LED lightning : viparspectra

[nicova]

Hi

In a couple of weeks the new tank will be up and running.
However....

I'm confused about the lightning. The tank is 56 inch wide and 23 inch deep.
I wanted to use the VIPARSPECTRA 165W LED LIGHT DIMMABLE.

Can anyone help me with these :

- How many modules do I need to hang above the tank?
- I'll be keeping soft and SPS corals. Are these LEDs any good?
- Can anyone who has these give me some review information? Do corals grow underneath these?


Thank you in advance and I wish you all a good reefing!

 

[AwesomeDavid]

You could definitely get the Viparspectra, and 2-3 units would have plenty of light for even SPS corals. Many people get those and are happy with them, but I have yet to get my own black box leds. They last 100,000 hours, which may make paying a little extra worth it. The next highest I could find is 50,000.

 

[nicova]

You could definitely get the Viparspectra, and 2-3 units would have plenty of light for even SPS corals. Many people get those and are happy with them, but I have yet to get my own black box leds. They last 100,000 hours, which may make paying a little extra worth it. The next highest I could find is 50,000.

Hi David,

So for my tank 2 modules are good enough? I've read that it's better for the longterm condition of the LED's if you use them @ 70% or lower. Do I need 3 or will 2 cover the whole tank ?

thank you in advance.

 

[AwesomeDavid]

Well, each light covers 24 x 24 x 24, so if you used two there would be some shading on the sides, but three would cover the entire tank with room to spare. I think you would fry any coral running at 100%, so 70% or lower would be fine.

 

[ericarenee]

I have 5 of these lights.

Over my Main display tank 84x30x24 I have 3 of them over this tank.hanging 14 inches off the water . I have soft corals only in this tank. I run them 20% on white and 45% on blue. they are SUPER STRONG ,Fans are super quiet .. Once you get the programmable timer figured out they are great ,The few bad reviews these lights get on Amazon is because of the badly written timer.. but there are you tube people showing how to they work.

GOOD LUCK

 

[nicova]

Hi, so you would recommend 3? If U hang 2 of them with 7 inch in between, would they cover the entire tank? Just curious.

 

[TangingOut]

If you're doing sps, get 3 of them to cut down on eventual shadowing. How wide is your tank from front to back?

 

[ericarenee]

Hi, so you would recommend 3? If U hang 2 of them with 7 inch in between, would they cover the entire tank? Just curious.

I think two would be fine on your tank.. My Tank is 7 foot long and i have 3 ..

sorry ..

 

[nicova]

If you're doing sps, get 3 of them to cut down on eventual shadowing. How wide is your tank from front to back?

The tank is 56 inch wide and 23 inch deep. Hight is 23 inch.
I'm not interested in keeping acropora's. My main population will be sinularia, sarcophyton and some LPS. I want to keep soms chaetodon... :rollface::idea:

 

[nicova]

up, anyone?

 

[RobZilla04]

I also have these, 2 over my 90 gallon. They can grow all types of coral. You won't be disappointed.

 

[meegwell]

I have 5 of these lights.

The few bad reviews these lights get on Amazon is because of the badly written timer.. but there are you tube people showing how to they work.

GOOD LUCK

I can't find a video that focuses on the timer control and quite frankly it is driving me nuts! Otherwise, I like the lights a lot and once I figure out a better stand other than hanging I will be real happy.

 

[RobZilla04]

Are you having trouble setting the timers?

 

[WatDatThing]

Hi, so you would recommend 3? If U hang 2 of them with 7 inch in between, would they cover the entire tank? Just curious.

Look at my thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2621846
I have 2 over a 48" tank at about 8" above the water. You will need 3 unless you hang it higher.

It's easy to setup. I only have mine about 2 weeks. Current setup is 25% CH1 (blue) and 1% CH2 (white). It's a new tank. The 4 frags I bought seems to be happy. They are currently on the sand bed.

 

[WatDatThing]

I can't find a video that focuses on the timer control and quite frankly it is driving me nuts! Otherwise, I like the lights a lot and once I figure out a better stand other than hanging I will be real happy.

Setup is easy.

Intensity setup:

1) power on
2) press menu, you should see CH1 (blue channel)
3) Arrow up and down to change intensity. Once the intensity is selected, wait a few seconds. Once the display change from intensity value to the CH1, it means your setting is set.
4) Right arrow to change to CH2 (white), press up and down arrow to set intensity. Wait a few seconds for it to set.
5) Right arrow to change to HE (something). This is the auto mode.

Timer Setup: the bottom of the remote has 2 rows of buttons. The bottom row is the OFF time, and the upper row is the ON time.
1) Press CH1 On and set the time. Use the arrow keys. Make sure to set the minute to 00 or some value such as 8:00 otherwise it wont save the time correctly.
2) Press CH1 Off and set the time. Remember, it's military time. So 10PM should be 22:00

Remember not to use the ENT (enter) key in the middle of the arrow keys. Just set the time and wait a few seconds for it to set. I think the menu said 4 seconds.

 

[meegwell]

Setup is easy.

Intensity setup:

1) power on
2) press menu, you should see CH1 (blue channel)
3) Arrow up and down to change intensity. Once the intensity is selected, wait a few seconds. Once the display change from intensity value to the CH1, it means your setting is set.
4) Right arrow to change to CH2 (white), press up and down arrow to set intensity. Wait a few seconds for it to set.
5) Right arrow to change to HE (something). This is the auto mode.

Timer Setup: the bottom of the remote has 2 rows of buttons. The bottom row is the OFF time, and the upper row is the ON time.
1) Press CH1 On and set the time. Use the arrow keys. Make sure to set the minute to 00 or some value such as 8:00 otherwise it wont save the time correctly.
2) Press CH1 Off and set the time. Remember, it's military time. So 10PM should be 22:00

Remember not to use the ENT (enter) key in the middle of the arrow keys. Just set the time and wait a few seconds for it to set. I think the menu said 4 seconds.

OK I'll try again. I was using the OK in the middle of the arrows, and I was using minutes like :30. I am good with military time. I must say though, I read the directions and it seemed to be straight forward but when I set the blue (CH1) timer, after it saved it turned the white (CH2) on. I did this twice it is a bit bizarre. Does it matter if the channel is already ON or OFF when setting ON or OFF?

I will look at the thread posted.

I really want to come up with a new support I don't like the hanging kit - I'm reviewing various DIY options for something cleaner looking. There is a wooden option but it needs to attache to the back of the stand but I don't have access to the back of the stand. Anyway, I am searching...

I really do like the lights...just new to them and getting settled with these issues. The blue channel does wonders for my colors...fish and corals...

 

[meegwell]

Setup is easy.

Intensity setup:


5) Right arrow to change to HE (something). This is the auto mode.

I was not doing this for timer setting if that matters.

 

[WatDatThing]

....I must say though, I read the directions and it seemed to be straight forward but when I set the blue (CH1) timer, after it saved it turned the white (CH2) on. I did this twice it is a bit bizarre. Does it matter if the channel is already ON or OFF when setting ON or OFF?

I think I know what you are talking about. Factory has setup both CH1 and CH2 at a certain intensity. When you press power on. Both channels will come on. When you are setting up CH1, it's logical to think that you have only setup CH1 and the display say CH1 why is CH2 also on? The display of CH1 means you are setting up CH1. It has nothing to do with turning on only CH1.

If you want to turn on only 1 channel you have to (a) set the other channel intensity to 0 or (b) setup the on/off timer. For example, if you want only blue light from 6PM to 8PM, then you set CH2 to turn off at 6PM. If you only want blue light and no white ever, then set CH2 intensity to 0.

 

[WatDatThing]

I was not doing this for timer setting if that matters.

Sorry, by auto-mode, I mean auto on/off (timer) mode. If this mode is not selected, the programmed on/off timer will not take effect. That is what I experience.

 

[Foundry]

Have one of the 165W ViparSpectra lights sitting over our 30gal tank. Great light and an affordable price.

The timer is easy to setup. Though I found if you messed with the timer (say turn off channel 1 manually) it messes up the timer programming and you need to cycle through the options again.

We had an issue where we couldn't not hang the light where the tank was so I worked up a little light stand for the top of the tank. Forgive the terrible cyano issue we had, its now been replaced by GHA!