JBJ Vipers: User reviews

JBJ says you have to wait at least a half hour after shutting it off before you can start it back up again.
 
ok guys and gals i want to try one of these lites but witch do i pick a 70 or 150 i have a aqua pod 24 and want alot of lite im leaning tward the 150 let me know what you think
 
Although I don't have mine yet, I like the 150 size because of the bulb selection that is available and it gives a nice bump in intensity over what you're used to with the pc's. But ultimately it depends on what you want to keep.
 
Viper 150

Viper 150

I'm trying to start it cold. If worked great at first so I don't know if it's the bulb or ballast.
 
Re: Broken Bulb

Re: Broken Bulb

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7168448#post7168448 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ocnreef
Well, I thought I would have some comments and review for our new JBJ Viper 150w but the bulb was broken when I openned the package. So now I'm in the waiting mode again..........more to come at a later date.


The replacement bulb came in and the 150w is looking great on our 24g NC. I'm glad I went with the 150w instead of the 70w for this tank. The color is great and I love the shimmer. Now for the burn in and to acclimate the current residents to the new light. I'll get some pictures posted this weekend.
 
I'll be getting my fixture in the mail tomorrow.
For the burn in - (takes around 100 hrs i guess?) - Would it be ok just to turn the thing on and leave it run for 24 hrs a day (not over my tank of course) for friday saturday and sunday? That would be 72 of the approx 100 hrs needed. The rest of the time could be used by acclimating my corals.
Anything wrong in doing it this way? Or should I just throw it on my tank as soon as i get it and start the burn in / acclimation at the same time?
Thanks
Stewie
 
Well PA came through big time and I got my replacement bulb today. Popped it in and it fired up right away (thanks to Jay @ PA!). The 150w over my 24g looks great! Obviously have to wait for burn in, but after only a little amount of time my corals seem happy. I don't know how thrilled I am about the color of the bulb, but then again I don't think this is the "JBJ" bulb as this replacement doesn't have any markings. The light seems to sit very well on the tank and is quite sturdy IMO. I was worried at first, but all seems ok now after a little tugging to make sure. Overall I am quite happy with it, the true test will come next week when it goes over my custom starphire 20g tank.
 
Just want to ask before getting the 24g tank with this light--are you nervous about putting your hand in the tank with this light on the tank?
 
5 gallon Complete Custom Tank:

(70watt 14K k2viper)

Before:
before.jpg


After:
after.jpg



more pix of it at different angles:

farfront.jpg


sideshot.jpg


sideshot2.jpg


top:
topshot.jpg
 
Koden.........I would try to angle the light a little more up so that its refelecting more into the tank and not on the back wall. Or it could be from the camera angle. By the way nice looking tank.
 
I think he just has it waaay to high above his tank.
I got mine delivered about an hour ago, got it set up, and right now its sitting about 8-9 inches off the surface of my water level and its almost as bright at my 96 watt powerquad i was using. Once i lower it down a few more inches, i know it will be alot brighter.
I know the bulbs has to "burn in", but mine seems to have a real white color with a large tint of blue to it. Perfect color, IMO.
A review and pics will follow sometime later today.
Stewie
 
I just have few questions for all of you who are now using these lights. How does evap compare to what it did before? Second, has anyone used a PAR or Lux meter to compare the true difference in MH vs PC? I know that PC's will diffuse better, and thus look brighter to the human eye, but the actual intensity is greater with MH's. Thanks for your comments.
 
Well, since i've only had my fixture for about an hour and half now, I really can't answer your questions, but I will tell you what I know.
On my tank I can't have it centered because of my hob filter (carbon, chemipure, etc). I will be moving this to another 10 gallon tank w/ no hob filter. As far as the intensity of the light - its bright man. I have 2x 175 watt se's over my 55 gallon, and i can look at them for a few seconds. I look at this bulb for about 1/2 second and i'm seeing white spots when i blink lol.
Since the light is not centered, there is a dim spot on the left side of my tank. I believe this is due to 2 thigns:
1. The light being off centered
2. Since i'm going to acclimate my corals by lowering it about an inch a week, i belive it is just up too high right now to make the whole tank REALLY bright.
As far as evap goes: I would evap about 2 gallons a week on using the powerquad. I will have to test this and see how it goes.
I don't have a par or lux meter, but i will tell you that when i used the powerquad i had a massive colony of neon green zoos. They would never ALL be out at any given time. Within 10 mins of turning on the mh lights, ALL the zoos are out and look real great.

One thing I did notice however, is the heat from the fixture. When touching the top of the head, you definitely have some heat there.. Its actually so hot that you can leave your hand on it for about 2 or 3 seconds and have to remove it because of the heat. I believe jbj should have installed a small fan to remove the heat from the top of the fixture. I know once my 6 month (STUPID if you ask me) warranty is up, i'll be installing a small fan at the top of the fixture to remove excess heat.
Also, some other people have complained about the lack of or not good shimmer lines. I believe they didn't have much surface disruption, as my shimmer lines are great.

If you need anything else answered, let me know, and i'll try and do my best.
Stewie
 
For some reason angling it that way made everything a bit brighter, since the light is hitting the "front side" of the corals... though I've already adjusted it.

Also it is SUPER high up, I didn't want to freak my zoanthids out right away.

The kelvin rating (14K) is definately different than my PC setup, looooks really good though =) I've moved it down so I'll take pictures tonight and post them again. I have 1 gallon of RO/DI water hooked up to an ATO so I don't need to worry about evap.

This tank is only 9" high btw ;) and I'm only keeping zoanthids and cloves in there at the moment (with a xenia of course).

Here are pics with my PC's, i'll take some tonight with my viper and do a comparo:

Here's a shrimp on zoanthids with my PC lights:
shrimp_pinkzoo.jpg


Some real bright pink zoos:
pink_muffin_zoo.jpg


not sure what these are called:
DSC_0011.jpg


Fire and ice:
fireandice.jpg


FTS with PCs:
pico_fts.jpg
 
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