Anyone owns a Vipar Spectra 165w led? - Page 2

Cheapreef · 07/18/2017, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxTO

I was using an Orbit Marine Pro 72" as a replacement to my broken fluorescent T5 . I found that the Orbit wasn't giving complete lighting to the tank as it had shaded spots in the back of the tank . It was of the poor light coverage from the Orbit that lead me to these 165 w LED's . Now I have all three up and as per this thread I have adjusted my lighting to ch1 80 ch2 30 . Even with these lights 8" above the tank I find light penetration lacking at the bottom of the tank and I use the Orbit as a booster light .

Is this over kill ? Should I simply increase channel 2 ?

Lacking? Have you ued a PAR meter or are you going by eye? Mine at 10" above the water, mid take with 100% blue and 26% white I read 525 PAR mid tank 8" bellow water line.

MaxTO · 07/19/2017, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheapreef

Lacking? Have you ued a PAR meter or are you going by eye? Mine at 10" above the water, mid take with 100% blue and 26% white I read 525 PAR mid tank 8" bellow water line.

By eye
Guess I should be looking for a PAR meter on amazon ?

JustAClownFish · 10/20/2017, 02:56 PM

Does anyone know if it's possible to switch out some LED's to get a better spectrum? I'd like to add some pink/yellow or actinic LED's. I can't really get my corals to color up nicely with that fixture and the growth rate of my frags is horrible. I don't get the hype around this fixture at all! I have two BTAs and they hate this light. They have been in the shade since I put them in the tank (2 weeks). I'm at 40% blue 20% white and it's really bright. I don't really have a lot of money right now so I need a cheap solution for my problem.

geldof · 01/12/2018, 04:53 PM

I've had one over a 40 Gallon SPS cube for about a year now. SPS and LPS coral show good growth and seem to have acclimated from a T5 setup to the LED's no problem. I did ramp up from 10% slowly to 50/40. I recently bought a second Viparspectra unit for a tank upgrade to 120, after initially trying the "Populargrow" Wifi lights.

I have to say, after having several issues with the Populargrow lights, most of which have been resolved at no cost to me, I appreciate the Viparspectra units build quality. I had to open up the PG units to replace the Wifi board, so decided to compare them to the VS build.

The Viparspectra units were both quality identical builds, UL listed ballasts, very neat in every way with quality gaskets and heat syncs for the LED panels. I did not purchase them together, so it says something good about the company. Also worth mentioning, unlike others experience, the timers on my two lights return to the scheduled program, after a power loss.

In contrast, the PG lights did not use identical components, no heat syncs for the LED panels, glued together with silicon instead of using gaskets and messy wiring, generally a real lack of consistency between the two. They are working as they should now, with the exception of one units fans staying on at all times.

For the Viparspectra my only critique is that I am not very pleased with the spectrum. A bit cold for my taste. Actually prefer the Popular Grow in that regard. I ordered some Reds, UV and warm white Bridgelux to swap out. Hoping that will do it.

Overall, I am very happy to have found these lights and will continue to use them until I win the lottery and can purchase a couple Radions.

miguel360 · 01/30/2018, 07:06 PM

The led lights timer runs in 24-hour military time and this is how it works C1 & C2 On or Off. Example daylights 8:00 morning and for night time 18:00 = 6:00 pm.
The lights have been working for almost a week and already I see big improvements in my corals.

incloud · 04/05/2018, 09:42 PM

I just set these up last week and am impressed. Wicked bright but worried about turning them up too much. Been slowly going up a couple notches every other day to see results. I could swear at first I was able to adjust each channel independently as to see how they looked separate but can't seem to get it to do it anymore. Adjusting either channel turns on both channels making it difficult to determine the color difference. Any ideas? I'm using menu, right directional, channel, up or down, okay. As soon as I hit up to adjust it turns on full spectrum. Awesome light for the money and I'm hoping it keeps my RBTA healthy.

incloud · 04/25/2018, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geldof

I've had one over a 40 Gallon SPS cube for about a year now. SPS and LPS coral show good growth and seem to have acclimated from a T5 setup to the LED's no problem. I did ramp up from 10% slowly to 50/40. I recently bought a second Viparspectra unit for a tank upgrade to 120, after initially trying the "Populargrow" Wifi lights.

I have to say, after having several issues with the Populargrow lights, most of which have been resolved at no cost to me, I appreciate the Viparspectra units build quality. I had to open up the PG units to replace the Wifi board, so decided to compare them to the VS build.

The Viparspectra units were both quality identical builds, UL listed ballasts, very neat in every way with quality gaskets and heat syncs for the LED panels. I did not purchase them together, so it says something good about the company. Also worth mentioning, unlike others experience, the timers on my two lights return to the scheduled program, after a power loss.

In contrast, the PG lights did not use identical components, no heat syncs for the LED panels, glued together with silicon instead of using gaskets and messy wiring, generally a real lack of consistency between the two. They are working as they should now, with the exception of one units fans staying on at all times.

For the Viparspectra my only critique is that I am not very pleased with the spectrum. A bit cold for my taste. Actually prefer the Popular Grow in that regard. I ordered some Reds, UV and warm white Bridgelux to swap out. Hoping that will do it.

Overall, I am very happy to have found these lights and will continue to use them until I win the lottery and can purchase a couple Radions.

Did you get the Bridgelux installed? If so, how'd you make out? I'm looking to swap out a few whites for a better spectrum. To me the whites wash out the tank.

less · 07/05/2018, 09:35 AM

I see this thread is old but has anyone swapped out some of the LEDs to get a little better spectrum?

geldof · 09/17/2018, 12:42 PM

I swapped 4 of the daylight LED's for 2 red and two warm white and two of the blue LED's for UV

The lights are very easy to disassemble and work on, if you can solder.

JustAClownFish · 09/27/2018, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meegwell

i just set up a pair of these over a 90g tank. I like them - the light looks great and i've read a fair amount of good reviews here.

I can't for the life of me figure out the timers. I just set ch1(blue) to come on at 12:00 and ch2(white) to come on at 1:00 and both channels came on at 12:00. When it's on and running both channels, if i try to change the off time on one channel (say for 2 hours in the future) the other channel turns off as soon as i save the setting.

I'm sure i'll eventually get it set but it sure seems strange to me. Maybe i need to cycle through or something. Who knows.

lol.

01/12/2018, 04:53 PM	#29
geldof Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 233	Really good for black boxes I've had one over a 40 Gallon SPS cube for about a year now. SPS and LPS coral show good growth and seem to have acclimated from a T5 setup to the LED's no problem. I did ramp up from 10% slowly to 50/40. I recently bought a second Viparspectra unit for a tank upgrade to 120, after initially trying the "Populargrow" Wifi lights. I have to say, after having several issues with the Populargrow lights, most of which have been resolved at no cost to me, I appreciate the Viparspectra units build quality. I had to open up the PG units to replace the Wifi board, so decided to compare them to the VS build. The Viparspectra units were both quality identical builds, UL listed ballasts, very neat in every way with quality gaskets and heat syncs for the LED panels. I did not purchase them together, so it says something good about the company. Also worth mentioning, unlike others experience, the timers on my two lights return to the scheduled program, after a power loss. In contrast, the PG lights did not use identical components, no heat syncs for the LED panels, glued together with silicon instead of using gaskets and messy wiring, generally a real lack of consistency between the two. They are working as they should now, with the exception of one units fans staying on at all times. For the Viparspectra my only critique is that I am not very pleased with the spectrum. A bit cold for my taste. Actually prefer the Popular Grow in that regard. I ordered some Reds, UV and warm white Bridgelux to swap out. Hoping that will do it. Overall, I am very happy to have found these lights and will continue to use them until I win the lottery and can purchase a couple Radions. __________________ MG Nano's Current Tank Info: 50 Gallon SPS Cube

01/30/2018, 07:06 PM	#30
miguel360 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Massachusetts, MA Posts: 1	The led lights timer runs in 24-hour military time and this is how it works C1 & C2 On or Off. Example daylights 8:00 morning and for night time 18:00 = 6:00 pm. The lights have been working for almost a week and already I see big improvements in my corals. __________________ Miguel Cordero Current Tank Info: 90 Gallons

09/17/2018, 12:42 PM	#34
geldof Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 233	I swapped 4 of the daylight LED's for 2 red and two warm white and two of the blue LED's for UV The lights are very easy to disassemble and work on, if you can solder. __________________ MG Nano's Current Tank Info: 50 Gallon SPS Cube

10/20/2017, 02:56 PM	#28
JustAClownFish Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: California Posts: 226	Does anyone know if it's possible to switch out some LED's to get a better spectrum? I'd like to add some pink/yellow or actinic LED's. I can't really get my corals to color up nicely with that fixture and the growth rate of my frags is horrible. I don't get the hype around this fixture at all! I have two BTAs and they hate this light. They have been in the shade since I put them in the tank (2 weeks). I'm at 40% blue 20% white and it's really bright. I don't really have a lot of money right now so I need a cheap solution for my problem.

04/05/2018, 09:42 PM	#31
incloud Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Posts: 125	I just set these up last week and am impressed. Wicked bright but worried about turning them up too much. Been slowly going up a couple notches every other day to see results. I could swear at first I was able to adjust each channel independently as to see how they looked separate but can't seem to get it to do it anymore. Adjusting either channel turns on both channels making it difficult to determine the color difference. Any ideas? I'm using menu, right directional, channel, up or down, okay. As soon as I hit up to adjust it turns on full spectrum. Awesome light for the money and I'm hoping it keeps my RBTA healthy.

07/05/2018, 09:35 AM	#33
less Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: new york Posts: 47	I see this thread is old but has anyone swapped out some of the LEDs to get a little better spectrum?