Chinese black boxes- please show me your tanks!

LesPoissons · Aug 12, 2020

Hi guys,
I’m in a debate with the spouse. I have 3 ViParSpectra 165w black boxes on my 220g tank. My tank is 4 years old and it’s just... okay. Corals grow but they don’t thrive, there’s some color but it’s not “wow” etc. I’ve gotten my parameters mostly stable, icp tests are good, everything is where it should be.... but the tank is still kinda blah. So I feel like it’s lighting and want to invest in kessils - while my spouse feels like I can have a beautiful tank w the blackboxes and I’m missing something somewhere else in the set up. And I know people do it great with the blackboxes so I’m hoping to see pics, tell me your settings etc and maybe I can mirror them- bc if it’s not the lighting then I’m doing something else wrong and I don’t know what. :/
Here’s my tank. I have montis that are good, mushrooms that are doing well, acros that are growing but I’ve never seen polyp extension, a yellow leather that’s also growing but next to 0 polyp extension for the year I’ve had it, slooooow growing candy cane, bubbles and Duncan’s are happy, hammer is happy etc.

Uncle99 · Aug 12, 2020

Silent · Aug 12, 2020

OP, your pics look dim. You might see a difference if it was lit up more.

Everything Aquatics · Aug 12, 2020

Adamantium · Aug 12, 2020

One thing I would keep in mind is that, unless you’re going for the AP9X, most Kessils are not particularly powerful. My tank grew much better under a black box than it does now under Kessils. Color maybe wasn’t quite as eye popping, but it wasn’t bad at all. Just less shimmer, really.

TurboSnail72 · Aug 12, 2020

29 gallon tank I ran for 2 years with a MarsAqua 300w. I was pretty happy with it overall, but also haven’t regretted upgrading my tank to radions as soon as I had the money

92Miata · Aug 12, 2020

I think 3 Viparspectra on a 240 is definitely on the low side.

That being said - I'd expect flow is a bigger issue if all you're running is that single stream pump we can see.

Luisreefmexico · Aug 12, 2020

I think you need more power, i dont know if this is the 100% of the lights but if you see other tanks with excellent sps, they have a lot more of light intensity, also use a full spectrum not only the blue lights.

The polyp extension could be one parameters variation or maybe one fish is stressed it

Ribo15 · Aug 12, 2020

8’ 240 with 5 155watt Chinese black boxes.

Gernader · Aug 12, 2020

75g reef with 2 Mars Aqua 165W (All blues, no whites)

derekrstout · Aug 12, 2020

LesPoissons said:
Hi guys,
I’m in a debate with the spouse. I have 3 ViParSpectra 165w black boxes on my 220g tank. My tank is 4 years old and it’s just... okay. Corals grow but they don’t thrive, there’s some color but it’s not “wow” etc. I’ve gotten my parameters mostly stable, icp tests are good, everything is where it should be.... but the tank is still kinda blah. So I feel like it’s lighting and want to invest in kessils - while my spouse feels like I can have a beautiful tank w the blackboxes and I’m missing something somewhere else in the set up. And I know people do it great with the blackboxes so I’m hoping to see pics, tell me your settings etc and maybe I can mirror them- bc if it’s not the lighting then I’m doing something else wrong and I don’t know what. :/
Here’s my tank. I have montis that are good, mushrooms that are doing well, acros that are growing but I’ve never seen polyp extension, a yellow leather that’s also growing but next to 0 polyp extension for the year I’ve had it, slooooow growing candy cane, bubbles and Duncan’s are happy, hammer is happy etc.

Bill Bolton · Aug 12, 2020

Those look to be in the 16 to 20k range.... corals need more than just deep blue. Try a good full spectrum light. I havent had a tank with LEDs, I tore mine down and sold it about 5 years ago, and at the time, I had T5HO combos that produced incredible color, polyp extensions and growth. I plan on building another tank when we buy a house, and will venture into the LED world then.
I can only recommend more daytime spectrum lighting, between 4000 and 10000k. I see a lot of LPS mentioned..... they like calcium.... and a bit of nitrate....
Best of luck to you!! Keep us informed to your progress!!

derekrstout · Aug 12, 2020

I have 1mars aqua over my 24 jbj and it does pretty well. bad photo, but you get the point. And the corals color was effected by a swing in the alk. I usually run a 8.6-8.8, and it got all the way up to 9.7 for over a week. color and stn is all improving now it’s back down. I have found better flow created better color.

Johnnynle · Aug 12, 2020

1 165w marsaqua, 1 165w philzon, 1 140w wattshine; With 4 t5 bulbs 2 b+, 1 coral+, 1 super actinic. On a standard 75 gal. At the moment I couldn’t be happier with growth and color. On my second year.

JCOLE · Aug 12, 2020

Warning: Picture Heavy but you asked for it.

I have (4) Mars Aqua 165w Black Boxes with 2 80W Blue+ T5s over mine. I replaced the diodes on the white channel with a better spectrum and how run them at 100% both channels. This is my 150 gallon Acro dominate tank just a little over a year old. Everything started from frags and most still are. However, I am getting good growth so far. Honestly, you dont need to spend a bunch of money on new LEDs. The key is changing the diodes over to the proper spectrum and possibly adding another light.