Aqurium Lighting Black Box with Currrent Loop.

[diver22]

My tank is a standard 125 which is 21" tall. My 2 300 watt viparapectras are hanging about 12" above the tank, and I only keep them at around 50% blue and 25% white. I've only had corals for a little over a year but at my current settings I can grow everything from zoas to acropora.

Since my tank is rimmed and has the two black braces on the top I actually wish I would've gone with 3 165 watt fixtures instead of 2 300 watt. With the lights at that height I don't see any shading from the braces on the corals, but if a fish is swimming at the top I can see it go through dark places as it swims under a brace.

Great advise, yes my tand is that as well, I have the 2 plastic braces.. thanks for the heads up...

 

[Gtinnel]

Great advise, yes my tand is that as well, I have the 2 plastic braces.. thanks for the heads up...

I was going to post a picture of my tank but surprisingly I don't have a full tank shot on my phone and I'm not home right now. Later this evening I will post a full tank picture so you can get an idea of what it looks like with the 2 300watt.

 

[diver22]

2 of those could work with your size tank!

I made DIY stands if your a into DIY

Yes I have my display in the wall.... still cycling.... see below...

I do clone myself because is to difficult...lol...

That is front and back, I got a closet which the wife killed me.... lol...

 

[Gtinnel]

2 of those could work with your size tank!

I made DIY stands if your a into DIY

I ended up hanging mine from the ceiling to get the height I needed. I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of your stand if you have one handy.

 

[diver22]

I ended up hanging mine from the ceiling to get the height I needed. I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of your stand if you have one handy.

I posted pictures above... Thanks... I think the 3 165W like was suggested by Gtinnil is a great idea...

 

[Gtinnel]

So after actually paying more attention to my lights they are not a foot above the water, they're 8" above the water at most. Here is a full tank shot so you can see what the lights look like on my tank. Most of my corals are still frags, but all of my corals (minus a few exceptions) have done well in my tank with the viparapectra lights.

 

[diver22]

So after actually paying more attention to my lights they are not a foot above the water, they're 8" above the water at most. Here is a full tank shot so you can see what the lights look like on my tank. Most of my corals are still frags, but all of my corals (minus a few exceptions) have done well in my tank with the viparapectra lights.

Nice, you did mention your 24" from the bottom ?

 

[diver22]

Hey I just noticed, where di you get those power heads on each side ? do they work well circulating water ?

 

[Gtinnel]

Nice, you did mention your 24" from the bottom ?

The tank is 21" and the light is close to 8" above tank, so I'm probably close to 29" from light to bottom of tank. Unfortunately I don't have a par meter so I can't tell you what my par levels are.

 

[diver22]

Seems everything is happy, maybe I will go with 3 165 and put them lower...

 

[Gtinnel]

Hey I just noticed, where di you get those power heads on each side ? do they work well circulating water ?

They're just the cheap jebao scp150. But any brand gyre pump would work the same. They're set to alternate turning on and they do a good job of creating a wave motion in the tank. I'd prefer them to be horizontal but they wouldn't fit that way with my corner overflows.

 

[diver22]

How long have you had them ? Trying to find something so i do not have so many in my tank due to my aquas
cape...

 

[diver22]

Hey does the Vipraspectra have the ramp up and ramp down feature, or is just turn on and off the channels ?

 

[Gtinnel]

I've had mine for around 2 years with no problems at all. They only have the ability to set on/off times, and what intensity you want each channel to be. No ramping or anything fancy.

Actually I believe they can be made to ramp up and down with an apex controller if you install a seperate board, but you would have to be very comfortable with diy. I only mention it because I am going to try and make mine ramp up and down in the near future and I'm kinda excited about it.

 

[diver22]

I've had mine for around 2 years with no problems at all. They only have the ability to set on/off times, and what intensity you want each channel to be. No ramping or anything fancy.

Actually I believe they can be made to ramp up and down with an apex controller if you install a seperate board, but you would have to be very comfortable with diy. I only mention it because I am going to try and make mine ramp up and down in the near future and I'm kinda excited about it.

Do you know what board is it ?

 

[Gtinnel]

Do you know what board is it ?

Here is a link to it. I actually found a instruction guide on how to do it on Neptunes forum but I don't know how to attach a pdf.

Aquarium Controller Interface Harness

www.stevesleds.com

 

[diver22]

Here is a link to it. I actually found a instruction guide on how to do it on Neptunes forum but I don't know how to attach a pdf.

Aquarium Controller Interface Harness

www.stevesleds.com

Thanks going to look into it...

 

[Gtinnel]

Thanks going to look into it...

Here is a link to Neptune's forum where it was being discussed.

Question: VDM dimming on Viparspectra black box lights - Page 2

Hello has anyone successfully set up 0-10v vdm dimming on these lights? Im looking into it if I find a solution Ill post about it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

forum.neptunesystems.com

 

[Cool tangs]

I ended up hanging mine from the ceiling to get the height I needed. I wouldn't mind seeing a pic of your stand if you have one handy.

Going to eventually get a light for the middle and build another stand so I have more even spread. Ive mounted them this way because my tank has some depth to the sides