Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

Most probably not to control light intensities, but definitely turn on/off with an external timer (if the LEDs are in the default "on" position when the controller failed).

That said, the light manufacturer is "Intelligent aquarium LED" and may be seen as a Taotronics. Lots of Google searching and you might get lucky and find an email contact. Know nothing about their service capabilities.

I have dealt with MarsAqua service department when I lost a driver shortly after I put this system together, and they promptly mailed out a new replacement.

Good luck,
Ray
 
How can you guys tell what the darn dimmer settings are. I just got my Mars Aqua X2 165w and mounted them 11 inches off the water, problem is they seems much less light intense then my 4x54w t5 fixture. I have both dimmers on the minimum brightness to break it in. How did you guys acclimate your lights?
 
you want to start them out low and then turn them up little at a time till you get where you want ..usually a week time to do this works good...basically half way with dial is about 50% and all the way is 100%..just kinda guess....
 
I'm starting out ocean revives 30%b -25%w and the coral that was on MH beforehand is thriving. Always better to start low then to high.
 
What do you guys have your final intensity at? I am hoping to achieve 100% blue and roughly 40-50% white. My lights are 12" from the water surface and my tank is 22" deep from the top. I think I can safely accomplish it.
 
@themummra - This is what I came up with for the "stock" 300w and posted substantially upthread:


I altered my layout a bit through some ebay purchases to:


And then I picked up and custom cut some diffuser sheets and removed the stock lenses in both the foru MarsAqua and two Galaxy Hydro fixtures:


I'm not worried about PAR or PUR at depth in the 300 as it's well over 200 PAR even without the lenses...75% "white (lotsa blue)" channel and 100% "blue" channel.
Heres' the Galaxy Hydro 165W after I customized it:

and


Over the reef:



And the coral grows pretty well, too (and so does algae on occasion...sigh).


Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray
 
Hi how many 165w mars units would you guys use on a 96"x30"x24" mixed reef mainly consisting of sps (mid-top half of tank) /lps corals (bottom-mid tank)? I'm currently running 3x400w halides and 6xt5HO to supplement. I plan on still using my T5's with the mars, just looking to save a few bucks on the electrical bill! Also I figured if I go LED's I may not have to run my chiller.
 
RealReef7 said:
Hi how many 165w mars units would you guys use on a 96"x30"x24" .
Click to expand...

Minimum of 1 every 24" so 4 at minimum and 5 being possibly optimal.

I'm running 3 similar units for 72" 30" deep, but because of slight shadowing I may raise the lights higher. I have seen 4 on my dimensions and you could still see shadowing due to the tanks crossbars.

Your crossbars may dictate between 4 and 5
 
iced98lx said:
This is how I am running mine now:

33708566725_72d14b8ddf_b.jpg


And how I hung them (excuse my wiring mess):

33667731636_92cac8caf4_b.jpg
Click to expand...

Hello, glad I took the time to go through this thread. Your set up is exactly what I'm planning to do not on my 360, except I plan to run 4 LEDs and a supra slimline front and back. My tank is 92x30.

Also thinking about removing the lenses and replacing with diffusor frosted diffusor panels. Anyone try this?
 
zachrabbit15 said:
Hello, glad I took the time to go through this thread. Your set up is exactly what I'm planning to do not on my 360, except I plan to run 4 LEDs and a supra slimline front and back. My tank is 92x30.

Also thinking about removing the lenses and replacing with diffusor frosted diffusor panels. Anyone try this?
Click to expand...

The frosted diffusion panel has been done with good results (not sure if they had lenses on or off). I also flipped to SBReef retro panels and I really like them despite slightly lower PAR than the originals (the original par increase I contribute 100% to the aggressive lenses). I am working to put another set of T5's on as well, as I'd like to run one more coralplus and an ATI true actinic in addition to my current two coral plus bulbs.
 
iced98lx said:
The frosted diffusion panel has been done with good results (not sure if they had lenses on or off). I also flipped to SBReef retro panels and I really like them despite slightly lower PAR than the originals (the original par increase I contribute 100% to the aggressive lenses). I am working to put another set of T5's on as well, as I'd like to run one more coralplus and an ATI true actinic in addition to my current two coral plus bulbs.
Click to expand...

Great you just answered my next question of what T5s you are running.
 
zachrabbit15 said:
Great you just answered my next question of what T5s you are running.
Click to expand...

I prefer my tank MUCH more white than most, so keep that in mind, I find the coral plus bulbs don't over saturate with blue like others. If you prefer a bluer tint you'll either make up with the LED's or go with a different bulb selection.
 
iced98lx said:
I prefer my tank MUCH more white than most, so keep that in mind, I find the coral plus bulbs don't over saturate with blue like others. If you prefer a bluer tint you'll either make up with the LED's or go with a different bulb selection.
Click to expand...

I tend to like a crisper 12k look vs the overly blue 18-20k.
My last tank was a 280 with 2 Phoenix 14k 400watt halides/4T5HO- 2 blue+, and 2 coral+. This tended to be a bit bluish but was very livable.
 
Before that tank I had a 240 with 4 Reef Radiance Prostars. That tended to be too purple on the blue side and yellow on the white side.
 
outy said:
Minimum of 1 every 24" so 4 at minimum and 5 being possibly optimal.

I'm running 3 similar units for 72" 30" deep, but because of slight shadowing I may raise the lights higher. I have seen 4 on my dimensions and you could still see shadowing due to the tanks crossbars.

Your crossbars may dictate between 4 and 5
Click to expand...

Do you supplement with any t5s? So far the t5s have taken care of any shadowing from the halides, hope they do the same for leds. I'm going to try 4 first and see how it goes.
 
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