Kessil A350

[Mr.Mustang]

Sorry Alex did not mean to miss lead you I will only have my lights around the 25th but I will post some pics and updates. Unfortunately I only have a few frags of sps I did not want to spend too much on coral until I set up some proper lighting. Stay tuned I will share my results and I do not think that I will be disappointed.

 

[TucanSam007]

Rimless and a kessil, I like that look

Here's the 350W on a 57g tank. Its about 6" off the water

Its currently running at 35-40%. Switched from a 150W, to a 150W HQI (for 1 week) to this. Will run it at this % for a week before bumping up some more.

 

[lgull1]

Mr mustang, that would be perfect. I have a 48 x 24x 24 and i have two kessil wide versions on my tank with no problem. I would not want a 3rd one. that would be overkill for me. You will like the look. I have mine though on 100 percent.

 

[Alex T.]

Mr mustang, that would be perfect. I have a 48 x 24x 24 and i have two kessil wide versions on my tank with no problem. I would not want a 3rd one. that would be overkill for me. You will like the look. I have mine though on 100 percent.

lgull1,

How high is your rock structure? Is your tank SPS dominated? The reason I ask is that I started this thread so that I could gather information as to whether we could keep SPS anywhere in the tank like I can with my 400 watt Radiums. I have a very low rock structure...13 inches at its' highest point in a 24" deep tank and like to grow SPS inches off the sandbed. I also am planning an assortment of Maxima clams on the sand bed and wanted to know if the a350's would be up to the task.

 

[edigi05]

Hey everyone. Been keeping my eye on this thread. I am also interested to see how people's SPS are doing with the Kessil A350.

Igull1,
I also live in Clearwater. Would love to see your tank with the Kessils on it if that would be ok. PM me if so.

Ernest

 

[lgull1]

Alex T,

I don't have a sps dominated tank but i do have some sps near the sand bed probably 5 inches off the sand bed. More of the monipora that covers the rocks. Porite variety. I could not tell you if you could actually grow them on the sand bed though. I had VHO lighting and MH before. I would say your Radiums are going to have more punch than the Kessil. That being said, i do have the wide angle variety that spreads more than punches down. I would think you would need 3 of them to cover your tank but i can't speak for the A350 that doesn't go wide. I have two A350W lights covering my 48" tank perfect. I can't complain. I have them going 100 percent though. I never thought i would like that blue but it brings the colors out nice and my corals are loving the new LED's. I have had some for over 10 years and they adjusted great. The temp drop is incredible though. Nice cool water here for my Florida tank and the corals love it.The only thing i will say about them is the converter gives off some heat. I thought they would be warm but they are quite hot. You put that underneath your tank anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. I would go with 3 A350W but you would have to be the judge of that one. Hope this helps. Oh, my lights are 9.5 inches off the water also. My rock structure? I would have to say i have an sps about the size of a softball or better and its about 8 to 10 inches below the water. I'm guessing though. The higher you go with them, the more they angle out for better coverage. For the size of the lights, they are bright. I am impressed.

 

[Aimforever]

lgull1,

How high is your rock structure? Is your tank SPS dominated? The reason I ask is that I started this thread so that I could gather information as to whether we could keep SPS anywhere in the tank like I can with my 400 watt Radiums. I have a very low rock structure...13 inches at its' highest point in a 24" deep tank and like to grow SPS inches off the sandbed. I also am planning an assortment of Maxima clams on the sand bed and wanted to know if the a350's would be up to the task.

I know it sounds like most people have been very happy with their Kessil A350s, but when mine arrived I was utterly disappointed by the lack of brightness. I got the wide version to light a 36 x 36 x 6 inch deep frag tank. Based on what others were saying I thought with such shallow depth this would offer excellent coverage and good par. That really hasn't been the case.

First of all, let me preface this by saying my tanks are almost all SPS and like you I am used to using lighting bright enough to easily grow them anywhere in the tank.

With that said, I was really underwhelmed by the light output of the A350w. The spread is ridiculously wide - too wide in my opinion. I have it mounted 9 inches off the water and it spans the full 36 inches, but the par on the sides is useless. At the water surface directly under the light at 9 inches par is 415. At the bottom of the frag tank 6 inches under water the par is barely above 100. The penetration is quite poor. If you move laterally just 9 inches in any direction the par drops to less than 50 6 inches under the water. Even for this super shallow frag tank I would need at least 2 but probably 3 of the A350W to get adequate par to grow SPS well across the full 36 inches.

The shimmer effect is the nicest looking I have ever seen, but the light is just too dim. I honestly am very surprised to see people stating they are running 2 of these over a 4 foot aquarium and are happy with the brightness. There is simply no way that would be enough par to grow SPS well throughout a standard sized tank. The regular version is going to get better penetration, but in the end you still have the same amount of light output so you would still need multiple units to get adequate output.

Based on the spread and par I am getting on my frag tank I believe you would need roughly 6 of the regular 350s to approach the brightness of 2x 400 watt radiums for a 48x24x24 tank. As I said, I really like brightly lit tanks and in my opinion to grow SPS well on the sand and acheive the brightness level I am used to I think it would take 8 of them over a 120 for me to be happy.

Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[lgull1]

Aimforever , You might be right seeing that you are used to really bright tanks, but i am strictly speaking from My opinion. My corals are really looking good under the light and yes you can say the light is not AS bright as you would typically see. I had VHO's and MH's and i expected to see a drop in what the light put out. For their size. they put out a lot of light. I am eventually going to put mine inside a finished wood top that i am constructing and i might be able to capture more light, but i will respectfully disagree you would need 6 of them on a 48" tank. I would burn my corals up, and i have had some for ten years. I DO NOT GROW sps on the sand bed, but i have not had a problem growing my sps. Maybe i will comment more in the months ahead if this thread stills exist. Everyone has their opinion of what is great and what is crap. I bought them because they were in my price range. I would love to buy other leds, but unfortunately they are not in my budget. I might in the future get a third light, but if my corals are happy, then i might not. If i have to, hopefully they will be a tad bit cheaper since that would put me into the Radion's i wanted or the Orpheks. There are others out there coming out on the market that are going to be in the 450.00 range.

I disagree with the spread also. You might get the light to reach that far but it fades as it gets farther away from the light.What is your definition of "well"? I have my sps under it and we will see how big they get after i changed it over. I never had sps under the lighting you have, maybe you are used to really fast growth, but mine have grew pretty well so far. I don't agree with 6 though.

If anyone has questions on kessil LED's, i have had good success going on their website and directly contacting them.

 

[Alex T.]

I know it sounds like most people have been very happy with their Kessil A350s, but when mine arrived I was utterly disappointed by the lack of brightness. I got the wide version to light a 36 x 36 x 6 inch deep frag tank. Based on what others were saying I thought with such shallow depth this would offer excellent coverage and good par. That really hasn't been the case.

First of all, let me preface this by saying my tanks are almost all SPS and like you I am used to using lighting bright enough to easily grow them anywhere in the tank.

With that said, I was really underwhelmed by the light output of the A350w. The spread is ridiculously wide - too wide in my opinion. I have it mounted 9 inches off the water and it spans the full 36 inches, but the par on the sides is useless. At the water surface directly under the light at 9 inches par is 415. At the bottom of the frag tank 6 inches under water the par is barely above 100. The penetration is quite poor. If you move laterally just 9 inches in any direction the par drops to less than 50 6 inches under the water. Even for this super shallow frag tank I would need at least 2 but probably 3 of the A350W to get adequate par to grow SPS well across the full 36 inches.

The shimmer effect is the nicest looking I have ever seen, but the light is just too dim. I honestly am very surprised to see people stating they are running 2 of these over a 4 foot aquarium and are happy with the brightness. There is simply no way that would be enough par to grow SPS well throughout a standard sized tank. The regular version is going to get better penetration, but in the end you still have the same amount of light output so you would still need multiple units to get adequate output.

Based on the spread and par I am getting on my frag tank I believe you would need roughly 6 of the regular 350s to approach the brightness of 2x 400 watt radiums for a 48x24x24 tank. As I said, I really like brightly lit tanks and in my opinion to grow SPS well on the sand and acheive the brightness level I am used to I think it would take 8 of them over a 120 for me to be happy.

Hope this helps answer your question.

It does. Thank you. It's why I started the thread. Sticking with 400 watt Radiums for now, and currently have 3 Kessil a150w Ocean Blues for actinic affect only (dawn/dusk). It makes a great shimmering actinic light...I'll give them that much.

 

[lgull1]

I guess soon my whole tank will be dead then. I just wrote Kessil. I am waiting for their response on this. Hope you don't mind Aimforever, i used your readings that you got from PAR to ask Kessil about this. let you know what they say.

 

[franklypre]

From what I understand SPS grow in 100 par with LEDs, granted these are not 400w LED equivelent. They are stated to be close to a 300w Radium, which is about what a 250w Radium likes to run at, seem to me it's 283w or so. How do the coral in the 36X36 frag tank react? I understand you are used to extremely bright lighting I'm much the same way but LEDs have a different look all together. I'm sticking with my halides for the time being that's for sure.

 

[lgull1]

franklypre, you are absolutely correct. My light intensity is no where near i had it with my other lights but as you stated, LED's have a "different" look, but i will say these mimic halides as close as you are going to get. they shimmer exactly the same way.

 

[Aquatron]

Hello,

I believe the reason so many hobbest sold their 150s was because of tank not looking as bright as T5s, MHs, and so on. I sold my unused Apollo lights for that reason since all my builds have used MHs in the past and the 120 watt Apollos really didn't look very bright.
With that said i plan on using (2) 350s along with some Cree and Bridgelux mix in a custom built 30" x 15 fixture BUT i will still have (1) 250 watt MH 14k on each side since my tank is 8' long.
I have been keeping reef tanks for twenty plus years and when it come to lighting we are always trying to streach a fixture to cover more tank space than it is able to do. I have no problem buying from Kessel since they have been making things grow for many years but will i believe everything they clam the light will do.....NO my years in this hobby tells me different.
I am by far no LED expert and didn't even know about LEDs for aquariums untill 1 1/2 years ago but through research, viewing tanks and forums i know alittle more now and think the 350s will be proven a good light and will do well in our hobby.

Our corals will tell us if they are crap or gold

Best of Luck!

 

[Aimforever]

I guess soon my whole tank will be dead then. I just wrote Kessil. I am waiting for their response on this. Hope you don't mind Aimforever, i used your readings that you got from PAR to ask Kessil about this. let you know what they say.

I apologize, I didn't mean to insult or sound as if your tank was doomed. I'm sure we just have very different tanks and it sounds like for you 2 fixtures is working well. I was just trying to help Alex make a decision about what would be needed to reproduce a similar look with A350s that he currently is getting with 400w radiums. Based on my prior experience with different lighting and LED fixtures and the par I am getting with the 350 IMO you would need 6 of them to replace 2 400 watt radiums, but probably more like 8 to get the full perceived brightness. For people who aren't going for that "grow sps anywhere" high intensity lighting they could certainly get by with less. The 350s aren't bad lights by any means. They are built well and I love how compact and quiet they are. I think a large tank with a sufficient number of them would look amazing. I just think their brightness has been overstated a bit.

It does. Thank you. It's why I started the thread. Sticking with 400 watt Radiums for now, and currently have 3 Kessil a150w Ocean Blues for actinic affect only (dawn/dusk). It makes a great shimmering actinic light...I'll give them that much.

Agreed, the shimmer is stunning!

From what I understand SPS grow in 100 par with LEDs, granted these are not 400w LED equivelent. They are stated to be close to a 300w Radium, which is about what a 250w Radium likes to run at, seem to me it's 283w or so. How do the coral in the 36X36 frag tank react? I understand you are used to extremely bright lighting I'm much the same way but LEDs have a different look all together. I'm sticking with my halides for the time being that's for sure.

That is interesting. I never gave the frags a chance with just the 350 since the par was so low and the tank just looked dark to me. I added 2 Sol Blues as well, and with all 3 am happy with the light output and the corals have been doing great.

I've always heard people discussing how the perceived brightness with LEDs is lower, which I certainly agree with, but on all my tanks I wasn't happy with the look until I added enough LEDs to increase the brightness to the level I was used to. I never waited to see how the corals would respond to the "dimmer" environment simply because I didn't like the way it looked. Maybe they would have grown fine, not sure.

Hello,

I believe the reason so many hobbest sold their 150s was because of tank not looking as bright as T5s, MHs, and so on. I sold my unused Apollo lights for that reason since all my builds have used MHs in the past and the 120 watt Apollos really didn't look very bright.
With that said i plan on using (2) 350s along with some Cree and Bridgelux mix in a custom built 30" x 15 fixture BUT i will still have (1) 250 watt MH 14k on each side since my tank is 8' long.
I have been keeping reef tanks for twenty plus years and when it come to lighting we are always trying to streach a fixture to cover more tank space than it is able to do. I have no problem buying from Kessel since they have been making things grow for many years but will i believe everything they clam the light will do.....NO my years in this hobby tells me different.
I am by far no LED expert and didn't even know about LEDs for aquariums untill 1 1/2 years ago but through research, viewing tanks and forums i know alittle more now and think the 350s will be proven a good light and will do well in our hobby.

Our corals will tell us if they are crap or gold

Best of Luck!

I definitely think the 350s are great lights and I'm sure will be awesome for growing corals, I just think people will need to use multiple units together to get the look and results they are used to.

 

[Alex T.]

Well said Aimforever. I'm not knocking them for being able to keep SPS. If I didn't want such a low rock structure I might have made the switch. I could never justify six $400 pendants over my tank to achieve the same intensity. It would take 6 years of Radium bulb replacement and electricity usage for me to break even on that, and I already know the Radiums work well. Very well in fact.

Who knows what they'll have in six years. Dr. Evil says "laser beams".:spin2:

 

[yongpanda]

Aimforever, may I ask if you have the regular version or the wide lens version? Also what size of a tank is it?

I was looking for a light to hang over an elos midi and am worried that it may not be bright enough. Would you say that a kessil a350 or a350w will lack brightness just the same on a large tank and a small tank?

 

[chad p]

He has the wide version and the tank dimensions are in his post.

 

[yongpanda]

^Thanks.

Any opinions on light spill? comparable to T5s?

 

[Frick]

From what I understand SPS grow in 100 par with LEDs, granted these are not 400w LED equivelent.

Which LEDs? There are too many you can't compare an apple to applesauce and to green apple jolly ranchers. This is where PAR is irrelevant. A PAR of 100 under a Kessil might be perfect for some SPS but take a China box Special LED and you could cook it with a PAR of 100.

 

[franklypre]

You are correct Frick, then again nutrients can make a big difference in how much light you need as well. Time will tell and I'm sure Kessil is already planning another model, at least I certainly hope so.