The real Black Box light study

  • Thread starter Thread starter Manose
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Manose said:
No matter what light we use, if our tank parameters are crap then nothing will work well.
I like this light except for the ability to control the red/green spectrum separately. This is a winner for anyone going on the cheap like I said before but for "me" I would pay a little more and get something that has separate controls for all spectrum's.
DO NOT GET ME WRONG - this is a heck of a light and would grow coral like weeds just be aware of it's small limitations.
I will do another light on Wednesday as I am not feeling well and need to stay home a couple of days.
Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
Manose said:
No matter what light we use, if our tank parameters are crap then nothing will work well.
I like this light except for the ability to control the red/green spectrum separately. This is a winner for anyone going on the cheap like I said before but for "me" I would pay a little more and get something that has separate controls for all spectrum's.
DO NOT GET ME WRONG - this is a heck of a light and would grow coral like weeds just be aware of it's small limitations.
I will do another light on Wednesday as I am not feeling well and need to stay home a couple of days.
Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...

Hope you're feeling better soon!
 
D.train said:
What’s a better black box?
Click to expand...
I'd say SB reef prolly hast the best diode layout that doesn't waste most of the second channel, but even that will have the whites running lower than the blues, so there is wasted potential.

so I'd say best would be a black box with a custom layout, but thats not so easy for the everyday joe.
 
Kampo said:
I'd say SB reef prolly hast the best diode layout that doesn't waste most of the second channel, but even that will have the whites running lower than the blues, so there is wasted potential.

so I'd say best would be a black box with a custom layout, but that's not so easy for the everyday joe.
Click to expand...
to add on to this if I did a blackbox. i'd prolly get the evergrow wifi and change the led layout to:
Ch1 15 RB 2B 8UV/V (25RB originally)
Ch2 8CW 2NW 16 RB 2 Cyan (10CW 6NW 6WW 2D 4DeepRed 2 Cyan originally)
 
Kampo said:
to add on to this if I did a blackbox. i'd prolly get the evergrow wifi and change the led layout to:
Ch1 15 RB 2B 8UV/V (25RB originally)
Ch2 8CW 2NW 16 RB 2 Cyan (10CW 6NW 6WW 2D 4DeepRed 2 Cyan originally)
Click to expand...
Many of the black box companies I bought from while doing the research for this study would ship their lights with a custom led layout of your choosing. It would just take them longer to ship.
 
WWC
Manose said:
I bet that looks good!
Click to expand...

It’s does I would take a picture but I am having a horrible time with cyano currently and it’s embarrassing. Lol. So some coral pictures perhaps

Here are a couple photos taken with my iPhone X no filters.

26CFB3C1-A199-426D-A7F7-7E34AB157691.jpeg


780D68B9-0465-4BC8-9658-4E5828B07119.jpeg
 
Manose said:
Here are the par numbers for the Viparspectra. Tested at 8in from surface at both channels 100% so seems a some-kind of diffuser would be ideal for this light.
I wish I could adjust the red/green lights separate from the rest, but for 100$ this light puts out some serious light.
viparspectrapar.jpg
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what percent did you have the colors at? white blue?
 
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Manose said:
100% as I have so far with all the lights tested. Maybe later on we should look at normal operating % and see what the numbers are.
Click to expand...

I got to test mine tonight finally and at my max period during the day blues are 75 and whites are 50. My par numbers with lights 8in from surface are great I had a hard time finding a spot under 200 par at the bottom of my tank (22inches). I have two fixtures over a 40gal breeder.

The instrument I used is old and I am told has issue with heavy blue but I just wanted a good ballpark of what par was in what area so I could move some corals around. I used an apogee QMSW-SS.

My opinion @Manose the measurements taken at per channel shows if a light can provided what we need. I personally don’t feel other measurements at different %’s are needed for what I feel is trying to be accomplished with this awesome study!
 
Jonathan Troutt said:
I got to test mine tonight finally and at my max period during the day blues are 75 and whites are 50. My par numbers with lights 8in from surface are great I had a hard time finding a spot under 200 par at the bottom of my tank (22inches). I have two fixtures over a 40gal breeder.

The instrument I used is old and I am told has issue with heavy blue but I just wanted a good ballpark of what par was in what area so I could move some corals around. I used an apogee QMSW-SS.

My opinion @Manose the measurements taken at per channel shows if a light can provided what we need. I personally don’t feel other measurements at different %’s are needed for what I feel is trying to be accomplished with this awesome study!
Click to expand...
Awesome as I am excited to pull some more numbers on Wednesday either from a Mars Aqua or one of the white box cobb style lights.
 
@dantimdad
Why didn't I see this. I read your post years ago. And some othe post from 2015. I got the aqua mars. I know why the eggcrate works now.
I took off the lenses, that left the inner lenses at 90deg. One inch up about the egg rate. Through the deflection. It comes out at about 75deg. I used a wall to measure the degree of angle.
It comes with 60deg lenses you take them off you have the 90deg inner one still on.
 
Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
Saveafish said:
@dantimdad
Why didn't I see this. I read your post years ago. And some othe post from 2015. I got the aqua mars. I know why the eggcrate works now.
I took off the lenses, that left the inner lenses at 90deg. One inch up about the egg rate. Through the deflection. It comes out at about 75deg. I used a wall to measure the degree of angle.
It comes with 60deg lenses you take them off you have the 90deg inner one still on.
Click to expand...


Been doing this a while. :D
 
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IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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