Viparspectra 165watt, Anyone using these?

[Reeferguy365]

Great lights I also use them on my 180 except I use 6 of them. They will grow any coral I have sps lps mushrooms and zoas definitely would recommend

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Great lights I also use them on my 180 except I use 6 of them. They will grow any coral I have sps lps mushrooms and zoas definitely would recommend

Beautiful tank, what height and sttings are you running?

 

[Peace River]

I just got two for a 75g. The tank is cycling so hopefully I will get the lights hung and setup soon!

 

[Danoag]

Just a quick update to running these lights. I'm still running them at 35% blue and 5% white for the last month mow and sps are still growing and everything else is fine. Ive cut about 35 heads off my big hammer on the right ad it was against the glass, I still have some frags to sell so that's what is stuck in the sand at the bottom. Or I my put them in my bedroom tank.

Are you still using these at this settings? How high off the water and how deep is your tank?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Are you still using these at this settings? How high off the water and how deep is your tank?

I'm not using it at these settings now, that was an old photo, I lost all my sps due to bottoming out nitrates and phosphates, I had a reshuffle of a few corals and have worked it upto 50blue and 5white.the light is 9 inches off the water line (not tank height) and the water depth is around 15 inches to the sand. I have still got issues with low phosphates, even though I have been daily dosing it.

 

[Reeferguy365]

Beautiful tank, what height and sttings are you running?

Thanks! They're about a foot off the water and my tank is 2 foot deep I run the blues at 100% and the white at 10%

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Thanks! They're about a foot off the water and my tank is 2 foot deep I run the blues at 100% and the white at 10%

Cheers. I'm going to work the lights back up I think.

 

[Kwann373]

This may have been addressed earlier, but I’m looking Into getting two of the vipar 165w for my 45 gallon 36x12x24, would this be sufficient?

 

[Peace River]

Yes, it will be more than enough. Many people run two over a 75g.

 

[Kwann373]

Thanks for the response. Would you think two would provide better coverage then just 1?

 

[Peace River]

Thanks for the response. Would you think two would provide better coverage then just 1?

One probably won't cover all the way to the edges unless you raise the light up and then you will have light spillage front to back. One possibility is to go with one light and have low light corals on the left and right edges. If you want to jam the tank side to side with high light corals then you will probably want to go with two. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[Kwann373]

One probably won't cover all the way to the edges unless you raise the light up and then you will have light spillage front to back. One possibility is to go with one light and have low light corals on the left and right edges. If you want to jam the tank side to side with high light corals then you will probably want to go with two. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Thank you so much! I’ll probably just get two, hang them around 10” off the water and rent a par meter to make sure not to roast anything. These lights seem to be a lot of power based on re-reading through this thread! I’m new so I will start with lps/softies/zoas.

 

[dtruitt]

I just got the larger unit (the 300w) for a 65g tank.

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to run the whites at 1%? I think the tank looks best with just barely enough white to bring out the colors in the fish, because the corals pop the most under the blues.

Current setting is 60% blue, 1% white. The whites run for 8 hours, the blues are currently running 11 hours. I think reducing the photo period may be wise, but everything is loving the light.

 

[Peace River]

I just got the larger unit (the 300w) for a 65g tank.

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to run the whites at 1%? I think the tank looks best with just barely enough white to bring out the colors in the fish, because the corals pop the most under the blues.

Current setting is 60% blue, 1% white. The whites run for 8 hours, the blues are currently running 11 hours. I think reducing the photo period may be wise, but everything is loving the light.

There may be a mix of opinions on the answer to your question and I think you have a reasonable plan. IMO, as a general rule I suggest that people watch their livestock (especially corals) and see what they like and what best helps them grow and be healthy then secondly consider what is visually appealing within the range that the corals prefer. Additionally, from what I have read, most people start with the whites at 1 to 3 with these lights and then increase them from there to a desired level.

 

[dtruitt]

There may be a mix of opinions on the answer to your question and I think you have a reasonable plan. IMO, as a general rule I suggest that people watch their livestock (especially corals) and see what they like and what best helps them grow and be healthy then secondly consider what is visually appealing within the range that the corals prefer. Additionally, from what I have read, most people start with the whites at 1 to 3 with these lights and then increase them from there to a desired level.

I started with the whites at 30%, and kept adjusting downward because of STN on an open brain frag. I love the way the fish look with more white light, but it really brings out the brown tones in some of our beginner / test corals.

Im sure that setting the whites too low means that there is no natural ebb and flow to the par. Blues come on and blast however many par from 9:00 to 22:00. The white lights from 12:00 to 20:00 are just ornamental.

Are there any cost effective ways to implement a ramp with these lights (other than adjusting manually)?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I have currently worked mine up to 60 blue 1 white. I have blues come on at 13.00 the whites come on at 16.00 and they both run until 21.30 that's when white go off, blues remain on until 23.00.

 

[Peace River]

[...]
Are there any cost effective ways to implement a ramp with these lights (other than adjusting manually)?

I don't know of any way to adjust these lights or make them adjustable. One option that I have seen is to add another small light that would ramp up and down.

 

[Uncle99]

With Visparspectra 165w, keep in mind that they can push big PAR, mine, 8” above surface, showed 750ish, at full intensity. I run mine at only 50% which resulted in 400ish at the most.
It proved to me that I did not need to spend 4x more to get great results.
Running blue/violet channel only I would not recommend as it does not address the needs of the other two chlorophylls corals draw from. Small amounts of red/green (in the white channel) should be present, however might be considered minor.

 

[dtruitt]

With Visparspectra 165w, keep in mind that they can push big PAR, mine, 8” above surface, showed 750ish, at full intensity. I run mine at only 50% which resulted in 400ish at the most.
It proved to me that I did not need to spend 4x more to get great results.
Running blue/violet channel only I would not recommend as it does not address the needs of the other two chlorophylls corals draw from. Small amounts of red/green (in the white channel) should be present, however might be considered minor.

60% on the blue channel might be a bit high then. Lots of LPS in this tank...

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

With Visparspectra 165w, keep in mind that they can push big PAR, mine, 8” above surface, showed 750ish, at full intensity. I run mine at only 50% which resulted in 400ish at the most.
It proved to me that I did not need to spend 4x more to get great results.
Running blue/violet channel only I would not recommend as it does not address the needs of the other two chlorophylls corals draw from. Small amounts of red/green (in the white channel) should be present, however might be considered minor.

Is that 50% blue and white or 50% blue with an amount of white? Lovely full tank. Also did you do any par readings with just blue?