Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?

[Thrashed]

I am running the 300watt hanging 18 inches above my 90 gallon. Everything in my tank is loving it, I was running it 12 inches above my 65 tall and it was almost off to keep things happy. But it’s just right on this 4 foot tank that even my BTA is at the bottom and is fully bubbled up and happy at 50% blue and 25% white

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I took them down to 40/10. Seems odd to run them so low, but they are strong lights. I’ll try to remember to update in a few weeks, see where things are at. I’m also trying to beef up my refugium too to combat the GHA. Thanks for the input guys

No problem, yeah please do update us with how it goes. Post up a photo before and after if you can.

 

[Rp8]

I have a set. They will grow almost all coral. BRS did a comparison video on you tube. They tell u par at different heights and intensities. Check it out...

 

[dtruitt]

I took them down to 40/10. Seems odd to run them so low, but they are strong lights. I’ll try to remember to update in a few weeks, see where things are at. I’m also trying to beef up my refugium too to combat the GHA. Thanks for the input guys

I would suggest swapping two or three of the blue LEDs with two or three of the white LEDs, especially if you don't like the all blue look.

I have not personally tried it, but my expectation would be that a handful of white LEDs running at 40% will offset that all blue look, without as much algae growing power as the full array of white LEDs running at 1%

 

[reef_ninja]

No problem, yeah please do update us with how it goes. Post up a photo before and after if you can.

Here you go, pics are awful, but aquarium photog is tough with these lights. Let’s see what happens after a few weeks. I also bought a new fuge light to boost chaeto growth and compete with these lights. We’ll see.

 

[reef_ninja]

I would suggest swapping two or three of the blue LEDs with two or three of the white LEDs, especially if you don't like the all blue look.

I have not personally tried it, but my expectation would be that a handful of white LEDs running at 40% will offset that all blue look, without as much algae growing power as the full array of white LEDs running at 1%

Great suggestion, I actually considered this already, but even with my DIY skills I didn’t feel comfortable with opening the light up.

 

[dtruitt]

Great suggestion, I actually considered this already, but even with my DIY skills I didn’t feel comfortable with opening the light up.

I wouldn't be afraid to open these up. They make it relatively easy to get in (aside from the sheer number of screws on the chassis), there is a lot of space to work with, and the electronics are arranged in a more or less intuitive way.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I only have experience taking the 165w 1 apart and I assume it's got more screws. They are easy to work on and I changed alot of my leds out as you can see earlier in this thread. I wish I had done it earlier.

 

[Rp8]

I only have experience taking the 165w 1 apart and I assume it's got more screws. They are easy to work on and I changed alot of my leds out as you can see earlier in this thread. I wish I had done it earlier.

What was the results when u changed out LEDs? And did u just switch white and blues?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165watt-anyone-using-these.317612/post-7530090 this is what I did (page24)

 

[reef_ninja]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165watt-anyone-using-these.317612/post-7530090 this is what I did (page24)

I would be on this real quick but my soldering skills are garbage ( =non existent). I really like those results though, that looks good!

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I would be on this real quick but my soldering skills are garbage ( =non existent). I really like those results though, that looks good!

Thanks. I thought that about my soldering skills, maybe someone you know could help with the soldering.

 

[Mrreefercanada]

I have the 300watt over my 90 gal . It's a stable 3 year old system mixed reef. I have had this light for a year now and for my system with a little experimenting i found my sweet spot at 60% blue and 15%white( I also took off the 90 Deg lenses which allows much better light spread/mixing) . I have sps, Lps and softies all doing very well. This light is excellent and cost effective. The only suggestion to the manufacturer would add more channel control(5 or 6 channel control) and ramping.

 

[Brent Harpe]

Hey everyone it’s been a while since I’ve posted in this thread. I finally found something to eliminate blues on my phone. Here’s an updated photo of my tank. That said with using the filter it made me realize I need to raise my lights more to help with light spread. Anyone have a good way to hang these lights? Preferably a good hood design to hide them my wife really doesn’t want me attaching to the ceiling lol

 

[Shortben09]

Really liked the deep blue that these put out. Used 2 of them on my tank until I switched over to kessil, but didn't have a problem with them. Corals really pop under the color though, just wish you could daisy chain them.

 

[Brent Harpe]

October 6, 2019 and then November 18, 2020. The transformation my tanks made in a year is unreal. Again I know I need to raise my lights to help the spread. Gonna be working on that soon. But figured I’d share the transformation pictures of my tank in basically a year

 

[Katepete722]

Hey all! I've got a Viparspectra question and seems like this is the place to ask it!

I recently picked up a used 120 system that came with two 165 watt viparspectra. My problem is the white channel, even at 1 percent and blues at 100 percent kind of whites everything out and I don't get nice colors from my corals. With blues at 70 and whites at 0 they look great but I can barely see my fish lol. Right now I've got the whites running on 4 % for the first 4 hours of the photo period and the blues running for the full photo period. Basically my question is can my corals photosynthesize during the all blue portion of the photo period?

Thanks Viparexperts!

 

[Mrreefercanada]

Hey all! I've got a Viparspectra question and seems like this is the place to ask it!

I recently picked up a used 120 system that came with two 165 watt viparspectra. My problem is the white channel, even at 1 percent and blues at 100 percent kind of whites everything out and I don't get nice colors from my corals. With blues at 70 and whites at 0 they look great but I can barely see my fish lol. Right now I've got the whites running on 4 % for the first 4 hours of the photo period and the blues running for the full photo period. Basically my question is can my corals photosynthesize during the all blue portion of the photo period?

Thanks Viparexperts!

I think that two 165 watt units may be under powered for a 120 gal tank unless it's a fish only tank. I run mine at 65 blue and 15 white and it's great. It's still on the blue side but the colours pop very nicely. I run one 300 watt viparspectra combined with a 120 watt led strip light on my 90 gal but have a lot of sps. Maybe look at your height of mount also. Just some ideas as I have never heard of this issue with these lights.

 

[AbjectMaelstroM]

I think that two 165 watt units may be under powered for a 120 gal tank unless it's a fish only tank. I run mine at 65 blue and 15 white and it's great. It's still on the blue side but the colours pop very nicely. I run one 300 watt viparspectra combined with a 120 watt led strip light on my 90 gal but have a lot of sps. Maybe look at your height of mount also. Just some ideas as I have never heard of this issue with these lights.

I ran 2 of the viparspectra lights over my 4x2x2 120g and at 14" I was getting 120PAR at the sand bed and 480PAR at the top 2/3 of the tank. However, the spread to the perimeter wasnt the best. Also, these aren't 165w more tin the 112w max based on drivers (56w each channel).

That being said, two of these over 120g at 14" or so should be plenty to grow just about anything.

I have since dumped the lenses, added another light and dropped it down to 8" above water. Par stayed roughly the same but the spread is very much improved (even) and disco is reduced. I also removed 16 of the white LEDs from the white channel and replaced them with royal blue, violet and cyans....but thats a whole other ball game.

 

[Beefyreefy]

Just figured I’d add to this since I run these. I’ve got 3x 165w’s over my 6 ft 125gallon. I run them 100% blues and 0% whites. I used to run the whites at 10% but I wasn’t ever too happy with the blend of colors. I’ve found that adding 4x 48 in t5’s with the all blue viparspectras is much better at creating a more pleasing blue look reef tank. I run ati bulbs- 2 blue plus, one coral plus and one purple t5’s and I’m super happy with the color and can grow any coral.