one account on here of someone manually turning theirs on then off to show someone their tank, and the light turned on at 100% power at the next auto on, and fried the corals. I currently have the willis 165w blackbox with manually controlled white/blue knobs. Im interested in the vipar, but the fully digital controls make me nervous. Is there a safety with these? Such as if the power goes out, it wont turn back on until you manually reset it?

Mine keep settings but lose the time and turn on when power is restored. So not super convenient at 2am lol

 

[skiergd011013]

Mine keep settings but lose the time and turn on when power is restored. So not super convenient at 2am lol

Ugh. Maybe i should just stick with the safety of my willis lights physical control knobs and plug in wall timer

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Ugh. Maybe i should just stick with the safety of my willis lights physical control knobs and plug in wall timer

I personally don't lose power that much so it's not a super big deal. That said, if you lose power mid day and get power back on at 2am while your sleeping, a typical plug in wall timer would do the same thing and contine your photo period where it was when power went out

 

[skiergd011013]

I personally don't lose power that much so it's not a super big deal. That said, if you lose power mid day and get power back on at 2am while your sleeping, a typical plug in wall timer would do the same thing and contine your photo period where it was when power went out

Im more worried about the possibility of the power settings not holding and it cranking to 100% and frying my expensive corals. Can anyone else vouch for this not being possible?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Im more worried about the possibility of the power settings not holding and it cranking to 100% and frying my expensive corals. Can anyone else vouch for this not being possible?

That is cant say much on, besides that it's never happened to me(probably lost power a dozen times since i got these lights), and the story about someone messing with settings to show their friend corals and the lights come on at 100% sounds more like someone making a mistake and blaming the light to me. Just my 2 cents

 

[skiergd011013]

That is cant say much on, besides that it's never happened to me(probably lost power a dozen times since i got these lights), and the story about someone messing with settings to show their friend corals and the lights come on at 100% sounds more like someone making a mistake and blaming the light to me. Just my 2 cents

Their customer service said

"
Dear Friend,

Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns.

In the event of a power outage, the light will restore to its previous brightness settings when power returns, but the timer will not—you will need to reset the schedule manually. Thank you for your understanding

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.

Best Regards,
VIPARSPECTRA Customer Service

 

[jsmkmavity]

Mine are at least 6-7 years old and have 1% adjustment increments