Chinese black box settings

[MikeandDee]

What settings are folks dialing thier Mars Aqua, Viper Specter lights too? Looking too see if thier is common agreement on what setting is good for coral growth...currently have blues at 60 and what's about halfway between minimum and 20 (we are using Mars Aqua)

Thanks in advance
Mike and Dee

 

[Webslinger]

from 0 to 90%. cycle up and down

 

[Fernthereefer]

Viparspectra 165W. I ramped it up slowly to reach 60% blues, 40% whites. I have the blues turn on 1 hours before and 1 hours after the whites. 10 hours blues, 8 hours whites.

However, I do have a glass top which by refraction/salt creep reduces the light penetration. Regardless, so far its been very good in terms of growth. Acropora 1/2 inch in 1 month (from frag), Stylopora: 1 inchs radial growth. Birdsnest: 1/2 inch, radial growth.

Of course, that is also due to water parameters, won't go there.

Conclusion so far: love this cheap LED, especially for starters like me. Reliable, cheap, and esthetically not that bad (the Vipar). They are super strong in PAR, so watch out!

 

[rgulrich]

Borrow a PAR meter, preferably something like the Apogee APG-MQ-510, that measures down to the violet/blue end of the spectrum.
Set your PAR to a value 200-300 or a little more or less, depending on the coral you're supporting (LPS generally less, a few SPS require more).

FYI, I'm running 2 165W and 4 300W ViparSpectra over my 300. With the lenses off to increase light dispersion at only 6-8" of height, I'm pulling 200-250 PAR on the rubble in the bottom of 27" of water. Oh, Ch01 at (blue) at 40% and ch02 (white) at 20%. The top of the reef under 10-12 inches of water is sitting between 300-400 PAR.

Please use a PAR meter when setting the lights up, and don't be afraid to raise the lights if need be to spread out/even out the PAR level across the aquarium. Otherwise there's a possibility you'll run into some issues with too much light.

Cheers,
Ray

 

[MikeandDee]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and input!!!

 

[Tahoe61]

Running Viparspectra 165w @ 100% blue and 1% for 10 hrs a day. I started at 60% 8 months ago.
Mix SPS, Zoanthids, LPS.

 

[ZGRZYPEK]

Running Viparspectra 165w @ 100% blue and 1% for 10 hrs a day. I started at 60% 8 months ago.
Mix SPS, Zoanthids, LPS.

are you seeing good growth? what size tank? I just bought 3x 165w for my 125g tanks that I'm just starting

 

[Tahoe61]

IM 40 gallon.

My tank is 8 months old. Coral 6 months.

For the money imo it's a good light. I can not complain. It's not my dream fixture but I have been pleasantly surprised.