New black box thoughts on coverage?

[Benga]

This tank is 36" long. I was previously using a 48" 4-Bulb WavePoint T5ho so as you can imagine I had a lot of light spill on the sides of the tank. I used 3 bulbs in the WavePoint; 2x Blue Wave, 1x Red Wave.

I picked up this black box and now I'm not sure how high I should have the light and how much of the two channels I should have. Also what are your thoughts on the height of the black box. I heard I could remove the lenses on the edges of the box for better coverage too.

Some corals I have are; Duncan, Candy Cane Coral, BirdsNest, Ricordea, Frogspawn

 

[sbash]

Nice looking tank!

You can squeeze a little more coverage out of the fixture if you pop it open and pull the lenses off. (I'm just guessing from the first photo that it has lenses). LEDs natively (usually) have a 120 degree spread (I am generalizing, but it is a safe estimate), and for some reason these folks like to put a 90 or 45 degree lense over the diode. I have two fixtures side by side (with and without lenses) that I can take a picture of so you can see the difference if you want (will have to wait until lights on tomorrow though)...

I had one over my 65 gallon (no lensed BB LED over a 3 foot tank) and it worked fine. There was some shadowing in the very bottom corners, but it was a deep tank. The centre brace created a huge shadow though, but it looks like yours does not have a centre brace?

the fixture height looks good, I would slowly raise the blues up to 90% (over a few weeks), then add in the whites to accommodate your viewing pleasure.

 

[Benga]

Nice looking tank!

You can squeeze a little more coverage out of the fixture if you pop it open and pull the lenses off. (I'm just guessing from the first photo that it has lenses). LEDs natively (usually) have a 120 degree spread (I am generalizing, but it is a safe estimate), and for some reason these folks like to put a 90 or 45 degree lense over the diode. I have two fixtures side by side (with and without lenses) that I can take a picture of so you can see the difference if you want (will have to wait until lights on tomorrow though)...

I had one over my 65 gallon (no lensed BB LED over a 3 foot tank) and it worked fine. There was some shadowing in the very bottom corners, but it was a deep tank. The centre brace created a huge shadow though, but it looks like yours does not have a centre brace?

the fixture height looks good, I would slowly raise the blues up to 90% (over a few weeks), then add in the whites to accommodate your viewing pleasure.

Yea I was looking into taking the lenses off tonight most likely. I took a picture with it on max but then realized the autofocus adjusts so that it's not even noticeable. You all the lenses off? I was thinking for mine maybe just take 4 columns off; 2 columns on the right side and 2 on the left side. I suppose I should start with 4 columns then test and maybe take more off if the coverage doesn't feel adequate.

Nah this 40G doesn't have a center brace on the top but I think it might underneath but I can't remember.

 

[sbash]

Yea I was looking into taking the lenses off tonight most likely. I took a picture with it on max but then realized the autofocus adjusts so that it's not even noticeable. You all the lenses off? I was thinking for mine maybe just take 4 columns off; 2 columns on the right side and 2 on the left side. I suppose I should start with 4 columns then test and maybe take more off if the coverage doesn't feel adequate.

Nah this 40G doesn't have a center brace on the top but I think it might underneath but I can't remember.

Yeah, it's worth a shot. I would be concerned the lenses would block the light from the diodes without lenses, so it could create weird shadowing... Personally, I would pull them all off, but yeah, if you start at the outside and work your way in until you get the coverage you want, it should work!

HOWEVER, even spectrum coverage might become a problem, for example, I'm not sure what the effect will be if the reds and greens are not evenly spread... Might be a moot point, as you would keep the low lights corals on the sides and in the low light zones and in my experience they are less picky...

 

[Benga]

Yeah, it's worth a shot. I would be concerned the lenses would block the light from the diodes without lenses, so it could create weird shadowing... Personally, I would pull them all off, but yeah, if you start at the outside and work your way in until you get the coverage you want, it should work!

HOWEVER, even spectrum coverage might become a problem, for example, I'm not sure what the effect will be if the reds and greens are not evenly spread... Might be a moot point, as you would keep the low lights corals on the sides and in the low light zones and in my experience they are less picky...

I just removed all the outer lenses and holy moly just those alone and it spreads like crazy. This is perfect I might remove a little more but wow I didn't think those lenses restricted that much!

 

[sbash]

I just removed all the outer lenses and holy moly just those alone and it spreads like crazy. This is perfect I might remove a little more but wow I didn't think those lenses restricted that much!

Post a pic! I would love to see a before and after

 

[Benga]

It's kind of hard to tell because the camera is automatically adjusting the exposure and all. But both the before and after are both max settings. Also the before was taken while the sun was still out a little.
The camera adjusting is probably why I never thought it was worth taking the lenses off when I saw other people on youtube or the forum.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Hm so I think in your case I may consider using two black boxes. Your tank looks like it's pretty deep and a little long. I have a 20g long, which is 30" long and only 12" deep. One black box is just barely cutting it to get the PAR and coverage that I want.

At least that's what I'd do. I'd get a second. But that's just me.

 

[Benga]

Hm so I think in your case I may consider using two black boxes. Your tank looks like it's pretty deep and a little long. I have a 20g long, which is 30" long and only 12" deep. One black box is just barely cutting it to get the PAR and coverage that I want.

At least that's what I'd do. I'd get a second. But that's just me.

Yea a second one would be nice, I believe mine is 18" deep. But i just took out some lenses and the coverage is a lot more now, i was impressed. I think down the line when my tank isn't as empty ill add a second light.

So I should run the white channel for a while during the acclimation period? Would that help kill off some algae or do we see algae surviving with blue light too?
I ask coz as you can see there's some dark green algae on my rocks and I have a tiny tiny bit of bryopsis so I'm wondering if I might kill some off during acclimation until my magnesium shipment comes in to bring my levels back up. (currently 1100..)

 

[sbash]

Awesome!

 

[sbash]

So I should run the white channel for a while during the acclimation period? Would that help kill off some algae or do we see algae surviving with blue light too?

I ask coz as you can see there's some dark green algae on my rocks and I have a tiny tiny bit of bryopsis so I'm wondering if I might kill some off during acclimation until my magnesium shipment comes in to bring my levels back up. (currently 1100..)

The whites will grow more algae than the blues... You want to acclimate to your end state, I would acclimate over four weeks (depending on how 'dull' your old lights were). Start with both channels at 20% of your end state, then raise them up 20% every week. For example, if you want 25% white and 90% blue, start at 5% white and 18% blue, and increase that same amount every week...

If you want algae control, you could do a 3 day black out to nip any algae you have in the bud right now. You are better off doing this, than dealing with the hassle of it getting out of control.

 

[Finhead]

Yea a second one would be nice, I believe mine is 18" deep. But i just took out some lenses and the coverage is a lot more now, i was impressed.

When you pop the lenses off to get the better spread you also reduce your PAR, the BB are known to have a fairly focused hotspot directly under the light. If it were me I would remove all the lenses so you don't have the massive hotspot you will now have with lenses only on the center with lenses. At leat that is my opinion and what I found when I checked PAR when doing a similar test when I was running a BB.

 

[Benga]

When you pop the lenses off to get the better spread you also reduce your PAR, the BB are known to have a fairly focused hotspot directly under the light. If it were me I would remove all the lenses so you don't have the massive hotspot you will now have with lenses only on the center with lenses. At leat that is my opinion and what I found when I checked PAR when doing a similar test when I was running a BB.

That's a good point, that i didn't think about. i'll likely pop all the lenses off.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

So basically the lenses are restricting the light output? I have the same light style on my 40g. I like the results on yours.

 

[Benga]

So basically the lenses are restricting the light output? I have the same light style on my 40g. I like the results on yours.

Not light output but spread of light. So before I took the lenses off the far edges of my tank were barely lit. But after I took some off it was easily covered. But because I only took the outer ring of lenses now I have a high concentration of light in the middle because those middle lights are focused in the middle and the outer rings are now lensless and spreading into the middle too now. Idk if that makes sense it's hard to explain.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

I got it. I will take the corner lense out so the light can spray more to the tanks sides.
Thanks

 

[Benga]

I got it. I will take the corner lense out so the light can spray more to the tanks sides.
Thanks

Right but what Finhead was saying is that it's better to take all the lenses or else the PAR in the center of the tank might be too high.

 

[Sannadex Sam]

Why dont you rather remove the center lenses to reduce the hotspot and keep the side lenses to reduce the overflow on the sides? I also replaced the glass panel with opaque acrylic to reduce the disco effect.

 

[Casey-Reef]

Which black box light is this?

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Which black box light is this?

I have the Viparspectra 165w from Amazon.