Viparspectra LED Intensity

[Joey.S]

Hey everyone,

I have a 300W Viparspectra LED over my 90 gal softie dominated reef. The last couple days I’ve noticed my cespitularia shrink and have closed polyps, my big toadstool has some grey spots on it, as well as other leathers aren’t really opening up. The settings I run are 20% blues 5% whites. Is this still too much? Thank you

Joey

 

[Jekyl]

I had black box (different ones) and ran 60 blue 20 white if I remember correctly

 

[Jekyl]

Theres a brs investigates video on black boxes. At 100% blues you get 5 or 600 par directly underneath. Outside that drops quite a bit

 

[Kygo]

I have the same light over a standard 29 gallon, 30". 25% blue 1% white. Mounted about 12" above. I rented a par meter and got these readings. Hope it helps

I feel like people underestimate the par coming out of this light and crank it too high. It is 165w after all. Oops, I missed that you said the 300w version and not the 165w.

 

[Joey.S]

I have the same light over a standard 29 gallon, 30". 25% blue 1% white. Mounted about 12" above. I rented a par meter and got these readings. Hope it helps

I feel like people underestimate the par coming out of this light and crank it too high. It is 165w after all

Oh wow what? But will the par readings not increase by increasing the intensity of the fixture? Those numbers are really low.

 

[Joey.S]

I have the same light over a standard 29 gallon, 30". 25% blue 1% white. Mounted about 12" above. I rented a par meter and got these readings. Hope it helps

I feel like people underestimate the par coming out of this light and crank it too high. It is 165w after all

Unless it’s because yours is mounted higher than mine, I got mine 8” above. And I have the 300W 16 inch long one.

 

[Kygo]

Oh wow what? But will the par readings not increase by increasing the intensity of the fixture? Those numbers are really low.

The par increases by adjusting either the blue or white channel. I should've taken a lot more data but my tank is mostly lps and softies so I was shooting for 75-150 throughout most of my tank. I'm also using the 165w version, so I'm sure your 300w will be a bit different. If I remember correctly, each blue channel increase of 1% raised par by like 7-8. I never messed with the white and always left it at 1. I feel like even at 100% blue and 1% white, it's just barely the deep blue I'm looking for and never wanted the tank to look more white. Mine being mounted higher will definitely effect par readings. 4" in height is significant if you understand how par decrease over distance.

 

[Joey.S]

The par increases by adjusting either the blue or white channel. I should've taken a lot more data but my tank is mostly lps and softies so I was shooting for 75-150 throughout most of my tank. I'm also using the 165w version, so I'm sure your 300w will be a bit different. If I remember correctly, each blue channel increase of 1% raised par by like 7-8. I never messed with the white and always left it at 1. I feel like even at 100% blue and 1% white, it's just barely the deep blue I'm looking for and never wanted the tank to look more white. Mine being mounted higher will definitely effect par readings. 4" in height is significant if you understand how par decrease over distance.

I wish I had a par meter. My toadstools have been having issues of always being closed up. I upgraded from the 165W to 300W. And I don’t know if they’re getting too much light. I’m currently sitting at 15% blue 5% white.

 

[Kygo]

I wish I had a par meter. My toadstools have been having issues of always being closed up. I upgraded from the 165W to 300W. And I don’t know if they’re getting too much light. I’m currently sitting at 15% blue 5% white.

Depends on how far they are below the water line and how high the light is above the water line. I always see toadstools high up in tanks near sps, I'm guessing they aren't getting enough. But not enough is always better than more, slowly increase week by week until you get better results. If you want to take the guess work out, just rent a par meter from one of the several places that rents them out online, brs isn't the only option. Most local reef clubs rent them free to supporting members. Try and see if you have a club near you.

 

[Joey.S]

Depends on how far they are below the water line and how high the light is above the water line. I always see toadstools high up in tanks near sps, I'm guessing they aren't getting enough. But not enough is always better than more, slowly increase week by week until you get better results. If you want to take the guess work out, just rent a par meter from one of the several places that rents them out online, brs isn't the only option. Most local reef clubs rent them free to supporting members. Try and see if you have a club near you.

Should I be increasing both slowly week by week? Or only one channel? They seem to be in an endless shedding cycle. Been going on for months now. I thought it was high alkalinity (Red Sea Coral Pro) so I switched salts a few weeks ago with a lower alk (Fritz RPM). I haven’t seen an improvement yet.

 

[Kygo]

I'd say adjust as much as you're comfortable with. Increasing both a few percentage points every week or 2 seems reasonable to me, but maybe not to someone else. Patience is the key in this hobby, and it's usually the hardest lesson to learn. But I know seeing your corals seemingly never be happy is hard to deal with. Also try and make a single change at a time and wait to see improvements so you can single in on what fixes or exacerbates the issue. Not telling you what you should do, but if I was in your position I'd probably just increase intensity slowly. That or rent the par meter, it'll give you peace of mind knowing lighting isn't your issue. That's what I went through and why I rented one. Then move on to the next thing you think your issue might be.