Kessil Club

[goreef170]

Beautiful tank....congrats on joining the Kessil Club!! The SPS currently in my tank are a pink birdsnest, Yellow Stylo, and a GARF Bonsai. I have read guys pushing the color upwards of like 45-60. For the deep water Acros like my GARF, I can go no higher than 40 color on my tank before they start to bleach them. I think if you stay between like 25-40, you will be ok.

Thanks fire mountain

 

[C3hutson]

So the color is the limiting factor with these light, not the intensity? Interesting....`

 

[MrineLfRlz]

As of now i have x2 d120 led fixtures over my 75g dt sps dominate with lps and zoas and palys on the sand bed. They are doing ok but i was thinking about getting x2 a360w-e wide lens instead are these more then enough for what i have?

 

[rblackdvm]

2 a360we should be enough. It takes corals upwards of a month to get used to Kessils, but once they do you'll see the difference.

 

[yukimika]

Just got two kessil 360we for my 90 gal. coming from t5andMH mix. Loving it so far. I didn't do any acclimation period, maybe just hung them a little higher. Loving it so far, was a little hard to get used to all the dancing lights at first. I've noticed my corals showing much better polyp extension and starting to pop a lot more. also noticed my corals that used to grow vertical have started to expand out, like they are not reaching for light anymore

 

[slief]

Guys I have a question, I know when you add LEDs you have to slowly ramp up to avoid scorching your corals. So my question is, how do you know what intensity to stop at? When the corals seem to grow well? When it looks good to your eye?

You stop and back up a bit when you see adverse reactions from the corals. This is why you want to increase the intensity very slowly. I suggest no more than 5% a month and spread it out once a week so you are only increaseing a slight amount each week. When you see an adverse reaction, back off 5% or quit when you see your corals growing nicely. It does take time for the corals to adjust to the lighting though so increasing 1% or so a week is the safest method IMO and just watch for an adverse reaction.

 

[mfaso24]

You stop and back up a bit when you see adverse reactions from the corals. This is why you want to increase the intensity very slowly. I suggest no more than 5% a month and spread it out once a week so you are only increaseing a slight amount each week. When you see an adverse reaction, back off 5% or quit when you see your corals growing nicely. It does take time for the corals to adjust to the lighting though so increasing 1% or so a week is the safest method IMO and just watch for an adverse reaction.

Ok I understand. So what do you do if your constantly adding corals? I feel like you're never going to be as bright at you want because your constantly acclimating.

 

[slief]

Ok I understand. So what do you do if your constantly adding corals? I feel like you're never going to be as bright at you want because your constantly acclimating.

Acclimate them on the bottom of the tank and or off to the sides of the tank as you would with any other corals under high intensity lighting.

 

[heliguy71]

does anyone having any trouble with zoas not opening under kessils,I have the zoas on sand bed and kessil a360we 10" above tank and they do not open,when i bought them they where out fully,is the uv kessil uses the issue,I have intensity at 70%.tank is 26 inch high.I can't imagine the intensity causing a issue at that depth.color is 35-40 more%.any ideas getting very frustrated with kessils and finding the sweet spot.I have had these lights for five months and started at 30% intensity so i went up very slow.I just don't understand it.other corals and bubble tip nem are doing good,some lps,sps that i had bleached and they were mid way down tank.so some corals are ok and others not so good.

 

[jtgrimes]

does anyone having any trouble with zoas not opening under kessils,I have the zoas on sand bed and kessil a360we 10" above tank and they do not open,when i bought them they where out fully,is the uv kessil uses the issue,I have intensity at 70%.tank is 26 inch high.I can't imagine the intensity causing a issue at that depth.

What was your lighting before hand. It took me months to get to 85% intensity. I started at 45. I have a 20 gallon long,with my kessil 12 in above water line. My zoas are not directly under my light though more towards the left.

 

[heliguy71]

i was using 120watt china leds.anyone else having issues with kessils and corals?

 

[40gal]

I'm having similar problems, and was using China LEDs prior. I had very few blue LEDs working on the old lights, and my white power supply failed just before deciding on the kessil. I'm running 35% right now I believe and I am ramping the color throughout the day. My zoas have started to open a very little bit, and my palys are pretty much closed still. SPS are doing good - one may be bleaching slightly, but good poly extension. If it is a UV problem as suggested, does changing the color vary the amount of UV exposure?

 

[rblackdvm]

I would start at 5-10 % intensity until your zoas open, the slowly ramp up 5% a week until you get where you want.
Of course if you have the 360 you would have to start at 13% because they turn off any lower than that.

 

[40gal]

I just checked my settings, and I was at 33% max intensity and color ranging from 1 to 80 and back to 1. See apex program below. Based on these comments, I just lowered my intensity during the day from 33 to 25 to see if I see any change.

[Color_Kessil]
Set OFF 
If Sun 000/-360 Then Color_Dawn
If Sun 300/-120 Then Color_Dusk
If Sun 180/-300 Then Color_Day

[Int_Kessil]
Set OFF 
If Sun 000/-360 Then Int_Dawn
If Sun 300/-120 Then Int_Dusk
If Sun 240/-300 Then Int_Day

Profiles:
[Int_Dawn]
Ramp time (minutes) 240
Start intensity 14
End intensity 25

[Int_Day]
Ramp time (minutes) 1
Start intensity 25
End intensity 25

[Int_Dusk]
Ramp time (minutes) 180
Start intensity 25
End intensity 14

[Color_Dawn]
Ramp time (minutes) 180
Start intensity 1
End intensity 80

[Color_Day]
Ramp time (minutes) 1
Start intensity 80
End intensity 80

[Color_Dusk]
Ramp time (minutes) 180
Start intensity 80
End intensity 1

 

[Ssteve]

does anyone having any trouble with zoas not opening under kessils,I have the zoas on sand bed and kessil a360we 10" above tank and they do not open,when i bought them they where out fully,is the uv kessil uses the issue,I have intensity at 70%.tank is 26 inch high.I can't imagine the intensity causing a issue at that depth.color is 35-40 more%.any ideas getting very frustrated with kessils and finding the sweet spot.I have had these lights for five months and started at 30% intensity so i went up very slow.I just don't understand it.other corals and bubble tip nem are doing good,some lps,sps that i had bleached and they were mid way down tank.so some corals are ok and others not so good.

70% on both channels is way way too much to start at. Unless you have sps you shouldn't ever see more than that. Start around 15-20%

 

[zoomonster]

does anyone having any trouble with zoas not opening under kessils,I have the zoas on sand bed and kessil a360we 10" above tank and they do not open,when i bought them they where out fully,is the uv kessil uses the issue,I have intensity at 70%.tank is 26 inch high.I can't imagine the intensity causing a issue at that depth.color is 35-40 more%.any ideas getting very frustrated with kessils and finding the sweet spot.I have had these lights for five months and started at 30% intensity so i went up very slow.I just don't understand it.other corals and bubble tip nem are doing good,some lps,sps that i had bleached and they were mid way down tank.so some corals are ok and others not so good.

I know I mentioned monti's being very touchy and easy to bleach with kessil's but not sure if I mentioned Zoa's. Three of my original large colonies experienced significant die back(they were all well under MH/T5) and it was not fungus or other disease. None will open completely and growth is pretty much restricted to around edges and bottom of rock. They are all close to tank bottom. Other smaller pieces and growout frags, including three varieties of Agave's are expanding and doing very well w/o a hic up at the light change. Ricordia, shrooms and assorted other soft doing well. The usual high light stuff like RBTA's, SPS and the few LPS I have are also thriving. The only thing I have that did not like Kessil's or MH/T5 is a big superman (orange/blue) mushroom. Don't think it will ever be happy.

 

[heliguy71]

maybe kessils are not as good as people claim if only certain corals wil thrive,maybe t-5 route might be better in the long run.i know my other t-5 set-up grows everything.

 

[Ssteve]

I'm a big fan of kessils for what they are but imo of you want the absolute best for your mixed reef tank then T5's are king, and led's are best suited for supplementation. I'm in the process of collecting equipment for a new build and I'll have kessils on it... But not without some T5's.

 

[slief]

I know I mentioned monti's being very touchy and easy to bleach with kessil's but not sure if I mentioned Zoa's. Three of my original large colonies experienced significant die back(they were all well under MH/T5) and it was not fungus or other disease. None will open completely and growth is pretty much restricted to around edges and bottom of rock. They are all close to tank bottom.

Interesting.. My montipora and my zoa's grow like weeds under my Kessil 360WE's.. Infact, I just put 3 new monti frags in my tank about a month ago and they have grown nearly a half inch along all edges in that short time. From my experience, monti's love this lighting. My monti's are near the top while I have zoa's both near the top and on the bottom of my tank.

In my case, my display is 48"x96"x24" tall. I run 8 360WE's. My max intensity is 80% for four hours at a color percentage of 70%. My total photo period is 12 hours with a nice ramp up and ramp down from max intensity. I will also add that I run no other supplemental lighting. I've been running the Kessils for over a year now. Before that I had Reef Tech LED's for a few years and before that I ran a pair of 400 watt Radiums along with six 3' VHO bulbs. I absolutely love my Kessils and my tank has responded very well to them.

 

[Spudroach]

After doing a lot of research and seeing a lot of different opinions, I have decided to go with Kessil LEDs for my new Deep Blue 48"X24"X16" build. I figured I need 2 - A360WEs, 2-goosenecks and a controller. What I am not sure about is what I need to connect the lights to the controller and do the lights need to be connected together or is the connection made in the controller? Any input/opinions would be appreciated.

I am down sizing from a 180 with MH's and a 1/3 hp chiller. My electric bill went down $200 a month when I broke down the 180. Nobody ever said it was a cheap hobby.