Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

80cent said:
I know I'm late to the party, but I'm looking to light the Nuvo 40 gallon, and I had been recommended the D2120 but wanted to know if these were better.
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Since this thread only has the PAR values for MarsAqua, before purchasing look for Bridgelux LED PAR vlues somewhere, I think those were also very good since ReefBreeders is suing them.... But for 40 gallons you probably need the 300W long unit since 2x 165W will be 3"-4" outside your tank walls after hanging them? ...you have to take into account the distance the units have to be placed from each other and you definitely need two of them if opting out for 165W.
The wattage is OK and you should not take that into account for LED so much, it was used as a guide line for tubes back in the day and since you have the PAR values for LEDs that is a bit more helpful.
I was also looking at recent studies about LEDs and people going for 420nm vioets, that seems to be a non necessary wavelength for corals photosynthesis.
 
That's not entirely true about 420 nm violets. The chlorophyll a, which is the dominant variety in most corals, has a primary absorption peak at 417 nanometers. Pretty dang close to 420nm. Chlorophyll b has a primary absorption peak at 436 nanometers. About halfway from 420 nm violet and 450 nm royal blue. Violet is very beneficial
 
paullondon said:
Since this thread only has the PAR values for MarsAqua, before purchasing look for Bridgelux LED PAR vlues somewhere, I think those were also very good since ReefBreeders is suing them.... But for 40 gallons you probably need the 300W long unit since 2x 165W will be 3"-4" outside your tank walls after hanging them? ...you have to take into account the distance the units have to be placed from each other and you definitely need two of them if opting out for 165W.

The wattage is OK and you should not take that into account for LED so much, it was used as a guide line for tubes back in the day and since you have the PAR values for LEDs that is a bit more helpful.

I was also looking at recent studies about LEDs and people going for 420nm vioets, that seems to be a non necessary wavelength for corals photosynthesis.
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Did you look at the dimensions of the tank he will have? I believe it is only 24" wide, would the 300w be too wide at 32"? One 165w would fit but have to be run a little higher power. I may be totally off here, just an observation:
 
Bpb said:
That's not entirely true about 420 nm violets. The chlorophyll a, which is the dominant variety in most corals, has a primary absorption peak at 417 nanometers. Pretty dang close to 420nm. Chlorophyll b has a primary absorption peak at 436 nanometers. About halfway from 420 nm violet and 450 nm royal blue. Violet is very beneficial
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You are absolutely right. Chlorophyll A is 400nm-450nm and 650nm-700nm.
Chlorophyll B is 450nm-500nm and 600nm-650nm. There is no doubt about this. I was just mentioning that later studies are focused on the higher limit of the wave length as getting a better growth response. A very debatable subject and like everything new I would just keep an eye on it...

Swope2bc said:
Did you look at the dimensions of the tank he will have? I believe it is only 24" wide, would the 300w be too wide at 32"? One 165w would fit but have to be run a little higher power. I may be totally off here, just an observation:
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I see... it's the 24x20x19... In that case even if one 165W would be enough I would go for two of them just so he can make a square, right? He doesn't need a bar, he needs a sort of square light on top of that tank... and the 165W is 15.7"x8.3"x2.36" so two of them will nicely form a 15.7"x16.6"x2.36" which I believe is perfect.... now it depends how he wants the rockwork and all...
About the higher power... the guy sent me the difference and I have no clue where I put the e-mail, if you drive those LED at maximum power you burn them quickly and your PAR values are not going to make a huge lot of a difference, my 300W unit runs t 240W, so I will not sweat over those 60W when what I get is WAY over the light amount you need...
Hope this helps....
 
Went looking through eBay and there are so many options for these and they all look identical. I want to get 2 of the 165 w units and I'm just curious if they are all the same thing, because they appear to be. I want to send my husband the link so he knows what I want for my birthday, but I want to send him the right one and I just can't figure out the difference between them
 
They are basically the same unit rebranded, however MarsAquatic has gotten a pretty good name for itself for having better customer service. However, I have no personal experience with them it is just what I've read here on RC
 
Yeah the customer service and warranty will vary from seller to seller. They're all originally manufactured by evergrow. All same housing, drivers, and either epistar or bridgelux diodes. The 3 headed giant retailers in the U.S. Are Reef Breeders, Ocean Revive, and Reef Radiance. They're selling the same units as the eBay ones but offer better customization, warranty, and service after the sale. Pick your poison. The units containing bridgelux diodes, and ones that contain 420 mm violets as well as several shades of white would be preferable. But your results will be similar with any of them really
 
Anyone have experience with current usa and their reef units? The customization for the price seems sweet, and reviews I read claim they can grow pretty close to everything but they are much lower wattage...
 
Swope2bc said:
Anyone have experience with current usa and their reef units? The customization for the price seems sweet, and reviews I read claim they can grow pretty close to everything but they are much lower wattage...
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I honestly have no experience with current-usa but that was my 1st option I was looking into and many people told me how great they are but not for SPS. I loved the customization and that lightning effect, but many told me they are not using it... just you know for a week until novelty wears off...
The wattage is different because the diodes are different and this is the tricky part with LEDs. Don't look at the wattage, look at the PAR values they put out.
Hahahaa more research for you to do. I'm glad I'm done with it :) I love the MarsAqua... in such a short time I have such a nice growth and everyone is happy in the tank.
 
I'm not dead set on the Mars unit just yet, so I guess more research lol.. I love the Mars unit if I can customize it to run on my apex, I'm just not confident in the content I've seen on that yet. That being said, if the current will not grow SPS then I'm not sure it's for me anyway...
 
How are the fan noise levels on these Mars Aqua lights? Are they turned on when the lights go on, and are they loud?
 
Cliff said:
How are the fan noise levels on these Mars Aqua lights? Are they turned on when the lights go on, and are they loud?
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They are not quiet but not annoyingly loud Three fans are running on the 300 Watt model. I ordered three 80mm quiet case fans from Amazon for 7$ each to swap the old fans and now the led fixtures is stealth quiet
 
I have a 90 mixed and run the 300 on the DT and a 165 over the R-300 Refugium growing Macro like crazy. Clean up crew keeps the algae at a minimum along with my Starry Blennie and Powder Brown. Mexican Turbos in the refugium keeps the micro under control. great lights to start off with! No problems yet here after 4 months.:bounce3:
 
pillar coral said:
I have a 90 mixed and run the 300 on the DT and a 165 over the R-300 Refugium growing Macro like crazy. Clean up crew keeps the algae at a minimum along with my Starry Blennie and Powder Brown. Mexican Turbos in the refugium keeps the micro under control. great lights to start off with! No problems yet here after 4 months.:bounce3:
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Do you have corals in your dt?
 
Does anyone know what to do if a large GBTA is on top of a very small RBTA ? First time using a form on taptalk so I apologize.
 
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