Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

codydemmel4 said:
If I want to run these lights on my 55 gallon tank that is 48X13X20, would you guys suggest getting one 300w light or would you recommend getting 2 165w lights. I would rather have the 1 300w light as it would be easier to hang/mount but I want to make sure that it would be enough light for my tank. I want to be able to keep SPS, LPS and anemone with no problem. If you guys think the two 165w lights would be better, can you please explain what would be some good ideas of mounting it over a 48 inch tank.
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Unless you want shadowing on the sides I would go with 2-165w units.
 
What are the dimensions on the 165 and on the 300, I have a 75 gallon 48 inch wide, bigger is always better right:)
 
TonyB13 said:
What are the dimensions on the 165 and on the 300, I have a 75 gallon 48 inch wide, bigger is always better right:)
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165w will cover 24x24 and 300w will cover 36x24. You could get 2@165w or if you want central overlap go with 2@ 300w.
 
firebirdude said:
Did you end up swapping any out? Pictures? Notes?

Got any more pictures? Which UV emitters did you end up buying? You just unsoldered whichever ones you wanted and solder the UV ones in their place?
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Yea so I switched a whole bunch out but never put the pictures up after sorry guys. ..ok I switched the reds and greens out and put 460nm blues in those spots on the white channel. And then put five 405nm uv on the blue channel. I buy all My led diodes from ebay. Not a specific seller just make sure they are bridgelux or epistar brand. Im going to be swtching some blues on the blue channel for 425nm soon. Ill post a picture of the layout once I'm happy with what I've got. But for now here's a before and after pictures.

Before when you can see the red and green reflection in the water column. I was not a fan of that.



After when I swtched the reds and greens out. Just white channel on only at about 60%


Same just 10% whites only

 
firebirdude said:
Did you end up swapping any out? Pictures? Notes?

Got any more pictures? Which UV emitters did you end up buying? You just unsoldered whichever ones you wanted and solder the UV ones in their place?
Click to expand...

Also if you go back a couple pages I have a video of me swapping them out
 
garygonzales said:
can you tell me whats the difference between the 10.000k and the 20.000k id like to swap out some of the yellowish leds with a brighter one....thanks...
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The only difference is the color temperature. They may penatrate a little deeper but mostly just a color preference and it will bring out different colors to your corals. Honestly just what color you prefer. 10k are bright cool white and the higher the Kelvin, the more blue/purple you get.
 
Thanks for the before and after pics Isaacs55. I have been pondering which LEDs to take out and switch...and what to switch them to. An overview of what the new layout is that you're using would be great...cause I like your new colors. I use these CBBs on my frag tank and I have two of them but I'm only using one ATM. The other is still in the box. I'd like to tinker with the first one that I am using to get the right light that I want before opening the second one. I was hesitant to remove the green and reds...since I use and like them in my AquaIllumination light. But...I really don't think they are doing me any favors in the frag tank.

all your videos and links have been very helpful so far. thanks for openly pioneering some of this for guys like me.
 
firebirdude said:
Did you end up swapping any out? Pictures? Notes?

Got any more pictures? Which UV emitters did you end up buying? You just unsoldered whichever ones you wanted and solder the UV ones in their place?
Click to expand...

I actually ended up only swapping out most of the cool whites for neutral whites as I hated the harsh look of the cool whites. Then I also removed all the red and green diodes as those spectrums are already covered in the whites (plus replacing them with neutral whites makes for a brighter overall look).

It's super easy to do once your semi comfortable with a soldering gun. Just make sure you get good quality solder.
 
Isaac, I'm trying to remove some of the war, whites, greens and 2 reds. But the soldering iron is having a hard time de soldering their solder. How did you remove the leds? Thanks
 
d-man said:
Isaac, I'm trying to remove some of the war, whites, greens and 2 reds. But the soldering iron is having a hard time de soldering their solder. How did you remove the leds? Thanks
Click to expand...

Make sure your soldering iron is hot enough before attempting to remove them. Or you can use a desolder pump. I didn't use the desolder pump. Once my soldering iron is HOT I place it on the existing solder and while it's "melted" I use tweezers to slowly pull the positive ends off the solder while it's "melted" and do the same for both sides until it's off. Be careful so you can reuse the diodes if u need to. You really have to place the soldering iron on there for the existing solder to melt.
 
I had the soldering iron plugged in for 20mins. The new diodes went on really easy on the 2 I did. But getting the other ones off was not easy. One, I ripped the black covering of the fixture, the other i broke the diode trying to get off.
 
Isaacs55 said:
The only difference is the color temperature. They may penatrate a little deeper but mostly just a color preference and it will bring out different colors to your corals. Honestly just what color you prefer. 10k are bright cool white and the higher the Kelvin, the more blue/purple you get.
Click to expand...

thanks for the info...also you provided links to what you used..and you said to make sure and use bridgelux or epistar..but i didnt see any brand with the links you provided... you used them so im assuming they work..?thanks
 
d-man said:
Did u attach them back with glue or just the solder?
Click to expand...

DMan I'm sorry to hear you're not having an easy time. I didn't use glue. There is an adhesive you could use but I did not. I just used new solder and soldered it back on. We're you able to watch my videos I posted?
 
d-man said:
Did u attach them back with glue or just the solder?
Click to expand...
There's a video on page 11 of him removing and installing the LEDs.

Let's talk about optics for a second. These don't appear to have the optic style that's I'm use to. How do you remove them? Can you just rip off the small plastic/glass dome over each emitter? Are they easy to remove?

Last time I DIY LEDs for the tank we were all using CREEs on starboards and the optics just pushed on.
lens%203.jpg
 
garygonzales said:
thanks for the info...also you provided links to what you used..and you said to make sure and use bridgelux or epistar..but i didnt see any brand with the links you provided... you used them so im assuming they work..?thanks
Click to expand...

Yes the ones I use are unbranded from the link I provided. Those are what I use. I meant to say to use bridgelux or epistar if you use different diodes then the ones I use. But yes they do work.
 
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