Kessil AP700 Aquarium LED Light

Did it
Preordered 2 units. Hurt the wallet but have been planning to upgrade for 4-5 years and now no more bulbs to purchase for many years, I hope. 6-5' t-5 bulbs every 6 months adds up quick. Will always be usable when I upgrade to the bigger tank because of small size. Can fit it in no matter what I use for additional lighting.
I too am annoyed that they don't include any mounting options, even though I would probably have to DIY in order to mount in my hood. Just think for a super premium light it should be plug and play. Kessil still has time to fix this oversight. Look what Euroquatics did post intro of the angel lights. Great public relations and set a customer service standard in my view. Who gives rebates to past customers when you lower a price? No one. Almost went with 3 of their lights when they made that move. The AP700 just looks too cutting edge to pass up. Don't see anything surpassing these by any big jump for a while.
Might try to build a rack out of acrylic that I can screw these lights into with supports at correct height under hood. Thinking of maybe a slight angle to direct more light towards back since I don't have any corals within 6" inches of front of tank and I think at the low mounting height of around 7" I don't really believe my upper corals towards back will get much light otherwise. Tank is 72" x 24 x 30"high
Thoughts?
 
Just picked up my AP700...OMG this light is amazing.
The intensity, shimmer and coloration of the corals are amazing....
So worth it..Am sold on the kessil light...
 
ohashimz said:
Just picked up my AP700...OMG this light is amazing.
The intensity, shimmer and coloration of the corals are amazing....
So worth it..Am sold on the kessil light...
Click to expand...


Where did you get it from already? Preordered mine and still haven't heard anything about when it's shipping...
 
mfaso24 said:
Where did you get it from already? Preordered mine and still haven't heard anything about when it's shipping...
Click to expand...

I was invited to small gathering by Kessil for the release and picked up my unit there. the event was in san jose/CA at local aquatic store "Neptune aquatics".
so excited. the fixture is looking great. just got a 2nd fixture from the same store, they had one left (pre order bailed on his unit).

now to the pain of lack of hanging kit and android app support from kessil...I need to find a way to hook both fixtures together without looking ugly and messy....uuuugh Kessil...
 
I saw that gathering on Facebook
They also have a picture of the under hood mounting rods which are apparently not available yet.
 
smklaw said:
I saw that gathering on Facebook
They also have a picture of the under hood mounting rods which are apparently not available yet.
Click to expand...

yup it was fun. I think they had some limited number of the hood mount available. not 100% sure though.
 
ohashimz said:
I was invited to small gathering by Kessil for the release and picked up my unit there. the event was in san jose/CA at local aquatic store "Neptune aquatics".

so excited. the fixture is looking great. just got a 2nd fixture from the same store, they had one left (pre order bailed on his unit).



now to the pain of lack of hanging kit and android app support from kessil...I need to find a way to hook both fixtures together without looking ugly and messy....uuuugh Kessil...
Click to expand...


I saw some websites are selling ap700 hanging kits. I ordered one a few days ago.

Let's see some pics of the tank under this light!!
 
ohashimz said:
now to the pain of lack of hanging kit and android app support from kessil...I need to find a way to hook both fixtures together without looking ugly and messy....uuuugh Kessil...
Click to expand...

Some 1/2" square tubing painted black would look pretty awesome. It would connect them and also give you a spot to drill for hanging them also. Or if you wanted to spend the money you could have an acrylic bracket made out of like 1/2" black acrylic which would look awesome too.
 
CrazyEyes said:
Some 1/2" square tubing painted black would look pretty awesome. It would connect them and also give you a spot to drill for hanging them also. Or if you wanted to spend the money you could have an acrylic bracket made out of like 1/2" black acrylic which would look awesome too.
Click to expand...

thanks for the ideas, very smart. I have never seen square tubing.. do you mean PVC? where can I get whatever you are referring to?
at the moment my plan is to try and use as much as possible of my AI EXT rail. they are by far the best looking hanging system.
SO,
1- I need to figure out how can I connect both Kessil fixtures together(bridge them)
2- then will use their hanging kit wires to connect to my AI EXT

the acrylic seems like a very nice idea and not messy looking.....
 
Too rich for my blood no thanks.

Parts are probably built in the same factory as the "foreign junk" that everyone hates on to boot.

Bye kessil
:wavehand:
 
Bent said:
Too rich for my blood no thanks.

Parts are probably built in the same factory as the "foreign junk" that everyone hates on to boot.

Bye kessil
:wavehand:
Click to expand...

Actually that is not 100% true. Kessil use their own technology to build their own LED Diods.
So, while I would agree with you on things like the plastic and power supply of the AP700, probably built by the common Asian factories, the LED's themselves (which what matters) are not. they are built here in USA....
a simple test you can see the difference in the color, shimmer and penetration between Kessil AP700 and the high and low end LED's in the market.
I switched from AI hydra 52's to kessil only after I saw what AP700 is capable off.....big difference.
 
Actually ohashimz, if that is even remotely true, that is what matter the most. Most led unit failures are not the leds but other components such as the power supply, controls and drivers. I have had two a360we die on me, thankfully under a year but the sad thing, is true they replaced them but did not want the old ones back. There is nothing wrong with the led part them selves but something else internal, but there is nothing I can do with the broken ones.
 
trueperc said:
Actually ohashimz, if that is even remotely true, that is what matter the most. Most led unit failures are not the leds but other components such as the power supply, controls and drivers. I have had two a360we die on me, thankfully under a year but the sad thing, is true they replaced them but did not want the old ones back. There is nothing wrong with the led part them selves but something else internal, but there is nothing I can do with the broken ones.
Click to expand...

am sorry about that. it really sucks....you have a point there.
 
so, so far the lights are awesome. what suck really bad are:
1- having no decent hanging kit
2- there is no way to interconnect 2 fixtures together, instead Kessil want you to buy hanging kit per fixture which is so lame
3- the iPad app is horrible so far, lots of bugs and keep loosing connection to the fixtures which means you need to re create the profile often...so annoying
4- the app is compatible only with Ipad... not iPhone or mac....WHAT!!! the funniest thing is that the app ask you to get an ipad air for better compatibility:)) so basically they suggest you to buy a 500$ controller (am not an IOS guy I only have android). good news is that Kessil saying they will release android apps soon.
5- the hanging kit is poorly designed without having the customer in mind, instead is look like kessil just wanted to be different rather than intuitive, examples:
a- the adjustment of the hanging kit is from the top (celling side) which means every time you want to adjust the highest of the kit you need a ladder:)
b- hanging kit uses none standard screws and bar sizes, so you cannot use existing well designed hanging kits like the AI or the Echo Tech kits

all in all, am still loving it and enjoying how the tank is looking. I spent a lot of time and money (retro fitted AI hanging kit+Kessil hanging kits+ipad2:)) to retro fit a nice hanging kit and mount the 2 units on my tank. the app is so horrible at the moment...ughh

i think the lights need some time to have stable app, and decent hanging kits options. for now, the lights are skeletons that needs a lot of work and patience, if you are in to that, buying now is your thing:)
 
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