Questions about putting Mars Aqua on 600+ gal tank

F

Fishhead61

New member
A fellow fish head that's getting back in and needing some advice. I'm building a new house and putting a big tank facing in 2 rooms. The tank is 96"L x 48"W x 32"T (the 96" showing in 2 rooms). House nearing completion, and tank just put in place on stand. I've read every "LED verses the others" thread I could find in hopes of settling something in my mind. I've read every LED thread that compared each LED brand. It's been tough to sort through it all since most of the threads involved much smaller tanks. Since i sold my last reef tank (120 gal) about 6+ years ago and had ATI lighting, this time I decided to go with LEDs. I've been out a few years and things have changed, and it's really been confusing sorting out all of the things said about just LEDs. I've looked at several LEDs: going from $1300 worth of Mars Aqua, to $8000 of Radions. When I told a few local fish head friends I was probably going to buy 14 Mars Aqua units instead of the more costly lights, couple of them went crazy telling me I would throw them away in less than an year. I want to keep a mixed reef with fish, softies, general SPS, LPS, zoas, etc. Can these Mars Aqua units work on a big tank? Am I crazy going with 14 (165 watt) units, is it too many? Can I jail break them to run on a controller? Can you guys please give me some things to think about??????? What am i missing? I'm about to go nuts second guessing myself. Sorry so long.
 
I agree going with the 300w MarsAqua unit might be better and easier to setup. Either way they are a good unit for the price.
 
Why are you going LED's? 14 Mars aqua fixtures is still over 2300 watts of power and I don't think they can punch thru more than 24". So if you go with 14 of the 300 watt fixtures, then your looking at 4200 watts.

Have you considered just going with 3 or 4 halides? Just a thought because I looked at LEDs for my big tank, but the 8-10 grand to do it made me want to puke. And going with a lesser LED set up was a huge gamble. So happy I just stuck with my halides.
 
I have to agree with rygar , lighting a ex-large tank on a budget includes 4 x 400 metal halides. Dealing with that many cords would be a nightmare
 
By the way......... Happy New Year....... I appreciate your responses. I'll have some questions and some answers on what I was thinking

RYGAR, I see you're in Michigan. It's cold up there.As far as MH, I'm really trying to avoid the heat issue. I live in Louisiana: 3 seasons, hot, hotter and unbearable. I know they are tested thru time. However I installed a split 3/4 ton AC for the fish room. The work space area in the fish room is very small 4'x5', and the tank consumes the 4'x8' area. I would think the split unit could remove all that heat???? The tank room will be 13'x4', just enough to put the tank and supplies as I PROMISED my wife everything would be hidden from view. I've never used MH but several friends did and heat was always their issue. I'm considering anything at this time. I was just hoping LEDs would work and have no heat issues. I don't want to use LEDs just because it doesn't put out the heat, but it not work for me.
 
Cheapreef said:
For power cords no since I believe they have remote power supplies, but you can sync them all together to one controller which makes it easy.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24969489&postcount=286
Click to expand...

The 165 watt Mars Aqua can be daisy chained. I've seen several used on a tank and they were able to manage to make it look neat when running the wires on the 165 watt units. They were 10 all together. The 300 watt units can't be daisy chained according to what I just read. They Mars Aqua can't be hooked to a controller although. I guess I could put them on a simple timer. I imagine someone who is rally techie probably figured out how to do it.
 
rygar said:
Why are you going LED's? 14 Mars aqua fixtures is still over 2300 watts of power and I don't think they can punch thru more than 24".
Click to expand...

After adding sand I'm thinking it'll be about 28". Have they been known to not go through over 24" of water?
 
na.... i think they would be good for that..you could also take off the lenses for deeper penetration...there is a mars aqua thread in this forum..fyi....
 
Fishhead61 said:
The 165 watt Mars Aqua can be daisy chained. I've seen several used on a tank and they were able to manage to make it look neat when running the wires on the 165 watt units. They were 10 all together. The 300 watt units can't be daisy chained according to what I just read. They Mars Aqua can't be hooked to a controller although. I guess I could put them on a simple timer. I imagine someone who is rally techie probably figured out how to do it.
Click to expand...

Yes I know used to have a few, but still not near as easy as running 4 Photon V2's with the 6 channels of control. They also will give way better spred of light for less watts used.

And yes you can control the Mars through a Apex with a cable hack, but you would have to do the cable on all units that you want to control. Give 10%-100% control.

And a question from one of your other posts, yes the mars are fine for a 30" deep tank. A buddy of mine has a SPS dominant tank 48" X 24" X 30" deep with 4 mars running at 100% blue 80% white with no issues for growth or color.
 
garygonzales said:
na.... i think they would be good for that..you could also take off the lenses for deeper penetration...there is a mars aqua thread in this forum..fyi....
Click to expand...

You have that the wrong way around, lenses off would give you better spread but less penetration. They run 90 deg optics which is what gives it the power to light a deep tank.
 
garygonzales said:
na.... i think they would be good for that..you could also take off the lenses for deeper penetration...there is a mars aqua thread in this forum..fyi....
Click to expand...

If I remember right, that thread was a gagillion pages long. :uhoh3: I read it and not sure what I came away with.
 
Cheapreef said:
Yes I know used to have a few, but still not near as easy as running 4 Photon V2's with the 6 channels of control. They also will give way better spred of light for less watts used.

And yes you can control the Mars through a Apex with a cable hack, but you would have to do the cable on all units that you want to control. Give 10%-100% control.

And a question from one of your other posts, yes the mars are fine for a 30" deep tank. A buddy of mine has a SPS dominant tank 48" X 24" X 30" deep with 4 mars running at 100% blue 80% white with no issues for growth or color.
Click to expand...

Good to hear about your friends' tank doing good. I'll want to hear more about it. I'm heading out to a New Years party. I'll check back again tomorrow sometime. I really appreciate the responses so far, it's been helpful.
 
[QUOTE

And a question from one of your other posts, yes the mars are fine for a 30" deep tank. A buddy of mine has a SPS dominant tank 48" X 24" X 30" deep with 4 mars running at 100% blue 80% white with no issues for growth or color.[/QUOTE]

I'd like to hear more about your friends tank. Does he post on this forum? Does he have any pics that are posted or that you can share? I started reading about the Photons some also. Heck, I'm still kinda stuck in the mud. :spin2:
 
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