Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)
- Thread starter Atomic081
- Start date
MurphyLong
HMFIC
Dale_M
Official Noob
That question was answered here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2622878
A little diffuser work with my MarsAqua 300w and GalaxyHydro 165W fixtures. I wasn't please with the "spotlighting" I was getting on some of my upper coral (here shown by a stylo under a Warm White and Cool White):
I decided to go with a some light diffusing acrylic from these folks:
https://www.acrylite-shop.com/US/us/category.htm?$category=addajh9ktfj
I went with the Satinice 89% transmissivity. They only cut the pieces so small, and I needed two 14 3/8" X 7" for the Galaxy Hydro and four 29 3/8" X 5 7/8" for the MarsAqua, so ended up with one 14 3/8" X 14" and two 29 3/8" X 12" and the local Ace Hardware finish cutting to size for me (great guys).
Lights before, with some of the concentrating lenses removed to try and increase the spread (I can go into a lengthy explanation why this still wasn't very effective, but that's for another time).
Powered up:
And the cut diffuser sheet.
I decided to leave the orginal splash plate in both fixtures to protect the diffuser sheet. The MarsAqua appears to me to be glass (at least according to my razor knife), so I'd be appreciative if someone else could verify. The GalaxyHydro is acrylic.
More in a few minutes...
Cheers,
Ray
I decided to go with a some light diffusing acrylic from these folks:
https://www.acrylite-shop.com/US/us/category.htm?$category=addajh9ktfj
I went with the Satinice 89% transmissivity. They only cut the pieces so small, and I needed two 14 3/8" X 7" for the Galaxy Hydro and four 29 3/8" X 5 7/8" for the MarsAqua, so ended up with one 14 3/8" X 14" and two 29 3/8" X 12" and the local Ace Hardware finish cutting to size for me (great guys).
Lights before, with some of the concentrating lenses removed to try and increase the spread (I can go into a lengthy explanation why this still wasn't very effective, but that's for another time).
Powered up:
And the cut diffuser sheet.
I decided to leave the orginal splash plate in both fixtures to protect the diffuser sheet. The MarsAqua appears to me to be glass (at least according to my razor knife), so I'd be appreciative if someone else could verify. The GalaxyHydro is acrylic.
More in a few minutes...
Cheers,
Ray
:dance
iffuser sheet installed, before bending down the metal retention tabs to hold in place.
Front view, all 90' lenses removed prior to reassembly.
Power up:
White towel at about 8" - violet to the outer edges and blue toward the middle. Whites, reds, and greens blended in completely.
In place over the reef, side-by-side with the next to be worked on.
All in place over the reef (yes, that's the canopy door flipped up so we can see the lights and work on them).
The stylo actually looks a lot better than this in person now, but my picture taking skills are lacking I'm afraid. At any rate, the colors are blended very well now, and I'm still pulling about 180 PAR at the bottom of 27" of water (moutned about 8" above the water line) at 100% blue and 50% white channel settings. I'll be cranking those up to peak at about 200 PAR at the bottom over the few weeks (see the Dana Riddle video from Macna I ref'd way up thread on why I'm focused on these settings).
More in a few minutes...
Cheers,
Ray
iffuser sheet installed, before bending down the metal retention tabs to hold in place. 
Front view, all 90' lenses removed prior to reassembly.
Power up:
White towel at about 8" - violet to the outer edges and blue toward the middle. Whites, reds, and greens blended in completely.
In place over the reef, side-by-side with the next to be worked on.
All in place over the reef (yes, that's the canopy door flipped up so we can see the lights and work on them).
The stylo actually looks a lot better than this in person now, but my picture taking skills are lacking I'm afraid. At any rate, the colors are blended very well now, and I'm still pulling about 180 PAR at the bottom of 27" of water (moutned about 8" above the water line) at 100% blue and 50% white channel settings. I'll be cranking those up to peak at about 200 PAR at the bottom over the few weeks (see the Dana Riddle video from Macna I ref'd way up thread on why I'm focused on these settings).
More in a few minutes...
Cheers,
Ray
garygonzales
Member
now that you had some time with the diffuser how do you like the colors???are the corals liking it..... i think this is interesting...
What chevegan said!
No more "spotlighting", a good, clean, consistent color, less shadowing. I'm grilling atvthe moment, but let me see if I can upload some acro shots from today in a little while - they pretty much speak for themselves in that regard.
I'm really pleased, and they appear to be as well.
Cheers,
Ray
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
No more "spotlighting", a good, clean, consistent color, less shadowing. I'm grilling atvthe moment, but let me see if I can upload some acro shots from today in a little while - they pretty much speak for themselves in that regard.
I'm really pleased, and they appear to be as well.
Cheers,
Ray
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
garygonzales
Member
you know a before and after pic would be cool if you had it..what made you guys try this...
Here's a few pics:
29Jan2017 (about 12" from the bottom)
30Apr2017
29Jan2017 (on the bottom - 27" deep aquarium)
30Apr2017
I think that's all I have for comparison at the moment, but here's a few more shots.
30Apr2017 (about 6" from bottom)
30Apr2017 (on the bottom and about 6" from the bottom)
I apologize for my lack of picture taking skills...I'll work on that in my spare time...heh!
As for what encouraged me to try it...I grew weary of some of the said "spotlighting" from the LEDs, even with some lenses removed. Not really concerned with PAR (or PUR, for that matter), I decided to pull the lenses altogether and use a good diffuser to blend the light (an idea I got from Phillips, I'm afraid). I researched and found a great diffuser (the link I provided earlier) - it has embedded beads that really reflect and refract the light from these, and do a great job of blending at an 89% tranmissivity rate.
After installation, my PAR is still great at the bottom, though I'll be bringing it up a little more as I crank up my "white" channel, which has more 420nm and whatnot diodes yet.
So, color is good and blended a heck of a lot better than before - including the red and green diodes I left in. Now I'll be checking the PUR soon to see what things look like in that realm.
All for now - I hoep this helps in everyone's adventures!
Cheers,
Ray
29Jan2017 (about 12" from the bottom)
30Apr2017
29Jan2017 (on the bottom - 27" deep aquarium)
30Apr2017
I think that's all I have for comparison at the moment, but here's a few more shots.
30Apr2017 (about 6" from bottom)
30Apr2017 (on the bottom and about 6" from the bottom)
I apologize for my lack of picture taking skills...I'll work on that in my spare time...heh!
As for what encouraged me to try it...I grew weary of some of the said "spotlighting" from the LEDs, even with some lenses removed. Not really concerned with PAR (or PUR, for that matter), I decided to pull the lenses altogether and use a good diffuser to blend the light (an idea I got from Phillips, I'm afraid). I researched and found a great diffuser (the link I provided earlier) - it has embedded beads that really reflect and refract the light from these, and do a great job of blending at an 89% tranmissivity rate.
After installation, my PAR is still great at the bottom, though I'll be bringing it up a little more as I crank up my "white" channel, which has more 420nm and whatnot diodes yet.
So, color is good and blended a heck of a lot better than before - including the red and green diodes I left in. Now I'll be checking the PUR soon to see what things look like in that realm.
All for now - I hoep this helps in everyone's adventures!
Cheers,
Ray
garygonzales
Member
thanks for all the info ray
Retro-fitted my 165W GalaxyHydro fixtures today with some 405-410nm and 420nm LEDs. Pulled out the new Seneye PAR meter (yes, I know, I already have an Apogee, but I wanted to see the PUR rating) and got these results.
Seneye under the GalaxyHydro with 100% "Blue" channel and 75% "White" channel (now mostly blue with some reds and greens):
Read'em and weep - Yep, that's the PAR up there, and the PUR doesn't read so bad for "winging it", either.
And here's the current LED layout as of today.
:hmm5: So, what does all this mean? Well, I'll be tuning the LEDs to about just under 200 PAR at the gravel bed (at about 180 PAR now with "White" channels at 75% and "Blue" at about 100%), and seeing if I can work out the math and geometry to bump the "blue hill" in the PUR down a bit more toward the 420nm range (yep, the Actinic range). This might mean a few more of the 450-460nm LEDs will go by the wayside...I've got a bag of them now. Along with a bag of cool whites...
I've just got to be a little more cautious working on these babies with the lenses off. Had to double-check my layout prior to removing the LEDs, and man, talk about :eek1: bright :eek1: spots in front of my eyes ...
Ah well, all for now.
The coral appear to be happy a the moment, and growing well. The colors even look pretty good, too. I guess I should be worried :twitch:
Cheers,
Ray
Seneye under the GalaxyHydro with 100% "Blue" channel and 75% "White" channel (now mostly blue with some reds and greens):
Read'em and weep - Yep, that's the PAR up there, and the PUR doesn't read so bad for "winging it", either. 
And here's the current LED layout as of today.
:hmm5: So, what does all this mean? Well, I'll be tuning the LEDs to about just under 200 PAR at the gravel bed (at about 180 PAR now with "White" channels at 75% and "Blue" at about 100%), and seeing if I can work out the math and geometry to bump the "blue hill" in the PUR down a bit more toward the 420nm range (yep, the Actinic range). This might mean a few more of the 450-460nm LEDs will go by the wayside...I've got a bag of them now. Along with a bag of cool whites...
I've just got to be a little more cautious working on these babies with the lenses off. Had to double-check my layout prior to removing the LEDs, and man, talk about :eek1: bright :eek1: spots in front of my eyes ...
Ah well, all for now.
The coral appear to be happy a the moment, and growing well. The colors even look pretty good, too. I guess I should be worried :twitch:
Cheers,
Ray
CyclistMT
More Idiot Than Savant
Overall impression: the light diffuser is definitely worth it. It appears to make these LEDs behave much like T5's in lessening any shadowing and eliminating spotlighting.
I hope this helps in everyone's adventures.
:dance:
Cheers,
Ray
Nice tank!
Does the diffuser reduce or eliminate the glimmer lines?
garygonzales
Member
looking good ray
The diffuser does a great job of reducing glimmer lines on this fixture (eliminates most of the point-source lighting that causes glimmer lines). That said, I kind of like some on the display, so I rely on my Kessils to compliment these fixtures and add glimmer lines back into my comfort zone. I spent too much time with a mask and snorkel face down in the Med to drop the lines altogether.
Cheers,
Ray
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Cheers,
Ray
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
chevegan
New member
Yea I agree. now the shimmer isn't so night club-esk. Before the diffuser my camera couldn't take a descent photo
chevegan
New member
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-DSunY-...310422?hash=item4d59b1dcd6:g:fhMAAOSwTM5Yw2TM
Good deal for anyone looking
I have the box version of this with a diffuser. Nice color blend. They lowered the price of the buy it nows by $30 since I bought it grrrrrrr
Good deal for anyone looking
I have the box version of this with a diffuser. Nice color blend. They lowered the price of the buy it nows by $30 since I bought it grrrrrrr
