Kessil Club

[oseymour]

Thanks ..........

Does anyone know if it is easier to adjust the Kessil lights with a full Apex , or is an Apex Jr with a VDM module just as easy.

I know trying to adjust Kessils with a DA reefkeeper , with the ALC module is a royal pita , and I am looking for something easier to work with.

Is the Apex easier, and very user friendly compared to the reefkeeper, as far as lighting adjustment and mobile applications go (Fusion)?

Just trying to decide which way to go ......... (Apex vs Jr ..........not RK !)

Thanks !

Apex Jr vs Full Apex it's the same interface. You can add more modules with the full.

I like apex because of Fusion, no opening ports ect.

I didn't notice any issues with ramping with apex, I saw one Kessil come on few minutes before the other but that's not a deal killer for me.

 

[vessxpress1]

What is the projected lifespan of a Kessil supposed to be? Do they work like Lithium batteries where you will have full brightness until they just don't work anymore or can you expect a gradual brightness decline in the last years of it's life?

 

[Herbie]

I can't compare with the RK, but the VDM ports on the full Apex and on the VDM module behave exactly the same. I have my Kessils hooked up to mine and it's very easy to change the settings through Fusion whether you're using the ports on the base module or using a VDM.

Apex Jr vs Full Apex it's the same interface. You can add more modules with the full.

I like apex because of Fusion, no opening ports ect.

I didn't notice any issues with ramping with apex, I saw one Kessil come on few minutes before the other but that's not a deal killer for me.

Thanks for the info ...........

Not sure which way to go yet , have some time to figure it out.
I wont have a real high demand sytem as far as controllers goes, but want to be able to utilize Fusion , and easily control Kessils . Hmmmm , at least I know what does what now.
Thanks !

 

[Coelli]

Thanks for the info ...........

Not sure which way to go yet , have some time to figure it out.
I wont have a real high demand sytem as far as controllers goes, but want to be able to utilize Fusion , and easily control Kessils . Hmmmm , at least I know what does what now.
Thanks !

Here's what the interface looks like in Fusion (in this one I have the color graph showing as well). You just grab the points and move them where you want them. You can add or delete points, and also (if you scroll down) enter values manually for each point. It's really simple.

 

[Herbie]

Here's what the interface looks like in Fusion (in this one I have the color graph showing as well). You just grab the points and move them where you want them. You can add or delete points, and also (if you scroll down) enter values manually for each point. It's really simple.

That does look pretty cool . Seems pretty easy. I am guessing you just drag those points where you want them on the graph and it will change the program that easy . Why is the one point a large white point, and the rest are smaller ?
What is this graph telling me ? .......... The black line is the intensity , and the orange line is the color spectum of the Kessil ?

All of this you can controll from your smartphone ? It would be nice to adjust the Kessil programming without having to get up , go to the tank/controller and attempt figure out some whacked out programming with ramp timers and stuff , and hope you got it right (Like DA) .

Thanks ...........Apex it is ! (probably a Jr will be all I need) .

 

[Natural Blue]

So Kessil called me back today and to my surprise they are sending me a new AP700 to replace the one I received via open box purchase. I was really surprised and pretty impressed with their customer service!

It's nice that they are sending the new unit and when I receive it I'll just have to ship the one I have back so the delay in waiting for shipping and processing the units back in forth is drastically reduced.

As long as the new AP700 functions correctly stays sync'd with the app I can live with some reduced app functionality because I'm really hoping to set it and forget it. I did ask when the iPhone app would be out and they didn't confirm but said they were planning on March/April.

 

[Herbie]

So Kessil called me back today and to my surprise they are sending me a new AP700 to replace the one I received via open box purchase. I was really surprised and pretty impressed with their customer service!

It's nice that they are sending the new unit and when I receive it I'll just have to ship the one I have back so the delay in waiting for shipping and processing the units back in forth is drastically reduced.

As long as the new AP700 functions correctly stays sync'd with the app I can live with some reduced app functionality because I'm really hoping to set it and forget it. I did ask when the iPhone app would be out and they didn't confirm but said they were planning on March/April.

Glad Kessil was able to help with a replacement for your AP700 .............even though it was an open box special. Typical for Kessil .

Yep, Kessil customer service is one of the best .
I had one of the first 360's that came out a few years ago and it just went dead all of a sudden within a week . Kessil was down on production on the brand new 360's , so they sent me a 350 to use temporarily until the 360 could be sent. Didnt even ask for a CC # or anything, just a serial # on the defective 360. Sent the replacement 360 in 2 weeks with a prepaid label for the 350 and the defective 360. Wound up using the 350 on a frag tank, and Kessil gave me about a 50% discount on the 350 in lieu of returning it.

Kessil is among the top companies in the business for customer service.

 

[dannyboy402]

Here's a picture of my tank with two kessils on it. Took it while it was dark but I can get another brighter picture tomorrow.

 

[trueperc]

I have been a Kessil A360we owner for over a year and half. Now thankfully I only use these to supplement my metal halides. Now while under warranty the customer service is top notch. My question for this group, has any of you had to deal with a failed unit out of warranty? My story is, I had two fail under warranty, and they shipped me new ones and told me to keep the old ones. I was shocked but was very happy. Since then, two more have gone just last weekend. I am out of warranty and completely understand that, but I emaiedl the company and asked if I could get these repaired as the cost of these up in Canada are $500 per unit. I was told no. So I have had a total of 7 lights and 4 failures in a year and half. That is not good. I did all the troubleshooting and its indeed the units. I love the look these lights give off, but I hate the fact that now I am sitting on $2000 worth of nothing in a very short time when these where suppose to last 5 years. Something to think about when buying the AP700. I am just trying to find out if this is just an outside of Canada thing or has anyone had to deal with this? Myself if I do go leds again, it will be EcoTech or AI at least you can get parts and upgrade them after the warranty period is over.

 

[cali9dub]

They replaced two of mine that were out of warranty, no questions asked. I did send the old ones back.

On a side note....I've had both AI and Radions and prefer Kessel ..... But that's just my opinion after starting with AI then EcoTech Radion and now Kessel.

 

[trueperc]

I so prefer the look of kessel over ai or radion but these two are more powerful than a kessil. I believe the issue is really with me living in Canada. I am not upset with the company at all. I am just trying to understand my situation better and if this is the situation for other living outside the US, then its something to think about when it comes to buying a kessil product.

 

[Coelli]

That does look pretty cool . Seems pretty easy. I am guessing you just drag those points where you want them on the graph and it will change the program that easy . Why is the one point a large white point, and the rest are smaller ?
What is this graph telling me ? .......... The black line is the intensity , and the orange line is the color spectum of the Kessil ?

All of this you can controll from your smartphone ? It would be nice to adjust the Kessil programming without having to get up , go to the tank/controller and attempt figure out some whacked out programming with ramp timers and stuff , and hope you got it right (Like DA) .

Thanks ...........Apex it is ! (probably a Jr will be all I need) .

The white point is the one that's currently selected. The orange line is intensity, and I added the black line (color) using the Compare dropdown.

And yes, all through the website or on a mobile phone. There's an app too but I just use my phone's browser (have Fusion bookmarked). Not just the lights, you can control everything through your phone - no more plugging/unplugging things to turn them off or on. I am completely dependent on my Apex at this point

 

[Xmoji]

I have been having some serious issues with the AP700 and am regretting purchasing this unit after having good results with AI. I emailed Kessil because of the issues with the lunar lights not working. So I tried updating the firmware, after updating "successfully" I noticed it updated to version V1.0.5. For some reason it was not downloading to 2.1. I reconnected to the computer again via USB that was provided, I proceeded to try and update to version 2.1. While the unit was plugged into my computer for updating the two would not communicate. I then unplugged the USB cord, turned the unit off manually by pressing the power button and tried to turn the fixture back on manually, the fixture did not turn on. The button on the fixture are not responding.

I then tried to turn the unit on by connecting to the unit via the iPad app with no luck. The iPad app does not "see" the fixture. I tried to get the unit to connect to the app by pressing the down arrows and the plus symbol but nothing happens. Once again, I took to the online forums to try and find help. The buttons on the fixture and trying to locate the the fixture via the iPad app is unsuccessful, the fixture is totally unresponsive. I left the unit unplugged and plugged back in to try and make some sort of connection and get the unit to respond but that did not help. I deleted the app from my iPad and downloaded again but that did not help.

I emailed Kessil again for help....Very very frustrraing after paying top dollar for this light!!!!

 

[Chrisjbarry]

I have been having some serious issues with the AP700 and am regretting purchasing this unit after having good results with AI. I emailed Kessil because of the issues with the lunar lights not working. So I tried updating the firmware, after updating "successfully" I noticed it updated to version V1.0.5. For some reason it was not downloading to 2.1. I reconnected to the computer again via USB that was provided, I proceeded to try and update to version 2.1. While the unit was plugged into my computer for updating the two would not communicate. I then unplugged the USB cord, turned the unit off manually by pressing the power button and tried to turn the fixture back on manually, the fixture did not turn on. The button on the fixture are not responding.



I then tried to turn the unit on by connecting to the unit via the iPad app with no luck. The iPad app does not "see" the fixture. I tried to get the unit to connect to the app by pressing the down arrows and the plus symbol but nothing happens. Once again, I took to the online forums to try and find help. The buttons on the fixture and trying to locate the the fixture via the iPad app is unsuccessful, the fixture is totally unresponsive. I left the unit unplugged and plugged back in to try and make some sort of connection and get the unit to respond but that did not help. I deleted the app from my iPad and downloaded again but that did not help.



I emailed Kessil again for help....Very very frustrraing after paying top dollar for this light!!!!

Sounds like you interrupted the firmware update. If you do that you can brick the unit. From time to time when upgrading firmware the unit may not be responsive. You can end up doing the samething to Apex, a cell phone, ect.... Next time just wait for unit to become responsive again.

 

[vhuang168]

I'm in the planning stages for a tank 60/30/24. The AP700 is high on the list of lights I'm considering. 2 fixtures are as many as I can fit seeing as each light is 20" long. Would 2 be enough for a mixed reef?

 

[slief]

I'm in the planning stages for a tank 60/30/24. The AP700 is high on the list of lights I'm considering. 2 fixtures are as many as I can fit seeing as each light is 20" long. Would 2 be enough for a mixed reef?

That would be plenty of light if you run them length wise. The other alternative would be to run 3 of them and have them running from front to back. That would guarantee no shadowing issues but in the absence of a canopy, you would likely have a light of light spill out into the room. That said, the AP700's do a much better job of eliminating shadowing due to their use of reflectors that surround each cluster. As such, you could go either way. These lights have insane spread and as such, the two would have no issues lighting that tank up more than sufficiently.

 

[rappyfly]

Update. Here is my 6 Kessils + 2 Giesemann 250W 21K MH

 

[boostedvq]

Update. Here is my 6 Kessils + 2 Giesemann 250W 21K MH

Nice tank. What are the dimensions?

 

[harley3ky]

So let me get you opinions on this setup. I currently have a 110 gal 48x18x31 tank. The wifey recently said that she would be ok with me getting a different tank that wasn't as deep so we could get an anemone that our clowns will host or might host. Currently they live up around the overflow box since the 110 is not reef ready. They were the first fish in the tank and have always stayed up there like they are hosting the overflow box.

Anyway, I am looking at a 120g 48x24x25 or a 135g 60x24x25 (if still available) and I would get 2 - A360 tuna blue Kessils. What do you think about those two lights? I do not have any corals and have always had a FOWLR but I could get into corals someday.

Anyone have any insight or opinions on this question?

 

[Portsie]

I think you'd be fine with 2 over the 120, you would need a third if you went 60" long. I have 2 over my 4 foot 90 and they are growing everything.