Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?

[icejam]

So I just went back and looked at the chart my lights are set at 100 blues and 25 white. Are you guys saying that with surface agitation my lights are making 590ish par on the sand bed or at the surface? Is that directly below the lights? Or out at the 24in mark of the max coverage area? Thanks. I was just going back through the post and while everything in my tank looks fine I’m wondering if things could look better with dialing the lights back a bit.
My tanks 18 inches tall.

The measurement I took were on the sand bed directly below the light. I wanted to do off axis measurement as well but equipment failed. I will be buying another PAR meter at some point [hopefully sooner than later] and updating the data.
With 100/25 your PAR is 690-ish at the bottom.
Since posting the table I turned my light down to 40% blue and 2% white. I think some of my zoas are opening more now but the light is much easier on my eyes and not lighting up the whole room.
[I really need to build a cover for my lights like yours, how tall is it?]

Hope that helps.

 

[Brent Harpe]

The measurement I took were on the sand bed directly below the light. I wanted to do off axis measurement as well but equipment failed. I will be buying another PAR meter at some point [hopefully sooner than later] and updating the data.
With 100/25 your PAR is 690-ish at the bottom.
Since posting the table I turned my light down to 40% blue and 2% white. I think some of my zoas are opening more now but the light is much easier on my eyes and not lighting up the whole room.
[I really need to build a cover for my lights like yours, how tall is it?]

Hope that helps.

It’s about 8-8.5 inch tall which puts my lights that high off the water. I will definitely be toning the whites back to hopefully get some more color out of things. Thanks for the insight on the lights actual par readings. On amazon the picture shows about 400 par on sandbed and I assumed that was with both at 100%. Lol

 

[icejam]

It’s about 8-8.5 inch tall which puts my lights that high off the water. I will definitely be toning the whites back to hopefully get some more color out of things. Thanks for the insight on the lights actual par readings. On amazon the picture shows about 400 par on sandbed and I assumed that was with both at 100%. Lol

So have I but then I got readings well over that. So unless seneye is way off or the lights are that strong.

 

[oreo54]

Comparison.. most BB's will be the same. Some new ones are using SMD diodes not the "egg type". Should up the output efficiency..

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

So have I but then I got readings well over that. So unless seneye is way off or the lights are that strong.

Is this one also measured on the sandbed? And how do you interpret the PAR and LUX graphs in this one?

Thanks again for doing this and sharing!

 

[icejam]

Is this one also measured on the sandbed? And how do you interpret the PAR and LUX graphs in this one?

Thanks again for doing this and sharing!

Yes, it was measured on the sand bed. It's just a screenshot of some old data I used to graph PAR [see https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165watt-anyone-using-these.317612/post-6501519]
I ignore LUX as it's mostly irrelevant.

 

[Brent Harpe]

Where did you get your tank?

I want something bigger but my wife loves the vintage look and struggling to find something she likes too

Here’s what the tank looked like when I got it. I knew I had a before picture somewhere but couldn’t find it.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Yes, it was measured on the sand bed. It's just a screenshot of some old data I used to graph PAR [see https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165watt-anyone-using-these.317612/post-6501519]
I ignore LUX as it's mostly irrelevant.

Roger that. Btw, just two days after turning down my whites and turning up my blues and my corals already seem to be responding. Thanks again!

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

A week after turning down my whites and I'm suddenly seeing specks of coralline appearing on my rocks. I introduced a hermit crab with coralline all over its shell about a year ago along with a handful of other frags that had coralline on the plugs. Crazy!

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

A week after turning down my whites and I'm suddenly seeing specks of coralline appearing on my rocks. I introduced a hermit crab with coralline all over its shell about a year ago along with a handful of other frags that had coralline on the plugs. Crazy!

Great news, what have you currently got it set at? I had mine at 40 blue and 4 white, but my frogspawn, and torch didn't like it much and have not opened as much, I have turned it down now. The trouble is I still have low nitrates and phosphates even though I have been dosing them. I just wish it would just level out and just grow again.

 

[Beefyreefy]

I run 3 of these I’ve my 125. IMO they are a high quality black box light. You can grow coral no problem with these or pretty much any other black box. I run 100% blues 10 hours and 15% whites in combination with the blues for 5 hours in the middle. No complaints. Here are some pics, all corals pictured had no other lights, all though there was a tank upgrade and extra viparspectras added.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I run 3 of these I’ve my 125. IMO they are a high quality black box light. You can grow coral no problem with these or pretty much any other black box. I run 100% blues 10 hours and 15% whites in combination with the blues for 5 hours in the middle. No complaints. Here are some pics, all corals pictured had no other lights, all though there was a tank upgrade and extra viparspectras added.

Lovely top down shot, and fantastic looking tank. how high are your lights off the water, I think the trouble I'm having is having low neutrients, as from what I have read low neutrients and high par cause issues. Mine, when it looked it's best was 80 blue and 12 white. I know have lower light demanding coral higher up so I dont want to cook them. Also can I ask what your levels are ?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Great news, what have you currently got it set at? I had mine at 40 blue and 4 white, but my frogspawn, and torch didn't like it much and have not opened as much, I have turned it down now. The trouble is I still have low nitrates and phosphates even though I have been dosing them. I just wish it would just level out and just grow again.

I have mine currently mine at 42 blue and 5 white and my light is 7 inches above the water surface. Based on @icejam 's chart, I'm going to probably end up at 50 blue and 5 white. Up until last Wednesday (when I found this thread), I had it at 32 blue and 12 white. Since turning down the whites and upping the blues, the color of my corals have brightened. I currently only have one euphyllia and it hasn't reacted much to the new light settings.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I have mine currently mine at 42 blue and 5 white and my light is 7 inches above the water surface. Based on @icejam 's chart, I'm going to probably end up at 50 blue and 5 white. Up until last Wednesday (when I found this thread), I had it at 32 blue and 12 white. Since turning down the whites and upping the blues, the color of my corals have brightened. I currently only have one euphyllia and it hasn't reacted much to the new light settings.

Normally it takes a while to react to the changes, just dont be like me fiddling all the time.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Normally it takes a while to react to the changes, just dont be like me fiddling all the time.

I lost a frogspawn last summer... Now in retrospect, I wonder if I stressed it out from playing around with the lighting.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I lost a frogspawn last summer... Now in retrospect, I wonder if I stressed it out from playing around with the lighting.

Its easily done.

 

[Beefyreefy]

Lovely top down shot, and fantastic looking tank. how high are your lights off the water, I think the trouble I'm having is having low neutrients, as from what I have read low neutrients and high par cause issues. Mine, when it looked it's best was 80 blue and 12 white. I know have lower light demanding coral higher up so I dont want to cook them. Also can I ask what your levels are ?

Thank you! I do not run low nutrients, I have found when I do coral definitely suffers. I like to keep my nitrates around 10, phosphate around .1, Calcium checks at 380, DKH is 10-11 and salinity is 1.026. I feed the whole tank heavy, broadcast style with frozen, selcon soaked pellets and occasional live clams and blackworms. Nori everyday for the tangs. if the nutrients creep up too high, I do very light vodka dosing to bring them back down. I do get some hair algae from time to time and will dose vibrant to keep it in check. Hope that helps! I'll answer any questions you have.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Thank you! I do not run low nutrients, I have found when I do coral definitely suffers. I like to keep my nitrates around 10, phosphate around .1, Calcium checks at 380, DKH is 10-11 and salinity is 1.026. I feed the whole tank heavy, broadcast style with frozen, selcon soaked pellets and occasional live clams and blackworms. Nori everyday for the tangs. if the nutrients creep up too high, I do very light vodka dosing to bring them back down. I do get some hair algae from time to time and will dose vibrant to keep it in check. Hope that helps! I'll answer any questions you have.

Cheers, my dkh is normally 8.6
Mag 1350
Cal 420
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate I'm currently dosing and it's around 5 or just under and phosphates I'm also dosing and its sitting at around 0.02-0.03.
I only have 3 fish so I can't put too much food in, and i cant find enough info on how fast I can safely dose phosphates and nitrates to the levels I want. I'm trying to get to 10-15 nitrates and .1 phosphates. My system is only 90 litres.
I would love to just add enough nitrates and phosphates to get to the levels I need and it just stay there. I have no sump (just an in tank filter box hiding a heater, return pump and running a little floss) I do very few water changes. I dont know what is consuming them.

 

[USMA36]

I just bought one of these for my son's 30 gallon tank. I don't know if it's my light or just how this light works but if I turn the white to 1 it almost completely overpowers the blues at 50. The tank looks really really white. I wish there was a way to eliminate half of the white LEDs or make it dim more.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I just bought one of these for my son's 30 gallon tank. I don't know if it's my light or just how this light works but if I turn the white to 1 it almost completely overpowers the blues at 50. The tank looks really really white. I wish there was a way to eliminate half of the white LEDs or make it dim more.

Hi, the lights are very bright and the whites seem quite overpowering, but if you put just the white on 1% and turn the blues off the tank will look very yellow and as soon as you turn the blues on the light appears a whiter light I run mine on 35blue 4white 9 inches above the water and it looks like this.