Kessil a160 intensity for SPS

[musicreefer320]

Anyone have Kessils for SPS? I currently have mine set to 65% for 4 hours during the day with increments up and back down. Wondering if this is enough, too much, too little? Current frags look pretty good, good polyp extension and coloration.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Really depends on a lot of other factors.

Size of tank.
Height of light.
Type of Sps.
Depth of Sps.
How many Kessils.
Parameters.

If your frags look good then your in the right area. I will say a peak intensity of four hours seems low to me. Unless your ramping times are 3-4 hours on each side I suppose. Normal seems to be 6-8hrs

 

[hart24601]

How far above the corals are the light? FWIW I ran my 3g pico reef with a kessil 160 and the light sitting on the tank lid, so not more than a few inches from the coral. I ran it at 100% intensity for 12 hours a day.

If you raise intensity just watch the coral, if you see some bleaching turn it down. If it happens at all it's not overnight and you can just dial the light down a bit if you just look at the tank everyday for a while.

 

[musicreefer320]

It’s one Kessil on a 30 gallon cube. It’s about 10” off the water.

Parameters are:

KH - 10.6
Ca - 475
Mg - 1420
Po 4 - .09
NO3 - 5

Right now I have a green slimer about 5” down, forest fire digi about 8” down, green and pink birds nest about 6” down.

 

[musicreefer320]

How far above the corals are the light? FWIW I ran my 3g pico reef with a kessil 160 and the light sitting on the tank lid, so not more than a few inches from the coral. I ran it at 100% intensity for 12 hours a day.

If you raise intensity just watch the coral, if you see some bleaching turn it down. If it happens at all it's not overnight and you can just dial the light down a bit if you just look at the tank everyday for a while.

What kind of coral did you have?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Your probably good to just slowly ramp it to 100%

 

[musicreefer320]

Your probably good to just slowly ramp it to 100%

I bumped it up to 75%. I’ll push it to 80% on Sunday and keep going. Think that’s slow enough?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

I bumped it up to 75%. I’ll push it to 80% on Sunday and keep going. Think that’s slow enough?

Probably plenty safe. I'd do 5%a week personally as it gives a whole week to keep an eye on the corals to make sure they aren't negatively affected. That being said. I had 2 a160s at 75% on a smaller tank, that also had t5 bulbs. So I think you'll be solid.

 

[musicreefer320]

Probably plenty safe. I'd do 5%a week personally as it gives a whole week to keep an eye on the corals to make sure they aren't negatively affected. That being said. I had 2 a160s at 75% on a smaller tank, that also had t5 bulbs. So I think you'll be solid.

Thanks, man!

 

[hart24601]

What kind of coral did you have?

Quite a variety but sps based. Here is a pic from somewhere along the line when the birdsnest was a baby!

It was a fun little 3g system and that clam did amazing and put on a ton of growth.

 

[minus9]

I would run the light for 10 to 12hrs a day with peak intensity for at least 6hrs, you can ramp up and down a couple hours on each end of the timeline. Intensity is based on observing the coral(s). As mentioned above, only increase intensity 5% a month or 1 or 2% each week and give it some time before you increase again. I ran a 22g with 3 160's full of sps and I think I maxed out around 70% intensity and color was only 30% - 35%. I had so much growth that I had to add T5's, but I could've added another 160, but bought an ATI fixture for less than another 160 (found an amazing deal from a local reefer).

 

[minus9]

Top down shot right before I upgraded to a larger tank. You can see the three kessil's reflecting off the water. I had them angled from the front and back.

 

[musicreefer320]

Top down shot right before I upgraded to a larger tank. You can see the three kessil's reflecting off the water. I had them angled from the front and back.

Beautiful! Thank you for the insight!

 

[minus9]

Thanks! These lights are great, but if you want an sps dominated tank, then you'll need more of them. The gooseneck is really great in this application, as it allows you to angle the light.

 

[GoatmealJones]

Im running 2 Kesill A160's on a 36 x 15 wide x 21 tall. I am running both of them at 100 percent intensity for pretty much the entire day (11/12 hours) both at 5 inches off the water and evenly spaced such that each light is responsible for its 18" half of the tank. I have a test acro on the sandbed between the 2 lights and it seems to be doing fine. I have a favia coral right under one pendant almost at the surface of the water (2 inches down) and there are no problems. My opinion would be for you to take advantage of the full intensity of the unit. Theres a lot of horsepower in these lights that are not being used by many it seems when the light was designed to be used under the option of 100 percent intensity for high lighting demand systems. Take advantage of the full power of your lights and you will see that the 160's are capable of growing anything given the right water parameters and reasonable tank depth/widths (ie, probably should look for stronger lights for a 30 inch tall tank, etc.

 

[Oshengems]

I’m currently running an old A160 in my refugium area in My sump, i don’t have a controller but the nob is about 80-90 almost 100% turned on power and about 60% on the bluer side for color and I’m growing Oregon torts, slimers, red dragon, Cali Tort and some unknown name acropora, also plate coral, and a few other montiporas fine

That’s on for 10hours

 

[musicreefer320]

I’m currently running an old A160 in my refugium area in My sump, i don’t have a controller but the nob is about 80-90 almost 100% turned on power and about 60% on the bluer side for color and I’m growing Oregon torts, slimers, red dragon, Cali Tort and some unknown name acropora, also plate coral, and a few other montiporas fine

That’s on for 10hours

Wow awesome. How high off the water?

 

[musicreefer320]

Im running 2 Kesill A160's on a 36 x 15 wide x 21 tall. I am running both of them at 100 percent intensity for pretty much the entire day (11/12 hours) both at 5 inches off the water and evenly spaced such that each light is responsible for its 18" half of the tank. I have a test acro on the sandbed between the 2 lights and it seems to be doing fine. I have a favia coral right under one pendant almost at the surface of the water (2 inches down) and there are no problems. My opinion would be for you to take advantage of the full intensity of the unit. Theres a lot of horsepower in these lights that are not being used by many it seems when the light was designed to be used under the option of 100 percent intensity for high lighting demand systems. Take advantage of the full power of your lights and you will see that the 160's are capable of growing anything given the right water parameters and reasonable tank depth/widths (ie, probably should look for stronger lights for a 30 inch tall tank, etc.

Should I ramp them up slowly? Or just go to 100%?

 

[Oshengems]

Something funny I also have a flowercup coral that on my display with Radions doesn’t open up or extend well but under the kessils they react right away and extend beautifully

 

[Oshengems]

Wow awesome. How high off the water?

No more than 5-6” it close to the water and that area is very small, it’s the middle part of a The ruby sump 30” long