Kessil A350
- Thread starter Alex T.
- Start date
andrewkw
Active member
It's interesting to see the variety of sizes of tanks people consider one 350/350w to be good for, but I guess with different coral needs come different lighting requirements.
I finally purchased one 350w. I plan on using it to cover half of a 60x18x24 mixed reef while I evaluate it I will run a 250w mh on the other side. My T5 fixture died but I'm still not sure if I want the A350w's or the radions. If price was not an issue I would have probably gone with ecotech for the cool effects but I'm convinced I would need 3 where as 2 kessils will probably do. I should have the fixture by tomorrow at which time I will take some pics.
I finally purchased one 350w. I plan on using it to cover half of a 60x18x24 mixed reef while I evaluate it I will run a 250w mh on the other side. My T5 fixture died but I'm still not sure if I want the A350w's or the radions. If price was not an issue I would have probably gone with ecotech for the cool effects but I'm convinced I would need 3 where as 2 kessils will probably do. I should have the fixture by tomorrow at which time I will take some pics.
I'm using 2 A350W for a month above 44x32x22 tank almost sps/lps. Also have two dimmable dyi led strips (20 cree RB XTE led each). Previously it was two ATI T5 fixtures 6x54 and 6x39, all 12 lamps were turned on only for 2 hours a day, cause were too strong and LPS-es were against such light.
So, in one month colors of SPS become more deep, and a little bit darker, but not brown at all. Some acros, that were bright colored on the bottom with T5s I moved to the middle level of tank cause they don't got enough light and become dull, now they are ok.
Without led strips 2 A350W are not enough for such tank dimension, sides are not lit well, shadows and overall look is dim. Also I prefer more blueish look (used to ATI Blue+).
Several days ago my friend gave me a broken radion (if you see red/blue blinking led on top - it's a power supply malfunction), I soldered one of component (clearly factory fault, but couldn't get service here and email to ecotech on sunday is still without answer) but anyway its alive again, so will test it and compare with kessils. (Can say that light spots from kessils are much nicer than radion's))
So, in one month colors of SPS become more deep, and a little bit darker, but not brown at all. Some acros, that were bright colored on the bottom with T5s I moved to the middle level of tank cause they don't got enough light and become dull, now they are ok.
Without led strips 2 A350W are not enough for such tank dimension, sides are not lit well, shadows and overall look is dim. Also I prefer more blueish look (used to ATI Blue+).
Several days ago my friend gave me a broken radion (if you see red/blue blinking led on top - it's a power supply malfunction), I soldered one of component (clearly factory fault, but couldn't get service here and email to ecotech on sunday is still without answer) but anyway its alive again, so will test it and compare with kessils. (Can say that light spots from kessils are much nicer than radion's))
Lubecky
New member
Here is two 350w over my 33 gal sps tank. I've run kessils on it for 8 months but went from 3-150 to 2-350 about 3 weeks ago
<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view¤t=EB0CF679-6E84-435B-82C3-7ED56FA8072C-22902-0000294854AEAEFF_zpsf9b2960e.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/EB0CF679-6E84-435B-82C3-7ED56FA8072C-22902-0000294854AEAEFF_zpsf9b2960e.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>
<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view¤t=6540DB90-2329-4DA4-9B1C-6DD7B5F218EC-28716-0000344C6211C601_zps8cbfe69f.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/6540DB90-2329-4DA4-9B1C-6DD7B5F218EC-28716-0000344C6211C601_zps8cbfe69f.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>
I just rescaped so it doesn't look like this now but I can tell you I burned a few of my corals and my clam is not happy with the intensity so I had to turn it down to 50%.
<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view¤t=EB0CF679-6E84-435B-82C3-7ED56FA8072C-22902-0000294854AEAEFF_zpsf9b2960e.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/EB0CF679-6E84-435B-82C3-7ED56FA8072C-22902-0000294854AEAEFF_zpsf9b2960e.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>
<a href="http://s1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/?action=view¤t=6540DB90-2329-4DA4-9B1C-6DD7B5F218EC-28716-0000344C6211C601_zps8cbfe69f.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh542/lubecky1/6540DB90-2329-4DA4-9B1C-6DD7B5F218EC-28716-0000344C6211C601_zps8cbfe69f.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>
I just rescaped so it doesn't look like this now but I can tell you I burned a few of my corals and my clam is not happy with the intensity so I had to turn it down to 50%.
Marco Madeira
New member
Hi Lubecky,
I think the Kessils are to close to the water. i know that the W´s are not so intense because of the lenses, but be careful, I have burned some Lords and my A350 its about 8" from the water.
I think the Kessils are to close to the water. i know that the W´s are not so intense because of the lenses, but be careful, I have burned some Lords and my A350 its about 8" from the water.
Anemonebuff
New member
I use 3 A150s over my 6'/125 gallon.
No SPS at the bottom. But everything is doing well.
Marco Madeira
New member
Hi Anemonebuff,
with the A350, you can place sps on the botton... :thumbsup:
I have some montiporas at 33" from the Kessil and S. Milka with very good growth at about 25" from the Kessil.
with the A350, you can place sps on the botton... :thumbsup:
I have some montiporas at 33" from the Kessil and S. Milka with very good growth at about 25" from the Kessil.
carverbeezkneez
New member
I bought two of the a350w's about a month ago to go over our 72g bow front ( 48l x 13 or so with bow and 22h). We were using a 6 bulb t5 with ati bulbs and a blue reef brite xho strip. It took about a week to acclimate, starting at about 50% and moving up. Nothing burned, bleached, or had any problem with the switch. They do seem a little bit dim, but I was prepared for that switching to led's. I like the shimmer and crisp look, as well as cutting down on the heat and power of the t5's.
The only drawback is that when dialed down all the way, one light has a nice crisp look and one is definitely an unappealing green, the sand on one side is a nice white blue and the other a drab uneasy green. Well no problem right, I read about someone else having this problem and it was dealt with immediately. One of the reasons I went with the Kessil's was the prompt customer service I have continually read about. It seems that Kessil wants you to contact through facebook so I wrote them about this issue about two weeks ago, and was told their customer service dept would contact me shortly. I asked again last week to be contacted, figuring they are busy, and nothing. I hope that everything I read about their customer service is right and this gets resolved soon, as this was not a minor purchase for me.
With that said I do like the lights. Although I am worried that the spectrum and par output is different between the two. The lights are hung about 8" from the water. Any higher and the bottom gets dull, any lower and I loose light at the top edges. I am glad that we have the reef brite strip, as it helps with shadowing. Also I use that for actinic light at night. I really like the look at night with just the a350w's at the lowest setting, but the green on the one side is a little uneasy to the eyes.
Growth has been good to great. We have a large variety of sps, lps and softies. The sps reacted very well and I noticed new faster growth after about 2 weeks. The color has remained about the same. Our lps looks great, acans, plates, lobos, blastos, favias etc. The acans seem to like the leds and are slowly starting to pop a little bit more than with the t5s.
All in all I am happy with them, hoping the green issue gets resolved. I think 48" is just about pushing it for 2 a350w's. Also without the xho strip there are noticeable shaddows. I know a month is not enough to fully see how the coral responds, but everything is looking good so far. I will try to upload a few pictures later on today.
Andrew
The only drawback is that when dialed down all the way, one light has a nice crisp look and one is definitely an unappealing green, the sand on one side is a nice white blue and the other a drab uneasy green. Well no problem right, I read about someone else having this problem and it was dealt with immediately. One of the reasons I went with the Kessil's was the prompt customer service I have continually read about. It seems that Kessil wants you to contact through facebook so I wrote them about this issue about two weeks ago, and was told their customer service dept would contact me shortly. I asked again last week to be contacted, figuring they are busy, and nothing. I hope that everything I read about their customer service is right and this gets resolved soon, as this was not a minor purchase for me.
With that said I do like the lights. Although I am worried that the spectrum and par output is different between the two. The lights are hung about 8" from the water. Any higher and the bottom gets dull, any lower and I loose light at the top edges. I am glad that we have the reef brite strip, as it helps with shadowing. Also I use that for actinic light at night. I really like the look at night with just the a350w's at the lowest setting, but the green on the one side is a little uneasy to the eyes.
Growth has been good to great. We have a large variety of sps, lps and softies. The sps reacted very well and I noticed new faster growth after about 2 weeks. The color has remained about the same. Our lps looks great, acans, plates, lobos, blastos, favias etc. The acans seem to like the leds and are slowly starting to pop a little bit more than with the t5s.
All in all I am happy with them, hoping the green issue gets resolved. I think 48" is just about pushing it for 2 a350w's. Also without the xho strip there are noticeable shaddows. I know a month is not enough to fully see how the coral responds, but everything is looking good so far. I will try to upload a few pictures later on today.
Andrew
I would e-mail them. I've e-mailed them with simple questions and always received a response the next business day. I once had a problem and received two e-mails and a phone call before I could respond to the first e-mail. They were very prompt and thorough.
kessil@kessil.com
kessil@kessil.com
carverbeezkneez
New member
Ill try that thanks. I figured they already heard me and was waiting to be contacted.
dankreef
New member
What % is everyone using these at? I got mine about 7' from water and had it at 50% right away I saw some bleaching the next day and burned a lepto pretty good. Been running at 35% over my chalice collection noticing some growth and every things been looking good I just squeak it up about 5% a week. But whats the highest % people are getting good results?
carverbeezkneez
New member
I guess it depends on what you are switching from. I went from a 6 bulb nova t5, using ati bulbs, with one reefbrite xho, and had no problems at all. If anything had a noticeable amount of growth on sps in a few weeks, and brightening of acan's especially. I started at 50% and ramped up to 100% in just over a week.
I just joined the Kessil club. I picked up an A350W for my 34G Red Sea and have run it for 3 days so far. Customer service is excellent!!! I am not seeing the excessive blue as others have noted so I inquired with their customer service. It might just be my eyes. I like a "bluer" tank and anything close to even 50% or higher on the white channel with the blue turned to 100% is not to my liking. The blue just gets washed out so I keep the white channel on 20-30% max. So far my corals have responded well after upgrading from a 4x24 fixture with ATI bulbs. Blue is at 100% and white is about 20-30%.
Jolleyreefs
New member
I just bought a 36x24x13 rimless would 2 kessil a350w be better or 2 kessil a350? Looking to do mostly sps and clams with a few lps and zoas thrown in the mix.
OK guys and gals, I've read almost every post in this long thread and see very mixed reviews. I'd like your opinion though on my Kessel experience
My tank 24 x 20 x18. I currently run 1 Kessel 150W 4.5" above the tank. SPS will grow, but only if they are directly below the light, about 6" below the water. LPS grows really well at the bottom of the tank.
The problem are the corners. The rear corners of the tank get almost NO light. My LFS has offered to let me swap the 150W for Kessel 350, although from reading this thread that might not solve my issues.
I really want to be able to grow SPS across a greater horizontal surface. What should I do on a limited budget? Swap 1 kessel 150w for 1 a350? Add a second kessel 150W? Keep the kessel but add a 24" T5 strip(s)?
TIA.
My tank 24 x 20 x18. I currently run 1 Kessel 150W 4.5" above the tank. SPS will grow, but only if they are directly below the light, about 6" below the water. LPS grows really well at the bottom of the tank.
The problem are the corners. The rear corners of the tank get almost NO light. My LFS has offered to let me swap the 150W for Kessel 350, although from reading this thread that might not solve my issues.
I really want to be able to grow SPS across a greater horizontal surface. What should I do on a limited budget? Swap 1 kessel 150w for 1 a350? Add a second kessel 150W? Keep the kessel but add a 24" T5 strip(s)?
TIA.
gb530
New member
Would you put a 250W MH on a tank that size?
IMO, A 350 is overkill on a 16 gallon. A 150 should suffice... The only reason, I would get the 350 on a tank that small is the ability to change the blue/white for color preference.
