Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?
- Thread starter Nicholas Dushynsky
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BBarry
Community Member
Just got one of these lights for my 40 breeder mixed reef tank. I also ordered the 120 deg lenses to give it more spread. Can anyone give me a good starting point for settings and mounting height? I only plan on using LPS and Soft Corals.
ikaros70
Active Member
I have 2 black box leds over my 40 breeder, 16.5” above water line. I also upgraded to 120* lenses, helps alot with the spread.
These black box leds are very powerful and it’s easy to cook corals if your just adjusting by the eye. I have 4 Viparspectra 165w lights across the top of my main display, 210 gallon.
Those are set to 30% blue channel, 1% white but my 210 is a deep tank, 29” deep.
40 breeders are not very deep and I would start with hanging the Viparspectra at least 16.5” above the water line, may need to be higher to get good spread since your only using one light. One light is good for
about 24”x24” but if you hang it high, might be able to get away with one light. You’ll just have to give it a try and see how it goes.
I turned down the led driver on my white channel to 5w, it helps with controlling the white channel. From the factory, all 4 of my Viparspectra lights were set to 11w @ the 1% setting. In the white channel led driver, there is a potentiometer on the circuit board and you can turn the white channel down. The white channel on these lights is way overkill, I turned all mine down to 5watts and gave me a lot more adjustability on the white channel.
The Blue channel doesn’t require any adjustment, it’s fine as is.
With the white channel turned down to 5w, I have my white channel set to 3% and blue channel is set to 30% but that is one my 210.
Where do you live? With some luck, somewhere near you will have a par meter.
Most of us in this hobby are very willing to help others, if live in NW Ind, if you lived near me I’d just come over and help you adjust your lights.
Chances are someone nearby can help.
billyocean
10K Club member
I have the factory lenses on mine and recommended height is 14". I run about 78% blues. Usually only run 1% whites if I run them because I don't like the vipar whites. They lights are super strong so be careful on %. At 72% blues only it was about 150 at the sandbed on a standard 125 gallon @14" above water. I would suspect you could run the lights lower height with with the 120s but I would probably turn down the intensity.
billyocean
10K Club member
Funny we answered this as the same time..lol. indidnt know you could turn down the whites. Please shoot me some how to on that!
ikaros70
Active Member
There is a how to vid on YouTube.
Here’s the link.
It’s kinda hard to see the potentiometer during the beginning but it has a close up of the board towards the end.
It’s not hard to do and I would do it again I. A heartbeat, well worth the effort. Doesn’t take long.
Beefyreefy
Active Member
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It’s been a while since I’ve chimed in on this thread so I figured I share an update. I run two 165w viparspectra’s, and one 300w over my 6 foot tank. The tank is about 5 years old and 90% of the time it’s been lit by viparspectra. I currently run the blues at 90%, but used to blast 100% before the corals grew to the surface. Whites are too powerful and not that attractive so I run them at 1-5% and supplement with a single purple T5 for more pleasing daylight spectrum at peak hours. I don’t have the fanciest of corals but my tank is proof that viparspectra can grow large colonies from frags, for all the black box naysayers out there. I’ll also add that I lost 50% of my euphyllia and various other corals to extremely elevated tin 2 years ago, so what I have now would be even more impressive if it wasn’t for that. Having trouble adding a movie in my reply, will add it later if I figure it out. Anyhow, feel free to ask anything about the lights or anything else!
There needs to be a bigger warning regarding the exposed ac side with the driver open and safety
I know some have used that pot to prevent flickering when the circuit is modified to use with like the apex 10v analog outputs.
billyocean
10K Club member
What do you mean?There needs to be a bigger warning regarding the exposed ac side with the driver open and safety
I know some have used that pot to prevent flickering when the circuit is modified to use with like the apex 10v analog outputs.
Driver has 110v ac on one side.
Black box doesn't dim to zero. Any way to fix this?
Basicallywhat the title says. The dimmers work, they just don't dim very far... I specifically am looking to dim the white chanel farther. Can i buy a new dimmer or what would be the best way? Any help would be appriciated.
www.reef2reef.com
billyocean
10K Club member
Thank youDriver has 110v ac on one side.
See#14 and #15.Black box doesn't dim to zero. Any way to fix this?
Basicallywhat the title says. The dimmers work, they just don't dim very far... I specifically am looking to dim the white chanel farther. Can i buy a new dimmer or what would be the best way? Any help would be appriciated.
ikaros70
Active Member
Oreo has a point, just pay attention to what your doing and it will be fine.
Don’t work on electronics while plugged in and don’t touch any of the electronics IMO is common sense but then again, people were eating tide pods.
Don’t work on electronics while plugged in and don’t touch any of the electronics IMO is common sense but then again, people were eating tide pods.
BBarry
Community Member
Thanks. I think my initial setup was going to be to start at 18 inches. If I remember correctly, when BRS did the block box challenge, I believe they said they would start there. That was also with the stock 90 deg lenses.
I also thought about taking all the lenses off too as that would also drop the par rating down.
But as far as where I live, I'm just outside of Philadelphia.
BBarry
Community Member
Ok so my tank is 5 inches shorter than yours (16inches vs 21inches) so add 5 inches to your 14 inch height puts me at 19 above the water. Now I'm getting somewhere for starting points.I have the factory lenses on mine and recommended height is 14". I run about 78% blues. Usually only run 1% whites if I run them because I don't like the vipar whites. They lights are super strong so be careful on %. At 72% blues only it was about 150 at the sandbed on a standard 125 gallon @14" above water. I would suspect you could run the lights lower height with with the 120s but I would probably turn down the intensity.
BBarry
Community Member
so based off what I'm reading from you guys, I think I'm going to start around 20 inches above water, 30% blues to start, 1-3% white. I'll see if I can find a par meter for rent locally to me. I'm a new reefer coming from freshwater planted aquariums so this is all new to me :)
billyocean
10K Club member
That seems like a good starting point but I wouldn't go 19" with 120 degree lenses..you can go lower because it spreads better. It's recommended to go 14 with factory lenses which I think are 90 so it doesn't have Hotspot and spreads better. Some people take the lenses off completely so it has max spread..it will drop the par output though but if you hang low and increase intensity I don't think it matters if the tanknisnt too deep with no lenses. Anyhoo..with 120 in there I wouldn't go higher because the light spill will be huge
Interesting discussion but I believe one should start with the geometry and dimmers before using height as a control.
At 20" above the water and 120 degree lenses and considering each diodes is a " point" the light cone projected is 69" in diameter. :eek:
Say centers are 14" apart left right( long axis)
Your 40 is 36" 36-14=22"
Your starting height would be about 6" to cover the water surface with little spill outside the tank.
Then just dim accordingly.
Now that is the err " technical" way to look at it.
The practical advice above is valid but knowing the physics also helps
Now the problem is the quality of the lenses and how they are measured to determine the angle.
In a sense they appear " too good" in general meaning they concentrate too much light in under their rated angle acting like say a 90 is like a 60.
Assuming the 120's are more 90- like your height goes to 10" if the goal is to cover left to right and that is your "target" dimension.
Front/ back just becomes whatever it is.
At 120 ( not the corrected 120 to 90)
and 6" your front/back spread is about 26" on your 18" tank.
If you want to do it the old fashioned way just tape a bunch of paper together and draw a rectangle the size of the tank surface area.
Raise and lower the light (on of course and maybe just the white channel) and see what height fills it to the ends.
Want to go old fashioned and techy use a lux app to take your eyeballs out of the equation. Suggest just using the white channel to get relative intensities.
Lux is tailored to white light moreso than blue. Just will give higher readings so theoretically more accurate. $12 dedicated lux meter would be somewhat better.
Helps you to get a picture of your light field uniformity.
Fun calculator:
store.marinebeam.com
At 20" above the water and 120 degree lenses and considering each diodes is a " point" the light cone projected is 69" in diameter. :eek:
Just consider the edge diodes.
Say centers are 14" apart left right( long axis)
Your 40 is 36" 36-14=22"
Your starting height would be about 6" to cover the water surface with little spill outside the tank.
Then just dim accordingly.
Now that is the err " technical" way to look at it.
The practical advice above is valid but knowing the physics also helps
Now the problem is the quality of the lenses and how they are measured to determine the angle.
In a sense they appear " too good" in general meaning they concentrate too much light in under their rated angle acting like say a 90 is like a 60.
Assuming the 120's are more 90- like your height goes to 10" if the goal is to cover left to right and that is your "target" dimension.
Front/ back just becomes whatever it is.
At 120 ( not the corrected 120 to 90)
and 6" your front/back spread is about 26" on your 18" tank.
If you want to do it the old fashioned way just tape a bunch of paper together and draw a rectangle the size of the tank surface area.
Raise and lower the light (on of course and maybe just the white channel) and see what height fills it to the ends.
Want to go old fashioned and techy use a lux app to take your eyeballs out of the equation. Suggest just using the white channel to get relative intensities.
Lux is tailored to white light moreso than blue. Just will give higher readings so theoretically more accurate. $12 dedicated lux meter would be somewhat better.
Helps you to get a picture of your light field uniformity.
Fun calculator:
LED Lighting Beam Angle Calculator
A simple calculator that determines spot size by a light's beam angle
Spicy Reef
Well-Known Member
I have 29" deep tank and have vipar's sitting on the lid, switched out to 120 deg lenses but the spread was exactly the same as factory, i show in one of the vids... I also took the leds out of the box and do not have to run the fans, silent! here's the series...
bishoptf
Valuable Member
I thought I would chime in since I saw this pop up but did a year or so ago, many of use just swap out a bunch of the white diodes on the white channels for more blue diodes. You can find more information earlier in the thread about how to do it and you can also drive them with a reef-pi unit and ramp them up and down. By removing a lot of the white diode's you can run the channels about the same levels depending on how blue or white you want the look....I have a 300w on my tank and doing that makes a huge difference in the look. I still have one of my modified t165 units for sale if anyone is interested, pics do not do it justice but here is a pic of my 300w unit runing 65%w and 55% blue...The other thing you can do is to add led strips in between the lenses for moon lights on a separate channel, again controlled with reef-pi....so many easy way to upgrade these lights. One of the other mods is to replace the fans with noctua fans, no more fan noise... :)
BBarry
Community Member
I'm wondering if taking all the lenses off will be best for me then as this tank only has LPS and Soft.
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