Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay)

From the specs I've read, the Epistar 3w LEDS are available up to 140' viewing angle. I think the stock lens on these MarsAqua fixtures are 90' for deeper penetration. I've replaced a fair number of the stock LEDs, so I'm not really sure if the LEDS are in the "regular" 120' range or not.
That all said, you're right - I've got PAR to spare if I pop all the lenses. I might give it a try with a PAR meter this weekend or next to see if I can still hit 200 at the sand.


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I will have 4 of the 300w for sale real soon if someone on here is interested. Shoot me a PM and when I get my radions I will let them go.
 
garygonzales said:
changing it out with what? what other is there
Click to expand...

There are several types.

Clear lenses: 30°,60,90,120°

Beaded lenses: 30°,60,90,120°

If you put Blues, Reds, and Greens on 120° clear lens and whites on mostly 120° clear and a few 90° clear and beaded.

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Are these lights good out of the box? Is everyone modifying the lights trying to make them perfect or just trying to make them work proper?
 
Good out of the box. Keep the "white" channel turned down. Start at a low intensity and gradually ramp up over a few weeks to your desired level. Best bet use a PAR meter and shoot for about 200 PAR (the white channel will most likely influence this the most) at the sand bed for maximum growth. Take your time getting there.

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I am looking at 2 Mars Aqua dimmable 300 watt units for my 220 gallon reef to go along with my 48" 6 bulb t5. I currently have a heavy load of corals with a majority of lps and sps.

My questions are...

1. Will this be enough light?
2. Does anyone have any photos of their tank with these lights on? If so can you tell me how growth has been on sps corals.

Thanks.
 
@AlphaSig -
Here's my 300 Deep Dimension. These lights are pretty directional, as you can see.



Left bank and center bank on, right side only two Kessil A350W.


January 2015 under 250 Metal Halide


early June 2016


mid June 2016


December 2016

As I noticed the growth on some of my acropora was still pretty slow, I took some PAR readings on the bottom and worked my way up. At 100% both channels I was hitting 500 PAR, and causing some of the coral to produce light-inhibiting pigmentation (discussed upthread). So, after watching a great Dana Riddle presentation on PAR, growth, and whatnot, I decided to drop the PAR down to the upper 200's at the gravel bed and see what happens. So far, so good, but it's only been a few weeks.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray
 
A few more tanks shots with these lights...

December 2016


Dec 2016


29Jan2017 This one likes the PAR around 250 I guess...


29Jan2017 on the botttom of 27" water, lights about 8" above water level.


My "pet" Acropora aspera...29Jan2017


29Jan2017

Cheers,
Ray
 
Did they ever come out with a wifi model? I loved my mars Aqua brand but I may switch to another full spectrum with wifi. Any recommendations if mars Aqua doesn't have a wifi model?
 
@AlphaSig - Thanks for the complement; I truly enjoy this "hobby", and have been fascinated with this stuff for, um, let's say many years...my grey beard won't give me away.
The 300w measures about 32" X 8", so a fit perpendicular to the back like I'm running wouldn't be practical due to the overhang. The 165W is about 16" X 8", so that doesn't help a lot either. Is your reef going to be up against the back wall, or are you building a peninsula or island walk-around?
The idea would be to cover as much of your planned reef with the "footprint" of the light. Again, these are pretty directional, unless you remove the lenses - in which case you'll lose some of the depth penetration. Knowing what I know now, I'd go with four of the 300w, lay them out parrallel to the rear of the aquarium in two rows. As you "guesstimate" placement, try to plan/plot out where the light footprint will fall, and ensure that's over the area you want to cover.
Now, as you look at some of the tank shots above, you can see how directional these lights are with the stock lenses in place. You can plan accordingly and place lower light coral in the dimmer portions, or you can move the fixtures closer together to eliminate as much of them as you wish.

I hope that helps a bit.
Oh, and one last very important bit: use a PAR meter to figure out what your eventual desired PAR settings vs appearance will be, and mark those on the dials with marker. See the post up thread for a link to Dana Riddle's talk at MACNA 2016 on PAR and growth. These dials don't have detents, so a bump will move them. I got into the habit of taping them in place after setting them (I use pocket door rails to mount them in a canopy).

Cheers,
Ray
 
@AlphaSig - There's a link to a video upthread (quite aways, I'm afraid) about how you can change out the LEDs. I think it might have been by garygonzales, but my memory isn't always that accurate. Basically, you're just de-soldering the originals, and soldering new ones in. And trying not to burn your fingers or melt the LED lenses. I also combined the power leads, moved the DB-40 socket for the power lead to the rear of the fixture (to fit my installation), and mounted four pocket door casters so I could use rail-mounts in my canopy.
***For anyone that is considering this - these things not only weigh a bit, but they also put out some heat. Consider how much weight your aquarium/canopy combination can handle before attempting this, and mount a number (I've put four 120mm) of ultra-quiet fans blowing into the canopy to move the hot air out.***

If I remember correctly, this is the original layout. I'd recommend you double check to make sure it hasn't changed. If you'd like the Excel file to save a couple key strokes, PM me and I'll send it your way.


This is what I'm running now. I'll probably be swapping out yet a few more of the white LEDs (not sure which ones just yet..gotta scratch my head a little more) sometime soon with some of the 450nm and a few more 420nm and 410nm. The half-shaded 425nm LEDs are the most recent replacements from a few months ago. The remaining whites are still a bit overpowering, and I run the red and green LEDs without their lenses to improve their spread.


Here's why I use the colors I use in this fixture:


While I don't have a spectrometer (maybe someday Santa will drop it by, but I doubt it), you can plainly see the desired spectrum for coral health. The challenge, of course, is to attain that spectrum, with the desired intensities for portion, by "guessing". I'm glad the coral is not only very forgiving, by and large, for my guesses, but that it is highly adaptable as well. But that's another conversation.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ray
 
@rgulrich, the tank will be positioned against the wall with a canopy. Do you have your shopping list for LED's you switched out and where your purchased them? Thank you for all of your help.

I originally wanted to go with a t5/halide combo fixture but am having trouble finding a used one.
 
Bagabaga said:
Did they ever come out with a wifi model? I loved my mars Aqua brand but I may switch to another full spectrum with wifi. Any recommendations if mars Aqua doesn't have a wifi model?
Click to expand...

Any wifi 165w will do. Though, I recommend changing diodes and lenses.

I use the populargrow wifi 165w w/ modified leds and lenses. It produces roughly 5,000-7,000 more lux than mars aqua. The Mars Aqua lights do provide a better spectrum in comparison. However, I like my wifi lights more.
 
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