Mars Aqua Chinese LED review (Ebay) - Page 16

d-man · 10/11/2015, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garygonzales

+1 on this....turning down the lights is turning down the power so less consumption.........i dont think nobody uses full power anyways..lol...

I will be...but my tank is 43" tall

firebirdude · 10/11/2015, 04:58 PM

Damn! 43" ain't no joke. That's for sure. Keep the optics on for sure. I'd like to see some PAR numbers down that low if you have a meter.

garygonzales · 10/11/2015, 05:03 PM

right !! i suppose there are some exceptions...lol...

Swope2bc · 10/11/2015, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-man

I will be...but my tank is 43" tall

You may not get the par you desire at that depth, consider 60° optics and a slightly smaller spread on the lights to get that depth. How big is your tank!?

d-man · 10/11/2015, 10:25 PM

My tank is 32" wide. As far as par, meh, doesn't mean much in terms of leds. But yes, low light corals for sure will go on the bottom.

Swope2bc · 10/11/2015, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-man

My tank is 32" wide. As far as par, meh, doesn't mean much in terms of leds. But yes, low light corals for sure will go on the bottom.

32" wide and 43" tall! Wow, can we see a pic of it? I would love to follow a build thread on it

C Dog · 10/12/2015, 12:19 PM

Would (2) of the 165 units be good for a 24" L x 24" W x 12" T? I am doing a SPS tank.

Swope2bc · 10/12/2015, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C Dog

Would (2) of the 165 units be good for a 24" L x 24" W x 12" T? I am doing a SPS tank.

One would be plenty to cover that size tank

C Dog · 10/12/2015, 12:26 PM

How high would it hang?

Swope2bc · 10/12/2015, 12:28 PM

I would put it about 10" above the surface.

d-man · 10/12/2015, 01:27 PM

There is a partially complete build thread with terrible pics in the large tank forum. I can't operate photobucket very well since Im a tech moron.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swope2bc

32" wide and 43" tall! Wow, can we see a pic of it? I would love to follow a build thread on it

d-man · 10/12/2015, 01:27 PM

The tank is completed yet. I'm leak testing the tank currently

C Dog · 10/12/2015, 03:06 PM

Would you guys run 1 Kessel 350N or 2 Mars Aqua? I bought a used Kessel 350N (narrow optics 70 degrees) . It's a nice unit but there are dark spots in my 24x24x12 tank. I should of bought the wide lense. Instead of buying another used one I could sell the one I have and buy 2 Mars Aqua.

Swope2bc · 10/12/2015, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C Dog

Would you guys run 1 Kessel 350N or 2 Mars Aqua? I bought a used Kessel 350N (narrow optics 70 degrees) . It's a nice unit but there are dark spots in my 24x24x12 tank. I should of bought the wide lense. Instead of buying another used one I could sell the one I have and buy 2 Mars Aqua.

Depends what you like.. One Mars Aqua will be sufficient if you choose it.

C Dog · 10/12/2015, 05:05 PM

I kinda like the idea of running 2 Mars at lower power setting or would 2 be a complete over kill?

d-man · 10/12/2015, 09:18 PM

Ok Isaac, so used a different soldering iron and it worked very well and pretty easy. I replaced 4 of the 6 reds with uv, the greens with pure whites and the warm whites with 10k diodes.
1 fixture down, 3 more to go

Swope2bc · 10/12/2015, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C Dog

I kinda like the idea of running 2 Mars at lower power setting or would 2 be a complete over kill?

You could use them if you wanted, it would be a lot...

Isaacs55 · 10/12/2015, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-man

Ok Isaac, so used a different soldering iron and it worked very well and pretty easy. I replaced 4 of the 6 reds with uv, the greens with pure whites and the warm whites with 10k diodes.
1 fixture down, 3 more to go

Sweet DMan! Glad it worked better by switching soldering irons. I baught one from ebay that was like 7 dollars and I'm surprised it worked as well as it did. Post some pictures when your done!

DrawnToBeaches · 10/12/2015, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-man

Ok Isaac, so used a different soldering iron and it worked very well and pretty easy. I replaced 4 of the 6 reds with uv, the greens with pure whites and the warm whites with 10k diodes.
1 fixture down, 3 more to go

Could you point me in the direction of the violet diodes you bought for this? I'm getting a fixture and am going to replace some cool whites with royal blue and the greens with violets, any help is appreciated I couldn't find appropriate royal blues either

d-man · 10/13/2015, 09:59 AM

I believe Isaac posted a link a few pages back. I then just found them on that web page

firebirdude · 10/13/2015, 10:31 AM

He linked to some random 3W diodes. Not a problem, but he also justifiably recommended diodes by Epistar or Bridgelux. All of them are all over eBay. This is who I bought from. As you can see, you can select your wavelength. Anything under 400nm is considered UV. I choose to go with actual "violets" and selected 420nm. But all are available.

If you truly want UV, I'd make sure to check out the wavelength being advertised. Many sellers use the term UV for stuff 400nm+ example. Also many come already soldered onto a star board. If you really want those particular diodes for whatever reason, you could easily unsolder them just as you unsoldered the ones off the MarsAqua fixture. Heck, you could probably just leave them on the starboard and use a little thermal paste to secure it to the MarsAqua fixture.

Here's some cheap ones that get into the ultraviolet spectrum. If you want something deeper into UV, they're available in the first link I posted.

Isaacs55 · 10/13/2015, 12:17 PM

Firebirdude is completely right. A lot of sellers do sell leds that say UV for 400nm+ this doesn't bother me because I know UV is under 400nm and I'm just looking for the specific wavelength. I baught 5 of the 405nm leds and I wish I would have gone with a little higher wavelength like 420nm. The reason I say is because anything lower than 400nm is really hard to see. Don't get me wrong, you can still see visible light with 405nm, but it's hard to see it in my tank. It's not as visible as like 420nm. Anything under 400nm starts to slowly be invisible light all the way to about 320nm anything lower than that we can see at all. So just a heads up when you buy True UV and are disappointed because you can't see it all that well and it's not what you expected. Plus UV is really not that good for us to look at for our eys. That's why you see UV sterilizers inside black pvc to hide the light.

So just a heads up and something to think about.

C Dog · 10/13/2015, 12:35 PM

Why are you guys replacing the red, greens and whites?

DrawnToBeaches · 10/13/2015, 12:38 PM

I picked up 10 420-435 and a couple packs of royal blue, I can't stand the green or regular blues, anyone have documentation proving we need the regular blue spectrum? I know fresh plants can use the 460-465 but don't corals prefer 450? Or rb

How is everyone's fixtures holding up?

garygonzales · 10/13/2015, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-man

Ok Isaac, so used a different soldering iron and it worked very well and pretty easy. I replaced 4 of the 6 reds with uv, the greens with pure whites and the warm whites with 10k diodes.
1 fixture down, 3 more to go

thats cool...let us know how the colors are when your done ...just wondering if it really makes a difference

10/12/2015, 12:19 PM	#382
C Dog Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SWFL Posts: 532	Would (2) of the 165 units be good for a 24" L x 24" W x 12" T? I am doing a SPS tank. __________________ C Dogs 400+ Gallon Sun Lit Peninsula Reef

10/12/2015, 12:26 PM	#384
C Dog Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SWFL Posts: 532	How high would it hang? __________________ C Dogs 400+ Gallon Sun Lit Peninsula Reef

10/12/2015, 03:06 PM	#388
C Dog Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SWFL Posts: 532	Would you guys run 1 Kessel 350N or 2 Mars Aqua? I bought a used Kessel 350N (narrow optics 70 degrees) . It's a nice unit but there are dark spots in my 24x24x12 tank. I should of bought the wide lense. Instead of buying another used one I could sell the one I have and buy 2 Mars Aqua. __________________ C Dogs 400+ Gallon Sun Lit Peninsula Reef Last edited by C Dog; 10/12/2015 at 03:55 PM.

10/12/2015, 05:05 PM	#390
C Dog Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SWFL Posts: 532	I kinda like the idea of running 2 Mars at lower power setting or would 2 be a complete over kill? __________________ C Dogs 400+ Gallon Sun Lit Peninsula Reef

10/13/2015, 10:31 AM	#396
firebirdude User and Abuser Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 1,836	He linked to some random 3W diodes. Not a problem, but he also justifiably recommended diodes by Epistar or Bridgelux. All of them are all over eBay. This is who I bought from. As you can see, you can select your wavelength. Anything under 400nm is considered UV. I choose to go with actual "violets" and selected 420nm. But all are available. If you truly want UV, I'd make sure to check out the wavelength being advertised. Many sellers use the term UV for stuff 400nm+ example. Also many come already soldered onto a star board. If you really want those particular diodes for whatever reason, you could easily unsolder them just as you unsoldered the ones off the MarsAqua fixture. Heck, you could probably just leave them on the starboard and use a little thermal paste to secure it to the MarsAqua fixture. Here's some cheap ones that get into the ultraviolet spectrum. If you want something deeper into UV, they're available in the first link I posted. Last edited by firebirdude; 10/13/2015 at 10:38 AM.

10/11/2015, 04:58 PM	#377
firebirdude User and Abuser Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 1,836	Damn! 43" ain't no joke. That's for sure. Keep the optics on for sure. I'd like to see some PAR numbers down that low if you have a meter.

10/11/2015, 05:03 PM	#378
garygonzales Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: WEST ALLIS ,WI Posts: 922	right !! i suppose there are some exceptions...lol...

10/11/2015, 10:25 PM	#380
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	My tank is 32" wide. As far as par, meh, doesn't mean much in terms of leds. But yes, low light corals for sure will go on the bottom.

10/12/2015, 12:28 PM	#385
Swope2bc Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 1,066	I would put it about 10" above the surface.

10/12/2015, 01:27 PM	#387
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	The tank is completed yet. I'm leak testing the tank currently

10/12/2015, 09:18 PM	#391
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	Ok Isaac, so used a different soldering iron and it worked very well and pretty easy. I replaced 4 of the 6 reds with uv, the greens with pure whites and the warm whites with 10k diodes. 1 fixture down, 3 more to go

10/13/2015, 09:59 AM	#395
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	I believe Isaac posted a link a few pages back. I then just found them on that web page

10/13/2015, 12:17 PM	#397
Isaacs55 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Riverbank CA Posts: 906	Firebirdude is completely right. A lot of sellers do sell leds that say UV for 400nm+ this doesn't bother me because I know UV is under 400nm and I'm just looking for the specific wavelength. I baught 5 of the 405nm leds and I wish I would have gone with a little higher wavelength like 420nm. The reason I say is because anything lower than 400nm is really hard to see. Don't get me wrong, you can still see visible light with 405nm, but it's hard to see it in my tank. It's not as visible as like 420nm. Anything under 400nm starts to slowly be invisible light all the way to about 320nm anything lower than that we can see at all. So just a heads up when you buy True UV and are disappointed because you can't see it all that well and it's not what you expected. Plus UV is really not that good for us to look at for our eys. That's why you see UV sterilizers inside black pvc to hide the light. So just a heads up and something to think about. __________________ Isaac T "It doesnt hurt to Read...Read...and Read some more" "You dont know where you're going, until you know where you've been" New Tank Build: 40 gallon mixed Reef Current Tank Info: 40 gallon mixed Reef, Mars Aqua LED

10/13/2015, 12:35 PM	#398
C Dog Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: SWFL Posts: 532	Why are you guys replacing the red, greens and whites? __________________ C Dogs 400+ Gallon Sun Lit Peninsula Reef

10/13/2015, 12:38 PM	#399
DrawnToBeaches Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 266	I picked up 10 420-435 and a couple packs of royal blue, I can't stand the green or regular blues, anyone have documentation proving we need the regular blue spectrum? I know fresh plants can use the 460-465 but don't corals prefer 450? Or rb How is everyone's fixtures holding up?