Kessil Settings

[zoasguy]

Recently purchased a Kessil A160WE, with no controller. Have this set up 5 inches above my 20g tall mixed reef. I have read various statements as to what settings people keep these lights at, from as low as only 30% color/50% intensity to as high as 100% color/100% intensity.

What do you guys think? I have been running the light for 2 weeks at no higher than 75/75.

 

[sixpackgarage]

mixed reef is always tough.. I know because I have one. I end up running my lights a lot lower intensity than most people to try to make every animal happy. I currently max at 30%.. I had it up to 50%, but some of my softies didn't appreciate that so much. I try to place my SPS up high, LPS middle and softies down low. That helps. I have two 360 and one 160 in the middle.

 

[zoasguy]

I have my coral situated like yours. Are you referring to 30% color or intensity?

 

[sixpackgarage]

I have my coral situated like yours. Are you referring to 30% color or intensity?

I'm currently ramping to 30% intensity within the first hour, then start to ramp down to 0 during the last hour. 12 hour cycle. Color, I've been now keeping down to around 15-20%. I should say that I'm currently supplementing with a couple of 39 watt T5HO as an experiment.

 

[zoasguy]

Well then with your supplementation, I am not sure what to make of your settings. What would you advise?

 

[Skim]

Wow 5" above and 75% Intensity. I am surprised you have not fried anything. From what I have read most are running them in the 8" to 16" and a intensity of no more than 75%. If I were you I would raise it to 8" to 10" or even 12" run it at 60% colour as this should give you a 12K to 15K range and start with a 45% intensity and watch your Corals response for a few days, look for Polyp extension on SPS and with LPS look for tall and bushy if you see little or no extension on SPS and LPS is thin and stretched out try increasing Intensity by 5% and so on until you find a happy point. This based on 10 hour with 1 hour up and 1 hour down. If you see that they happy for awhile and then Polyps retract or LPS become small at say the 6 to 8 hour mark you may want to increase you ramp up and down time which will shorten your peak Intensity time. As you can see there are many options.

1. Raise I would say to 10".
2. Set a colour temp. you are happy with I like the 50% to 70% range and 60 % being what I use. If you choose more Blue below the 50 and into the 15% to 30% area just remember not to crank up the Intensity because it looks darker as the Intensity will be the same just more focussed in a Spectrum we do not see as well.

3. Play with intensity and not Colour after you have set it you want to know how they are responding to Intensity and if you play with both you will not know what they are responding to.

4. This play and observation should be done over days or weeks and not hours and keep a little notepad on hand and make notes as to what you see.

I hope this may help some and give a good starting point for you.

Skim

P.S. A quick note to Colour or Kelvin %, 100% is supposed to be around 10K and 0% is supposed to be around 20K

 

[sixpackgarage]

Well then with your supplementation, I am not sure what to make of your settings. What would you advise?

Best bet is run one setting for a week, or 2 before making changes... and start on the low end, not the high end.

In my humble opinion, use the lowest amount of energy (intensity) to make your corals grow and be happy. I think it is much more forgiving than the other way around.

 

[minus9]

I have two 160's over a 22g sps dominated reef and I'm hitting 70% at mid day on a 12hr cycle. For a mixed reef, I would start at a lower intensity and slowly work my way up, increasing no more than 5% a month. I agree with raising the light to at least 8" above the water, if not more? As far as color, anywhere between 50% to 30% should make your corals happy. I started with one 160 that maxed out around 85% before I added the second light. After adding the second light (Oct 2015), I dropped the intensity down to 45% and slowly increased it until I reached my current settings (Late Feb 2016). The color was 65% and I slowly decreased it as well. If you can, pick up the controller, it will make your life a lot easier and you can take advantage of the ramping and acclamation settings. I see used ones for $75 all the time.
Good luck and happy reefing.
Sixpack, I'm really considering adding T5's my setup, how do you like them so far?

 

[zsuman101]

I have 2 160s over my reef, it really doesn't matter what end of the spectrum you pick because the kessil logic keeps the spectrum proper for the corals. So you can set the color to what pleases you good luck

 

[ca1ore]

160 is very different than the 360. I'd think 75% on the former would be fine for a mixed reef. I ran a pair over my 12" deep frag tank at about that intensity and it worked fine. Replaced with a 360 that I do run much lower.

 

[zoasguy]

Wow 5" above and 75% Intensity. I am surprised you have not fried anything. From what I have read most are running them in the 8" to 16" and a intensity of no more than 75%. If I were you I would raise it to 8" to 10" or even 12" run it at 60% colour as this should give you a 12K to 15K range and start with a 45% intensity and watch your Corals response for a few days, look for Polyp extension on SPS and with LPS look for tall and bushy if you see little or no extension on SPS and LPS is thin and stretched out try increasing Intensity by 5% and so on until you find a happy point. This based on 10 hour with 1 hour up and 1 hour down. If you see that they happy for awhile and then Polyps retract or LPS become small at say the 6 to 8 hour mark you may want to increase you ramp up and down time which will shorten your peak Intensity time. As you can see there are many options.

1. Raise I would say to 10".
2. Set a colour temp. you are happy with I like the 50% to 70% range and 60 % being what I use. If you choose more Blue below the 50 and into the 15% to 30% area just remember not to crank up the Intensity because it looks darker as the Intensity will be the same just more focussed in a Spectrum we do not see as well.

3. Play with intensity and not Colour after you have set it you want to know how they are responding to Intensity and if you play with both you will not know what they are responding to.

4. This play and observation should be done over days or weeks and not hours and keep a little notepad on hand and make notes as to what you see.

I hope this may help some and give a good starting point for you.

Skim

P.S. A quick note to Colour or Kelvin %, 100% is supposed to be around 10K and 0% is supposed to be around 20K

Thanks alot, Skim. I will follow this advice over the next couple of weeks.