Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

[paullondon]

On their website these fixtures are UL certified. It even warns you that other LED fixtures are not UL certified so at least the MarsAqua are.

I happened to open one of the 300w fixtures and build is quite good for a Chinese manufacturer. Case is solid, glass is sealed quite well to prevent moisture/salt from getting inside. Drivers are in harnesses for easy replacement. LED panels was nicely assembled.

Did you do any modifications to it? I was thinking to add some 420nm UV but after I read more new studies on coral photosynthesis wavelengths I decided not to modify my unit and keep it as it is. Also I know licensed electricians here who are also reef tank keepers owning this fixture and they assured me it's good and also perfectly legal with no issues whatsoever. Of course I cannot speak for other countries and states or Planet Quebec...
Also I have no doubt high end LEDs fixtures are more efficient, slimmer, lightweight and all, but like I said, to me personally it just comes down to light good for corals... that's it.

 

[Bpb]

I was thinking to add some 420nm UV

420 nm is just V. Not UV

 

[paullondon]

420 nm is just V. Not UV

Yes, that's what I meant but I guess it was late and I was typing overzealous. I will correct my mistake in the post.
Thanks

 

[cthetoy]

Did you do any modifications to it? I was thinking to add some 420nm UV but after I read more new studies on coral photosynthesis wavelengths I decided not to modify my unit and keep it as it is. Also I know licensed electricians here who are also reef tank keepers owning this fixture and they assured me it's good and also perfectly legal with no issues whatsoever. Of course I cannot speak for other countries and states or Planet Quebec...
Also I have no doubt high end LEDs fixtures are more efficient, slimmer, lightweight and all, but like I said, to me personally it just comes down to light good for corals... that's it.

I didnt mod mine. I just replaced two drivers because they were defective from accidentally getting wet. LEDs seems easily replaceable. Just need a soldering iron

 

[Reefer PT]

cthetoy, When open did you see any way to replace the drivers with 0-10v drivers and have an external power supply. I would love to control with APEX and this could be a cheaper and more tidy option to a full DIY.
Thanks
Dave

 

[paullondon]

cthetoy, When open did you see any way to replace the drivers with 0-10v drivers and have an external power supply. I would love to control with APEX and this could be a cheaper and more tidy option to a full DIY.
Thanks
Dave

I was wondering the same thing and I saw people doing it on youtube but looks so tedious and time consuming.... plus it doesn't look tidy anymore, I think the guy had 7 cables from each fixture and he had 10 fixture over a big tank....

 

[Swope2bc]

How much more control would you have from apex going to 10v? I have an apex (currently on my planted FW) but am pretty much a noob at its higher uses too.. Lots to learn lol

 

[paullondon]

I finally got this lights up on the wall... It was so hard to find something sturdy enough to hold it and to look somehow nice in an office space... So we went for LeeValley wall brackets which are cast aluminum and epoxy coated in conjunction with snaptoggle bolts which are rated for 238 lbs in a 1/2" drywall (our drywall there is 3/4) and the chains are from home depot, the regular chandelier chains...
The lights can be adjusted up and down easily and right now are at 10.5" from the water running at almost minimum intensity and I those are super bright.
I only have a colony of zoas at the bottom of that 14" deep tank and a frag of aussie acans in the middle... I wonder if I should move the acans down and turn up the intensity of the light and start adding more corals? How do you guys adjust this lights? Just by moving your sps up and anything else at the bottom of the tank? To me these lights look super bright... and I think I run them at 5% of their total capacity...

 

[Swope2bc]

Looks awesome Paul! Can't wait until I can actually start my build, but that will be the fixture I end up with

 

[Live Rockin]

I don't have any recent shots, but I purchased two of the 165 watt models for my 90 gallon 24 " deep tank and have had them running for 2 months. I have a torch, Hammer and some Zoa's in the tank and so far they seem to be ok with the lighting. I bleached some of the Zoa's with the lights but moved them down in the tank and adjusted my lighting. I currently run these lights at 75% Blue and 50% white and they are mounted in a canopy 13" off the water. I'm happy with these lights and for the price was a great choice to start with. Below are some shots of the lights as I have them mounted.

 

[Swope2bc]

Those look great! The more I discuss these fixtures with people the more appealing they are. I wish we had a 6mo 12mo update... I was reading an anti LED thread recently and it seems some people are going back to MHZ or T5... I, personally, like the idea of the LED's and since they will light my first reef tank I'll be none the wiser lol... Those of you who have these already please keep us posted on your results. I won't even be buying mine for 2 or 3 more months so I have time to watch.

 

[Bpb]

Those look great! The more I discuss these fixtures with people the more appealing they are. I wish we had a 6mo 12mo update... I was reading an anti LED thread recently and it seems some people are going back to MHZ or T5... I, personally, like the idea of the LED's and since they will light my first reef tank I'll be none the wiser lol... Those of you who have these already please keep us posted on your results. I won't even be buying mine for 2 or 3 more months so I have time to watch.

You've actually got a pretty good point. If this is your first go around, you'll experience enough new hobbyist/new tank stuff that lights won't be the most important factor early on. Most these people switching back to halides and t5 have old mature tanks they know well that are super stable where lights are the limiting factor then. It's just impossible to pinpoint one area of issues with new tanks. Growing pains and such

 

[paullondon]

Looks awesome Paul! Can't wait until I can actually start my build, but that will be the fixture I end up with

Thanks! I worked hard to set everything up nicely and my wife was helping me at every step of the process

Those look great! The more I discuss these fixtures with people the more appealing they are. I wish we had a 6mo 12mo update... I was reading an anti LED thread recently and it seems some people are going back to MHZ or T5... I, personally, like the idea of the LED's and since they will light my first reef tank I'll be none the wiser lol... Those of you who have these already please keep us posted on your results. I won't even be buying mine for 2 or 3 more months so I have time to watch.

Hahaha, I read those posts too but I never went for others failures. There are so many factors... I've seen most of them are people with mature well established tanks and they are suddenly changing the spectrum. Taking or adding major chunks of the spectrum will impact your reef, so a better understanding of how light, water refraction and reflection works would be a nice addition to the knowledge arsenal.... Using light that is 20K alone on a shallow water was proven to slow or stop corals growth, although it has opposite effect in 24"+ tanks. On top of everything if you look carefully the majority of those failures are with expensive "high end LEDs" and the list can go on but what you will notice is that no one provides numbers or specific information on either color combinations, color temperature, PAR values and so on, which leads me to believe there is not enough scientific support in any of those affirmations.
I also believe those chinese companies are making their fixtures based on agricultural growth research data, MarsAqua is one of the biggest suppliers for medical growers... so I am sure they know their business, plus Epistar LED were used for the Olympics, another thing that made me think they are somehow reliable....
Now you have a wider picture to look at and the rest of us who already purchased the lights we have a long way to learn, understand and experiment more.

 

[Swope2bc]

Yeah, valid points all. As for helpful wives I'm certain mine will be right there on the decorating too lol

 

[paullondon]

Lol, my phone beeped and I saw your post on my screen. I didn't even know you can have a forum on the phone... that apparently shares private information freely between all apps.

 

[elietania]

Im using those light for 9 months now! 2 of them 165w each on a 75 gallon tank! Everything still working really good i was surprise for the price they are!!! My corals are happy and grow! Only thing i didnt like its there no option in those light! im changing my setup now... Im upgrading the tank to a 150 gallon im gonna buy a couple of aqua illumination prime.

The hydra 26 and ecotech radion are just to expensive and you need to buy the controller for the wifi to....

the prime have wifi built in and im getting them for only 200$ each gonna start to buy 3 and see how they go!!

 

[paullondon]

Elietania, how far from the water are your lights and how did you set up the corals? Sps up and the rest in the middle and bottom? Also how are your dimmers set? Full blast on both channels?

 

[elietania]

Elietania, how far from the water are your lights and how did you set up the corals? Sps up and the rest in the middle and bottom? Also how are your dimmers set? Full blast on both channels?

the light are about 14 inch from the water my hard coral are in the middle of the tank but i dont really have luck with them i lost a couple of them and now my brain hes not doing so great!! but all my soft corals are happy they grow like crazy! i have some of them in the middle other in the bottom and everything grow! The light was always at half power both channel 10 hours a day.. now since 2 days its at full power i wanna see if my brain will look better like that....

i would love to control each color but you cant... thats why im going with the prime fixture so i can have full control on those light...

i would love to go to t5/mh combo but the price/changing bulb/and maybe i will need to buy a chiller for the tank because of that its not worth it...

i know people on internet love mh and t5 but i saw a LOT of people with good led even lfs with the main tank and they get good corals grow and they keep hard coral to so thats why im gonna stick with led!

 

[paullondon]

the light are about 14 inch from the water my hard coral are in the middle of the tank but i dont really have luck with them i lost a couple of them and now my brain hes not doing so great!! but all my soft corals are happy they grow like crazy! i have some of them in the middle other in the bottom and everything grow! The light was always at half power both channel 10 hours a day.. now since 2 days its at full power i wanna see if my brain will look better like that....

i would love to control each color but you cant... thats why im going with the prime fixture so i can have full control on those light...

i would love to go to t5/mh combo but the price/changing bulb/and maybe i will need to buy a chiller for the tank because of that its not worth it...

i know people on internet love mh and t5 but i saw a LOT of people with good led even lfs with the main tank and they get good corals grow and they keep hard coral to so thats why im gonna stick with led!

I wouldn't go full power on both channels, just so you don't fry those corals, try 75% blue and 50% white first for a month or so.

 

[smedlin]

I wouldn't go full power on both channels, just so you don't fry those corals, try 75% blue and 50% white first for a month or so.

I hooked up two 32" Euphoticas (Chinese LEDs) this weekend. Each are 216W.

I currently only have them at 20%, but the few corals I have are loving it.

One of my 13 year old crappy T-12 units went out about a month ago..took me awhile to build the canopy to put these in.. some of the corals were starting to really suffer.

Even at 20%, the corals are coming back....

.