This is the reason I didn't go below 400 from what I had read the uv don't last long,the violets I got say they are 410-420k.Just opened up my viparspectra that's been over my tank for the last 4-5 months and saw this... Both 395nm UVs I put on when I first got the light. Both are showing burnin on their lenses. Basically, these LEDs and cheap and I will be replacing them with etishr RB or violet.
That is a big drop off, I'm running mine at the moment with no lenses so I my thinking is to put lenses back on (if they still fit now I've changed it). But I was under the belief that you only lose 20% max when you remove lenses. I assume this is dependant on mounting height as well as once removed ,the light wasted goes sideways into the room not down in the tank.
Cool, I was going to put lenses back on tomorrow or in a while, it is just easier to see the leds and how my soldering is holding up while running them with them removed. It's only the first time using it with the new leds for a full day. I have only ran it lensless for a week previously about a year ago and I didn't like the spill into the room. I only removed them to figure out what leds I needed to get so while I had the light disassembled I took the lot off.
Wow!! Thanks for all the good info!!! Really helps! And that link to the new thread is awesome....it will take me awhile to go through it...your tank looks good! Yah the price of those g5 is crazy...who can afford those? Lol...i have the 300w vipar and gives me about 250-275 par at top of rocks for sps at 28 blue and 1 white setting. Can I ask what you run your nitrate and phosphate now? I dosed nopox and got it too low like you but quit and now its about 1-2 nitrate and .05 phosphate....Don't get me wrong these lights are good at growing corals I had grown sps with them so you don't need to reconfigure them. It's just alot if people dont use much white, I have used them at 80 blue and 20 white growing sps fine. Someone on the thread I startedhttps://www.reef2reef.com/threads/viparspectra-165watt-anyone-using-these.317612/ uses them at 100% on both channels. This was my tank before I lost the sps due to zero phosphates and nitrates. This was it when I started
I'm looking at it thinking I've had the light since Jan 2017 its over 3 years old now and It looks too yellow for my liking and I want a different look and it can do with a freshen up, plus once I think about doing something I do as much research as I can and eventually do it.
I'm sure the leds over time must change/degrade.
I paid £89 delivered back then and the seller on amazon I bought it from gave a 3 yr warranty, but now to replace it the cheapest I can find it is £139 for a new one.
I like the look of the g5 blue but the price is stupid and alot more than what I'm willing to pay. So I went with just modding what I have to make a poor man's version of one (not really). Even if I broke this one beyond repair and bought a new one it is still cheaper than 1 radion so why not. I started a thread about the viparspectra on here asking if people use them and at what settings and most people who responded used them at 100 blue and 1 white or very little, then supplemented with extra blue led strips or t5. Please don't think you have to change your lights just because others have. They work fine out the box to grow corals, I feel you won't run very high white. I run just channel 1 for 4 hrs on it's own per day 2 at the beginning and 2 at the end.
Thank you for the reply. You are spot on!!
I'm dosing phosphates daily and it sits at 0.03 and nitrates around 15ish I only have 3 fish so not much fish waste for corals. I fitted the lenses back on yesterday and turned the blue back to 35 so not to shock them, without lenses I ran them 60
Everything helps. But the more you get in there the better. Plus you could upgrade the fans to more CFM with less noise. It also depends on the black box and how it is configured on the internals the amount and size of heat sink you can get in there. They are all NOT the same. From diodes, spectrum, drivers, fans, lenses, internal latout, sealing, etc, etc .All different. Basically my WiFi evergrow will be different then yours in most cases.
