Kessil led

joe3196

New member
I was thinking to switching to led's from my old t5's and was wondering if about had any experience with the Kessil Tuna Blue. The light would need to light a 46 bow with mainly lps but I would like to get into some more sps.
 
They are high quality lights. How many were you planning on running? Since you are accustomed to T5 lighting I would try to look at them in person if at all possible. They have a very different look than your current lighting. More of a MH like point source but the shadowing is more distinct.
 
I have an a350W Tuna blue on my 29 gallon sps. I love the thing but if I were you I would consider adding a 2nd one for that tank. I have kind of dark corners. Also the single light source makes shadows very defined. I'm thinking that a 2nd one would sort of mellow out the shadows. My sps is growing well (wasn't seeing much growth under my MH; it was a crappy coralife clamp on). My lfs just switched most of their lighting to these and everything looks great there too.
 
+3

I've got an A350W tuna blue 10" above the water surface on a small 39 DT.

Insane shimmer-almost too much but you get used to it. The shadowing is prominent but if you mount the light higher it's not as bad. Mine is powerful and I had to tune it down a bit because it started bleaching the higher corals. Even my corals on the sand seem to love the light. I run my blue spectrum at 100% and the white down to 50%. Colors are nice but it "IS" a cooler look than Halides.
The tank looks nice when looking at it in person but imo pictures translate horribly for posting. I have yet to see a tru warm look (like with halides) from any pics posted with LEDs. In person the look is much better!!

I have the single arm for the pendant and it is strong as heck and looks super clean on my small system. A blast of air from a can of keyboard cleaner and a quick wipe is all it takes for maintenance. Also, If you needed a chiller to counter-act the heat from halides then you wont need the chiller anymore with these. Mine dont affect temp at all.
 
I used to own some of them and I really liked the quality and design but their programming is limited and you have to use many of them or you'll create a spotlight effect on the tank.
 
did you own the a350w or the 150? I have more coverage than I need. I have no spotlight effect but the shadowing required me to raise the fixture a bit.

The new 360 has programmability and can be run on an apex
 
Yep that's the problam with spot lamps like halide and focused leds you get beautiful shimmer but ugly shadows..hmmm can't remember which one I used..
 
For me the shadows make the vista look more natural....I will be putting 1 A350w alongside 1 150w on my 5.5x2x2 system running towards the blue end of the spectrum - Can't wait :)


Paul
 
+1

the A350 is the narrower lens

the A350W is the wider angle (thus the "W" at the end)

the W's optics are not as deep in the fixture as the A350 which enables the A350W to be shorter. very well made units!!!!
 
I agree with the shadowing posts, and I think it definitely was contributing to a lot of my corals bleaching. My 2 birdsnest corals under the Kessils were bleaching from the underside up, seemingly the branches that were the most shaded, but the whole coral was not nearly as vibrant as it was under T-5 bulbs. I was forced to switch back to the T-5 lighting to save my SPS. I had 2 A350W's over a 75 gallon tank.
 
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