Kessil 360 and T5 question.....

[Gwitness]

I have a normal 180 gallon mixed reef and have a bunch of sps now....I am coming from an 8 bulb ATI fixture and I bought 4 kessil 360s ...I also added 2 T5 bulbs (both ATI blue +) I was just curious if anyone had any advice on my photoperiod with kessils only...kessils and T5s on together should be or if anyone runs something similar....also if anyone had any input on what my color percentage and intensity percentage should be around? Right now I have them maxing out at 45% intensity because when I first added them I figured my 8 bulb was just about equal to the kessils and T5, but clearly not and I bleached a bunch of my coral....So currently my color percentage maxes out at 45% and intensity maxes out at 45% for 7 hours and the T5 bulbs are on for 5 hours a day when my kessils are at 45% intensity....I'm not worried about my LPS because they look fine throughout this whole process, but I am aiming more for advice to help my SPS out....I UNDERSTAND there is A LOT of different things that can affect SPS, but I am just curious on what other people have or had with a set up like mine...Hopefully someone has a similar set up using kessils and t5s and can help guide me in some way...

 

[Shep]

I'm not sure but let's see if we can find you an answer.
#reefsquad

 

[phillrodrigo]

Depending on how high you have things in your tank you should be fine with what your doing. I ran my led at 40 % on both channels when I first got it and increased 10 a week. You have added depth so the t5 and the added 5% should be okay.

 

[Saltgator]

I'll give you the best answer I can without having a background with T5 and Kessels. I came from mh and switched to LEDs. Mh photo period was 10 hours but I know switching to LEDs would be a shock to my corals. I started out at 4 hours for the 1st week and raised the period a hour each week following until I went back to 10 hours. Any coral I had went to the bottom and stayed their for 2 weeks. I still practice this because not everyone runs LEDs and they are quite intense. For you imo, I'd start out at 4-5 hours a day with the Kessels and a full 10 hours on the t5. The coral will not be affected imo by the photo period shortness. My sps, lps and softies have dealt with 36 hour blackouts before.

 

[rayn]

I am running two Kessil and a dual t5 on my 120. Kessil come on first and ramp up to 60% color and 50% intensity. T5 come on for about five hours in the middle of the Kessil light period. Seems to be doing well for my tank, but it is newly setup and lightly stocked so far.

 

[Gwitness]

Depending on how high you have things in your tank you should be fine with what your doing. I ran my led at 40 % on both channels when I first got it and increased 10 a week. You have added depth so the t5 and the added 5% should be okay.

Thanks for the feedback and my kessils are about 8 inches from the water surface...

 

[Gwitness]

I'll give you the best answer I can without having a background with T5 and Kessels. I came from mh and switched to LEDs. Mh photo period was 10 hours but I know switching to LEDs would be a shock to my corals. I started out at 4 hours for the 1st week and raised the period a hour each week following until I went back to 10 hours. Any coral I had went to the bottom and stayed their for 2 weeks. I still practice this because not everyone runs LEDs and they are quite intense. For you imo, I'd start out at 4-5 hours a day with the Kessels and a full 10 hours on the t5. The coral will not be affected imo by the photo period shortness. My sps, lps and softies have dealt with 36 hour blackouts before.

Thanks for the feedback! I only have 2 t5s and kessils are my main light source....so you are saying to run my t5s for 10 hrs and kessils only 4-5 for now right?

 

[GrampaDon]

Thanks for the feedback! I only have 2 t5s and kessils are my main light source....so you are saying to run my t5s for 10 hrs and kessils only 4-5 for now right?

Thats how im taking it also. Which seems counter to what I expected.

Following----Just bought 3X360WEs and 4 T5 retro for my 72X24X22.

 

[Gwitness]

Thats how im taking it also. Which seems counter to what I expected.

Following----Just bought 3X360WEs and 4 T5 retro for my 72X24X22.

Has your tank been up and running with coral in it already or are you just starting out with those lights? Right now I have t5s come on for 5 hrs and my kessils for about 11 total hours with 6 or 7 of those hours peaking out at 45% color and 45% intensity...originally had my 4 kessils maxing out at 70% and bleached most of my sps ...I adjusted my lights down and recently purchased new sps that have looked good and kept color and seem happy for about a week now so im thinking of gradually moving intensity up once I figure out my photoperiod stuff....what are your thoughts on it?

 

[bairdimusprime]

i'm not an sps keeper nor do i run kessils bests of luck we have some amazing reefers whoit seems are already giving you some good advice!

 

[choff]

I run mixed reef with mostly acros on my rocks and a sand bed full of wellso, plates, meat corals and chalices.

I started with 10x80w t5s on my 150 (66") for over a year. Great color, little growth.

I then converted to 4xkessil 360s @ 5" height (this is due to my hood). Took some getting used to the shimmer which,tbh, I didn't initially like, but now love. No change in corals. Great color, little growth after 6 months.

Currently I run Kessils and 4xt5s (2xati blue+, coral plus, GE 6500). Still great color, but growth has improved. A few corals have literally exploded. Rommel's water melon frag did nothing for 9 months has spread and sprouting 8 branches. Red planet too as well as my lone chalice (JF cosmopolitan). I have purchased 21 frags from battlecorals in the last 3 months and they are all doing outstanding (even one of the freebies that was brown had colored up into a stunner)

I run my kessils for 12 hours total with long ramps to a max of 70pct. I run the t5s for 5 hours each day total with all four on for 4 hours.

My only issue is that I have to keep all of my LPS shaded under my many over hangs.

Oh, important note. I have the OG kessils. Bought them right when they came out so i think they are 25w weaker and why I am running so high compared to the other folks.

Good luck, great lights! I just dumped my radion that was over my FT n favor of a couple of the new 160s.

 

[Gwitness]

I run mixed reef with mostly acros on my rocks and a sand bed full of wellso, plates, meat corals and chalices.

I started with 10x80w t5s on my 150 (66") for over a year. Great color, little growth.

I then converted to 4xkessil 360s @ 5" height (this is due to my hood). Took some getting used to the shimmer which,tbh, I didn't initially like, but now love. No change in corals. Great color, little growth after 6 months.

Currently I run Kessils and 4xt5s (2xati blue+, coral plus, GE 6500). Still great color, but growth has improved. A few corals have literally exploded. Rommel's water melon frag did nothing for 9 months has spread and sprouting 8 branches. Red planet too as well as my lone chalice (JF cosmopolitan). I have purchased 21 frags from battlecorals in the last 3 months and they are all doing outstanding (even one of the freebies that was brown had colored up into a stunner)

I run my kessils for 12 hours total with long ramps to a max of 70pct. I run the t5s for 5 hours each day total with all four on for 4 hours.

My only issue is that I have to keep all of my LPS shaded under my many over hangs.

Oh, important note. I have the OG kessils. Bought them right when they came out so i think they are 25w weaker and why I am running so high compared to the other folks.

Good luck, great lights! I just dumped my radion that was over my FT n favor of a couple of the new 160s.

Thank you so much for the response!!! I absolutely hated the shimmer at first and almost sold them back!! Haha I now love it and the t5s tone the shimmer down also so I love them now!!!! Do you have a spectral controller? If so can you tell me what your exact schedule is with time, color percent and intensity percent? Since you are having success I will try to mimic yours and just tweak my kessil intensity a little because my lights are 3 inches higher than yours are and I guess a little more powerful...thanks so much for the info, really appreciate it

 

[choff]

I run mine through apex

Intensity
7.30 20pct
11.30 65pct
15.00 70pct
19.30 12pct

Color
7.30 20pct
11.30 60pct
15.00 65pct
19.30 10pct

Front pair of t5 (blue plus, coral plus). 11.30 to 15.30

Rear t5 (blue plus, 6500) 12.30 to 16.30

BTW, the WE are 15pct stronger than mine, not 25pct as I stated.

 

[Gwitness]

I run mine through apex

Intensity
7.30 20pct
11.30 65pct
15.00 70pct
19.30 12pct

Color
7.30 20pct
11.30 60pct
15.00 65pct
19.30 10pct

Front pair of t5 (blue plus, coral plus). 11.30 to 15.30

Rear t5 (blue plus, 6500) 12.30 to 16.30

BTW, the WE are 15pct stronger than mine, not 25pct as I stated.

Awesome!! Thank you so much for the info!! So do you think I should max out about 15% lower on intensity than you are since mine are stronger?? Also I know that the color percentage is always full spectrum no matter what, but if it's more of a white light like 60% color , will that whiter light be more likely to burn or bleach my corals than the blue color %??

 

[choff]

Tough to say what intensity you should use. Mine sit lower to the water and my rock work is approx 15" high which gives me about 10" of water where primarily where all of my acro's sit. If it were me, I'd start low and ramp up.

Color I did by eyeball. I found the color I liked best and used that pct. I honestly don't know how the par changes as the color changes.

 

[Gwitness]

Tough to say what intensity you should use. Mine sit lower to the water and my rock work is approx 15" high which gives me about 10" of water where primarily where all of my acro's sit. If it were me, I'd start low and ramp up.

Color I did by eyeball. I found the color I liked best and used that pct. I honestly don't know how the par changes as the color changes.

Got it....thanks again for all the help! Keep me updated with what you learn about this process!

 

[Gwitness]

Anyone else with advice that has used this set up is still welcomed!!

 

[GrampaDon]

This is a new light for me. Was sticking to MH/t5 as tried and proven.
All my reading of recent has led me to adding the t5 from the start. As this setup is where most are happy with growth for the SPS.
My other reason is to stop pulling 12 amps on a 15 amp breaker. So Im taking down the 75g and reworking the lights on the big tank. And when all done I should be between 5-6 amps.

Just received the last pieces and should have it up and running hopefully in 2 weeks. [This weekend will have grandkids :bigsmile:] as soon as I can get time.

 

[lionfish5740]

IMO, Better off to start lower intensity and more towards the blue spectrum and slowly increase one at a time each week. Less likely to bake your corals that way.