2x250 Radiums to Kessils

Bazzar1986 · Jul 17, 2015

I'm in the process of switching to Kessils on my 125g, 72x18x22 Mixed Reef. It had 2x250w radiums and 24x Cree Royal Blue LEDs for Actinics.

I just got 4 of the a150w 15k and have replaced the MHs with them, Left the Royal Blues on also. Coverage seems to be fine with the kessils at 8" above water but I am wondering if I might need to get 2 more (while I still can) for a little more par?

Any thoughts?

Hellsinki · Jul 17, 2015

4 should be enough for the surface area. It's a powerful light source. I had a single over my JBJ30RL and it was adequate with the exception of a little shadowing on stonies. With 4 of them you won't have shadowing. Personally, I would measure PAR now before buying anything else. Then make an educated decision on it.

How do the corals look?

Bazzar1986 · Jul 17, 2015

So far everything is looking good, I wish I had the means to measure PAR but I don't. Thanks for the input.

Hellsinki · Jul 17, 2015

If the corals are happy, I'd just leave it

Touring · Jul 17, 2015

I have a par meter you can barrow if your concerned about par but I can assure that the par on those are horrible.

Im in Raleigh,N.C

hybridazn · Jul 17, 2015

I would add 2 more. Coverage with those kessils aren't very good. I would recommend lowering the kessils as well.

Keep those radiums around. I have a feeling you might switch back in the future, I did ;-)

Bazzar1986 · Jul 17, 2015

Touring said:
I have a par meter you can barrow if your concerned about par but I can assure that the par on those are horrible.

Im in Raleigh,N.C

Thanks for the offer but I am not too concerned about the actual number (maybe I should be?). All I care about is if it will keep my coral happy and growing, I have softies LPS and maybe try some more sps in the future.

I do still have a 4x39w LET T5 kit sitting I could add, but I think id buy a 2x80w if I did add t5.

Bazzar1986 · Jul 17, 2015

Hybridazn,
Any more info on what you had them over, how many, how long you had them, what types of corals you had and any growth?

hybridazn · Jul 17, 2015

I had 2 350w over a 40b for just supplemental and it barely covered 2/3 the tank @ 8" above surface. As far as keeping corals alive, lets say that I had more losses than kept alive. I swapped that tank out to t5s and now everything is recovering.

Corals were just aboit everything. Zoos, blastos, acans, sps

Bazzar1986 · Jul 17, 2015

What I am thinking right now is keep the 4 a150w 15k's, the Rapid led cree RB Led Strips and add 2 80w t5's in the near future.

I believe that the corals and I will be happy with that combination.

hybridazn · Jul 18, 2015

Yea that should be more than ample light. But then again if you need to run all that with thr kessils, wouldn't it just be easier to just run your 2 250w radiums? the power consumption might be pretty close between the 2 setups

Bazzar1986 · Jul 18, 2015

hybridazn said:
Yea that should be more than ample light. But then again if you need to run all that with thr kessils, wouldn't it just be easier to just run your 2 250w radiums? the power consumption might be pretty close between the 2 setups

I do agree that it would have probably been easier but I wanted a change, I wanted to switch back to 175w iwasaki 15k but they have been discontinued.

I have 2x Galaxy 150-250hqi ballasts I was running. I was only running 2 MHs on a 6' tank and although the surface coverage was good I did have quite a bit of shadowing (a lot less so with the kessils).

Power usage should be about 1/2 of what it was if I include the t5s. Also I like the color temp the kessils are giving me better then the radiums so far.

Thanks for the input so far guys.