LEDZeal Mirage X300 - PAR Readings

[shakygator]

Recently acquired an LEDZeal Mirage X300 to replace my 6 year old ReefBreeders photon v1. As part of the process I took PAR readings of my old fixture as a reference point. This of course means I took measurements of the X300 when I installed it and I wanted to share my findings. These fixtures pack a punch and I was impressed with the spread for the matrix/array layout. The phone/wifi controllability also makes it easy to control the lights.

The fixture I have is the "superblue layout".

Below are three different tests:

1. Peak intensity of my custom program that I am currently running over the tank (40/32/40/50)
2. 50% on all channels (50/50/50/50)
3. 100% on all channels (100/100/100/100)

All readings were taken with an Apogee SQ-120 sensor connected to my fluke meter.

• Measurement is taken in mV and then multiplied by 5 along with a few correction factors:
  • 1.08 correction factor for underwater readings on the SQ-120 (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/underwater-par-measurements/)
  • 1.12 spectral error when reading blue 448nm (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/how-to-correct-for-spectral-errors-of-popular-light-sources/)
• SQ-120 does not read wavelengths under 400nm so there may be some margin of error and no correction has been done to account for this

 

[Shooter6]

Recently acquired an LEDZeal Mirage X300 to replace my 6 year old ReefBreeders photon v1. As part of the process I took PAR readings of my old fixture as a reference point. This of course means I took measurements of the X300 when I installed it and I wanted to share my findings. These fixtures pack a punch and I was impressed with the spread for the matrix/array layout. The phone/wifi controllability also makes it easy to control the lights.

The fixture I have is the "superblue layout".

Below are three different tests:

1. Peak intensity of my custom program that I am currently running over the tank (40/32/40/50)
2. 50% on all channels (50/50/50/50)
3. 100% on all channels (100/100/100/100)

All readings were taken with an Apogee SQ-120 sensor connected to my fluke meter.

• Measurement is taken in mV and then multiplied by 5 along with a few correction factors:
  • 1.08 correction factor for underwater readings on the SQ-120 (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/underwater-par-measurements/)
  • 1.12 spectral error when reading blue 448nm (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/how-to-correct-for-spectral-errors-of-popular-light-sources/)
• SQ-120 does not read wavelengths under 400nm so there may be some margin of error and no correction has been done to account for this

Being the person who designed the "superblue" layout im a bit biased, but these readings floored even me! I knew the new lights from ledzeal were a major improvement to my previous lights from my sps coloring up and growth exploding but these numbers were completely unexpected!

 

[Ronnyking]

How are you liking the X300 after a few months of usage now? Happy with coloration and growth? I saw in your build post that you also have Noopsyches. Which lights do you like better, the Noops of the Ledzeal?

 

[Shooter6]

How are you liking the X300 after a few months of usage now? Happy with coloration and growth? I saw in your build post that you also have Noopsyches. Which lights do you like better, the Noops of the Ledzeal?

Ive had the x200 superblue for about 4-5 months over my 180g and love the color/growth. Ill be putting 4 x300 over my 400g thats cycling now. These are with no filter 1 is ramping up closer to full light (45%) peak each channel. The other is ramping down, about 1hr before lights out.

 

[Shooter6]

How are you liking the X300 after a few months of usage now? Happy with coloration and growth? I saw in your build post that you also have Noopsyches. Which lights do you like better, the Noops of the Ledzeal?

Ive had the x200 superblue for about 4-5 months over my 180g and love the color/growth. Ill be putting 4 x300 over my 400g thats cycling now. These are with no filter 1 is ramping up closer to full light (45%) peak each channel. The other is ramping down, about 1hr before lights out

 

[shakygator]

How are you liking the X300 after a few months of usage now? Happy with coloration and growth? I saw in your build post that you also have Noopsyches. Which lights do you like better, the Noops of the Ledzeal?

They're great. No issues at all. I've been dealing with some tank issues unrelated to lighting so unfortunately I haven't had as much progress the last few months as I would have liked.

As far as the noopsyches, I love those too. I like their color a little better and the fact that they have pucks/clusters instead of LED arrays. It reduces disco/shimmer. I actually just ordered another set of noopsyche, not b/c the ledzeal were not good enough but price was a factor as I could light the tank for $300~ as opposed to $500~ with another ledzeal fixture.

 

[Ronnyking]

They're great. No issues at all. I've been dealing with some tank issues unrelated to lighting so unfortunately I haven't had as much progress the last few months as I would have liked.

As far as the noopsyches, I love those too. I like their color a little better and the fact that they have pucks/clusters instead of LED arrays. It reduces disco/shimmer. I actually just ordered another set of noopsyche, not b/c the ledzeal were not good enough but price was a factor as I could light the tank for $300~ as opposed to $500~ with another ledzeal fixture.

Thanks for the input. Which one would you choose is money isnt the issue? Only parameters like output, coloration, coral growth and controllability?

 

[shakygator]

I don't think I can compare them based on coral growth yet. The main difference between these two fixtures is the noopsyche requires a controller ($60~) and the ledzeal can be programmed via wifi/phone app. I think I am a little partial to the noopsyche because I prefer the clustered light pucks as opposed the matrix/array layouts. I believe they have comparable spread and output.

 

[Shooter6]

Light coverage by a single fixture does not compare. It takes multiple of the noops to cover the same area as a single x300.
Also looking at the g5 the cluster puck design is going to die out.
Lastly the x300 superblue has no disco effect. But a muted shimmer.

 

[MoKan Reefer]

Anyone have the different model layouts for these fixtures (super blue/factory/anything else they happen to market configuration wise)? Also curious if they happen to allow custom led configurations on these fixtures if anyone knows?

I actually talked to Kevin with LEDZEAL early last year about some of the Zeus fixtures with custom led layouts but after talking to him about how under powered the led's were on the Zeus fixtures because of the passive cooling they utilize, and the fact they no longer manufactured the Malibu fixtures, I changed my mind and opted for my current Orpheks.

May have to look into some of these Mirage fixtures, if they still allow customization for the 270 that's in the works.

 

[shakygator]

Light coverage by a single fixture does not compare. It takes multiple of the noops to cover the same area as a single x300.
Also looking at the g5 the cluster puck design is going to die out.
Lastly the x300 superblue has no disco effect. But a muted shimmer.

For my new setup I have a lowboy which is 24x48. That's the same footprint as my display with the x300 on it. I am going to attempt to get coverage from 2 noopsyches over 24x48. I will of course take measurements so we will see how that pans out, or if I will need to add a 3rd noopsyche.

 

[shakygator]

Anyone have the different model layouts for these fixtures (super blue/factory/anything else they happen to market configuration wise)? Also curious if they happen to allow custom led configurations on these fixtures if anyone knows?

I actually talked to Kevin with LEDZEAL early last year about some of the Zeus fixtures with custom led layouts but after talking to him about how under powered the led's were on the Zeus fixtures because of the passive cooling they utilize, and the fact they no longer manufactured the Malibu fixtures, I changed my mind and opted for my current Orpheks.

May have to look into some of these Mirage fixtures, if they still allow customization for the 270 that's in the works.

You can see their configurations for mirage fixtures here: http://ledzeal.com/p56.html

I'm pretty sure you can order a custom layout, that's what @Shooter6 did when he designed the superblue layout.

 

[Shooter6]

Anyone have the different model layouts for these fixtures (super blue/factory/anything else they happen to market configuration wise)? Also curious if they happen to allow custom led configurations on these fixtures if anyone knows?

I actually talked to Kevin with LEDZEAL early last year about some of the Zeus fixtures with custom led layouts but after talking to him about how under powered the led's were on the Zeus fixtures because of the passive cooling they utilize, and the fact they no longer manufactured the Malibu fixtures, I changed my mind and opted for my current Orpheks.

May have to look into some of these Mirage fixtures, if they still allow customization for the 270 that's in the works.

Absolutely they do custom layouts.
The superblue is actually my custom layout. I spent a year studying others like orphek,hydra,radion color choices and such. I settled on a combo of the g5blue and hydra hd along with the redsea led.

The superblue doesnt have red or green leds, but has cyan ( green blue spectrum) and violet blue ( red deep blue). I did this so each channel (4) can be run at a higher output then if it had red or green. The whites have red and green spectrum as white has all colors in it.
Here is the actual layout. All 120 degree lenses as unlesz you have a very deep tank or light mounted super high, theres no need for 90 degree lenses. This is the x200.
X300 is the same, except it has 1 more square of leds that is a duplicate of the 2 pictured here.
Last pics are from kevins measurements. The others were from another purchaser who took par measurements. Ive posted a number of vids on youtube too.
If red and green are a major concern, id just either add a t5 bulb, or an orphek or3 daylight bar. For the coverage per mirage fixture the price is way less then any other option, including reefbreeders, noopsyche ect.

 

[MoKan Reefer]

Absolutely they do custom layouts.
The superblue is actually my custom layout. I spent a year studying others like orphek,hydra,radion color choices and such. I settled on a combo of the g5blue and hydra hd along with the redsea led.

The superblue doesnt have red or green leds, but has cyan ( green blue spectrum) and violet blue ( red deep blue). I did this so each channel (4) can be run at a higher output then if it had red or green. The whites have red and green spectrum as white has all colors in it.
Here is the actual layout. All 120 degree lenses as unlesz you have a very deep tank or light mounted super high, theres no need for 90 degree lenses. This is the x200.
X300 is the same, except it has 1 more square of leds that is a duplicate of the 2 pictured here.
Last pics are from kevins measurements. The others were from another purchaser who took par measurements. Ive posted a number of vids on youtube too.
If red and green are a major concern, id just either add a t5 bulb, or an orphek or3 daylight bar. For the coverage per mirage fixture the price is way less then any other option, including reefbreeders, noopsyche ect.

That's exactly what I was looking for!

I'd actually come up with a custom layout based on Orpheks v4 and really liked it but the Zeus fixtures were far too under powered to adequately light our 270g (6'x3'x25" tall) without ordering 4 or more 5 fixtures which didn't make financial sense.

I may have missed if someone mentioned but what's the pricing/shipping on these? I'm just looking at the x300. I know when I'd gotten a quote for 5 of the Zeus 300s - $239 each, with the wifi wifi controller - $49, and shipping for everything was $245 so it came out to being just south of $1600 which if lights had been more powerful would've been worth it. So, depending on price per fixture these seem alot better! Only issue may be the shipping considering I've noticed alot has changed since February of last year with the pandemic and tariffs on stuff coming from China causing shipping costs to sky rocket.

I may contact Kevin again about possibly customizing 4 or 5 of the Mirage X300s if the price is right. Almost has to be cheaper than purchasing 4 more Orpheks even with gettingthem factory direct with discount.

 

[shakygator]

Mine was 300 + 135~ shipping.

 

[Shooter6]

That's exactly what I was looking for!

I'd actually come up with a custom layout based on Orpheks v4 and really liked it but the Zeus fixtures were far too under powered to adequately light our 270g (6'x3'x25" tall) without ordering 4 or more 5 fixtures which didn't make financial sense.

I may have missed if someone mentioned but what's the pricing/shipping on these? I'm just looking at the x300. I know when I'd gotten a quote for 5 of the Zeus 300s - $239 each, with the wifi wifi controller - $49, and shipping for everything was $245 so it came out to being just south of $1600 which if lights had been more powerful would've been worth it. So, depending on price per fixture these seem alot better! Only issue may be the shipping considering I've noticed alot has changed since February of last year with the pandemic and tariffs on stuff coming from China causing shipping costs to sky rocket.

I may contact Kevin again about possibly customizing 4 or 5 of the Mirage X300s if the price is right. Almost has to be cheaper than purchasing 4 more Orpheks even with gettingthem factory direct with discount.

Price is dependent on the shipping so you need to contact kevin. Im going to run 4 of the x300 superblue over my 8ftx3ftx2ft sps grow tank. Once i get them and verify par, ill decide if i wnt to add 2 more.
Another factor with price is theres the master unit, and the drine which are about 30.00 cheaper. The wifi module is built into the master. No longer seperate. But it can run hundreds of drines!.

 

[stefanm]

Price is dependent on the shipping so you need to contact kevin. Im going to run 4 of the x300 superblue over my 8ftx3ftx2ft sps grow tank. Once i get them and verify par, ill decide if i wnt to add 2 more.
Another factor with price is theres the master unit, and the drine which are about 30.00 cheaper. The wifi module is built into the master. No longer seperate. But it can run hundreds of drines!.

I had enquired about an x300 with ledzeal recently, however they said they aren't shipping to my country of residence. So I'm going to build my own, I already have drivers and a PSU, will use reef pi as I'm already using it. I've designed some MCPCB'S, not the same as their layout, just strips that need joining. Looking forward to building this, acrylic top, bottom and ends with wooden sides will be the finish..

 

[Shooter6]

I had enquired about an x300 with ledzeal recently, however they said they aren't shipping to my country of residence. So I'm going to build my own, I already have drivers and a PSU, will use reef pi as I'm already using it. I've designed some MCPCB'S, not the same as their layout, just strips that need joining. Looking forward to building this, acrylic top, bottom and ends with wooden sides will be the finish..

Thats cool! Try to get 5watt leds if you can.
What country are you in that they wont ship? I know they use dhl.

 

[stefanm]

Thats cool! Try to get 5watt leds if you can.
What country are you in that they wont ship? I know they use dhl.

I'm based in India, they said they're not shipping at this time, it doesn't matter really, I've already done the artwork for the acrylic. I'll be using dual core "5 watt" for the violets and maybe the royal blues. DHL also charge full import duty of the declared value and shipping charges that is around 45% extra..

 

[Shooter6]

That sucks. But glad you found a work around.