Chinese black box most bang for your buck

[vetteguy53081]

I did read mars was ul rated on amazon description but the others I looked and did not see that advertised

It is

 

[万能青年]

What is embarrassing is that this lamp is rarely used in China.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Please don't want this to turn into a debatable about "UL"! Thousands of these are sold world wide, including Europe. They are CE certified. UL is one of the standards used only here in the United States.

Look at any electronic device in your home and look to see if it's "UL" certified. Most, if not all electrical devices made we buy are overseas manufacturer. CE is more widely excepted world wide.

Anyway, I've had great success with my modded Mars Aquas. Just recently replaced diodes on all my three boxes to refresh them and just couldn't be happier!

Now:

2016, when I switched to the Mars Aquas:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diodes are easy to change on them too

 

[flyline]

What diodes did you replace them with

 

[Flippers4pups]

About a two years ago. Man time flies! Lol I've had massive growth over the years.

Lights are just one aspect of reef keeping. Keep that in mind.

 

[Flippers4pups]

What diodes did you replace them with

My layout is very similar to SB reeflights layout. I did add two 395nm UV's per box.

Build Thread - Flippers reef 125 gallon

The story of Flippers reef started long ago.......... In a time before a thing called "The Internet"existed. Land locked Missouri, mid western U.S.A. back in 1993. I had just got out of the army in 1992 and got busy starting a family. See, I had fresh water tanks off and on since I was very...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[TinyTinCans]

I have been researching this for months. I think LEDZEAL Is by far one of the best. I can’t figure out why they have not caught on in the US they are extensively used is Australia. Zeus 200 and WiFi controller and shipped $380 Mean Well (waterproof) power supply, fan less design so extremely quiet and controllable form your phone. You should definitely give them a look and do your research.

Zeus Series LED aquarium light

www.ledzeal.com

 

[flyline]

I have a 48 inch tank how many would I needtinytincans

 

[TinyTinCans]

I have a 48 inch tank how many would I needtinytincans

Just one!
For a company in China their customer service is awesome I’ve been emailing Ada for a little over a month asking questions. You can even ask them to change the configuration of the leds if you want to a different layout. They have several different lines Alpha, Zeus, and Malibu. My tank is 48 as well. When they get here I’m planning on renta PAR meter from BRS and giving them the full run down but from every I’ve read I pretty excited. Heres the bottom line IMO if your willing to look around and do some research you can have your cake and eat it to with some “black box’s”

 

[happyhourhero]

I have used my SB reef lights for about 4 years now. No complaints at all. Grow anything I want to.

 

[TinyTinCans]

You might try to PM CwStrife he seems to have been running several different lines of the LEDZEALs I imagine he could probably answer any questions you might have

 

[Cliff717]

I have used 4 sb reef and t5 supplementary. I love them. This is a old pic. Corals are twice as big now and colour is great

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have used 4 sb reef and t5 supplementary. I love them. This is a old pic. Corals are twice as big now and colour is great

Ran SB - no complaints other than owners falling off the planet occasionally

 

[flyline]

So what is everyone keeping with there I mean high light demanding corals

 

[flyline]

Is anyone keeping happy healthy anemones and sps

 

[Rockit]

Zeus 200 and WiFi controller and shipped $380 Mean Well (waterproof) power supply,

Very interesting..... specs look good. Where are you finding prices?
I would need a 300.
Is there any US based retailer?

 

[happyhourhero]

Well I tried to imbed a link to a short video hosted on imgur but the “upgraded” site here won’t show it in the post even though it does in the preview.

 

[TinyTinCans]

Very interesting..... specs look good. Where are you finding prices?
I would need a 300.
Is there any US based retailer?

For the best price it’s easier just to email them. The Zeus-200 cost 229 the WiFi controller was 65 and shipping was $83. ($377) I could not find anyone in the US that were selling these but you can find the Alpha for an extremely inflated price. For example the Alpha-120 the price quote she gave me was 145 each you would still need the controller so 65 then shipping for those was $80 they cover 24”x24” so would need two $435 from China. But just one of these units from a us seller is $300 and you would still need a controller so in the End $665.

In the end I ordered the Zeus because I live in New Mexico and its hard enough to keep my tank cool in the summer months and I just felt from a design aspect that these would run cooler than the alpha. The mayor con with LEDZeal IMO is you have to buy a WIFi controller if you want to control it with your phone or tablet. ( They do have an app)

Again im just speculating at the moment all I’ve done is read a ton on a couple of forums in Australia about these an email the company. There seems to be a couple people on here who are running them but they seem tight lipped. If you look at their pictures the growth and color is awesome. The best posting about this companies light on this forum is: LEDZEAL Alpha model IDK how to link the post but if you search it will come up.

However, when mine gets here I will post a in depth review with par and even the temp of the fixture while running and record the decibel reeding of the fixture and power supply.

From what I could gather the Malibu line might have the WiFi built in but I did not ask ADA about those so I’m just guessing. I’m going to PM CwStrife and see if they can share their experience.

I don’t want to hi-jack the post though. I think that the “black box’s” have come along way form where they where 6 years ago when I used two over my 75ga. I definitely don’t think that there should be the negative stigma in the hobby about them The real black box study (on this forum) does a great job of showing just what black box’s are capable of and what some of the so called top lights in our hobby are not capable of. The awesome thing is Alibaba.com has now given us away to contact the manufacturers of these lights and get some specs before we buy them. So flyline Buy with confidence there are a lot of great choices out there to fit any budget.

 

[hart24601]

If you look at my signature there is a link to the acro growout contest I won long ago. For most of the growout I used black box lights. There was no limits on lighting type, I beat t5 MH and combos with black box.

Edit: shoot look like link isn’t working now. Will see if I can find pic.