Any SPS dominant tanks with Kessils?

[PatrikD]

A little while ago I installed my two Kessils on a mover. The stag horn I mentioned earlier in the thread that didn't feel quite well seems to do better. It's encrusting and shows polyp extension. I' don't think it's the mover only, I have also lowered alkalinity a bit.

I have bought 4 more acros so there will be further Kessil testing.

 

[dbrewsky]

I finally got a hold of a par meter because I have been having issues keeping sps and especially acros alive. Turns out that the 360we's are really not as intense as I hoped they would be. At 100% intensity and 90% color with the lights 11 1/2" off the water and corals only 3-4" under the water in a shallow frag tank I am barely breaking 200 par directly under the fixture. It is really disappointing to have these findings and my acros were in the 100-140 par range with my previous light height of 16" and 80% intensity. I was about to loose my mind as I had ruled out ever other parameter.

I was really stoked for the Kessils but ultimately PAR is PAR as long as the spectrum is acceptable for coral health. Under the same conditions the radion pros at my local shop in similar settings were pushing 600-800 par at 3-4" depth. Even if the correction factor for led is applied, and uv is accounted for (which i don't believe has an affect on actual photosynthesis-my belief) it just doesn't add up. The kessils seem to be a great light for zoas/lps/softies and some low light sps, but as a stand alone light source for an sps dominated tank I simply do not see it working.

BTW I still have my Kessils, but will probably be exploring new options in the future.

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

You have 2 Kessil's over a 48 x 48 frag tank and you are blaming them on SPS decline? You are 100% wrong. You can buy 15 Radion Pro's and will have the same results.

I read your other thread. You have no idea what you are doing. Your water parameters are incorrect and have no idea how to stabilize. That is the key to keeping SPS.

Also, PAR meters do not read LED fixtures correctly, they were not made for them. You are also 110% wrong on true UV not playing a factor in coral growth and health. What do you think the sun emits?

Blasting SPS with as much PAR as you can find will only bleach them. You are looking for something to point the blame at. It is not the Kessil's. However, you should have more than 2 on that large of an area.

 

[dbrewsky]

First off, I am providing my data that I have collected since there isn't much of this information floating around about the Kessils, you would know if you have done half the research I have about them. I am not bashing Kessils, they have done well with many of my Zoas and Lps. I am just saying if the intensity isn't there on a extremely shallow tank, why would you expect sps to thrive in a standard depth tank.

Secondly this is not my first rodeo I have kept many nice acros in a previous tank under 250 watt radiums. This is my first attempt at leds. I have kept all sps directly under the Kessils with no shadowing in the highest intensity hotspot. I am in no way attempting to fully light and grow corals everywhere within the total footprint of the tank, nor had the expectation to with two Kessils.

My apex and testing logs will show that my parameters are within the correct range and do stay much more constant than many successful sps tanks. Flow is strong and randomized and pests have been dipped for initially with Bayer and any test dips have shown clean corals.

Just because I ask questions and make observations and mistakes does not indicate that I "don't know what I am doing." In fact I have probably been doing this a lot longer than you.

And yes, uv does inhibit photosynthesis, hence corals attempt to limit this effect to their zooxanthellae crop by creating the pigments that drive the myriad of coloration we desire so.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098847209001580

Apogee provides correction data for led lights to calibrate your readings with however, but the conversion rates are nominal and base reading are more than accurate to get useable data for coral placement.

Don't be a dick to people who ask questions and provide data and experiences so that others can benefit... Even if it isn't beneficial to you, it may help others.

 

[Piranhapat]

I have 4 350w on 90 gal tank. Without a doubt they doing they job. I have good growth and good color. I wish I can take some pictures. I have not pay much attention on doing that yet. But believe me if you have enough they work excellent. I have them about 75% . About 12 inches hanging from the top. I have Acro all doing good. I have over 30 different SPS in the tank. My Hawkins, red dragon , strawberry shortcake, lemon aid, purple monster, the only one that I just got is pearl berry. Which is not coloring up yet. Just wanted to put it out there.

 

[defugium]

so I finally got a real camera so this is my sps side of my tank that I grew with kessils started with the 150s for s few yrs upgraded to 360s last year

 

[PatrikD]

Thank you very much defugium. That tank looks very nice indeed! I see you are blasting acroporas directly under the surface with 100% Kessil Corals adapt. I can se a bleaching acro though!. To much light to fast?

My own tank is really barren compared to yours. Out of curiosity, can you show us the other side, LPS? FTS?

Can you tell us a little about your maintenance and parameters? Perhaps other Kessil lovers also can succeed then.

 

[defugium]

The coral that bleaching out got covered by another coral so it wasn't getting any light I got lazy an wasn't timing it other then that I have no bleaching all these corals started as 1-2 inch frags. A correction to my older posts yes I was blasting at 100 for a while I noticed that I had a bunch of salt creed on the kesslies I cleaned it off an run at about 75%

 

[defugium]

As far as water changes I do them when ever there's an issue like some algae ect I average about a water change a month. I run bio pellets, reef octopus skimmer, a canister with only a little carbon in it, an mp40. I have dosers that dose alk an ca. I'm doing 54ml a day of both ca 430 alk 8.2 dkh po 0 no 0 ammonia 0 I also feed heavy and does a lot of other things once a week strontium, iodine, ammeno acids, mag

 

[PatrikD]

Thank you. And the heavy feeding consist of...?

 

[defugium]

Mainly rods food and oyster eggs and algae for my tangs

 

[PatrikD]

Good to know. Thanks I'm not feeding heavily, but I plan to.

 

[slip66]

I run a mixed and started with frags so it's not "SPS dominate"...yet

I run 2x A360WE. They only ramp up to 25% intensity max . Water depth is about 8 inches. Lights sit about 9 inches above the water line. Light's to the bali coral top is about 13 inches. It's placed on the sand bed near the center of one light. Bali Slimmers aren't exactly difficult to grow, but still. I'm tempted to increase he intensity but I'm worried about the acans I have. They don't extend their little feelers during the day. Leads me to believe it's a bit to strong for them. My Zoa's are doing great though.


I think the lights are plenty powerful, it's all about the water quality and stability. I got this guy from my buddy in this condition.

28 Mar 2015

30 June 2015

These next three were bought at the same time. Interesting to see the colors change on the two that survived. The one on the right has been a very slow grower for me but it's sat in the same mount position since nearly the beginning. it's gotten more green again but no where near the green with pink tips originally. The one up front had really started to color back up (white with yellow filaments) but when I moved apartments last month it never recovered and RTN'd.

Jan 2015

unk

May 7th

 

[PatrikD]

I have 4 350w on 90 gal tank. Without a doubt they doing they job. I have good growth and good color. I wish I can take some pictures. I have not pay much attention on doing that yet. But believe me if you have enough they work excellent. I have them about 75% . About 12 inches hanging from the top. I have Acro all doing good. I have over 30 different SPS in the tank. My Hawkins, red dragon , strawberry shortcake, lemon aid, purple monster, the only one that I just got is pearl berry. Which is not coloring up yet. Just wanted to put it out there.

It would be very much appreciated if you posted some pictures of your corals and a FTS! Also details of you husbandry. How long have you used the Kessils on your tank?

 

[vladandlilith]

I'm moving 6 tanks ranging from a 72 bowfront to a 600 gallon, 800 miles away in 12 days. I know that I'm going to have losses. I just hope that it is minimal. I spend at least two to three grand a month on new corals and other stuff for my tanks and I am as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I'm excited about moving to the beach, but I have no idea how I'm going to get these tanks moved. I do run Kessil 360 we's on several of the tanks and I have had success with some acros. Some have done great under the Kessils and others have not. I also cannot get a straight answer about setting them, so I have to experiment. Even Kessil can not give me a good answer. My current LFS told me to turn them up to 100% right away. No, I didn't follow their advice. Just because they sell them doesn't mean they know anything about them.

 

[dbrewsky]

After lowering mine from 16" to 11 1/2" above the water and increasing to 100% intensity with 90% color over an eight hour light cycle, I am finally seeing improvements in my sps. The remaining sps that I have are directly underneath the fixture mounted on live rock sitting 3-4" under the waters surface. I have polyp extension on my montis and acros which I would systematically loose on all sps roughly 2-3 weeks after introduction. I also am seeing colors return especially on a green with purple polyp monti cap and more importantly I'm starting to see some growth and tissue reclaiming dead skeletons on my acros.

My Los, Zoas, and clam seem to show improvements as well thanks to the increase in intensity following the adjustments. I saw no signs of distress or bleaching from these adjustments from my original lighting intensity of 75% 16" above the water.

Good luck on your move and I would run 100% intensity on a normal dimension tank and or seriously consider the 360N lenses. My tank is only a 12" frag flat and the par readings I took show less than favorable par at those depths for a dedicated sps setup with the wide angle lenses.

 

[slip66]

Crazy on the variance we are all running. Do you have any updated photos? Do you have acans? How are they faring?

 

[Mattyice008]

I have a 360we over my nuvo 16. Light is exactly 24inches from sandbed, and 12inches from water. Although I don't have sps, I have the tank loaded with acans, blastos, and chalices. But mainly acans. I run the light on a 10hr program, with an hour of ramping at the start of the light cycle and for the last hour. The peak photoperiod is 100% intensity with 45% color. I have acans the size of a half-dollar, some a little bigger, and some smaller. Almost all chalices grow great except one...it's just an annoying piece. These lights confuse me..but after a year of use, I've decided to make these light settings set-in-stone.

 

[nickdo]

Good luck on your move and I would run 100% intensity on a normal dimension tank and or seriously consider the 360N lenses. My tank is only a 12" frag flat and the par readings I took show less than favorable par at those depths for a dedicated sps setup with the wide angle lenses.

Agree, Kessil is not strong as u guys think... If u got a par meter, u will run it on 100% intensity.
It doesn't mean Kessil is not good, it need more unit to run. I will use at least 9 units on 48X48X24 tank. 4 units on 120g/48x24x24 tank. It will eliminate shadow and no disco ball effect. best fixture in the market.

 

[vladandlilith]

I've got 19 Acan colonies and 5 or 6 frags that started out with 2 heads on them and you can see after about 2 months they have quite a few smaller ones growing on th sides. The only one that did not do well was a Hot Rod Acan frag. It looks as if something has been picking at it. All of my LPS and every SPS except for my Acros are doing great.