viparspectra 165w 32 g biocube settings

[Runnin'Reefer]

I got a biocube of fb marketplace. It came with the viparspectra 165w. Seems like a great light. Currently I have my blue lights on level 20 and my white light on level 9. Seems like a really strong light for a tank this small, and I've read to keep it low. I only have one zoa frag in the tank so far. It looks good, but there is one polyp that doesn't open all the time, and I am wondering if that's because of my light. So I wanted to see if anyone had good advice for what settings to put the lights on

 

[Ron Reefman]

Even in a 20g tank, I think settings of 20 blue and 9 white are low. Do NOT trust your eyes as to how bright a light is! I have used 5, 10 & 20g tanks as holding tanks when new stuff arrives (I bring stuff home from snorkel trips to the Florida Keys). I run Reef Breeder Photons which are stronger than Viparspectra and I run them at 60 to 80 blue and 10 to 20 white.

You might consider getting a cheap frag of a monti plate and put it near the upper 1/3rd of your tank. If your lights get too strong, it will be the first coral to start bleaching.

 

[Aspect]

How deep is the tank? Vipars have super bright white lights even at the lowest setting.

 

[Koh23]

Exactly....

Too strong white channel and weak blue.

So, really no reason not to crank blues up, and dose white with caution.

Also, if needed, remove lenses, and get more spread and spetrum, 90 lenses are to strong for shallow tanks. Or mount them very high, if light spill is not a problem

And keep in mind, there really isnt such thing as too much light. Just work your way up, dont shock corals, and adjust flow and nutrients to suit high intensity light, and even soft corals will be great.

 

[dstockwell]

I have two mounted 10 inches high over a 55, 20 blue and 2 white

 

[Uriken]

I have ran 2 of these over my 40 breeder and all though many give the black boxes a bad wrap for the cost and coming from the East I must say out of the various brands of black boxes I have been happy with these lights. It took some time to get them dialed in having a mixed reef but I did finally get them set to where all my corals have grown pretty well and been happy. These things can cook coral easily if not careful. The mounting height was the big thing that took time. In the end I have them mounted at 18" off the surface of the water. Running them with Blues at 38 to 40 and the whites at 2 to 4. I run the blues on at 10am till 11am then allow the whites to come on and run 8 hours with the blues ending the day for an hour. The one thing that I did do because of color issues ( I was having some issue getting green and pink colors to "pop" ), I added a Kessel W160 in between them ( A Kessel A80 would have worked just as well after the fact ). The Kessel I have dialed back quite a bit and just helps with getting all the colors to pop and give the shimmer I like. I'm sure many would think at that height you get a lot of light spill over the outside of the tank but truthfully with the positions and orientation of the fixtures I don't have to much. Running them in this format my LPS grows like weeds. Soft Corals I place lower in the outskirts of the rock to not give them too much light and they have been doing well. I have some SPS Digi's, Birdnest, and Slimers that been doing great as well.

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

How deep is the tank? Vipars have super bright white lights even at the lowest setting.

The tank is around 22 in high and the light is about 14 inches above the tank

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

Exactly....

Too strong white channel and weak blue.

So, really no reason not to crank blues up, and dose white with caution.

Also, if needed, remove lenses, and get more spread and spetrum, 90 lenses are to strong for shallow tanks. Or mount them very high, if light spill is not a problem

And keep in mind, there really isnt such thing as too much light. Just work your way up, dont shock corals, and adjust flow and nutrients to suit high intensity light, and even soft corals will be great.

Thanks for that advice! So I should turn the blue up and the white down a little?

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

I have two mounted 10 inches high over a 55, 20 blue and 2 white

This is super helpful! Mine is about 14 in above the tank so I might turn both lights up a little to compensate for the higher height

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

I have ran 2 of these over my 40 breeder and all though many give the black boxes a bad wrap for the cost and coming from the East I must say out of the various brands of black boxes I have been happy with these lights. It took some time to get them dialed in having a mixed reef but I did finally get them set to where all my corals have grown pretty well and been happy. These things can cook coral easily if not careful. The mounting height was the big thing that took time. In the end I have them mounted at 18" off the surface of the water. Running them with Blues at 38 to 40 and the whites at 2 to 4. I run the blues on at 10am till 11am then allow the whites to come on and run 8 hours with the blues ending the day for an hour. The one thing that I did do because of color issues ( I was having some issue getting green and pink colors to "pop" ), I added a Kessel W160 in between them ( A Kessel A80 would have worked just as well after the fact ). The Kessel I have dialed back quite a bit and just helps with getting all the colors to pop and give the shimmer I like. I'm sure many would think at that height you get a lot of light spill over the outside of the tank but truthfully with the positions and orientation of the fixtures I don't have to much. Running them in this format my LPS grows like weeds. Soft Corals I place lower in the outskirts of the rock to not give them too much light and they have been doing well. I have some SPS Digi's, Birdnest, and Slimers that been doing great as well.

This is great to know! Thank you! I have mine about 14" above the water and my tank is a little deeper than yours so that's probably ok I assume. My rockwork probably barely breaks into the top 2/3 of the tank so none of the coral will be too closw. I'll probably be turning up my blues and my whites down a little. I like more of a natural look in my tank instead of super blue, making the coral look really neon. I'll probably ramp up the blues to 30 and take the whites down to 6 or so. You think that could work?

 

[Crustaceon]

The tank is around 22 in high and the light is about 14 inches above the tank

I used to have a 100g full of zoas. The lights were also set at 14" and I was running 20% white and 40% blue. That tank was also 22" tall. They'll grow like crazy at that setting. I had baseball-sized colonies that had detached because there was no space left to expand to and were rolling around the tank like tumbleweeds.

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

I used to have a 100g full of zoas. The lights were also set at 14" and I was running 20% white and 40% blue. That tank was also 22" tall. They'll grow like crazy at that setting. I had baseball-sized colonies that had detached because there was no space left to expand to and were rolling around the tank like tumbleweeds.

Perfect! Seems like I definitely just need to turn up my blues more and dial in my whites to my liking

 

[Uriken]

As you probably know from your experience running tanks in the past, just pay close attention to the corals and placement. You can tell when they are getting too much light and vice versa. Zoa's will start to stretch or "reach" if they are wanting more light. On the opposite end if they really sandwiching themselves down and partially open they are getting to much.
The one coral that ultimately helped me dial in the height of the lights and the settings was my SPS ORA Birdsnest that has the thick finger like sized branches. I placed it halfway down the rock work and it was growing but all the branches developing were shifting away from the light toward the edge shadows. Once I raised them and dialed down the whites it as well as the other corals were good to go.
I'll take some pics of my EVO tonight without using these new filtering apps and post them for you to checkout.
I also since I had live rock established from a long running tank went with bare bottom to reduce maintenance on the sand. I do like the look of sand but after tanks get a couple years old whether you clean your sand or not I found they can introduce some issues but that's a topic for another day.

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

As you probably know from your experience running tanks in the past, just pay close attention to the corals and placement. You can tell when they are getting too much light and vice versa. Zoa's will start to stretch or "reach" if they are wanting more light. On the opposite end if they really sandwiching themselves down and partially open they are getting to much.
The one coral that ultimately helped me dial in the height of the lights and the settings was my SPS ORA Birdsnest that has the thick finger like sized branches. I placed it halfway down the rock work and it was growing but all the branches developing were shifting away from the light toward the edge shadows. Once I raised them and dialed down the whites it as well as the other corals were good to go.
I'll take some pics of my EVO tonight without using these new filtering apps and post them for you to checkout.
I also since I had live rock established from a long running tank went with bare bottom to reduce maintenance on the sand. I do like the look of sand but after tanks get a couple years old whether you clean your sand or not I found they can introduce some issues but that's a topic for another day.

This is actually my first tank! So that's good to know about Zoa's. They haven't stretched out yet. It's only been a week and a half. Is that long enough to see a change in the zoa based on the light. I placed it on a rock in the lower quarter of my tank with low flow. I've read that's the best area. I would love to see pics of your evo! are you running a viparspectra 165 too?

 

[ikaros70]

Be careful when setting up led lighting, they are very powerful, par meter is pretty much a must. See if you can rent one or borrow from someone local. I bit the bullet and just purchased one.
I have mine ~12” off the waterline, blues set to 40% and white channel is at 1%, that gives me just over 100 par on the sand bed with both channels on and I have a deep tank.
210 gallon display, ~29” deep.

 

[Uriken]

I apologize for getting 2 different threads confused. I am now running an EVO 13.5 by Fluval that another thread was asking questions about. The Vipars (x2) are over a 40 Breeder. I think if I put a Vipar over a 13 gallon EVO that would be waaaay overkill cause of how strong they are. In tests these things can push 600+ on PAR in the middle top layer of a reef tank. Most soft corals only need around 100 give or take depending on type. Thus why whites are cranked down so low.

 

[dstockwell]

Hers my pic for reference.

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

I apologize for getting 2 different threads confused. I am now running an EVO 13.5 by Fluval that another thread was asking questions about. The Vipars (x2) are over a 40 Breeder. I think if I put a Vipar over a 13 gallon EVO that would be waaaay overkill cause of how strong they are. In tests these things can push 600+ on PAR in the middle top layer of a reef tank. Most soft corals only need around 100 give or take depending on type. Thus why whites are cranked down so low.

That makes sense! I think my tank should be fine to handle the light. I guess I'll just have to see if I can get my hands on a par meter to test it

 

[Runnin'Reefer]

Be careful when setting up led lighting, they are very powerful, par meter is pretty much a must. See if you can rent one or borrow from someone local. I bit the bullet and just purchased one.
I have mine ~12” off the waterline, blues set to 40% and white channel is at 1%, that gives me just over 100 par on the sand bed with both channels on and I have a deep tank.
210 gallon display, ~29” deep.

That's great to know! I'm going to ask around and see if I can find someone in my area with a par meter

 

[Rp8]

I’ve always had to start at 1 with my 165w at 9” above. My blues were around 75% and everything was happy