Viparspectra vs NiCrew vs Red Sea

TCoach

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So, I'm looking to upgrade my lighting on my 92 corner. My local LFS really recommends the Red Sea LEDS (50 or 90), but at a cost of $700-800 for a pair, that seems to be a lot of money. I keep looking at the Viparspectras and their long history of success, and also the Nicrew lights. Both of them would be about 50% of the cost of the Red Sea's.

So my question is, are the Red Sea's really worth 2x the cost? I'm right the tank has shrooms, zoa's, and some Frogspawn. I'll probably keep it more of a softie/LPS tank going forward. There is a possibility of some SPS, but it would not be the primary focus of this reef.

Thanks for any insight.

tempImageFNe6Q1.png
 

dhnguyen

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It depends what you're after. All of those lights mentioned will work and grow corals (SPS included) but the Redsea will have a lot more controllability and programmability. The Vipar and Nicrew have some basic controls for on/off timer and that's about it.

The Red Sea ReefLED will have more of a metal halide shimmer also which a lot of people prefer.

There is another option if that's what you like, check out Popbloom RS90

Here are some vids of them running
 

Gtinnel

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I've never used Red Sea lights so I can't give any insight into if they're worth it, but I have been using Viparspectra lights for about 2 years now. The only complaint I will give about the viparspectra is the lack of control, I would love to have ramping up and down built into them. For me personally if I was looking at the cost of the Red Sea I would consider other manufacturers as well.

Since you said you are upgrading and are considering Viparspectra and Nicrew, if you don't mind me asking what do you have now? I like my Viparspectra lights for the price but I can't see them being used as an "upgrade".
 

dhnguyen

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I've seen the Red Sea 90 in person at my LFS since that's all they run. It's an awesome looking light and it looks very much like metal halide (more so than any LED I have seen or used) Their price point is prohibitive for me though.
 
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TCoach

TCoach

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I've never used Red Sea lights so I can't give any insight into if they're worth it, but I have been using Viparspectra lights for about 2 years now. The only complaint I will give about the viparspectra is the lack of control, I would love to have ramping up and down built into them. For me personally if I was looking at the cost of the Red Sea I would consider other manufacturers as well.

Since you said you are upgrading and are considering Viparspectra and Nicrew, if you don't mind me asking what do you have now? I like my Viparspectra lights for the price but I can't see them being used as an "upgrade".
My tank came with 2 Current USA strip lights and I've added a Nano Nemo Light that I had. The Current USA lights are very weak.
 

oreo54

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AutumnReefs

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So, I'm looking to upgrade my lighting on my 92 corner. My local LFS really recommends the Red Sea LEDS (50 or 90), but at a cost of $700-800 for a pair, that seems to be a lot of money. I keep looking at the Viparspectras and their long history of success, and also the Nicrew lights. Both of them would be about 50% of the cost of the Red Sea's.

So my question is, are the Red Sea's really worth 2x the cost? I'm right the tank has shrooms, zoa's, and some Frogspawn. I'll probably keep it more of a softie/LPS tank going forward. There is a possibility of some SPS, but it would not be the primary focus of this reef.

Thanks for any insight.

tempImageFNe6Q1.png


The main difference is mounting height and spread. Red sea lights can be mounted closer to the surface without hotspot issues vs vipaspectras need to be 2ft above the water to fix the issue. Nicrews also don't have the best spread unless you mount them higher. The red sea also doesn't give the disco ball effect. The red sea also has shimmer lines more like the kessil.
 

Jedi1199

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My tank came with 2 Current USA strip lights and I've added a Nano Nemo Light that I had. The Current USA lights are very weak.
I have a Current USA strip on my 55 and while I like the controllability, the intensity is awful. I will be upgrading soon I am sure. Not sure what direction I am going to go though. I am thinking Kessil, but as you said the cost is prohibitive.

I got this for my 32 Biocube and I am very happy with it. It, lacks the controllability I want, but the intensity (especially the blues) is spot on. My corals and fish look fantastic under this light.

 

Fakegolfnews

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It depends what you're after. All of those lights mentioned will work and grow corals (SPS included) but the Redsea will have a lot more controllability and programmability. The Vipar and Nicrew have some basic controls for on/off timer and that's about it.

The Red Sea ReefLED will have more of a metal halide shimmer also which a lot of people prefer.

There is another option if that's what you like, check out Popbloom RS90

Here are some vids of them running

Disclaimer for anyone reading this. Redsea led's are nothing like a metal halide in any way. A point source light being compared to a metsl halide is one of the most irresponsible statements i have ever read. The red sea will have about 1000x as many shadows as a metal halide
 

Spieg

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IMO the RedSea 50s are pretty worthless on anything larger than a nano tank. The 90s are better but too expensive for the amount of light they provide.
 

legionofdoon

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Disclaimer for anyone reading this. Redsea led's are nothing like a metal halide in any way. A point source light being compared to a metsl halide is one of the most irresponsible statements i have ever read. The red sea will have about 1000x as many shadows as a metal halide
Isn't Metal halide a point source light?
 

dhnguyen

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Disclaimer for anyone reading this. Redsea led's are nothing like a metal halide in any way. A point source light being compared to a metsl halide is one of the most irresponsible statements i have ever read. The red sea will have about 1000x as many shadows as a metal halide
Really dude? I never said the Redsea is the equivalence of metal halide. Only that it has a metal halide like shimmer.
 

oreo54

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Not with a good reflector.
Technically it' s now a 1000's of point light source.
"Shimmer" is a product of that.

The shiney reflector does not diffuse the err points 100%
Leds are multipoint point light sources.

T5's are non- point light sources.

Sun is a practically perfect point light source. Clouds and molecules its diffuser.

Yes mh's have less shadows and or lighter ones than most leds but more than the t5 " pointless" light source..

Sort of just semantics.

This distance is not so for the MH lamps used. These are point sources of light and when placed in a reflector the light emanates in a cone with intensity gradually decreasing as we move away from the central axis of the cone and with increasing distance from the source. For all practical purposes, the intensity as a single measure is not a sufficient measure of the quality of the reflector.


Point is leds are closer to mh than mhs are to t5's
 

Reeferaddicts

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I use 3x popbloom 90s on my 125g and then I use 2x red sea 50 on my 37g bowfront. The 125g some corals have grown a bit in 4 months. But the 37g has grown a lot in just 2 months. It could be the light schedule I have set on the red sea. Where as the popblooms I just have set to 4 season with lunar. I have 3 kessil a360x tuna I'm going to put on the 125g to replace the popblooms. But all in all they both look similar in lighting atleast to the eye. Shimmer is definitely better on red sea in my opinion.

20220205_084634.jpg 20211119_094944.jpg
 

Koh23

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Red sea are better lights than popbloom, and cost way more..

Yes popbloom units growth coral, but...

My main reason against them is totaly stupid presets, whuch arent controlable, so, if you select one of them, you cannot customize to your needs... I mean, how hard is to implement that into controller?

I want "reduce algae" preset, i want it to run from 8 am to 8pm, and i want it at 73% intensity... Sory, cant do that.....
 

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