Kessil AP700.... is it worth the $

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

Hi guys... thinking hard about getting the AP700 LEDs by Kessil. The features look awesome. I like the G4 pros by radion as well. But the spread on the AP700 looks more enticing considering the direct lighting produced by LEDs. Any thoughts?

I have a 70 gal Cadlights Artisan II tank and looking to enhance the lighting on my system. The A160s that I currently have don't seem to cut it.

Thanks.

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

So, no one has an AP700

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 7, 2017

Wednesday mornings are slow.
Yes its a great light.

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Wednesday mornings are slow.
Yes its a great light.

Thanks Salty! I need a little more spectrum in my tank. This fixture looks great. Not seeing a lot of growth in my sps corals with my a160 lights. Honestly, I should've done a little more research on my lighting. Will be selling a pair of a160's soon.

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 7, 2017

Its the exact same spectrum as other Kessils. Just more power of intensity. Its in the range of the 360's.

Cherish.merenda · Jun 7, 2017

I love mine. I don't have much SPS though so I cannot speak on that. I have mostly LPS and softies that do great. The few SPS frags I have do grow as far as encrusting but not branching.

I have done par testing with my ap700s on my tank and they are more powerful than my old A360WE's. My only gripe about the new light is the app. I have two connected but only one appears on my app. Even after re-setting it up multiple times. I also have caught one light on in the middle of the night at like 1am or so. Could just be user error I'm not sure. Lol

That's about all I got. Hope that helps.

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Its the exact same spectrum as other Kessils. Just more power of intensity. Its in the range of the 360's.

Right, when I read about them, I saw the comparison. The AP700 appears to have a bigger puck with a more compact LED lamp within. I like the fact that you can control the different actinic UV spectrums for this fixture. The a160's seemed to have only one visible spectrum. The actinic light does well for my LPS corals but overall, the growth seems slow for many of the corals in the tank.

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 7, 2017

Mal11224 said:
Right, when I read about them, I saw the comparison. The AP700 appears to have a bigger puck with a more compact LED lamp within. I like the fact that you can control the different actinic UV spectrums for this fixture. The a160's seemed to have only one visible spectrum. The actinic light does well for my LPS corals but overall, the growth seems slow for many of the corals in the tank.

its all about the power too. a 160 wont hit 100 par at the bottom of 1 24in deep tank. You do need spectrum but you also need intensity, Thats par.

Monkeynaut · Jun 7, 2017

When people say UV, are they talking about the spectrum outside of the visible light spectrum? How would you even control that?

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
I love mine. I don't have much SPS though so I cannot speak on that. I have mostly LPS and softies that do great. The few SPS frags I have do grow as far as encrusting but not branching.

I have done par testing with my ap700s on my tank and they are more powerful than my old A360WE's. My only gripe about the new light is the app. I have two connected but only one appears on my app. Even after re-setting it up multiple times. I also have caught one light on in the middle of the night at like 1am or so. Could just be user error I'm not sure. Lol

That's about all I got. Hope that helps.

Thanks! Coming on in the middle of the night can be a problem. I hope you are able to get that corrected.

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

Monkeynaut said:
When people say UV, are they talking about the spectrum outside of the visible light spectrum? How would you even control that?

There are visible UV spectrums, just like the colors of the rainbow. Pretty much your basic colors... red, blue, green, yellow, red, etc... the ones we can't see is typically the intensity. Those UV rays that provide intensity.

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 7, 2017

Monkeynaut said:
When people say UV

most are yes and believe it is, but in fact whats provided is just black light.

Mal11224 said:
Those UV rays that provide intensity.

uhh kinda. by nature of the spectrum, UV is actually outside the range of visible light. the spectrum ends in V. at 380 nm. Usually the"uv led" led is 390 418 or so not truly UV, or you couldn't see it.

hart24601 · Jun 7, 2017

Really LED manufactures are calling near UV as UV channel. Over 400nm isn't really UV, but Kessil doesn't say exactly what LEDs they use and there are some 380nm out there, but I just lump 380-420 as "near uv" it's close enough for our purposes unless one wants to argue the fine points of the verbiage, which I don't!

I will say for that price consider reefbreeders V2. I just replaced 2 G3 radions with them and honestly the coverage is so much better it kind of shocked me.

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-32-v2/

or this one which is cool because can swap LED clusters to whatever you want:

https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/aquasanrise-plus-r90-2/

Hammer100 · Jun 7, 2017

Cherish.merenda said:
I love mine. I don't have much SPS though so I cannot speak on that. I have mostly LPS and softies that do great. The few SPS frags I have do grow as far as encrusting but not branching.

I have done par testing with my ap700s on my tank and they are more powerful than my old A360WE's. My only gripe about the new light is the app. I have two connected but only one appears on my app. Even after re-setting it up multiple times. I also have caught one light on in the middle of the night at like 1am or so. Could just be user error I'm not sure. Lol

That's about all I got. Hope that helps.

the only way i could link both of mine was with the iphone app

hart24601 · Jun 7, 2017

For only 100 bucks more you could get two RB photons and have the entire surface covered with LED. If you were ever worried about shading if keeping SPS primary display - well worry no more, haha.

Mal11224 · Jun 7, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
most are yes and believe it is, but in fact whats provided is just black light.

uhh kinda. by nature of the spectrum, UV is actually outside the range of visible light. the spectrum ends in V. at 380 nm. Usually the"uv led" led is 390 418 or so not truly UV, or you couldn't see it.

Correct... the visible light we can see is the spectrum of those rainbow colors..somewhere above 400nm. From what I understand in my trusty coral book, above 800nm is the Infrared. Below 400nm is the UV spectrum that we can't see. I stand corrected.

cjd · Jun 7, 2017

totally worth it !

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 7, 2017

Mal11224 said:
Correct... the visible light we can see is the spectrum of those rainbow colors..somewhere above 400nm. From what I understand in my trusty coral book, above 800nm is the Infrared. Below 400nm is the UV spectrum that we can't see. I stand corrected.

yup. Ive been a nerd my whole life and in lighting 27 years.

An led is a filtered light source. It contains very little of the full spectrum and is then filtered or colored to achieve the desired NM range.
The particles emitted from a standard source like MH and T5 etc generate a full spectrum up and into both the UV and IR range. LED manufacturers responded by adding the UV as IMO a bit of marketing.