Kessil A360WE

[Chrisjbarry]

indeed my happy day. =) 3 is just enough for my tank. but the proportion is not nice so im planning to add atleast 1 more in the future.

I say add 2 more but looks nice so far.

 

[ganjero]

Kessil states that you can control, manually or with a controller, spectrum and intensity independently. How is this done with a controller? I was under the impression that to change the spectrum in LEDs you would need to change the intensity of one of the color channels.

 

[SilverOne]

Any updates on the controller? is there any exact date for the launch?

I emailed them last month. They are expecting the controller to release late august.

 

[slief]

Kessil states that you can control, manually or with a controller, spectrum and intensity independently. How is this done with a controller? I was under the impression that to change the spectrum in LEDs you would need to change the intensity of one of the color channels.

I think your assumption is more or less correct. There are two 0-10v control inputs within the control jack on the Kessil and both perform the same function as the knobs. One is the intensity which controls the overall output of the fixture and the other is the spectrum. Near as I can tell, the spectrum adjustment performs a color shift likely by adjusting the voltage between the lower Kelvin range and the upper Kelvin range. Since the kessil uses a dense LED cluster ranging from the whiter low kelvin to the higher blue kelvin (as well as other colors), when you adjust the spectrum knob, the fixture changes from white to blue or blue to white. The more you turn it one way, the higher the power to the blue and lower to the white and vice versa. Most of the colors useful to corals range between 6000k and 430nm. The color shift changes the appearance from around 15k to 20k when you shift from white light to blue light. Within the spectrum range are colors that aren't really visible to the eye which include uv. That's also not to say that within their cluster, there aren't colors in the 650nm range such as red but very little of that range is needed for coral growth and color so in an array like the kessil, you wouldn't need much of that spectrum.

The above is my best guess after tinkering with the Kessil fixtures and playing with some programming on my Apex.

 

[ganjero]

I think your assumption is more or less correct. There are two 0-10v control inputs within the control jack on the Kessil and both perform the same function as the knobs. One is the intensity which controls the overall output of the fixture and the other is the spectrum. Near as I can tell, the spectrum adjustment performs a color shift likely by adjusting the voltage between the lower Kelvin range and the upper Kelvin range. Since the kessil uses a dense LED cluster ranging from the whiter low kelvin to the higher blue kelvin (as well as other colors), when you adjust the spectrum knob, the fixture changes from white to blue or blue to white. The more you turn it one way, the higher the power to the blue and lower to the white and vice versa. Most of the colors useful to corals range between 6000k and 430nm. The color shift changes the appearance from around 15k to 20k when you shift from white light to blue light. Within the spectrum range are colors that aren't really visible to the eye which include uv. That's also not to say that within their cluster, there aren't colors in the 650nm range such as red but very little of that range is needed for coral growth and color so in an array like the kessil, you wouldn't need much of that spectrum.

The above is my best guess after tinkering with the Kessil fixtures and playing with some programming on my Apex.

Thanks for the great explanation.

 

[robert s b.]

Well here's my take on the Kessils A360w and A360we. I started off with 3 360w all in the back with a 60" 4x80w powermodules in the front of the tank. Back in December. Everything looked great and growth was decent. but not enough spread for my tank which is 36". so I bought 2 more a360we and put them in between the other 3 A360 all in a row, along with the PM's in the front. The growth was great, but I felt I was not utilizing the A360we, since they were sitting on top of the 2 braces I had on my 300g DD and was shadowing. So I decided 3 months ago to sell my PM's and got another A360we. And laid them out 3 in the back and 3 in the front and spaced out evenly. Like usual it ramps up and ramps down. And at peak for for 4 hours it sat at 90% blues and 50% intensity. And it bleached some of my Frags and burnt the tips of my Slimer and other acros. And my Zoas on the sand bed was closing up. So I dialed it down and even raised the fixtures to 14 inches above the water line and had it 80% and 40%. With further study, I have noticed SPS on the edges of the light spread was doing ok but not super. and the corals directly underneath Kessils was ok, but no PE. And growth seemed to be stunted. It seems some, like the intensity and some don't, I remember back when I had MH, you can place the frag anywhere, from the sand bed to the top of the tank, and youll be ok. There is something about the Kessil's piercing Leds some corals don't like. Its not like T5's or MH with their reflectors evenly distributes the light. Don't get me wrong and Im not bashing the Kessils, I invested $2k on these lights, Shimmer is awesome And nothing beats the blues on these, which I showcase when friends are over. Which they ooh and ahh, and cant tell if my corals are happy, but I can. So it makes me wonder, if I was actually Supplementing the T5's with the LEDs and not The Led's supplemented with the T5's. If you know what Im saying. Anyways still love the look and form factor of the Kessils. So I am keeping 3 to supplement the 60'' 8x80w LED Powermodules I just bought. The ones that just bought the Kessils, I highly recommend getting supplement.

My 2 cents

 

[slief]

Got my eight Kessil 360WE's installed yesterday. The install went smooth as did the Apex programming. I used fusion to do the programming which saved me having to create a bunch of profiles. Fusion really simplifies things despite the fact that I am pretty proficient with Apex programming. The 8 Kessils are replacing four 180watt Reeftech LED fixtures. I matched the color to a near perfect match to the original fixtures and made sure that the PAR levels in the upper areas of the tank were comparable. The Kessils read lower than my Reeftech's but I was expecting that as I've read that the blues particularly with the Kessils don't register much on the PAR meters.

I cleaned most of the wires up. Still have more work to do but it's much better. Good enough for a few pictures now.

These are with the rack elevated. The light rack is motorized via an electric winch and pulley system. Push a button and it goes up. Another button and it goes down. The little tiny square boxes attached to the rack are my lunar simulator LED's. The fans are for evaporative cooling.

These are with the rack lowered. Lights are about 8-9' off the water. The lights are aimed to maximize coverage and insure that certain areas are well lit.

Here is my lighting graph showing my schedule and the color and intensity throughout the day. This graph is from Fusion. The orange line represents the intensity and the blue line represents the color change. At present, I peak at 90% for four hours a day. I will keep an eye on my corals and either adjust this as needed or raise my light rack.

The higher up on the graph that the blue line becomes, the whiter the light. Sunrise and sunset are very blue and graduate to and from a whiter light.

Here is a video I took with half the tank illuminated under the Kessils and the other half illuminated under my Reeftech's. The difference in shimmer is incredible. I like that a lot!
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NehoO27nL_Q?list=UUvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Here is a video of the whole tank under the Kessils.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Q--I30bPhhw?list=UUvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Shiftster]

Got my eight Kessil 360WE's installed yesterday. The install went smooth as did the Apex programming. I used fusion to do the programming which saved me having to create a bunch of profiles. Fusion really simplifies things despite the fact that I am pretty proficient with Apex programming. The 8 Kessils are replacing four 180watt Reeftech LED fixtures. I matched the color to a near perfect match to the original fixtures and made sure that the PAR levels in the upper areas of the tank were comparable. The Kessils read lower than my Reeftech's but I was expecting that as I've read that the blues particularly with the Kessils don't register much on the PAR meters.

I cleaned most of the wires up. Still have more work to do but it's much better. Good enough for a few pictures now.

These are with the rack elevated. The little tiny square boxes attached to the rack are my lunar simulator LED's. The fans are for evaporative cooling.

These are with the rack lowered. Lights are about 8-9' off the water.

Here is my lighting graph showing my schedule and the color and intensity throughout the day. This graph is from Fusion. The orange line represents the intensity and the blue line represents the color change. At present, I peak at 90% for four hours a day. I will keep an eye on my corals and either adjust this as needed or raise my light rack.

The higher up on the graph that the blue line becomes, the whiter the light. Sunrise and sunset are very blue and graduate to and from a whiter light.

Here is a video I took with half the tank illuminated under the Kessils and the other half illuminated under my Reeftech's. The difference in shimmer is incredible. I like that a lot!
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NehoO27nL_Q?list=UUvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Here is a video of the whole tank under the Kessils.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Q--I30bPhhw?list=UUvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Looks great! I would love to see some pics of the tank.

 

[slief]

Looks great! I would love to see some pics of the tank.

Check out my build thread. There are lots of pictures there. Including plenty of recent ones towards the end of the thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476*


Here is one more video I just took. It has some better full tank shots as well as a walk around. I just uploaded it and it's still processing. Once the processing is done, the resolution and video quality will improve.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Q--I30bPhhw?list=UUvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ganjero]

Awesome tank Slief... and that is a really awesome Iguana

I have a question in regards to using a controller. When you use a controller with these lights does it matter at what settings you have the manuals knobs? Are the supposed to be somewhere? (all the way up or down?

Thanks

 

[brad65ford]

Well here's my take on the Kessils A360w and A360we. I started off with 3 360w all in the back with a 60" 4x80w powermodules in the front of the tank. Back in December. Everything looked great and growth was decent. but not enough spread for my tank which is 36". so I bought 2 more a360we and put them in between the other 3 A360 all in a row, along with the PM's in the front. The growth was great, but I felt I was not utilizing the A360we, since they were sitting on top of the 2 braces I had on my 300g DD and was shadowing. So I decided 3 months ago to sell my PM's and got another A360we. And laid them out 3 in the back and 3 in the front and spaced out evenly. Like usual it ramps up and ramps down. And at peak for for 4 hours it sat at 90% blues and 50% intensity. And it bleached some of my Frags and burnt the tips of my Slimer and other acros. And my Zoas on the sand bed was closing up. So I dialed it down and even raised the fixtures to 14 inches above the water line and had it 80% and 40%. With further study, I have noticed SPS on the edges of the light spread was doing ok but not super. and the corals directly underneath Kessils was ok, but no PE. And growth seemed to be stunted. It seems some, like the intensity and some don't, I remember back when I had MH, you can place the frag anywhere, from the sand bed to the top of the tank, and youll be ok. There is something about the Kessil's piercing Leds some corals don't like. Its not like T5's or MH with their reflectors evenly distributes the light. Don't get me wrong and Im not bashing the Kessils, I invested $2k on these lights, Shimmer is awesome And nothing beats the blues on these, which I showcase when friends are over. Which they ooh and ahh, and cant tell if my corals are happy, but I can. So it makes me wonder, if I was actually Supplementing the T5's with the LEDs and not The Led's supplemented with the T5's. If you know what Im saying. Anyways still love the look and form factor of the Kessils. So I am keeping 3 to supplement the 60'' 8x80w LED Powermodules I just bought. The ones that just bought the Kessils, I highly recommend getting supplement.

My 2 cents

your not alone, I'm noticing this as well, some sps's like the kessils and some don't. Having a hell of a time tuning what i believe shouldn't be as difficult. I've known 3 successful reefers that have ditched them and moved on to other lights. I'm about 8 months in and my growth and color isn't the greats with montis, green slimmer grows no problem and color is great, birdsnests are easy and colorful as well same with leptastrea. One ting is for sure you don't see may threads with sps's running kessils only with amazing color and growth.

 

[slief]

Awesome tank Slief... and that is a really awesome Iguana

I have a question in regards to using a controller. When you use a controller with these lights does it matter at what settings you have the manuals knobs? Are the supposed to be somewhere? (all the way up or down?

Thanks

Thank you very much!

The knobs don't function when it's under 0-10v control. Plugging the input cable in overrides manual control regardless of where the knobs are. I think all the way down on intensity knob shuts the light off regardless of 0-10v control.

The iguana is house trained free roaming. He lives on his couch in the other room by the front window. He competes with a Great Dane, a Yorki and our little old cat. All get along but all know the iguana is the boss as does the iguana.

 

[ktownhero]

your not alone, I'm noticing this as well, some sps's like the kessils and some don't. Having a hell of a time tuning what i believe shouldn't be as difficult. I've known 3 successful reefers that have ditched them and moved on to other lights. I'm about 8 months in and my growth and color isn't the greats with montis, green slimmer grows no problem and color is great, birdsnests are easy and colorful as well same with leptastrea. One ting is for sure you don't see may threads with sps's running kessils only with amazing color and growth.

From what I understand, and according to Kessil, moving to these lights requires an acclimation period not only due to intensity but also because of the included UV spectrum. If you use these lights for month and give up then that's not long enough. Gotta take it slow and start with a lower intensity.

 

[brad65ford]

I'm on 9 months with my kessils.

 

[ganjero]

I'm on 9 months with my kessils.

Do you have pics?

 

[brad65ford]

Do you have pics? what kind of corals are you keeping?

Montis, birdsnets, leptastrea, pocillopora, acans, hydnophora, green slimmer, graf bonsai etc... My growth is horrible, colors are fair at best. How about someone showing some good growth and color with just kessils since I can't.

 

[Shiftster]

Montis, birdsnets, leptastrea, pocillopora, acans, hydnophora, green slimmer, graf bonsai etc... My growth is horrible, colors are fair at best. How about someone showing some good growth and color with just kessils since I can't.

Go back to the start of this thread. There is one guy who said that his LFS switched to them and looks great. Maybe ask him for some pictures. I think there are several pictures in this thread. There is also another thread around here that is all SPS LED tanks and some were kessil.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I'm getting really low par numbers out of my 350W's. However I've been told the blue LED's don't show up on Par meters.

I wonder if some of the bleaching that has been reported is not being caused by too much light, but is instead being caused by not enough..

 

[ganjero]

I'm getting really low par numbers out of my 350W's. However I've been told the blue LED's don't show up on Par meters.

I wonder if some of the bleaching that has been reported is not being caused by too much light, but is instead being caused by not enough..

That should cause browning more than true bleaching (some people incorrectly call stn and rtn bleaching)

 

[slief]

I'm getting really low par numbers out of my 350W's. However I've been told the blue LED's don't show up on Par meters.

I wonder if some of the bleaching that has been reported is not being caused by too much light, but is instead being caused by not enough..

Bleaching is reported with nearly every LED out there and is usually reported to be the result of too much intensity. That is to say that reducing the intensity usually seems to reverse the bleaching condition. That said, I'm not so sure it has to do so much with too much light but rather more to do with the change of lighting and not acclimating corals slowly to the new lighting. Much of the color we see in corals is brought out by different spectrums of the light so logic stands to reason that if you shock a coral with a rapid change in spectrum or intensity, the very light that gives them color could also cause them to loose the color.


As for PAR readings, I've noticed slightly lower PAR levels with the Kessils compared to my Reeftech's which were optic-less. On the other hand my tank under the Kessils appears to be brighter and more vivid than it looked with my Reeftech's. I also took time to match the spectrum of my Kessil's to the Reeftech's and ran them side by side in the tank to do so. This leads me to believe that there is some merit to what I've read about the Kessil's providing accurate readings on a PAR meter due to the spectrum. If that's the case, it would be easy to shock the corals with the Kessil's if you aren't careful.