Kessil A350

[Sharkdog22]

how is the fan on them? Ive heard that you can hear it running? This ? is coming from my friend asking really. To me as long as its not a fly on my eardrum sound ill be ok with it.

 

[jerpa]

Double

 

[jerpa]

If you e-mail Kessil they will tell you their recommendations and they seem to be in line with other people's experiences with the smaller light. They told me the spread on the A350W would grow light intensive corals in a 24x24 square up to 24" deep if mounted ~8 or less inches above the water. The needs for a mixed reef will be different. I asked specifically about light demanding corals at the bottom of the tank. I think this is why they are hesitant to give broad recommendations. The number of units necessary is so variable. To clarify the 24x18 is what the 6 units would cover on his tank not what they are recommended for.

As to the noise issue I can only hear the fan if I'm very close to the light. It is noticeably quieter than the fans on the A150's. I have a basically silent setup as well. Beananimal overflow, basement sump, tunze and koralia powerheads.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Jerpa... One of these afternoons I am going to have to stop by and see how things are coming along and how the light looks over your tank. Id didn't ask at the picnic, but how is the overflow?

 

[jerpa]

Jerpa... One of these afternoons I am going to have to stop by and see how things are coming along and how the light looks over your tank. Id didn't ask at the picnic, but how is the overflow?

The overflow works as advertised. It's dead silent and self adjusting. The only problem I run into is the siphon channel slowing down when a piece of algae goes down there. Im using 1" pipe but the 10' drop coupled with the flow(~700 GPH) necessitates the valve being closed most of the way. Mind you this "problem" only requires me opening the valve all the way once a month to clear it out and beats the amount of money I'd spend pumping 1500+ GPH upstairs.

Your more than welcome to check them out but I won't be available this week or weekend. 12 hour days for the next week are a requirement this time of year. We can set something up though.

 

[gb530]

Gb 530 did u go with the 350 or 350w I hVe a 120 gallon which is 24 inches deep I run halides but have a fee dead spots I figured get one of the kessils for the dead spot but I'm not sure if I should go with the wide version I have mostly sps and chalices whatta u think ? Also concider if I like them I may dump the halides and go all kessil how many would I need on my 120 its 48x24x.24 ,and what angle reg or wide

I have the wides on my tank and the spread is perfect. For reference, the par readings at the bottom of my tank were 110. I would go with the wides on your tank as well, especially if your trying to cover up some dead spots. Contacting Kessil like Jerpa recommend is also a good idea too. Customer service is excellent! ... Kessil might have said 24x24 but I know the spread is good up to a 3ft by 3ft area, 12-24in deep.

 

[gb530]

how is the fan on them? Ive heard that you can hear it running? This ? is coming from my friend asking really. To me as long as its not a fly on my eardrum sound ill be ok with it.

THEY ARE DEAD SILENT! They have a fan but most of their cooling comes from an internal steam cooling system. Look it up on their site, their cooling system is pretty sweet! ..... I can only hear the fan if my ear is right up to the light!

 

[inktomi]

I agree. I have two and you can't hear the fans unless you're right next to them trying to hear them.

Way quieter than my ATI Power module fans were.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pembroke]

Can anyone with the Kessil 350s comment on the color rendering compared to the typical PAR38 bulb? I have been running with an assortment of all blue, 20k, and 12k bulbs for a while now and have never been happy in this regard.

I have been waiting for a better pendant style bulb and am hoping this is it.

 

[Marco Madeira]

Hi pembroque.
I recently change from 5 Par38 bulbs to a kessil a350 plus 2 Par38 lamps...
Here some pics...


Kessil, blue channel 100%

Kessil white channel100%

Kessil both channel 50%

Kessil and 2 Par 38 100%

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[chucko]

How are the people that have had these for a month or two are still liking them? A local store is willing to sell them for $375 new, which is pretty good deal and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger.

 

[sfmacguy]

Still love mine, have had it for 2 months now.

 

[Sharkdog22]

SFmacguy what coral you got growing with them? you got one of the 350w right on a redsea max 65 gallon tank?

 

[dailydriven911]

How are the people that have had these for a month or two are still liking them? A local store is willing to sell them for $375 new, which is pretty good deal and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger.

I have had mine for a couple months now and absolutely love it! I just started another tank so only a few corals and a clam but all are doing well. I got mine for 10% off so $360 shipped! The shimmer is hard to beat with 100% white it looks exactly like the sun over a shallow reef. You will be hard pressed to find a better light for the price. Only thing lacking is the control over dawn/dusk. I say go for it or save a little more and search online to save $$.

 

[Big E]

daily,

do you have the regular or the wide?

 

[jerpa]

I put two of the wides above my tank a little over 3 weeks ago. I've been very pleased with the performance of the light. It is a bit blue for my tastes when run at full power but I plan on supplementing it with a few white LEDs to tone it down. I prefer more of a 12k look though so YMMV. I had two of A150's with two T5 overdriven with an IceCap ballast over it previously. I haven't taken PAR measurements but the corals are reacting as though their is significantly more light. Under the old lighting I had about 150 PAR on the sandbed. As I've been increasing the intensity I've noticed my lower light corals, like Psammocora, have needed to be moved to partially shaded areas at the bottom of the tank.

 

[madean]

So I have been trying to find out if kessil is trying to develope a 350 that can be controlled by a third party controller instead of the two potentiometers (knobs on top). Does anybody have any info on this or have you heard anything about this being in betta. I asked some emloyees at a store that seemed to have a lot of info on these lights before they were released but they seem pretty tight lipped about any info and one employee suggested that maybe a light was in betta testing that would be controlled by a third party controller. This is the only thing holding me back from purchasing these lights. Luckily I am able to wait for some time, but not forever lol. So anybody with any info?

 

[jerpa]

I don't have any specifics but Kessil has said they are working on a controllable version. I doubt you will get a release date out of them though.

 

[BeanAnimal]

So I have been trying to find out if kessil is trying to develope a 350 that can be controlled by a third party controller instead of the two potentiometers (knobs on top). Does anybody have any info on this or have you heard anything about this being in betta.

Lets put it this way...

There is nothing to "add" to make them controllable. In our context, the 0-10V output of a controller IS NOT a 0-10V ouput and instead the device (fixture) sources the 10V and the controller acts as a sink to "pot it down". That is the controller is just a fancy potentiometer

So if you are DIY inclined, it would not be hard (at all) to tie one of these to a reef controller.

 

[inktomi]

I was thinking exactly the same thing. It would be pretty trivial in theory to desolder the potentiometers and attach leads for a controller instead.

Of course, do so at your own risk and I've not looked at the insides of mine to see if it's really that simple.

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