Viparspectra 165w mod

[nicholas2010e]

Looking to get the viparspectra 165w. some reviews show that it can have a spotlight effect to it.

Has anyone removed the led caps to allow for more light blending and less spotlight effect? what would the effect of this be on PAR and performance? As i still want to try a couple sps?

 

[Jekyl]

All of the black boxes have more than enough par to grow any coral out there. That being said, you get what you pay for. If you want more visually appealing, will have to fork out the cash for it. I started with black boxes and switched to kessil along the way. The visual appeal of the lighting was leaps and bounds above the black box. Even though I have less par now than before.

 

[dhnguyen]

Many LEDs can potentially have this spot light effect. The only ones that don't are the ones with multichip or with very tight cluster designs which help with the light blending (Red Sea Reef LED, Kessil, etc...)

You CAN run the Viparspectra with no lenses on and that will definitely help or you can swap out the stock lenses for 120 degree lenses. They're not expensive and easy to swap out.

50pcs 120 degrees led Lens Reflector for 1W 3W 5W Hight Power LED with holder | eBay

50pcs Led Lens 120 Degree For 1w 3w 5w led Lamp light Black Holder. Quantity: 50pcs. Beam Angle: 120 Degree. Lens Dimaeter: 20mm. Lens Height: 10.5mm. Holder Height: 13mm. lens: water clear. Len Holder Color :black (Also have white) clear.

www.ebay.com

 

[dhnguyen]

Shelling out big bucks doesn't mean you won't have this issue though. Look at the EcoTech Radions for example.
Imagine having to shell out that much money for the light and then have to buy their diffusers as well so you won't have hot spots.

 

[oreo54]

Shelling out big bucks doesn't mean you won't have this issue though. Look at the EcoTech Radions for example.
Imagine having to shell out that much money for the light and then have to buy their diffusers as well so you won't have hot spots.

Well..has more to do w/ color blending than err "hot spots"
All point light sources create a hot spot..

 

[dhnguyen]

Well..has more to do w/ color blending than err "hot spots"
All point light sources create a hot spot..

You're right I used the wrong terminology

 

[vetteguy53081]

Almost any of the black box fixtures will grow healthy coral. So it comes down to how much quality you want to pay for and what extra features you want. The range of more inexpensive or economical ‘black box’ fixtures runs from very basic $100 units to $400 with lot of features (even better looking cases than the basic black box).
problem is many have cheap diodes and heat sinks and are short lived or diodes start to burn out and you are then left with little to no PAR and corals now in trouble.

 

[fuelman]

I took the lenses off one of my viparspectra above the QT tank it dropped par by about 50% but the hot spot was almost gone & color blending seemed much improved.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

I love my Aqua Illumination LEDs coloration, but not their price.......... so on one of my systems that's mostly softies and marine mollies i cheaped out for a ViparSpectra 165w. i was running my ch2 (whites) on it at just 1% otherwise it was just too white/yellow for my liking.

I felt like at this low of a setting on the whites, i was only getting 1/2 of the lights abilities so i picked up some extra LEDs and swapped out sixteen of the 12,000K and two of the 6500K for 440-450nm Royal Blues. i also swapped the 90° reflectors to 120° ONLY on the remaining 6500K/12,000K/red/green to give those a wider spread and it's made a drastic improvement in visual appeal to me and available PAR to the tank and very closely matches the Zaxby schedule i run on my AIs

 

[blasterman]

I have a Mars Aqua with lenses removed and the coverage and blending is amazing. No shimmer obviously, but I compared it to an XR 15 blue and my lens less BB had superior coverage by quite a margin.

The problem is you are spraying light in a 120degree cone and it has to be very low to keep from wasting light. On my 20L I have to keep it no more than a few inches above the waterline on one half. Since my tank is covered with glass I dont care. The result though is pretty seamless coverage. Disgusting SPS growth. I just donated a 5gal bucket of digipora to my local reef shop, and I still have too much.

I've also modified my LED ratio and removed half my whites and replaced them with blues. The result was the XR 15 could not keep a decent color mix and keep up with my modified BB. The Radion may have better Cree LEDs, but I have more 2watt LEDs spread out more and this shows how distribution area trumps fancy optics. Law of physics. When I hear people say you get what you pay for I just laugh. I have 460nm blues in my light. Ive also designed lights that have lasted 100k hours using constant voltage. Good luck Radion hitting those numbers.

You might try removing half the lenses on the Vipar...half over the blues and whites. Make for a heck of a light if you want to soften things a bit.

If the Black Box makers would increase the ratio of their blues and use slightly better 90 degree lenses vs their medium tight lenses they would test head to head on BRS.

 

[Saltfishlover]

I've got these on a 90gal tall. Mostly softies, zoas , shrooms, leathers, entrusting and Duncan at the bottom. I've removed the lenses on them both and at only 50% everything is growing fast. Even my Duncan at the bottom.

 

[Mav2]

Kessil 360’s, Hydra 64 HD’s, Radion G1,G2 and G3, Maxspec Razors, Orphex OR2 and OR3 led bars, T5’s…..I have had them all over my tanks over the last 8 years. These lights absolutely hold their own over all of these in terms of PAR, Spectrum and Overall illumination. An absolute no brainer for a Reefer with a smaller budget and absolutely no need to spend 1000’s on lights which offer little more. Granted realiability and customer service is an unknown (only purchased lights 2 weeks ago)

 

[rgulrich]

I run 2 X 165W and 4 X 300W ViparSpectra (LED lenses removed, added acrylic diffuser sheet on each) over my 300 gallon along with 6 X Kessil A360WE. The Vipars provide a great "blanket" of uniform light in this configuration across the entire footprint of the reef - currently around 250-300 PAR at the rubble line (CH01-blue @ 70%, Ch02-white @ 50%), around 350-400 PAR at the reef crest.
The Kessils are used to boost PAR midday to around 300-350 PAR at the rubble line, 400-450 PAR at the reef crest for about six hours - and provide a great shimmer/glint line.

Growth is great in my book, and the "feel" is like shallow, clear-water snorkeling.
The configuration:

26 April 2020 Acropora yongei (my favorite in a slimy kind of way...Bali Green Slimer)

07 April 2021 for growth rate comparison...

A little taste of why I spend so much of my time with my nose pressed against the glass...from a few weeks ago...


The ViparSpectra put out a pretty darn good spectrum for coral growth and appearance, just be careful to set them up with a PAR meter - or you may end up bleaching out your coral (been there and done that...do not want to repeat).
Cheers,
Ray

 

[Mav2]

 

[Mav2]

Tank : 42”x20”x42” - 2 x Viparspectras 165w 1 x OR3 90 Orphex blue plus 4 x T5 (2 x ATI BLUE + & 2 x ATI CORAL) & 1 x Radion XR30 G1

 

[Spicy Reef]

Wish I found this sooner... nice work here! I have 2 Vipar's I have pulled the led panels out of the box, added extension's from leds to control boards, mounted the (power sup, control board) under the tank, ditched the fans. The led panel (for now) sits right on top of aquarium lid (solid). I removed the lens's but light spread throughout the room and maybe 50% reduction? I don't have par meter... but I put them back on. concerned about "hot spots" found this thread now I have ordered up some 90 and 120 degree caps to see which work best.
I like leaving them right on top, ON the tank lid. my tank is 6'x18"x28" 150gallon so 28" tall, my first corals are not until 16" down curios what you all think would be the better spread 90, 120 or ?
Also, does anyone know what is on there right now? seems like 20 or 30...
here's my lame vid pt 1...

 

[LuisEnrique]

Quité las lentes de uno de mis viparspectra por encima del tanque QT y bajó a la par en aproximadamente un 50%, pero el punto caliente casi desapareció y la combinación de colores parecía mucho mejor.

Qun resultados ha obtenido hasta esta fecha sin los lens?

Translation:
What results have you obtained to date without the lenses?

 

[outhouse]

problem is many have cheap diodes and heat sinks and are short lived or diodes start to burn out and you are then left with little to no PAR and corals now in trouble.

Not really true for the better BB lights. My ocean revives which are viparspectra lasted almost a decade, without a single issue. I dropped one in the water, dried it off and it lasted a year before corrosion screwed up the connections. So I bought the viparspectra to replace the revives, because I can use parts off my bad one in case of issues. I did have the led displays go bad. 10 bucks a piece viparspectra sold me the parts I needed. I have thousand dollar name brand leds, they use the same chinese crap parts. So dont kid yourself.

 

[Eazy]

Looking to get the viparspectra 165w. some reviews show that it can have a spotlight effect to it.

Has anyone removed the led caps to allow for more light blending and less spotlight effect? what would the effect of this be on PAR and performance? As i still want to try a couple sps?

Hang the lights 18 to 24 inches over water and and the colors will blend and spread. Check out BRS video on black box lights.