Kessil AP 700 Owners Gather Here!
- Thread starter Confuse
- Start date
Captain smoke
New member
Ok question for everyone.
Looking for info on my next build, Im looking to start this next fall and I'm getting my research done now.
Tank- 135g cube 36"x36"X24" with Synergy reef overflow.
sump- custom 40g breeder
Return Sicce 1000gph pump
Skimmer Skimz Sm201
looking for a minimum LR in display and having a LR in the sump.
for a light Im thinking the Ap700 for a 36x36 tank SPS with some LPS. Should I look at adding some A160we or will the Ap700 be all right?
Looking for info on my next build, Im looking to start this next fall and I'm getting my research done now.
Tank- 135g cube 36"x36"X24" with Synergy reef overflow.
sump- custom 40g breeder
Return Sicce 1000gph pump
Skimmer Skimz Sm201
looking for a minimum LR in display and having a LR in the sump.
for a light Im thinking the Ap700 for a 36x36 tank SPS with some LPS. Should I look at adding some A160we or will the Ap700 be all right?
bif24701
New member
I think you absolute could do it with just the one AP700, mounted a little higher ~9". Use tonga rock so that you have your minimalist aquascape yet some pieces reach a little higher up for mounting the SPS. Use a good PAR meter for adjusting and mounting. You will be pleased with the fixtures spread and power.
For the sump look into MarinePure Blocks. They will maximize your bio filtration and sump space.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
bif24701
New member
Kessil AP 700 Owners Gather Here!
I do something similar and add a little red to enhance my red and purple colors.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I do something similar and add a little red to enhance my red and purple colors.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For the hackers around here:
Has anybody hooked their AP700 up through their home router and then snooped the traffic to try to intercept what the API calls might be when triggered via the phone/tablet app? I'm wondering if we could do this and get ahead of the controller-integration game either via something like Arduino or maybe even a clever way of hooking in into Apex? Based on the quality of their app and firmware, I wouldn't be surprised if Kessil is just using some basic, unencrypted calls. If/when I get some time, I'll give it a try but I'm a software engineer and not the best at snooping network traffic. Would be helpful if we have any network engineers around to try this
Has anybody hooked their AP700 up through their home router and then snooped the traffic to try to intercept what the API calls might be when triggered via the phone/tablet app? I'm wondering if we could do this and get ahead of the controller-integration game either via something like Arduino or maybe even a clever way of hooking in into Apex? Based on the quality of their app and firmware, I wouldn't be surprised if Kessil is just using some basic, unencrypted calls. If/when I get some time, I'll give it a try but I'm a software engineer and not the best at snooping network traffic. Would be helpful if we have any network engineers around to try this
Last edited:
For the hackers around here:
Has anybody hooked their AP700 up through their home router and then snooped the traffic to try to intercept what the API calls might be when triggered via the phone/tablet app? I'm wondering if we could do this and get ahead of the controller-integration game either via something like Arduino or maybe even a clever way of hooking in into Apex? Based on the quality of their app and firmware, I wouldn't be surprised if Kessil is just using some basic, unencrypted calls. If/when I get some time, I'll give it a try but I'm a software engineer and not the best at snooping network traffic. Would be helpful if we have any network engineers around to try this
Yup, I did that pretty much as soon as I got the light. They are using an off the shelf chinese micro controller, the name escapes me at the moment. By downloading the dev docs for the micro controller I found that I could log in to the admin interface. Kessil had not changed the default credentials. I was careful not to change anything in the admin interface as I did not want to brick the light.
I ended up snooping the traffic between the App and the light. It appeared to be variable length binary messages. I had planned to decode the protocol they are using, but have not picked it back up again. I was mostly doing it out of frustration with the lack of progress that Kessil was making with the App support. The App support has improved a little bit over the last year, but is still the weak link in the chain for this light.
Dennis
sixpackgarage
reef mechanic
Kessil AP 700 Owners Gather Here!
Update. About a year now off and on with the AP. I recently moved my tank to another house and this time designed the aquascape with the AP's limitations in mind. Still not perfect of course, but much less shadowing. I will still be trying T5 only at some point to see the difference. In one of the pics you will notice the left is brighter than the right. The fixture has some defect that causes that sometimes
With minor diffusers
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Update. About a year now off and on with the AP. I recently moved my tank to another house and this time designed the aquascape with the AP's limitations in mind. Still not perfect of course, but much less shadowing. I will still be trying T5 only at some point to see the difference. In one of the pics you will notice the left is brighter than the right. The fixture has some defect that causes that sometimes
With minor diffusers
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sixpackgarage
reef mechanic
Kessil AP 700 Owners Gather Here!
No, it's all how you want it to look. You adjust it. This was taken in the late evening where I have it set to look like it does
Here's another pic midday
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No, it's all how you want it to look. You adjust it. This was taken in the late evening where I have it set to look like it does
Here's another pic midday
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It's like 13 months retail now, and the apps are still average at best. At this point I'd rather have basic 0-10v control, or apex functionality. Software is the one area where the fixture is really failing, still feels like a very beta product yet charging a very premium price.
True. Very sad. Although this is the first light from Kessil with App support, so some learning curve is to be expected. They have not helped themselves by demonstrating any awareness of the significant problems that remain in its control features. I am confident that they will eventually work out the kinks, but as someone who has put a lot of faith in Kessil, I can't help but feel a little disappointed in the pace of improving the App issues. To be honest, once the Philips Coral Care lights are available, I will probably sell my 5 AP700 units and switch to the Phillips lights that support 0-10v control right from the start.
Their new software BETA is supposed to be available shortly. Perhaps this version will fix all the remaing issues. We will see.
Dennis
The lunar light glitches are the ones that really bug me. The blue lunar in the manual effects mode is perfect but the lunar mode you get when running a program is way brighter. Also, red lunar lights only work about 5% of the time. I figured out that the red lunar lights only work of the prior light mixture before switching to them has red in it. It's bizarre. I reported it to them.
Also seems kind of lame that you can't program the effects like storm or cloud to function randomly. Who wants to schedule a special effect to happen at the same time every day? Lol
It's such a great light otherwise.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
The next bug fix update was supposed to come out two months ago, and probably won't be released till January - that's from support. On the other end of things the sales associates are now refusing comment on if the fixture will ever be Apex compatible, which is contrary to what they were saying in January / February.
Somewhere along the line things have gotten to the point that I really believe they're on track to EOL this fixture as fast as possible and leave it as-is. They seem to have counted on the brand loyalty to carry everything but the competition hasn't sat idly by, has connectivity options that aren't limited to mobile apps and in the case of Phillips, isn't some small OEM randomly testing the waters.
Similar threads
