Kessil Club

Mine are over two years old and are still working great (knock on wood). They're on a 12 hour photoperiod. I imagine most of the issues stem from poor maintenance.
 
I saw a video a guy had his 4 years and still working.


Probably a fan problem. I have to replace my fans on my ATI fixture all the time or my ballast make noise from heat. My Ati has the worst fans ever. These fans are just so fragile now a days and if in a dusty environment and add a little humidity and the dust sticks bad. The air vent will also clog. You need to blow them out every once in a while with compressed air. This will make them last way longer.
 
Every time I blow out my 360 dust gets on the inside of the splash lens. I just take it apart to do it now. It works much better that way anyway. Kessil gave me the go ahead and made a notation on my warranty so I could open it up.
 
smatter said:
Every time I blow out my 360 dust gets on the inside of the splash lens. I just take it apart to do it now. It works much better that way anyway. Kessil gave me the go ahead and made a notation on my warranty so I could open it up.
Click to expand...

I havent had this happen yet but I have wanted to take them apart to thoroughly clean the fan and heatsink; didn't you have a video or something showing how to disassemble them?
 
reefinmike said:
I'm curious... does kessil have an unadvertised two year warranty? I've purchased 4 360we tuna blue lights recently under the impression that they have a two year warranty after reading this referenced a number of times in different threads. The warranty card provided states that it is a one year warranty. I bought them mainly because of all the great reviews. I've read a number of people have had them go out after 2-3 years of use. That did not scare me because even they have to be replaced every other year at $350 a pop, they are still cheaper than running metal halides.
Click to expand...
Yes, talked to them many times about it. 2 year unadvertised warranty.
 
madweazl said:
I havent had this happen yet but I have wanted to take them apart to thoroughly clean the fan and heatsink; didn't you have a video or something showing how to disassemble them?
Click to expand...

The video wasn't me, but they're easy to get apart. The only requirement is a torx screwdriver. I used to work at The Marine Scene back in the Nineties by the way ;)
 
I know an exact answer depends on a huge number of factors but in general, what is a reasonable peak percentage for an A360 11" off the water for SPS?


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LobsterOfJustice said:
I know an exact answer depends on a huge number of factors but in general, what is a reasonable peak percentage for an A360 11” off the water for SPS?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Depends on what you're trying to grow under it but at 11" off the water, you've reduced it's PAR potential by a huge margin. My A360s are 5" off the water and still cover a huge area (two provide overlapping coverage on a 48"x18" 75g tank). On an SPS dominant tank, I have intensity maxing out at 75% and that only produces 170 PAR eight inches below the surface, directly under the light. At 11 inches, you can expect that number to be cut in half. At 100% intensity and mounted 5" above the water, max PAR is 205. Again, double the distance from the tank and you're roughly cutting the max PAR in half.

Take advantage of the Kessil's far superior reflector and color blending and move it closer to the water surface.
 
madweazl said:
Are the screws under the little rubber caps on the lens cover?
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Yes. Then you push in the two tiny tabs on the side of the lamp. It will then open up. Even tho the warranty period is 2 yrs for Canada and US, 1 yr elsewhere, they should last longer than 3 or 4 years.

Mine have been run 12 hrs a day for going on 3 yrs. I would be very disappointed if that is their life span as the LEDS themselves should be good for many many years. I blow mine out with compressed air a couple times year without taking off the cover. Taking it off before blowing it out would be more efficient at getting all the dust out of course.

My experience has been the lamp will shut itself down when over heated (there must be a thermostat inside that regulates that) so it is designed to shut down before any heat damage occurs to the lamp components.

I also run 2 360s on a 4' mixed, 5 inches above avg waterline.
 
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Thought I'd chime in here as well. I have an AP700 over a 85g 48" tank. It has been doing great. I am disappointed though that it's not controllable through the APEX system, it's not a deal breaker but is disappointing as its Kessils most recent and powerful light! If I ever do upgrade to a big tank it will be hard to not at least consider dare I say it in this thread.. Radion's. But time will tell.

On a side note, is there any rumors of a new generation of Kessils coming out? I believe everything including the current AP700 is at least a few years old at this point. I know the whole if its not broke why fix it mentality but I am genuinely interested is all.
 
redlazer said:
I have a question I would like to have two Kessil A160 Tuna blues over my 4ft 90gl fowlr aquarium, but I wouldn't like it if I could with a spectral controller set them for at night to work as moon lights? Also is there anyway to automate to after a certain time to dim down as moonlights?
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They won't dim down far enough to serves as moonlights, according to Kessil rep.
 
mymini said:
Hi, I am looking for new lights where the display portion of my tank. I have an older acrylic tank with the sump in the back and therefore only giving the display portion of the measurements. The display tank is 48 L x 10 wide (front to back of display) x 12 h (water line to top of sand). Currently I have 2 black boxes. I mostly have mushrooms, zoas, duncans, candy cane etc. I currently have 2 black boxes on top - right above the water line. I like the shimmer of Kessil's. Given how shallow my tank is I am thinking A80's about 4" above the water line and near or at full intensity. I believe I would need 2 or maybe 3 if I get too much shadows. Or, will there be light shining outside of the tank on the floor unless I hang much higher? Given the depth is why I am speaking of A80 and not 160's or so. But, I need advice.
Click to expand...

Get A360WE, A80's won't provide enough light if you want to grow SPS.
 
How is the growth on this? What is your schedule,
24/7 or opposite of DT? Mine comes in today!

madweazl said:
Picked up a Kessil H80 for the refugium. The previous lights lit up the entire stand and algae really appreciated it; maintenance on the skimmer and carbon reactor were starting to become a pain so I wanted to find a solution to cut back on this. I relocated the carbon reactor from the back wall of the refugium chamber to the return chamber of the sump and was able to lower the new light far enough to eliminate light creep into the skimmer chamber and return chamber completely while illuminating the entire refugium area (if the mount would allow it, I could drop the light four more inches and still have adequate spread). Hopefully the growth remains the same (or better) with the Kessil.

Click to expand...
 
Sorry for this question if it has been asked but I'm trying my 160 again on my system over different types of sps's getting 200-300 par, about 550 par at the water surface, prior I was running Oprhek's seeing similar par numbers. I've tried 20-40% color intensity though they seem to like 5% color and 50% intensity with other colors do not. Has anyone been successful with 0 or 5% color on Kessil growing sps's or do they need more white percentage of light?
 
brad65ford said:
Sorry for this question if it has been asked but I'm trying my 160 again on my system over different types of sps's getting 200-300 par, about 550 par at the water surface, prior I was running Oprhek's seeing similar par numbers. I've tried 20-40% color intensity though they seem to like 5% color and 50% intensity with other colors do not. Has anyone been successful with 0 or 5% color on Kessil growing sps's or do they need more white percentage of light?
Click to expand...

When you say "they seem to like 5%," who/what are you referring to? My tank is mostly acropora; I run the color at 65% (ramps from 0% to 65% for two hours at startup and shutdown) and intensity is at 85% (ramps from 0% to 85% over six hours and back down for 12 hour total photo-period).
 
I love my Kessils but on my new build went best of all worlds to ensure proper SPS growth. I have a Giesemann Spectra (250 W Radium bulb, 4X24WT5) plus 2 Kessil A360WEs. The combo is stunning in person. Here is a short video - enjoy.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ewJt5aHBO8A" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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