Reddit reviews VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control 165W LED Aquarium Light Dimmable Full Spectrum for Coral Reef Grow Fish Tank

Retrofitted this into my 24g hood. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UMXAR5S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Grew SPS

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_3

VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control 165W LED Aquarium Light Dimmable Full Spectrum for Coral Reef Grow Fish Tank https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SY2PCb160WSN7



Two of these would be good then?

What are the tank dimensions/size? You could get one of these but you need to buy a timer for it. Stability is very important and having a timer will let you set it and forget it which will help your coral. I’ve never used one of these but depending on your tank size it might work fine. It would grow Softies and LPS but may struggle with SPS

A better option is a 165w Viparspectre AKA black box led. This light has individual timers for your blue light and white lights. I prefer this light over the other one as it can grow all kinds of corals without issues. Having individual timers also helps you turn your blues on before your whites come on.

For reference my blues come on two hours before my white lights come on. When my whites turn off my blues stay on for two more hours before turning off completely.

Would I be able to get away with one of these? https://www.amazon.ca/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1526060598&sr=1-1&keywords=viparspectra

For under $70, this new LED is generating a lot of buzz: https://www.amazon.com/Macegrow-Aquarium-Light-Aqua-Lighting-Saltwater/dp/B079JTB5Q5/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526748479&sr=8-3&keywords=reef+led

If you can squeeze $120 out of your budget, a black box LED is dimmable and can grow about any coral you throw at it alongside moving up with you if you decide to upgrade to a bigger tank. For a 15g is would be kind of a waste/overkill but since it is dimmable, you can always play with it on this and future tanks. An example here: https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1526748479&sr=8-4&keywords=reef+led

I used two of these:

https://www.amazon.com/MarsAqua-Dimmable-165W-LED-Aquarium/dp/B017GWDF7E/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=56382305472&hvadid=274706043089&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1023626&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16572463934659516384&hvtargid=kwd-299354600613&keywords=marsaqua&qid=1554475843&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

Kind of a hassle though unless you have an apex or other controller because they don’t come with a timer and each fixture would take up two plugs because blue and white run on separate plugs.

If I had to do it all over again I’d get two of these because of the built in timer

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?adgrpid=56382305472&hvadid=274706043089&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1023626&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16572463934659516384&hvtargid=kwd-299354600613&keywords=marsaqua&qid=1554475915&s=gateway&sr=8-3

For under 260, you can get two of the VIPARSPECTRA 165W led’s. I know many people w them and they will grow just about anything.

VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control 165W LED Aquarium Light Dimmable Full Spectrum for Coral Reef Grow Fish Tank https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CAkOAbNFCS25S

No flow on the zoas, or atleast 0 to none lol.
29g
2 ocellaris clowns and 1 banggai. 2 nassarius snails (need more CuC)

Light is : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9CLWBbGF6F2CT

Similar, but the one I use has one plug instead of two, and has a timer function.

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=viparspectra+reef&qid=1558817465&s=gateway&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hdsHAbSE3C8K3

I'm super happy with having two Viparspectra lights over each 55. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00UMXAR5S/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499706550&sr=1 . Plus here is my setup after installing the lights http://m.imgur.com/GcOKRRG

How about something like this?

And I'm sorry, I totally messed up in writing my tank size. It's a 20 gallon long.

The total water in the system is 57G after losing some to the sump setup. I've been working on this for a few years, slowly building and acquiring equipment I needed or wanted. I just recently moved and decided to set it up as I had most of what I needed to run it. I also mocked up a lot of the build in SketchUp before building, you can view that here. https://i.imgur.com/pMjM6aP.png
 
I'm planning to make this a strictly SPS tank, so I went with a bare bottom on this build. My current tank is a 10G nano LPS tank with mainly zoas and mushrooms. My SO said if I can keep this one looking nice like my other one, we can get a 300 in the next house... so I'm going all out on the life support. :)
 
 
Equipment

• 45G Rimless Aquarium from GlassCages.com, 1" and 1 1/2" overflows
  
  
• Reef Octopus Classic 1000HB Hang on Back Skimmer - I wanted to save some room in my sump so I went with a HOB model of skimmer. I was planning to run my skimmer 24/7 so I wasn't worried with a HOB variant having tank water sit in it while it was not in use.
  
• BRS Mini Reactor, running ROX carbon and GFO mixture
  
• Rio Plus 1400, 420 GPH Return Pump (went with a smaller return for slower refugium contact time, and quieter operation
  
• Maxspect Gyre XF130 Wavemaker. I currently have this at 30% and it is suspending detritus very well, not allowing it to settle anywhere. I had it dialed to 60% but my six line wrasse was having a bit of trouble swimming around...
  
• Two VIPARSPECTRA 165W LED - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UMXAR5S, I went withcheaper Chinese lighting for now. These units have a built in timer so you can program when blues/whites turn on and off, but intensity is set at the same rate all of the time. I was thinking about buying a more expensive and customizable lighting solution, but didn't want to outlay a lot of cash for something that might could potentially work just as well as these two.
  
• Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO. I don't have this wired in yet (see the DIY section) so I've been dumping RO/DI in manually every morning. The tank is evaporating about 1/2 a gallon every day.
  
• RO/DI Unit - I'm using Bulk Reef Supply's 6 stage water saver unit. My water going in is about 9-12TDS @ 35PSI. I had to buy a booster pump to get this up to about 60PSI as I was going through DI resin pretty quickly. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-6-stage-universal-water-saver-plus-ro-di-system-150gpd.html
  
• Heater - Two Eheim 150w heaters. Two for redundancy, one was keeping my tank at 79F quite easily.
   
   
  
  DIY
  
  
• Tank stand is layered 1"x 3" pine. The wood was painted black and wet sanded to attempt to give it a piano finish (and I was going to place doors on the front and sides), this turned out pretty complicated so instead I'm going to wrap the tank in 1/8" black acrylic and secure it with velcro or magnets.
  
• Light stand is t slotted aluminum. I secured it to the back of the tank and let it overhang the tank by about 9". It is 14" off of the surface of the water, allowing the lights to sit about 5" from the surface.
  
• 20G Long Custom Sump - 2 baffles, 8" for drain(s) and HOB skimmer, 14" refugium, 8" return / auto top off chamber. I simply cut some plexiglass and placed in the tank. The refugium has eggcrate preventing the chaeto from spilling into the return chamber and fouling up my two pumps.
  
• ATO RO/DI Reservoir - I purchased some black plexiglass and I'm going to build a simple 16"x16"x8" black container with two holes drilled in the top - one with a lid so I can fill RO, the other smaller for the ATO cable and hose. I'm trying to find a 3/4" rubber grommet for that hole so I can keep dust out. I have yet to start this project, but its next on my list.
  
   
  Current Livestock
  
  
• Six Line Wrasse - he came over from my 10G nano SPS tank as he was getting a bit big for that tank.
  
• Two Clown fish, orange and black AKA "Candy" and "Corn".
  
• Five Trochus Snails
  
   
  Still to Come
  
  
• Reef Controller. Right now, I have a mess of cords sitting to the right of the stand, as you can see. I want to get a reef controller, I've left myself a lot of room in the stand so I can wire it in, but I'm not yet sure on which one to buy. I'm trying to decide between the Neptune Apex Jr with PH module, or a Vertex Cerebra. The cerebra is not yet out, so that is partially why I still haven't made up my mind.
  
   
  
  So that's about it. I'm not sure what else I want to stock fish-wise in this tank, I would like to have a few more to help me keep the SPS fed, I'm thinking about a few Chromies and maybe a flame angel as the last fish. Open to suggestions.
  

I recommend the Viparspectre. You can get away with one in a 40 breeder. It has separate controls for each channel and separate built in timers. You want timers on your light. Reef tanks need stability and if you’re manually turning on your lights you’ll have your coral on random times. with this light you can turn on your blues first for a few hours then turn on your whites whenever you want. All programmed.

I had all of my current corals in a 5g fluval spec and I used a Wave-point 12-Inch 16-Watt Super Blue and DaylightMicro Sun LED High Output Clamp Light https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007ZK816S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ftlOybHXRMNXM on it. Paired with an actinic marine land strip it looked decent though the colors faded over time...

Which led me to believe I wasn't getting enough blue spectrum. Is the wavepoint and actinic strip combo enough for the 12? Or could I stand to get more light in there?

If I need more light would this suffice going on top of the glass on the edge? VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control 165W LED Aquarium Light Dimmable Full Spectrum for Coral Reef Grow Fish Tank https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UMXAR5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_lElOyb5RS6Z9J

A few different kinds:

https://www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Timer-165W-Aquarium-Dimmable/dp/B00UMXAR5S
https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-aquarium-light-Saltwater/dp/B078SM3NYZ
https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-Aquarium-Light-Saltwater/dp/B0727V8C5Q

You can see other vendors of the same/similar light:

https://www.amazon.com/s/field-keywords=reef+led

whats your budget?

If you're under $500 you're pretty much stuck with either the junk current-USA fixtures, or chinese black boxes. I'd go with the Chinese LED. You'll have to find a way to mount it, some people use conduit and make a mount that attaches to the back of the stand.

People seem to like these although they are all the same. For 48" i'd get 2 or 4. If you do 4, put them from front to back, so the short side of the LED is facing the front of your tank. This should provide great coverage. If you do just 2, you'll get a bit of a spotlight affect (not that noticable) and you'll want to stick with easy to care for SPS (pocillopora, birdsnest, ect).

If you're looking for the next step up, some new or used AI hydra 52HD would be great. 2 of these would cover your tank and you'd be able to grow ANYTHING you could dream of. Either the 52HD or the 26HD would work, but with the 26HD you'll have the spotlight affect again.

Next step i'd take from there would be radions. If you want to do radions though you're looking at $1300 for 2. These are basically if you enjoy having full control over everything and having the best LED on the market.