Kessil A160WE and 90g

RobinsonReef · Mar 8, 2016

Hey guys! I just upgraded from a 29g to a 90g, I was using 1 Kessil A160WE and really loved it and the growth/coloration I was getting. On the new 90 since I already have one 160WE I decided to buy two more and have 3 on the 90 for proper coverage instead of having to jump up to next size and buy two of those. Heres my qustion, on the 29 I never took the kessils above 50-55% brightness. So far on the 90 I have been all three to 100% for about 3 hours in peak of the day. Not everything is transitioned from 29g yet as I am doing it slowly to not shock the 90. I have most of the corals now on the sand bed and everything down there seems really happy. I recently got some montipora from WCW live sale and put the frags about halfway or a little more up in the tank. Neither one have opened since moving them from sand bed to their rock spots and the superman has lost its blue backing. I put them back on the sand to see if they will recover. Did they get light shocked? Anyone else running kessils on a 90 or bigger? How bright do you go? I think I need to get a par meter and measure different levels in the tank.

dbl · Mar 12, 2016

Did you get your Kessils dialed in? Giving you a bump as I know there are some Kessil users out there.

RobinsonReef · Mar 13, 2016

Kind of. I am going to about 60% brightness now instead of 100%. Montiporas still doing bad but everything else seems happy.

Piranhapat · Mar 13, 2016

I have 4 350w on my 90 gal. They white are turn up to about 95% and blue about 45%. Monti don't need bright light but your 160 are giving them enough light. Especally at bottom. Kessil are beautiful light but your 160 not going to be enough in 90 gal. If you add supplement light can help. If anything raise the monti and dial it up. Also make sure your phosphate are low.

Piranhapat · Mar 13, 2016

You can get away with soft coral. SPS need more light.

RobinsonReef · Mar 13, 2016

Interesting. I figured 3x 160 would be enough for sps. I've seen people keep picky sps under 2 kessil 360we. I don't get individual control over blue/white on spectral is just a single color channel that changes from daylight to actinic. Right now I'm coming on in morning at 35% brightness and 45% color and ramping up to 65% brightness and 90% color halfway into day and then late afternoon down to about 50% brightness and 25% color then night down to 35% brightness and 5% color

RobinsonReef · Mar 13, 2016

Probably going to add in a small t5 dual bulb so I can also run another actinic and another daylight spectrum. Running gfo and carbon so phosphate is low. my other sps are going great but my montis are unhappy about something.

reefwiser · Mar 13, 2016

The problem is that the par that the 160 puts out will be quite low towards the bottom of the tank. That's why they made the 360 model.

mistaflicksta · Mar 15, 2016

I had three over my 150 (48×24×30) it was plenty of light.

mistaflicksta · Mar 15, 2016

I couldn't go above 65% without bleaching coral

brandon429 · Mar 15, 2016

I run the 160 we over one gallon pico 12 inches off surface at 90% 9 hours but color to me is key

Even lower whiter settings bleached, I started higher up than this. Arrived here as what I could find that worked no bleaching

If it's not on the bluish tint..if it's any of the whiter settings, white tip bleaching begins for me. But set it just at the transition point white to blue, then a tad bluer, growth although my sps didn't retain its orange green original buy color. It changed to yellow green tips brownish purple center, a color downgrade more brownish now, but it's added mass so that's the best I can get all considered but close enough. I've come to see my kessil as
A. A good purchase I wouldn't undo.
B. Likely to change buy colors after mos time under unique variables
C. As long as it's not bleaching, it's colors that will mod again differently when conditions change again, different lighting etc. I don't think you light shocked them, I think they were going to change anyway in time Not bleaching is what matters IMO
D. Shading of sps is the only downside I see. And something about reds missing I read, don't know this is first led. Am fine with the color

RobinsonReef · Mar 18, 2016

mistaflicksta said:
I had three over my 150 (48×24×30) it was plenty of light.

Thanks @mistaflicksta! Nice looking tank! Mixed reef? How are your sps doing? Mine are only about 4-5 inches off the water because I have them mounted to the top of my canopy inside it. I might go back to the goosenecks so they can be a little higher but I wanted to make everything hidden. I seem to have been finding a good schedule. Going to about 65% on brightest part of day. I was doing 90 to 100 but I think it was frying corals. I have to use white color combo at some point in the day because the UV spectrum in kessils comes on in the white so if you do mostly actinic with it you loose one of the most important spectrums for corals.

RobinsonReef · Mar 18, 2016

@brandon429 if you use the white don't go to 90% like I said the uv spectrum comes on when in white which is strong so your brightness is what's causing the bleaching in that color. You should try to use white spectrum at lower intens so they can get the uv. I had 2 160's on my 29 gallon and couldn't go above 60% without signs of too much light so 90% on your small tank in white would def bleach. The blue or actinic spectrum can be brighter because it's less powerful so to speak. You def need the white settings tho for the uv spectrum. The corals missing red and some colors you speak of is because they aren't getting that uv spectrum which brings that out.

mistaflicksta · Mar 18, 2016

I gave up on SPS, because I travel too much. I could keep SPS alive when I am in town but once I am gone more that a week, SPS start dying fast.
I now have an ap700 over the tank
When I had the three 160s, I couldn't go past 65% intensity. It would make everything close up and melt away. As far as color goes, I would go 75% max

RobinsonReef · Mar 19, 2016

Haha I hear that. I'm not touring anymore so starting to dive into sps more. How are you liking the ap700? I've been doing about 90% max color with 65% brightness at brightest part of day. Did you sell off the three 160's?

RobinsonReef · Apr 24, 2016

So I seem to have gotten them dialed in. They actually are plenty of light for a 90. I have no issues with SPS/Acros. All my SPS and Acros up high are super happy and bushy/extended like no other. My lower light lovers like my acans are on the ground and are beyond happy as well. They are coloring up really well. I am really happy with my decision on using the Kessils. I may add a 4th over time. I cant seem to go above about 55%. Heres my schedule.
10AM - 30% color 30% Brightness
1pm - 75% color 55% Brightness
2:30pm - 40% color 50% Brightness
6:15pm - 15% Color 40% Brightness
8:45Pm - 0% Color 30% Brightness
9:30pm - 0% Color 0% Brightness
Ive been running this schedule for a month and everything seems to really love it. Ive seen increased growth and color over the month. I tweaked the length of the day some because I was seeing increased algae growth, but I was coming on at about 9am and going off at 10pm so my day was really long. I seem to be finding a good happy place with them.

Something to note is I have mine mounted under my canopy which puts them not very far off the water surface. Maybe about 4-5 inches. They dont spread as wide because they are closer but I think my PAR levels are a lot higer at the top and they punch further into the bottom like this. I went with putting them under canopy to see how it would go as I wanted to hide everything and not have the goosnecks coming up over the canopy or have them hanging from ceiling. Its working out pretty well for me.