Viparspectra help

[Mikemilly245]

Old pic but anyone that has used these lights can you tell just by looking if my lights are mounted too low ? 90 gallon 48x18x24. Right now I have them at 35/1 and I recently had a monti bleach out and a lobo as well so I’m pretty bummed. Everything else seems okay and I can’t get my hands on a par meter till Friday when the lfs opens up. Any suggestions with settings would help too. Haven’t done a test as I was out of town over the weekend but my initial thoughts are light intensity

 

[SandNRocks]

put it like 10-12” over the water line and depending on the light set whites to 1-10% and blues like 35- 70%. I have 3 of them over a 75 with no issues

 

[redfishbluefish]

For LED's they typically say that they should be at 12-14 inches off the water. However, because you don't have a canopy and the top of your rock work is half way down the tank, I'm thinking you're OK. Make that call if you're getting spotlighting. If you raise them up, without a canopy, you'll end up getting considerable spillover of light.

Now, the one thing you didn't mention is your light duration. I have three over a five foot 90 gallon tank at 13.5 inches off the water.

Here's the light schedule I use with blues at 50 and whites at 10....note the newer ViperSpectra increment in 10's. You must have an older model, setting them at 1%. Anyway, here's my light schedule.

Sunrise (Moonlights) ----------- 1 hr --- 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ----------- 3 hr --- On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) -- 4 hr ---- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ----------------3 hr ---- Off at 9PM
Sunset (Moonlights) -------------1 hr --- 9PM-10PM

My "moomlights" are two, four foot Icecap strips. You can see the front one in the picture above.....actually you can see the back one as well.

 

[Uncle99]

Looks a bit low, and we want coverage. Viparspectra are quite powerful and in the beginning, your 1/35 is fine.

I see the light pattern on the top and at least, in the pic, the footprint is less than the area to be covered.

I run these lights about 16” off the water, and run 1/70 in power however, it took years to get it up.
That’s the most I’d go with these lights.

The higher the light the more diffused that light is and we want to maximize coverage without to much light overspill.

I mix in some 460 and 420 T5’ to supplement the Viparspectra

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Looks a bit low, and we want coverage. Viparspectra are quite powerful and in the beginning, your 1/35 is fine.

I see the light pattern on the top and at least, in the pic, the footprint is less than the area to be covered.

I run these lights about 16” off the water, and run 1/70 in power however, it took years to get it up.
That’s the most I’d go with these lights.

The higher the light the more diffused that light is and we want to maximize coverage without to much light overspill.

I mix in some 460 and 420 T5’ to supplement the Viparspectra

Im building a rig to do something similar with my 2 viparspectra over my 4ft 120g.

 

[Uncle99]

Im building a rig to do something similar with my 2 viparspectra over my 4ft 120g.

After two years, I’m happy with the additional T5’s

I just bought two Sunblaster T5 units and put them together with 2, 3/4” x1/8” aluminum blanks with two holes in each. 4 screws and done. Cost without bulbs, $175.

Tons of ways to make that happen.

Good luck.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

After two years, I’m happy with the additional T5’s

I just bought two Sunblaster T5 units and put them together with 2, 3/4” x1/8” aluminum blanks with two holes in each. 4 screws and done. Cost without bulbs, $175.

Tons of ways to make that happen.

Good luck.

Not trying to hijack the OP, but since we're all running viparspectra seems like good to know content!

Im going full custom, I'll probably make a post with the build thread when I do it. You basically get all your whites from the viparspectra and use t5's to change the appearance/add more lower spectrum lighting?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Op, since i did hijack your post a bit, I have my 2 vipars mounted around 11" off the water(which will be changing to higher once I A) build my led/t5 combo setup and B) build a canopy of someone's as the wifes not a fan of the light spill

 

[billyocean]

Shouldn't be too much par at those numbers. I'm at 85% blue and 10% white for 2 hours midday. I run thr blues for 14 hours. Before I removed the lenses from the whites I ran them at 1%. One of these days I'll mod the white leds to a better white that isn't as yellow. I'm a heavy acro tank so our needs are likely different intensity wise.

About 13" off of waterline

 

[skiergd011013]

I have one of these coming this week. I currently have the wills 165w mounted 13" above tank(standard 20 gallon) , running 25% white and 75% blue. Also have a par meter, so i can test what the par is currently under the wills, and make sure not to exceed it with the vipra when i change lights so i dont stress anything. Did they take away the ability to adjust the vipra in 1% increments and now you can only do 10%?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I have one of these coming this week. I currently have the wills 165w mounted 13" above tank(standard 20 gallon) , running 25% white and 75% blue. Also have a par meter, so i can test what the par is currently under the wills, and make sure not to exceed it with the vipra when i change lights so i dont stress anything. Did they take away the ability to adjust the vipra in 1% increments and now you can only do 10%?

Yes, only 10% increments now

 

[jsmkmavity]

The whites are pretty bright even at very low % on the viparspectra.mine are about 9"" off the water and they dont cover front to back fully but my bars fill it in.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have one of these coming this week. I currently have the wills 165w mounted 13" above tank(standard 20 gallon) , running 25% white and 75% blue. Also have a par meter, so i can test what the par is currently under the wills, and make sure not to exceed it with the vipra when i change lights so i dont stress anything. Did they take away the ability to adjust the vipra in 1% increments and now you can only do 10%?

Here's what I know.....I purchase in Jan 2024 and they must of recently changed over to the 10% increment. At that time they were taking fixtures back and installing whatever they needed to do the 1% changes....but that didn't last long. I do know many people complained and after purchasing mine, I didn't keep up with what was going on. They could have changed back and I'd never know.

 

[skiergd011013]

Yes, only 10% increments now

Hmm. Well hopefully i can make that work. Im sure its fine. It has very good reviews on amazon

 

[skiergd011013]

Here's what I know.....I purchase in Jan 2024 and they must of recently changed over to the 10% increment. At that time they were taking fixtures back and installing whatever they needed to do the 1% changes....but that didn't last long. I do know many people complained and after purchasing mine, I didn't keep up with what was going on. They could have changed back and I'd never know.

They switched back to 1%. I think they made the switch in march of 2024. I just got a new unit, its 1%.


Dear friend,

Received your message smoothly.

Yes, the dimming interval of the new version of V165 we are currently selling is 1%.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us for further help.
Looking forward to your reply.
Best Regards,
VIPARSPECTRA Customer Service



They received my question Smoothly, lol