Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

RayAllen3422 said:
Which lights would you recommend for a 120 gallon with specs of 4' x 2' x 2' 1" tall?
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Ask koestech for pictures of his tanks. A couple posts up from yours. His tank measurements are posted. Maybe three 165W fixtures with the optics off? As long as you're not growing SPS on the sand, you'll be fine in terms of PAR. Coverage is what we're worried about here.
 
firebirdude said:
Ask koestech for pictures of his tanks. A couple posts up from yours. His tank measurements are posted. Maybe three 165W fixtures with the optics off? As long as you're not growing SPS on the sand, you'll be fine in terms of PAR. Coverage is what we're worried about here.
Click to expand...


Because it's a 4' tank two units will cover fine. Because it's deep I suggest he keeps the optics on to maximize his penetrations. Three will be a lot of light but some like to set them at lower settings with more spread. Each 165w unit will cover 2'x2'x2' with the optics in place.
 
I have a 300W model (so 30" wide) above my 40B tank (36" wide). There was obvious shadowing and unmixed colors with the optics on, even with the fixture ~10-12" above the water. It wasn't horrible, but plainly visible. Optics surely aren't needed in my tiny 18" deep tank, so off they came and it looks glorious end to end.:)

Ask koestech if he still has his optics on and if he'll kindly post pictures of the front and sides of his tank (since he's 31" wide). koestech, opinion on this topic?
 
koestech said:
Dear all,

I finished the build of the lamps for my frag tank and main tank.

My main Tank (as a room divider) has the following size: 51" x 31" x 23" (Water Depth).
My propagation tank has the following size: 48" x 20" x 16" (water depth).

For the Frag Tank I used two 165 W Mars Aqua and for the Main Tank three of them.

LED Swapping on all five modules:
- All Warm white, red and green went out.
- The four warm whites in the edges were substitute by 10.000K LEDs
- The other two warm whites were substitute by 20.000K LEDs
- The green and red LEDs were substituted by 420nm LEDs
- I removed all lenses

Extra Wiring between the modules:
- In order not to have to attach the power lines to all modules separate I connected the Modules between each other with an own power cord (5 lines)
- With a multi tool I cut the holes into the frames in order to get the cable through
- The connection I did with crimping
- For the main tank I also directly connected the power cord with crimps in order not to have the plugs point out at the top

Mounting of lights
- In order to mount the lights with steel cable from ATI to the ceiling I made a frame out of black aluminum profiles (30x30mm)
- I removed the four golden hooks of the original mounts

Attached you can see some pics of the light of my propagation tank.

For the Main tank I plan to swap the fans because I would like to have something significant more silent.

Do you have a tip which ones to use?

Thank you.

Regards,

Christian
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Any pics of the actual tank so we can see how the lighting looks?
 
I've read the whole thread and I'm sold on these lights, but have a few questions. Please excuse me if it was already covered but this is a lot of info for a noob like me.

Should I go with 2 165w units or 1 300w unit?
Tank will be a 40B. I plan on keeping a mixed reef (SPS/LPS/SOFTIES/ETC). Keep in mind that I'd like to keep the lights as low as possible. So optics come into consideration.

Are these the Silenx fans everyone is talking about? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226041

Anyone use this Reef Keeper Dimming Cable?
Does it eliminate mods? Got a pic of what it looks like? Will it work with APEX?
 
Oh and why get rid of the red LEDs? I had a reef tank years ago and I would use a red flashlight to spy on my tank at night as it doesn't bother fish. Trust me there is creepy $h!t going on in your tank while you sleep.
 
fishbox said:
I've read the whole thread and I'm sold on these lights, but have a few questions. Please excuse me if it was already covered but this is a lot of info for a noob like me.

Should I go with 2 165w units or 1 300w unit?
Tank will be a 40B. I plan on keeping a mixed reef (SPS/LPS/SOFTIES/ETC). Keep in mind that I'd like to keep the lights as low as possible. So optics come into consideration.

Are these the Silenx fans everyone is talking about? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226041

Anyone use this Reef Keeper Dimming Cable?
Does it eliminate mods? Got a pic of what it looks like? Will it work with APEX?
Click to expand...

im in the same boat with my 40B on what light set up to use, so im very curious to the answers you receive..

yes those are the Silex fans..

cant help you out with dimming cable...
 
I have two of the 165w over a 75 gallon. I have some shadowing issues at the base of my sps colonies. I plan to solve with two 48" t5s.

I just plumbed a 40 breeder into my tank and I plan to use two 165w. That way I can place the units on opposite sides and angle them towards the center to cut down on the shadowing issues that I have with my 75.

These are great lights except for the shadowing issue which can be a problem with most LEDs.
 
gribsrule said:
I have two of the 165w over a 75 gallon. I have some shadowing issues at the base of my sps colonies. I plan to solve with two 48" t5s.

I just plumbed a 40 breeder into my tank and I plan to use two 165w. That way I can place the units on opposite sides and angle them towards the center to cut down on the shadowing issues that I have with my 75.

These are great lights except for the shadowing issue which can be a problem with most LEDs.
Click to expand...

hmm you joined in march of this year and your just now posting lol. congrats on 1st post..
 
fishbox said:
I've read the whole thread and I'm sold on these lights, but have a few questions. Please excuse me if it was already covered but this is a lot of info for a noob like me.

Should I go with 2 165w units or 1 300w unit?
Tank will be a 40B. I plan on keeping a mixed reef (SPS/LPS/SOFTIES/ETC). Keep in mind that I'd like to keep the lights as low as possible. So optics come into consideration.

i belive firebirdude has a 40b too...and has one 300 watt on his tank...check his post just above yours...
Click to expand...
 
firebirdude said:
I have a 300W model (so 30" wide) above my 40B tank (36" wide). There was obvious shadowing and unmixed colors with the optics on, even with the fixture ~10-12" above the water. It wasn't horrible, but plainly visible. Optics surely aren't needed in my tiny 18" deep tank, so off they came and it looks glorious end to end.:)

Ask koestech if he still has his optics on and if he'll kindly post pictures of the front and sides of his tank (since he's 31" wide). koestech, opinion on this topic?
Click to expand...

i have the same lights as you on a 46 gallon bow...not getting too much shadowing..on mine and still have the optics on too...at least i think it looks good to me..lol.....:p
 
fishbox said:
Oh and why get rid of the red LEDs? I had a reef tank years ago and I would use a red flashlight to spy on my tank at night as it doesn't bother fish. Trust me there is creepy $h!t going on in your tank while you sleep.
Click to expand...

red and green LEDS encourage algae growth. and typically its the algae that we don't growing...
 
maddmaxx said:
hmm you joined in march of this year and your just now posting lol. congrats on 1st post..
Click to expand...

I have been in the hobby for two years successfully keeping an sps tank. I owe my success to spending a lot of time reading and learning on here. Figured I should start contributing!
 
Welcome aboard gribsrule. :)

Yes, I have a 40B with one 300W fixture above it. Gary says he doesn't have shadowing on his 46 Bow, but I could see the colored LEDs splashed on my rocks clear as day. And the actual coverage was acceptable. But it was still obviously a bit dimmer on the sides versus the center. So I removed the optics and everything is golden. The color mixture is flawless and I no longer have darkened edges. Heck, my tank is only 18" deep. I could still grow SPS on the bottom if I wanted. lol

Madmaxx, check out some of the eBay postings. Most of them have a picture of the fixture on. It's pretty easy to tell what's what. But on that note, if you're planning on swapping out some LEDs, I'd get a plan in place before you even heat up the soldering iron. You might have to move a couple around to make everything to the way you want it. See this post for my notes on it.
 
yea right on the colored leds i can see the reds and greens shimmering on my rocks too..lol...im going to change these to purple 420s ..still haven't gotten that far....maybe even take off the optics too...
 
So I see a lot of people have posted some good stuff since my last post. The Mars Aqua is a great fixture for a 40 breeder for all who are considering buying one.

Let me show you how I have mine set up. I'll try and do a layout of led placement later but for now it's just show and tell.

I originally didn't like the Mars Aqua, but when I baught it I totally changed my mind. The first week was ok until the red and green LED reflections started bugging me. So I decided to order some new LEDs so I can change them out and be done with them. I figured my corals did not need red and green LEDs to grow so I swapped them out. I ended up changing the entire layout of the white channel.

I went with all 14,00k and 20,000k LEDs. And then swapped the red and greens out for 460nm. I'll post some before and after pictures of the light on the tank. If you haven't seen my video on replacing LEDs it's back on page 13 I think. I explain why I changed them out also.

Basically I didn't like the Reds and greens and if you don't know red LEDs (or red light in general) promotes algae growth. Hence why refugiums usually have a red light for algae growth. People use 3,000k bulbs from Home Depot because they are closer to the red/orange spectrum (caratonoids) and they are good enough to get the job done.

So as far as my tank goes I only have one 165 watt fixture over my 40 breeder with the optics taken off and of course my preferred LED spectrum. My tank will Be a mixed reef. 1 fixture is plenty for sps in a 40 breeder with the optics off because the tanks are only 18 inches deep. So hopefully this will help a lot of people out with making their decisions.
 
Before I changed the red and greens out on th white channel.



And after I swapped them out for all 14,000k and 20,000k



And then here's a picture with both channels on at only 10%



The shadowing isn't that dramatic either. The pictures show a little shadowing but it's not shadowing at all on the sides.
 
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