Kessil Club

[minus9]

So this is 30gl. Breeder it has only one 360w with a kessil controller the light is directly centered in the tank. I have it set 9" over the water, the color is set to 20% and intensity is set to 100%. This took a while to get it to these numbers. But as you can see the Zoanthids are really stretching for light. I had to bring in the coarls closer together to make up the 24" that kessil recommends. Now I was just about to purchase another kessil 360w but I thought why do that if I can't get my softies to grow under the one light. I will definitely miss the shimmering effects with the kessil but over 6 months I should see some growth.

If you're truly at 100% intensity and your zoas are stretching, I suspect something is wrong with the light. Also, the glass top can cut down quite a bit of light. I would recommend getting a mesh top. Also, if you have access to a par meter, you can measure to see if the light is working properly.

 

[vin]

The glass cover isnt always on the tank most of the time it's not on and when it is, its it's open half way and moved to one side so that my Zoanthid get all the light. I don't have a par meter and when I bought the lights from another person they were not used because the packaging was like new. The box looked like it was never openedid the seller did say that he bought it for a frag tanks but never set it up so he sold the kessil.

 

[vin]

I'm not sure what my next step should be.

 

[Category7]

It's really going to depend on how high off the water you have the light. I would likely start at around 30%. I would increase the intensity around 2% per week and no more than 10% a month. This allows you plenty of room to observe your corals and back off a few % as soon as you see them respond adversely without doing any damage. Then allow the corals a few weeks to settle down before increasing again. Others tend to raise their intensity faster but I err on the side of caution. These lights are really powerful. Much more so than meets the eye. On a larger tank, I might suggest starting closer to 40%. As for photo period, just don't run your peak intensity more than 4 hours a day to start out. My photo period is 12 hours but only for of that is peak intensity. The rest is a nice gentle ramp up and ramp down.

Thank you for your advice. I will adjust the intensity gradually since my tank is only 18" L x 12"W x 16"H(15g) . By using an A360WE, I will start as your advice to start at 30%. What about the color? Any specific setting that I need to be aware? Thx.

 

[slief]

Thank you for your advice. I will adjust the intensity gradually since my tank is only 18" L x 12"W x 16"H(15g) . By using an A360WE, I will start as your advice to start at 30%. What about the color? Any specific setting that I need to be aware? Thx.

Color is kind of a preferential thing. That said, the more white you add by increasing the color channel, the more algae you will grow. Coral color seems to have more pop when the color channel is lower and more blue. I max my color out at 65% and have great coral growth for all my corals. Many people keep their color more blue too. Here is my lighting graph. The orange line is intensity and blue is the color channel. I run peak intensity and peak color for 4 hours a day of my 12 hour photoperiod. The rest is a subtle ramp up and ramp down.

 

[madweazl]

Color is kind of a preferential thing. That said, the more white you add by increasing the color channel, the more algae you will grow. Coral color seems to have more pop when the color channel is lower and more blue. I max my color out at 65% and have great coral growth for all my corals. Many people keep their color more blue too. Here is my lighting graph. The orange line is intensity and blue is the color channel. I run peak intensity and peak color for 4 hours a day of my 12 hour photoperiod. The rest is a subtle ramp up and ramp down.

Thanks for posting this; I was just about to ask if anyone had the color running on a parabola from 0%. I was planning on going to 70% but that number was just arbitrarily picked out of thin air because I liked the color around that setting.

 

[madweazl]

I'm trying to come up with a clean way of retaining the lights in the canopy. Any good looking solutions for a similar installation?

 

[Category7]

Color is kind of a preferential thing. That said, the more white you add by increasing the color channel, the more algae you will grow. Coral color seems to have more pop when the color channel is lower and more blue. I max my color out at 65% and have great coral growth for all my corals. Many people keep their color more blue too. Here is my lighting graph. The orange line is intensity and blue is the color channel. I run peak intensity and peak color for 4 hours a day of my 12 hour photoperiod. The rest is a subtle ramp up and ramp down.

Hi Slief,

Thanks for the very helpful information. Just bought my A360WE today and felt so excited. Finally I joined this club as official owns a Kessil. Let me start at low as your recommendation. I did emailed Kessil for their advise on which model best fit to my tank. They recommended A160WE for the current tank size at 15g. However, they would recommend to get A360WE as now if I am planning to upgrade my tank size in the near future.

First thing I wanted to do is to get familiar with the control.

Thanks.

 

[madweazl]

This is what I came up with in the event somebody else decides to mount them similarly.

I need to paint everything but I made the cradles to suspend the lights. I need to find some grommets for the top of the canopy to make that nice and clean still too (I'm thinking port covers for speaker boxes will probably work out pretty well). The hardware isnt stainless but is cheap, off the shelf stuff at the local hardware store so it's easily replaced. The lights sit 4.75" above the water line and the coverage comes just under the center brace of the aquarium just as planned.

 

[vin]

Has anyone ever emailed kessil, if so how long do they take to respond, how's there customer service?

 

[dh350twin]

This is what I came up with in the event somebody else decides to mount them similarly.

I need to paint everything but I made the cradles to suspend the lights. I need to find some grommets for the top of the canopy to make that nice and clean still too (I'm thinking port covers for speaker boxes will probably work out pretty well). The hardware isnt stainless but is cheap, off the shelf stuff at the local hardware store so it's easily replaced. The lights sit 4.75" above the water line and the coverage comes just under the center brace of the aquarium just as planned.

Love it when you guys post new ideas on hanging these lights![emoji106]

 

[madweazl]

Coverage of the A360WEs over a standard 75g (48x18x21). Lights mounted 19" apart (on center) and 4.75" above the water.

 

[Ssteve]

Has anyone ever emailed kessil, if so how long do they take to respond, how's there customer service?

I have only ever dealt with them over the phone and the service was nothing shy of perfect. Replaced a three year old 350 that I was not the original owner of once, the other time they walked me through a diag of a 150 that was working intermittently and sent a replacement with just a cc on hold till I shipped the old one back.

 

[vin]

Thanks Steve I'll will to call them instead.

 

[madweazl]

Is there typically a good bit of variation between lights? I have two, 360WE tuna blues; they have the same model # but produce distinctly different color. One has more of a light blue look while the other has more of a purple look. It doesnt matter how much "color" you run, this trait is always observable. It is most visible on the sand and back of the tank in the picture.

 

[slief]

Is there typically a good bit of variation between lights? I have two, 360WE tuna blues; they have the same model # but produce distinctly different color. One has more of a light blue look while the other has more of a purple look. It doesnt matter how much "color" you run, this trait is always observable. It is most visible on the sand and back of the tank in the picture.

Did you buy both of these lights new and from the same source? There may have been minor diode changes in the 360's over the years which could account for the differences. I've got 10 360WE's over my main display and all have the same color.

If you are using a controller to control them and used a cheap cable between them, the 2nd one in the chain may not be getting the same 1-10v voltage as the first. A slight difference in the voltage could result in coloration and slight intensity differences between the two.

 

[madweazl]

Did you buy both of these lights new and from the same source? There may have been minor diode changes in the 360's over the years which could account for the differences. I've got 10 360WE's over my main display and all have the same color.

If you are using a controller to control them and used a cheap cable between them, the 2nd one in the chain may not be getting the same 1-10v voltage as the first. A slight difference in the voltage could result in coloration and slight intensity differences between the two.

One is new and one is older (older has the lighter blue) but has about a month of actual use. I'm not controlling them from the Reef Angel yet but both are powered from the same relay.

 

[inurmind]

I love my Kessils! I've got 2 a350's and a a150 tuna blue. Aside from the shimmer and pop you get from them, I've noticed changes in corals over all color when I've moved corals from one of my systems with AI's on it... e.g. I pulled a mushroom from my main with AI Hydras/Sols and put it in a section of the sump I use as a sub frag area with my a150 Kessil. Same system and water chem... and the shroom morphed out! It completely changed into a totally different looking mushroom. If you put it next to one of it's siblings in the main you would never know they were the same batch!

 

[Brieninsac]

If your referring to the reflection on that wall it has to do with how the lights are positioned. The LED array in each light if not in perfect alignment will cast the light in a different tone.

 

[madweazl]

I hooked them up to the controller today and they're much closer. Initial impressions are quite positive though; my torch and pipe organ have opened more than ever before. Everything else looks about the same. Right now I'm running 80% color and 50% intensity on parabolas (lows of 1% color and 15% intensity).