Kessil AP700 on Red Sea Reefer 250

[Aaron Shapiro]

Hey All,

Planning on getting water into my Red Sea Reefer 250 this week... To be proactive I started looking at light programs for a tank of that size. I could use some guidance on creating a program for this size tank... Any ideas on intensity/spectrum for a mixed reef of primarily softies and LPS??

Thanks

-a

 

[Crabs McJones]

Spectrum with an AP700 isn't going to really matter. Kessil logic makes it so you can choose whatever color you want and no matter what its optimized for coral. So it's all going to be personal preference on how blue or white you want your tank to look. As far as intensity, you'll want to keep it on the lower end. I would start out at around 25 to 30% intensity and ramp it up as needed for Softies and LPS, and mount the light somewhere around 7 to 8 " off the waters surface.

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

Spectrum with an AP700 isn't going to really matter. Kessil logic makes it so you can choose whatever color you want and no matter what its optimized for coral. So it's all going to be personal preference on how blue or white you want your tank to look. As far as intensity, you'll want to keep it on the lower end. I would start out at around 25 to 30% intensity and ramp it up as needed for Softies and LPS, and mount the light somewhere around 7 to 8 " off the waters surface.

Gotcha, so... I've got it around 7.5" off the waterline. You're saying I should make the max 25-30 and slowly adjust that up over the next month or so? I think it has an acclimcation setting iirc, maybe that would work?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Gotcha, so... I've got it around 7.5" off the waterline. You're saying I should make the max 25-30 and slowly adjust that up over the next month or so? I think it has an acclimcation setting iirc, maybe that would work?

Correct With softies and LPS you dont' have to turn it up a whole lot. I wouldn't go any higher than 50% intensity.

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

Correct With softies and LPS you dont' have to turn it up a whole lot. I wouldn't go any higher than 50% intensity.

Probably for the best... My office already looks like a spaceship bridge with all the blue light....Thanks for your help.

 

[ghostman]

Totally agree with the great advice of @crabmcjones. I never got my AP700 over 35% on Blue#2, and it was about 6" above the water.

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

Totally agree with the great advice of @crabmcjones. I never got my AP700 over 35% on Blue#2, and it was about 6" above the water.

Did you add any red or green??

 

[ghostman]

Did you add any red or green??

I add a little red and green to my taste for mid day.. Usually less than 15%.

 

[Joedubyk]

Get a par meter. I run kessils (360s) and they really don't put out a lot of par, at all. I would even put it at least 10-12 inches off the water.. You'll get way more spread.

 

[ghostman]

Get a par meter. I run kessils (360s) and they really don't put out a lot of par, at all. I would even put it at least 10-12 inches off the water.. You'll get way more spread.

That's interesting, and I've read that too. My PAR meter indicates about 150 on the sand, and 225 up top. I actually lowered my intensity after reading my PAR. Corals look better for me now. I always recommend using a PAR meter.

 

[Joedubyk]

That's interesting, and I've read that too. My PAR meter indicates about 150 on the sand, and 225 up top. I actually lowered my intensity after reading my PAR. Corals look better for me now. I always recommend using a PAR meter.

I have a 108 gal tank (525 xl) and 4 360s + 2 reef brites. Even at 95% intensity, the par is still not that much. Im getting probably 350-400 at the tops of my colonies. That's with 12 inches off the water. May just eventually have to add another LED strip

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

So I may have gotten too granular with this, but I wanted to mimic a saxby style program that you can download for AI's... Any thoughts??

 

[Crabs McJones]

So I may have gotten too granular with this, but I wanted to mimic a saxby style program that you can download for AI's... Any thoughts??

With saxby, you want it to peak right away, and then each peak afterwords lowers in intensity.

But if your schedule is working for you, I say stick with it

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

With saxby, you want it to peak right away, and then each peak afterwords lowers in intensity.

But if your schedule is working for you, I say stick with it

Haha well it's currently untested as the tank is still cycling... but that's basically what I was going for...

9am pops on deep blue
10am 10%
12pm 40% (my peak)
3pm starts to ramp for the first decline
from here it goes up and down 10% per hour
8pm starts to ramp down to a deep blue turn off at 10pm.

 

[Flameback Pair]

@Aaron Shapiro have you seen those Kessil lens diffusers for the AP700? It cuts back on the disco ball effect and blends the colors.

 

[Aaron Shapiro]

@Aaron Shapiro have you seen those Kessil lens diffusers for the AP700? It cuts back on the disco ball effect and blends the colors.

I'm actually using those! Thanks for the suggestion!