Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)
- Thread starter Atomic081
- Start date
garygonzales
Member
yo drawntobeaches..i know this is going way back...but do you have the link to where you got your true violet leds...mine were violet 420nm and they are pretty blue...not really purple at all.hmmm....
garygonzales
Member
bump
@garygonzales
Google "epistar 3w 405nm LED" and a couple hits down is the big auction site with "UV LED 3W". I've purchased from the seller "2012topdeal" a couple times now with no issues, and pretty quick delivery considering where they're coming from.
You'll be looking for their "1 10 20 50 pcs 3W High Power UV ultraviolet 365nm 395nm - 420nm LED Lamp Light" and they have a variety available ranging from 365 up to 425nm.
Hope this helps in your adventures, man.
Cheers,
Ray
Google "epistar 3w 405nm LED" and a couple hits down is the big auction site with "UV LED 3W". I've purchased from the seller "2012topdeal" a couple times now with no issues, and pretty quick delivery considering where they're coming from.
You'll be looking for their "1 10 20 50 pcs 3W High Power UV ultraviolet 365nm 395nm - 420nm LED Lamp Light" and they have a variety available ranging from 365 up to 425nm.
Hope this helps in your adventures, man.
Cheers,
Ray
And now for some promised pics...
@fishbox -
The fans in the 300w are wired as the below:
In this pic, the left circle is the wiring coming from that driver, and the arrow is showing where it hits the fan. The second circle from the left shows where the other wire is heading to the center fan (and the center arrow). The right circle and arrow, well, you get the idea.
Detail of the left drivers and the two fans' wiring both exiting the driver and heading toward the fans.
Detail of the right drivers and the fan wiring exiting the driver (note the other driver only has power leads heading to the LED board).
Hope this helps with your project.
Cheers,
Ray
@fishbox -
The fans in the 300w are wired as the below:
In this pic, the left circle is the wiring coming from that driver, and the arrow is showing where it hits the fan. The second circle from the left shows where the other wire is heading to the center fan (and the center arrow). The right circle and arrow, well, you get the idea.
Detail of the left drivers and the two fans' wiring both exiting the driver and heading toward the fans.
Detail of the right drivers and the fan wiring exiting the driver (note the other driver only has power leads heading to the LED board).
Hope this helps with your project.
Cheers,
Ray
@zelie_dad
I would think if you could find a direct replacement (shape for the contacts you're going to be soldering and voltage), sure. Frankly, I've only searched for Epistar 3W LEDs as they're the direct replacement.
As an aside, as noted (much) earlier in this thread, these boards are under-driven quite a bit (power consumption ~188W for 300W of LEDs), so the LEDs shouldn't have any issues with longevity provided the fans keep running and we pay attention to proper air circulation (especially if mounted in a canopy like mine).
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray
I would think if you could find a direct replacement (shape for the contacts you're going to be soldering and voltage), sure. Frankly, I've only searched for Epistar 3W LEDs as they're the direct replacement.
As an aside, as noted (much) earlier in this thread, these boards are under-driven quite a bit (power consumption ~188W for 300W of LEDs), so the LEDs shouldn't have any issues with longevity provided the fans keep running and we pay attention to proper air circulation (especially if mounted in a canopy like mine).
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray
@EGS25 - 
Here's a shot of how I mounted the trucks on my 300's:
And yes, that is the "derriere" of my 12 1/2 yr old Belgian Shepherd Roo, faithfully supervising my work on the aquarium.
I'd recommend measuring where you plan on drilling the holes in the steel twice (at least) before you punch through a driver or some wiring or somesuch. I came close the first one or two holes, and then I built in a safety factor. I mounted these lights perpendicular to the "rear" of the aquarium - I've a 300 Deep Dimension, and these 32" lights span the front to back perfectly, and two cover a two foot stretch in between braces likewise, spaced about five or six inches apart. You'll have to decide what you're comfortable with before you mount the rails.
I mounted the trucks on the light, and then used the assembly to space the rails for marking and mounting. The trucks allow for a little bit of adjustment (just in case your rail mounts are a little off), but I'd recommend trying to be as accurate as possible to minimize "fine tuning".
This is what a GalaxyHydro 165W fixture looks like mounted on the rails (from my build thread on another forum).
Hope you managed to find the right angle adapters you were looking for!
Cheers,
Ray (with a dozing faithful companion at my side, exhausted after "supervising" us put in another 6 X 20 garden this morning...)
Here's a shot of how I mounted the trucks on my 300's:
And yes, that is the "derriere" of my 12 1/2 yr old Belgian Shepherd Roo, faithfully supervising my work on the aquarium.
I'd recommend measuring where you plan on drilling the holes in the steel twice (at least) before you punch through a driver or some wiring or somesuch. I came close the first one or two holes, and then I built in a safety factor. I mounted these lights perpendicular to the "rear" of the aquarium - I've a 300 Deep Dimension, and these 32" lights span the front to back perfectly, and two cover a two foot stretch in between braces likewise, spaced about five or six inches apart. You'll have to decide what you're comfortable with before you mount the rails.
I mounted the trucks on the light, and then used the assembly to space the rails for marking and mounting. The trucks allow for a little bit of adjustment (just in case your rail mounts are a little off), but I'd recommend trying to be as accurate as possible to minimize "fine tuning".
This is what a GalaxyHydro 165W fixture looks like mounted on the rails (from my build thread on another forum).
Hope you managed to find the right angle adapters you were looking for!
Cheers,
Ray (with a dozing faithful companion at my side, exhausted after "supervising" us put in another 6 X 20 garden this morning...)
garygonzales
Member
i ordered the 420nm awhile ago and there almost as blue as the others....which ones did you get ..im looking for more of a purple ..so which ones would give me that...maybe the 395nm would be more of a purple...
garygonzales
Member
good job mounting your lights..by the way
garygonzales
Member
i used two different brands and they worked fine for me...
Okay, a seeming "dearth" of pics of stonies under these lights, so here's a couple 
09 January 2016 - I had started to use these lights in late October with my Kessils, replacing three 250W metal halide with four 300w MarsAqua and two GalaxyHydro 165W (on each end due to the corner overflow).
30 April 2016 - This is after all of the mods I noted earlier in this thread, and about four month's growth. I've had to bring down the lights to about 50% and slowly ramp up again due to bleaching of some acros
, now remedied as I'm slowly ramping back up.
02 January 2016 - An acro frag donated by a friend of mine, freshly mounted.
30 April 2016 - Same frag (sorry about the different angle), but spreading quite nicely across not only the mount, but the rock as well.
30 April 2016 Gratuitous glamour shot of some frags mounted in the past few months as well as some of my older corals.
30 April 2016 - While not a particularly attractive acro a the moment, this shot is centered on a frag I lost the majority of last spring. The arm that is the center of this frame has grown in the past couple months, from underneath the main branch of this frag. The violet acro to the left puts out brilliant turquoise blue photo-reflective pigments when these panels are cranked up to near full power (while most of its' compatriots bleach out).
(continued shortly)
Ray
09 January 2016 - I had started to use these lights in late October with my Kessils, replacing three 250W metal halide with four 300w MarsAqua and two GalaxyHydro 165W (on each end due to the corner overflow).
30 April 2016 - This is after all of the mods I noted earlier in this thread, and about four month's growth. I've had to bring down the lights to about 50% and slowly ramp up again due to bleaching of some acros
, now remedied as I'm slowly ramping back up. 
02 January 2016 - An acro frag donated by a friend of mine, freshly mounted.
30 April 2016 - Same frag (sorry about the different angle), but spreading quite nicely across not only the mount, but the rock as well.
30 April 2016 Gratuitous glamour shot of some frags mounted in the past few months as well as some of my older corals.
30 April 2016 - While not a particularly attractive acro a the moment, this shot is centered on a frag I lost the majority of last spring. The arm that is the center of this frame has grown in the past couple months, from underneath the main branch of this frag. The violet acro to the left puts out brilliant turquoise blue photo-reflective pigments when these panels are cranked up to near full power (while most of its' compatriots bleach out).
(continued shortly)
Ray
(from the previous)
30 April 2016 - My another gratuitous "beauty" shot under these lights showing off not only some of the more recent frags from the past few months, but a keen eye will also notice one of my older a. millepora colonies in the background. This is for those that say milles don't like LEDs...this one of two larger colonies, and I've another 4-5 frags spreading now that have only known LEDs in this reef.:bounce3:
30 April 2016 - My last shot of the day. This is looking down the stretch of the front of this reef, showing an assortment of old (grown primarily under metal halide) and new (grown only under LED) SPS and whatnot. And a couple photo-glutton fish. :fish1:
Of note in this adventure: the colors have shifted under LEDs, and also shifted under different intensity of the LEDs. As anyone that's been doing this for a while will tell you - that's to be expected. Colors shift due to many factors, the lighting elements being spectrum and relative intensity. I do like these light due to the lower heat signature, but don't be fooled - there still is some heat associated with pretty much anything driven by electricity and these have heat sinks and fans for a reason. I've been able to tweak the spectrum pretty easily to what I wanted it to be, but still have a few more things I might do. I've also (for the sharp of eye you might have already noticed) moved the AC plugs to the end and combined the power inputs to minimize the cables. Hey, it's a hobby, right? I reserve the right to bump, nudge, and tweak to my heart's content (hopefully within my abilities).
I hope everyone is having as much fun with this hobby that I do!
Cheers,
Ray
30 April 2016 - My another gratuitous "beauty" shot under these lights showing off not only some of the more recent frags from the past few months, but a keen eye will also notice one of my older a. millepora colonies in the background. This is for those that say milles don't like LEDs...this one of two larger colonies, and I've another 4-5 frags spreading now that have only known LEDs in this reef.:bounce3:
30 April 2016 - My last shot of the day. This is looking down the stretch of the front of this reef, showing an assortment of old (grown primarily under metal halide) and new (grown only under LED) SPS and whatnot. And a couple photo-glutton fish. :fish1:
Of note in this adventure: the colors have shifted under LEDs, and also shifted under different intensity of the LEDs. As anyone that's been doing this for a while will tell you - that's to be expected. Colors shift due to many factors, the lighting elements being spectrum and relative intensity. I do like these light due to the lower heat signature, but don't be fooled - there still is some heat associated with pretty much anything driven by electricity and these have heat sinks and fans for a reason. I've been able to tweak the spectrum pretty easily to what I wanted it to be, but still have a few more things I might do. I've also (for the sharp of eye you might have already noticed) moved the AC plugs to the end and combined the power inputs to minimize the cables. Hey, it's a hobby, right? I reserve the right to bump, nudge, and tweak to my heart's content (hopefully within my abilities).
I hope everyone is having as much fun with this hobby that I do!
Cheers,
Ray
@garygonzales -
Thanks!
I used the 405-410nm and 420-425nm LEDs to reproduce the lower end spike for photosynthesis (I posted the graph somewhere up forum - let me know if you'd like a copy I can send to you).
Cheers - appreciate your help and posting through this thread - you've made this transition possible for this old geezer.
Ray
Thanks!
I used the 405-410nm and 420-425nm LEDs to reproduce the lower end spike for photosynthesis (I posted the graph somewhere up forum - let me know if you'd like a copy I can send to you).
Cheers - appreciate your help and posting through this thread - you've made this transition possible for this old geezer.
Ray
fishbox
New member
Thanks Ray. That helps.And now for some promised pics...
@fishbox -
The fans in the 300w are wired as the below:
In this pic, the left circle is the wiring coming from that driver, and the arrow is showing where it hits the fan. The second circle from the left shows where the other wire is heading to the center fan (and the center arrow). The right circle and arrow, well, you get the idea.
Detail of the left drivers and the two fans' wiring both exiting the driver and heading toward the fans.
Detail of the right drivers and the fan wiring exiting the driver (note the other driver only has power leads heading to the LED board).
Hope this helps with your project.
Cheers,
Ray
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