Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?

[DavidinGA]

I just recently returned my smatfarm led fixture and my Viparspectra came in a few days ago.
I must say, these Viparspectra fixtures are an excellent bang for your buck.
Much better spread and spectrum than the other black box led fixtures, I have tried.
These are comparable to some of the other higher end led fixtures one the market.
Note: I said some of the higher end end fixtures, not all.
There are some very nice high end fixtures on the market, they also come with a high price tag $$$
I suppose it all depends how much your able or can stomach spending on led fixtures.
I also want to mention as your reading though this several page thread, you will need to take some of the information being given with a grain of salt.
Some of it, simply isn’t true.
Ex. Can’t tune each color independently.
Some key takeaways from this thread.
Most all black box led fixtures of this style come with 90* lenses. Viparspectra included.
120* lenses will give you a better spread.
I have 120* lenses on order and when they come in, I will do a side by side with no lenses, 90* lenses and 120* lenses.
I tried removing the 90* lenses on both my Viparspectra and mars aqua black boxes.
I didn’t care for the look, promptly put the 90* lenses back on, just until the 120* lenses come in. I did not care for the look of running these with no lenses. Even my wife told me to put the lenses back on, lol! IMO… Very noticeable difference.
I will have to do some additional testing/comparison but it does not seem that running these without lenses gives the same
Spread as 120* lenses, but when the 120’s come in, we will definitely find out.
I am a systems engineer by trade and will see exactly where this fixture is at with and without the lens options and report back.
I am currently running this fixture on a 210 gallon tank, 6x24x29 tall. ~12” above water line. 3 fixtures across the top.
The Viparspectra fixtures do NOT come with independent color channels like some of the higher end led fixtures do.
You can not independently tune whites, blues, greens, reds, etc.
Viparspectra has 2 channels, whites and blues. That’s it. You can set the intensity of each channel (2 channels total) independently.
When my 120* lenses come in, will follow up.

My guess is you are not going to like the 120 lenses either because your leds are 12" off the waterline.

I have a couple black boxes with no lenses and the spread is fantastic, BUT my leds are 3" off the water. If I raise mine up to 12" with no lenses (they are now 120 degree emittors) it looks like garbage.

 

[Koh23]

Can you please explain "looks like garbage"?

 

[LeftyReefer]

These lights will also lose a lot of PAR when you remove the lenses.
You will get better blending/less disco balling, but also less PAR. the light won't penetrate the water as well without lenses.

without the lenses, you will need to hang the light a lot closer to the water, other wise you will have a lot of light spill and low PAR.

Most early users that tried taking the lenses off ended up putting them back on, if I remember correctly.
There just isn't much to be gained by taking the lenses off and you lose a lot of PAR by doing so.

 

[DavidinGA]

Can you please explain "looks like garbage"?

Sure.

At 12" and no lenses (same as having 120 degree lenses) a ton of the light not going to make it into your tank at all.

 

[DavidinGA]

These lights will also lose a lot of PAR when you remove the lenses.
You will get better blending/less disco balling, but also less PAR. the light won't penetrate the water as well without lenses.

without the lenses, you will need to hang the light a lot closer to the water, other wise you will have a lot of light spill and low PAR.

Most early users that tried taking the lenses off ended up putting them back on, if I remember correctly.
There just isn't much to be gained by taking the lenses off and you lose a lot of PAR by doing so.

Correct.

Run them just a few inches off the water, no lenses, high intensity (I run both channels at 100%).

There is a lot to be gained by taking the lenses off, *if* you can mount them correctly, namely superior color blending and no hotspots.

 

[Koh23]

That i noticed on all black boxes, but spread is way better when mounting higher without lenses... Par suffers, of course....

 

[KonradTO]

Is there any other benefit- other than the way light looks- for removing the lenses?
Do corals benefit from it?

 

[maisie_holmes]

I have been using this model as grow light. Are you sure these are aquarium lights?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I have been using this model as grow light. Are you sure these are aquarium lights?

They make different lights. So depending which one you bought then you may have got the one more for a plant spectrum.

 

[KonradTO]

Correct.

Run them just a few inches off the water, no lenses, high intensity (I run both channels at 100%).

There is a lot to be gained by taking the lenses off, *if* you can mount them correctly, namely superior color blending and no hotspots.

I tested mine -no lenses- against the kessiA160 and it outputs already a lot of PAR with whites at lower settings.
I think the kessil at 70% intensity 50% color corresponds to the vipar at 70%B 1%W.
Tested with a Lux meter right at water level

 

[dstockwell]

I have two 165W over a 55, 10 inches over the water on a new cycling tank. Settings are 65 blue 15 white, is this good for new tank?

 

[billyocean]

I have two 165W over a 55, 10 inches over the water on a new cycling tank. Settings are 65 blue 15 white, is this good for new tank?

Probably too close..13-14" is where I have my full size ones (300 watt). I have an extra 165 sitting around and it pushes the same par as my 300s..just smaller. Here's some numbers..all blue..just 1% white kicks it up a good bit.

 

[DavidsAquariums]

I had mine about 4 months and absolutely love the fixture! Seen great growth and I run mine at 65% blued and 1% whites ,Iv been think about cranking the whites up to about 5 but things are doing so well idk why I should other then looks lol

 

[billyocean]

It grows everything..including sps. Here's some that were just nubs or small un encrusted frags several months ago.

 

[dstockwell]

Probably too close..13-14" is where I have my full size ones (300 watt). I have an extra 165 sitting around and it pushes the same par as my 300s..just smaller. Here's some numbers..all blue..just 1% white kicks it up a good bit.

Well I really have don’t have a good way to raise, will post pic.

 

[billyocean]

Well I really have don’t have a good way to raise, will post pic.

If the spread is good it's fine...I would just be careful on the par, they are strong!

 

[KonradTO]

Well I really have don’t have a good way to raise, will post pic.

If you end up running them at like 30% you could always remove the lenses and increase intensity. This if you get some spotlight effect, otherwise I would not touch it (it makes the warranty void)

 

[dstockwell]

Yea , I have no plans to modify. I know someone with a PAR meter, will go that route.

 

[KonradTO]

Yea , I have no plans to modify. I know someone with a PAR meter, will go that route.

Yeah but consider also the downsides of the spotlight effect. You get some small points with different PAR / spectrum at the same distance from the fixture.
I keep my fixture at 6-8 inches from water surface so for me this was an actual problem. Removing the lenses made the light completely different looking. I cannot talk about coral growth though because my tank stinks at growing corals, but that's another story

 

[Rp8]

can anyone tell me which LED and where I can get them from?
The burned up light was at the top#6
So like A6
I’ve seen some on Amazon, but I have no idea what I’m looking for. I have emailed the company multiple times and no answer. Any help would be appreciated