Clam under Kessil a360w

[AmatuerAuer]

I will be putting a 2-3" maxima clam in my 4x2x2 120g reef tank under x2 Kessil a360w. The lights are 6" off the water so roughly 26-28" above the sand bed.

Does anyone have experience caring for a maxima under Kessil a360?

I do have the option of putting it higher (around 18") or even very high but would prefer on the sand bed if possible.

Here is a tank shot.

Any advice or questions are welcome!

 

[Touring]

Hello auer,

Not to be discurging but I recently took par levels off my kessil 360 with the light 8" off the water line, getting a par of 200 just 6 inches below the water line at 100%. At the depth you are trying to place the coral I'm afraid will not be enough for clams.

If that were my tank I would put them at that top shelf on the right. I have a apogee par meter that I lend out to members on here.

 

[NanaReefer]

Hello auer,

Not to be discurging but I recently took par levels off my kessil 360 with the light 8" off the water line, getting a par of 200 just 6 inches below the water line at 100%. At the depth you are trying to place the coral I'm afraid will not be enough for clams.

If that were my tank I would put them at that top shelf on the right. I have a apogee par meter that I lend out to members on here.

I'm surprised at the low par readings [emoji33]

 

[AmatuerAuer]

Touring - I appreciate the response and do not have the all important data to dispute your claim.

That said, I have ready quite a few articles and opinions from members and organizations that claim par meters are not accurate on kessils and do not accurately convey their true growing potential.

Regardless I appreciate your input and will raise the clam if needed.

I have considered augmenting my set up with either a non-Kessil light source or a Kessil narrow focus fixture.

 

[Mattrg02]

I've seen a YouTube video showing quits higher par values than 200....

 

[AmatuerAuer]

That's my point Mattrg.

I wrote this hoping for anecdotal evidence of a maxima being successfully raised 24" under a a360w. Not for a review of Kessil par values.

Again, I still appreciate the input from everyone

 

[Mattrg02]

I don't understand this issue people feel Kessil has. I grew a Crocea under a diy led light using 3w cree leds that had less than half the power of this 360. I had no optics I my light and just used cool white and royal blue LEDs.

ALL of my acroporas grew great once I left my tank alone and let it stabilize.

I have no idea what par it had, but I would assume that a pro like Kessil had my diy light beat.

 

[Gooburz]

Depending on what color the clam is might cause you to raise it off the sand bed. The Blue maxima or any blue clam reflects the most lighting and therefor will need to be raised up higher for more intensity.

Kessils are overpriced IMO, $400 for a single light with no controller is outrageous. I'll admit their coloring looks amazing but I couldn't ever buy one at that price let alone 2.

 

[AmatuerAuer]

I'll give a more thorough reply as time goes by but so far the little guy is open and doing well under the kessil.

I don't blame you Gooburz. But I can afford it and I have not seen another light that comes close IMO. SPS are thriving under them as well so far so good!

Thx all. Will update after a month or so

 

[Oceansize]

Hey Auer, it sounds like you & I have almost the exact same lighting situation: 2x A360W's about 6 inches above the surface. I haven't tried anything as advanced as clams or SPS yet, but I have been getting a lot of experience trying to keep my bubble-tip anemone healthy & thriving, and I'm continually being reminded that two of these lights together are really intense. Everything, not just the nem, seem to do better when intensity is closer to 40% than 80% or 100%, which surprises me. I guess it's because there's quite a bit of overlap in their coverage areas (which I did on purpose to prevent shadowing once I add SPS). I don't know if Touring was keeping that in mind in his response to you since his anecdote involved only one Kessil. My plan is to add SPS to this mixed reef someday which is why I erred on having too many lights rather than not enough, and so unsurprisingly I've got to keep them dialed down more than one might expect.

Please keep us updated, now that I know what similar lighting setups you & I have, I'm really curious how your maxima does.

Regards,
Barry

 

[Gooburz]

Spending the money on my reef tank isn't the issue, I just don't think you get what you pay for out of those lights. Not compared to what is available on the market these days. A lot of lights that are just as good if not better that are cheaper with a lot more options.

 

[Mattrg02]

I just switched to the 360we over my 17.1 g

Spending the money on my reef tank isn't the issue, I just don't think you get what you pay for out of those lights. Not compared to what is available on the market these days. A lot of lights that are just as good if not better that are cheaper with a lot more options.

What exactly do you dislike about the kessil? It's quite compact and has been proven to grow sps.

 

[Gooburz]

I just switched to the 360we over my 17.1 g


What exactly do you dislike about the kessil? It's quite compact and has been proven to grow sps.

As stated above I think they are a good light, I wasn't taking away from that. My problem is that you have to spend an extra $100 on a controller and cable to link them together if you have multiple and all those wires above the tank is ugly. Every other high end light has a built in controller with multiple settings on it. If you are going to spend $400 on a single light it should have a built in controller. That was my only beef with it.

 

[chefjpaul]

As stated above I think they are a good light, I wasn't taking away from that. My problem is that you have to spend an extra $100 on a controller and cable to link them together if you have multiple and all those wires above the tank is ugly. Every other high end light has a built in controller with multiple settings on it. If you are going to spend $400 on a single light it should have a built in controller. That was my only beef with it.

Actually most LED's do not come with the controller built in.
I can think of Maxspect does.

Most are controller capable very cheaply.

As far as wire management, thats on the user.

As OP's question, you should be able to have fried clams with a 360we if all the other conditions are proper, can't accurately gauge their spectrum from PAR meters.

I run 360WE and like the light, but will not buy them again on my new larger build, as I don't care for the shadowing and it would take to many units to cover it.

 

[Miketc17]

I've had a maxima for well over six months now with ZERO problems under two a360we's on a 90g. I don't have a single problem growing ANYTHING under these lights.

 

[Mattrg02]

All fixtures have wires. I think people just like to hate on kessil sometimes.

 

[eea60]

There is a good MACNA 2014 YouTube video explaining the ins and outs of led lighting. As a fish nerd I like to learn as much as possible about improvements I can make to my tank. I learned in that video that depending on the model the proper par meter is actually 3-5 times the cost of an Apogee par meter. I have also learned through reading and the video that the blue spectrum is hard to measure if not impossible to measure with a par meter and can be visually deceiving. Therefore you should not go by visuals and should be more concerned with other measurements associated with your led. Her is a link to that video if you are interested. It is a manufacturer of a particular led lighting system, but he gives excellent info and is not overtly pushing his fixtures.

 

[Mattrg02]

There is a good MACNA 2014 YouTube video explaining the ins and outs of led lighting. As a fish nerd I like to learn as much as possible about improvements I can make to my tank. I learned in that video that depending on the model the proper par meter is actually 3-5 times the cost of an Apogee par meter. I have also learned through reading and the video that the blue spectrum is hard to measure if not impossible to measure with a par meter and can be visually deceiving. Therefore you should not go by visuals and should be more concerned with other measurements associated with your led. Her is a link to that video if you are interested. It is a manufacturer of a particular led lighting system, but he gives excellent info and is not overtly pushing his fixtures.

I would guess kessil would have a mighty large TRUE par value seeing as all the LEDs are focused into one spot.

People throw together diy fixtures with Cree 3w LEDs without any optics and have no trouble with sps and clams. Why wouldn't kessil beat the pants off them?

An example:
My old led fixture was a diy using old 3w Cree cool white and royal blue. 24 leds without optics and spread over an 18in long heatsink. 72w total. That thing had no issues growing all sorts of stuff.

Now, a 360we has 90w or so of LEDs all in a cluster and focused under one lens. Why wouldn't one assume better of kessil? I know kessil uses their own LEDs, but watts are watts.

 

[TheEngineer]

Here's a picture of my Kessil wired up for power and control. Clearly wiring is clean and unobtrusive. @Gooburz, I think you maybe share my opinion that the gooseneck mount is not terribly aesthetically pleasing. I'm not sure that I'd agree it is a problem with the light fixture. Unless you get one of the handful of lights with a built in controller or one of the other handful that can be wirelessly controlled by an external controller you are are going to have two wires coming off of them. One for power and one for control.



I like the Kessil for several reasons: it's small form factor, it's color spectrum, its controllability (works with my Reef Angel) and its price. At $400, I think it is a great deal. I spent $1000 on my DIY fixture 7 years ago. That thing could crank out some crazy power, but it had to be the size of the tank.

 

[AmatuerAuer]

This post grew legs over the past 24hrs haha.

eea60 - Yes I have watched that MACNA video start to finish (all of them actually) and I couldn't agree more. They are not cheap, but compared to the abundance of DIY LEDs etc I don't think anyone can say Kessil's are garbage (and I'm not getting that here). Price, look, shadowing etc are all fair opinions.

The PAR readings of a Kessil can be difficult to gauge accurately as I understand it, at least without a very expensive meter which I am not willing to buy at this time.

I will admit that with my rock work set up the way it is I do have a couple of 'dead spots' that I will be looking to fill in with some sort of alternative. I absolutely love the Kessil controler, its easy as can be and allows complete control of color and intensity in increments of 5%. I dont know what else I can say, the 'shimmer' from the Kessil's is amazing and the shadow cast by fish is just like what I see when I go diving its very cool.

Not for everyone, but I would endorse kessil. I think you will all see the new fixture at MACNA DC this year as well. I'm lucky I will be able to attend this year!

Keep the posts coming!