Viper K-2 Review

Grey Reefer · 04/05/2008, 01:15 PM

Well I figured it was time to upgrade my lighting to some thing more potent. I hadn't used MH lighting on a nano reef yet so.... after looking around I narrowed my choices to the Viper or Sunpod, unfortunately I can't suspend anything over the tank. Now I have a Finnex 4 bulb setup over my 20G now and it has done very well. The few corals that I have in the tank now are all doing quite well under it and some just grow like weeds,the monti comes to mind. I don't get great coloration from corals under these lights, but all the corals in there were rescues and have improved dramatically in health and color. I've read good and bad things about the viper and decided to do a review on it.

K-2 Viper 150w
First off the plastic the unit is made of is flimsy at best. The unit is adjusted by a series of plastic screw knobs which isn't the best idea for the unit because if you loosen them too much the whole thing could go in the tank. It needs some counter tension when adjusted so this would not happen. Next the way the viper attaches to the tank is just a bad idea. There is a pair of twist screws on one side and a brace to fill any excess space. The problem is if you don't get this right as you are tightening the mount it will cause the viper to pitch forward. Then after you take it off to readjust the brace on ones side pops off so you have to glue it back on, because someone didn't do very good job in the first place.

So after you get it perfectly positioned and feel that it's not going to fall in the tank and hook up the ballast and see that the light is dim for MH. I wasn't expecting a Lumenarc reflector or anything of the sort, but at least something. I could do a better job using a reflector I found in Homedepot. I mean come on! After that there is no and I mean no ventilation for the MH bulb. This thing does not just get hot; it gets, "I just put my hand on the stove accidentally," hot.

The bulb is a nice crisp white with a subtle under tone of blue something like 12K.

The ballast is the only decent thing that came with the unit. It is silent and cool to the touch. It weights about 10lbs.
Here are some pics of the unit and my Finnex lights.

All in all I would never ever recommend this to anyone. How JBJ can put their name on it is stunning.

46FiatYamaha · 04/05/2008, 04:21 PM

I almost bought two of these for my 46 before I decided to upgrade tanks. The only reason I didn't because there were no reviews, until now of course. Sorry about your disappointment, sometimes you never know until you try

Grey Reefer · 04/06/2008, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 46FiatYamaha
I almost bought two of these for my 46 before I decided to upgrade tanks. The only reason I didn't because there were no reviews, until now of course. Sorry about your disappointment, sometimes you never know until you try

Better me than another reefer

I'm just surprised someone would make something that could be so dangerous. I mean any lighting fixture could be dangerous to you and the tank, but this goes out of it's way. How hard would it be to stick a CPU fan on top with some vents? I'm sending it back anyway. I always love finding things out the hard way.

04/05/2008, 01:15 PM	#1
Grey Reefer Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Sarasota, FL Posts: 197	Viper K-2 Review Well I figured it was time to upgrade my lighting to some thing more potent. I hadn't used MH lighting on a nano reef yet so.... after looking around I narrowed my choices to the Viper or Sunpod, unfortunately I can't suspend anything over the tank. Now I have a Finnex 4 bulb setup over my 20G now and it has done very well. The few corals that I have in the tank now are all doing quite well under it and some just grow like weeds,the monti comes to mind. I don't get great coloration from corals under these lights, but all the corals in there were rescues and have improved dramatically in health and color. I've read good and bad things about the viper and decided to do a review on it. K-2 Viper 150w First off the plastic the unit is made of is flimsy at best. The unit is adjusted by a series of plastic screw knobs which isn't the best idea for the unit because if you loosen them too much the whole thing could go in the tank. It needs some counter tension when adjusted so this would not happen. Next the way the viper attaches to the tank is just a bad idea. There is a pair of twist screws on one side and a brace to fill any excess space. The problem is if you don't get this right as you are tightening the mount it will cause the viper to pitch forward. Then after you take it off to readjust the brace on ones side pops off so you have to glue it back on, because someone didn't do very good job in the first place. So after you get it perfectly positioned and feel that it's not going to fall in the tank and hook up the ballast and see that the light is dim for MH. I wasn't expecting a Lumenarc reflector or anything of the sort, but at least something. I could do a better job using a reflector I found in Homedepot. I mean come on! After that there is no and I mean no ventilation for the MH bulb. This thing does not just get hot; it gets, "I just put my hand on the stove accidentally," hot. The bulb is a nice crisp white with a subtle under tone of blue something like 12K. The ballast is the only decent thing that came with the unit. It is silent and cool to the touch. It weights about 10lbs. Here are some pics of the unit and my Finnex lights. All in all I would never ever recommend this to anyone. How JBJ can put their name on it is stunning. Last edited by Grey Reefer; 04/05/2008 at 02:07 PM.

04/05/2008, 04:21 PM	#2
46FiatYamaha Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Matthews NC Posts: 990	I almost bought two of these for my 46 before I decided to upgrade tanks. The only reason I didn't because there were no reviews, until now of course. Sorry about your disappointment, sometimes you never know until you try