Kessil ap700

[JonPhillips]

Contemplating putting this light as the single light over a 75g mixed reef. Anyone with practical opinion that’s not being paid by kessil to sell the light have long-term experience with coral health? I feel like the video reviews are paid advertisements and the Amazon reviews are all, light looks cool and love the app type thing.

 

[Ranjib]

tank dimension?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Contemplating putting this light as the single light over a 75g mixed reef. Anyone with practical opinion that’s not being paid by kessil to sell the light have long-term experience with coral health? I feel like the video reviews are paid advertisements and the Amazon reviews are all, light looks cool and love the app type thing.

I have a single one over my 40 breeder and love it. Over a 75 though you may want to consider two though as you could potentially get shadowing near the edges. The app is ok, but needs work. Check out this review by bulk reef supply. Its got some pretty good info in it.

 

[Kyl]

Owned one for two years, pre-ordered given the track record they had with the A1/3 series up to that point. The hardware is great, but the control software is not. I doubt they'll be improving it, the last firmware / app update was 10 months ago and they've been completely silence since.

In hindsight, I'd rather have two A360's, even with the slightly worse visual spectrum.

 

[jeffrey holloway]

great light. I have one over 150g with a pair of A160s one on each end along with t5 supps. Everyone seems to have issue with the app. I run the Kessils on 100% blue so I don't need the extra bells and whistles. Great coral growth with pop and shimmer second to none.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Here's some AP700 PAR measurements made in a 120-gallon tank. There aren't any poor lights (within reason), just poor applications. Selective animal placement is key. Some years ago, Sanjay and I made the same recommendation - minimum of a PAR value of 100.

 

[JonPhillips]

I have a single one over my 40 breeder and love it. Over a 75 though you may want to consider two though as you could potentially get shadowing near the edges. The app is ok, but needs work. Check out this review by bulk reef supply. Its got some pretty good info in it.

BRS vid is good, but it’s mainly about looks and par ratings. I know they run one over their 160, but they also supplement. That’s the general impression that I’m getting: great light, but you’ll end up supplementing t5s or something. I mean, melovsreef 400 is still cranking MH and it’s off the chain growing...

 

[JonPhillips]

Owned one for two years, pre-ordered given the track record they had with the A1/3 series up to that point. The hardware is great, but the control software is not. I doubt they'll be improving it, the last firmware / app update was 10 months ago and they've been completely silence since.

In hindsight, I'd rather have two A360's, even with the slightly worse visual spectrum.

Got ya.

 

[JonPhillips]

great light. I have one over 150g with a pair of A160s one on each end along with t5 supps. Everyone seems to have issue with the app. I run the Kessils on 100% blue so I don't need the extra bells and whistles. Great coral growth with pop and shimmer second to none.

But why the supp? Why isn’t it a end all light solution?

 

[JonPhillips]

Here's some AP700 PAR measurements made in a 120-gallon tank. There aren't any poor lights (within reason), just poor applications. Selective animal placement is key. Some years ago, Sanjay and I made the same recommendation - minimum of a PAR value of 100.

Correct. Thank you.

 

[Crabs McJones]

BRS vid is good, but it’s mainly about looks and par ratings. I know they run one over their 160, but they also supplement. That’s the general impression that I’m getting: great light, but you’ll end up supplementing t5s or something. I mean, melovsreef 400 is still cranking MH and it’s off the chain growing...

I've been using the AP700 on its own with no issues. Supplements, it seems to me, have been on bigger tanks where shadowing became an issue. On a tank that's smaller such as mine I haven't had any shadowing issue and everything is growing great

 

[reefluvrr]

I have owned one for 1.5 years. I have a mixed reef 50 gallon. Since individual light channels can not be controlled, I did not get as good growth with my SPS. When I set the light to have an overall visual appeal I would like for the whole tank. Unfortunately, my SPS did not have the nice pop in colors. I was using more royal blue light in the color wheel setup and using the red and green channel to get a good 14kish look. In hind sight, I wished i could have figured out where the 420nm was also at in the color wheel. I think I had plenty of 450nm, but likely not enough of the 420nm. Hope this helps.

 

[JonPhillips]

I have owned one for 1.5 years. I have a mixed reef 50 gallon. Since individual light channels can not be controlled, I did not get as good growth with my SPS. When I set the light to have an overall visual appeal I would like for the whole tank. Unfortunately, my SPS did not have the nice pop in colors. I was using more royal blue light in the color wheel setup and using the red and green channel to get a good 14kish look. In hind sight, I wished i could have figured out where the 420nm was also at in the color wheel. I think I had plenty of 450nm, but likely not enough of the 420nm. Hope this helps.

That’s what I’m thinking. $800 to grow softies. I don’t think so. This thing better breed SPS like wildfire and the only people who say it does are the sponsored folks. No offense. If I want to grow softies I’ll just stick with my el cheapo.

 

[Cire]

Contemplating putting this light as the single light over a 75g mixed reef. Anyone with practical opinion that’s not being paid by kessil to sell the light have long-term experience with coral health? I feel like the video reviews are paid advertisements and the Amazon reviews are all, light looks cool and love the app type thing.

I have one over my reefer 350 ( 4 ft long tank). Have had it for 15 months. When I purchased it I compared it to radions and AI Primes (which I also purchased to hook up to the tank). All of these lights had plenty of intensity so I was looking for the visual appeal. Kessil lacked the disco effect and gave that nice shimmer. So I ended up with one AP700.

I have it at 8” from the surface maxing out at 50% intensity on the 4th color spectrum (between deep ocean blue and sky white). I have LPS under it at about 12” deep and 175 par. A monti grows towards the edge of the most intense light at about 150 par.

In time I will add SPS in the sweet spot below the lights and move less demanding varieties to the edges. At 77% intensity I will be at 300 par where the LPS currently sit. 250 at the sand bed in the center of the tank and between 50-150 at the edges.

People supplement this light because of shadowing I assume. Some t5 strips along with the ap700 may be an excellent option but be careful to tune down the AP700 as it is a very powerful.

If I wanted SPS throughout the entire tank, I would opt for 2 of these lights and keep the intensity down. I love the shimmer and color rendition. It’s a beautiful form factor as well.

From what I’ve seen, correct application of most lights will yield results. Not sure why the AP700 gets such knocks. It’s intense, super beautiful and simple to use. To me at least. Yes it’s expensive, but you’d need more than one fixture of radions or AI’s to cover the entire tank anyway, so it comes down to the way the light makes the tank look. For my preference, I like the look and intensity of the shimmer. Those concentrated bursts of light will bring high intensity par to even shallow areas of the tank for nanoseconds all throughout the day. I wonder what type of cumulative effect that has.

Great light. If you like the look of the tank with it.

 

[radar_17]

I ran a single AP700 over a standard 75 gallon with no supplemental lighting for about a year and half. I had it mounted about 12" above the water. It was growing softies, LPS, and easy to moderate SPS (several species of montipora, seriatopora, pocillopora, stylophora, and a couple easy acros). Placement is key though. Also, my one minor complaint was that the center bracket in the tank did cause a bit of a shadow. I'm now running two AP700's over a 120 and am loving it. Good luck no matter which route you choose.

 

[BlennyKravitz]

I have had two for about 18 months over a 60” wide Red Sea Reefer. The app needs re-pairing to the lights every once in a forgiveable while, but the performance is unmatched. Color spectrum is ideal, spread is as good as LED can offer from a physics point of view. These are unedited and unfiltered iPhone X photos

 

[BlennyKravitz]

11” off water

 

[Chuck Lawson]

The tank looks great! What color setting is that, and how long do you run them each day?

 

[leahfiish]

I have one ap700 18" over a 90g tank, maxing at 60% intensity for 8 hours a day for my lps tank. I have a blasto in the bottom right corner that is growing new heads and a chalice and ricordias in the bottom right that seem happy.

I really like the overall look of the tank and the kessil shimmer is much more appealing than other LEDs imo. I can see how certain aquascapes and especially sps tanks could have shading though.

 

[JonPhillips]

I have one over my reefer 350 ( 4 ft long tank). Have had it for 15 months. When I purchased it I compared it to radions and AI Primes (which I also purchased to hook up to the tank). All of these lights had plenty of intensity so I was looking for the visual appeal. Kessil lacked the disco effect and gave that nice shimmer. So I ended up with one AP700.

I have it at 8” from the surface maxing out at 50% intensity on the 4th color spectrum (between deep ocean blue and sky white). I have LPS under it at about 12” deep and 175 par. A monti grows towards the edge of the most intense light at about 150 par.

In time I will add SPS in the sweet spot below the lights and move less demanding varieties to the edges. At 77% intensity I will be at 300 par where the LPS currently sit. 250 at the sand bed in the center of the tank and between 50-150 at the edges.

People supplement this light because of shadowing I assume. Some t5 strips along with the ap700 may be an excellent option but be careful to tune down the AP700 as it is a very powerful.

If I wanted SPS throughout the entire tank, I would opt for 2 of these lights and keep the intensity down. I love the shimmer and color rendition. It’s a beautiful form factor as well.

From what I’ve seen, correct application of most lights will yield results. Not sure why the AP700 gets such knocks. It’s intense, super beautiful and simple to use. To me at least. Yes it’s expensive, but you’d need more than one fixture of radions or AI’s to cover the entire tank anyway, so it comes down to the way the light makes the tank look. For my preference, I like the look and intensity of the shimmer. Those concentrated bursts of light will bring high intensity par to even shallow areas of the tank for nanoseconds all throughout the day. I wonder what type of cumulative effect that has.

Great light. If you like the look of the tank with it.

Good points.