I just got a kessil a160we for my biocube. This is my first led light and I currently have it running on acclimation mode and wanted to know how to determine what intensity level to run after the acclimation is over. I have soft and Lps corals, no Sps. Is it necessary to get a PAR meter or is there another way to decide on the intensity? Thanks for the help!
Kessil LED Intensity?
- Thread starter sundog101
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jvb89
Active Member
I run 2 of these exact light over my LPS 40g breeder. I started with the lights at 15% for 12hrs then every week I increased them up by 5% up to 100%. It takes a little while to get there but it worked great. Just watch for signs of over lighting. If you see some bleaching back off by 5 % and stay there for another week and try to bump it up again. If it still shows signs of bleaching the back off 5% again but stay there because that's the max intensity your tank should be lit.
jvb89
Active Member
Or this
While it is difficult to make a lighting schedule for a specific tank, we can provide you with a sample program to start with and work off of once your tank has acclimated to your lights.
First enter the program below as your Quickset program, and then run it in the Acclimation Mode for 14-days, starting at 50% intensity, and returning to the Quickset program. After the 14-day period you can extend the period of peak intensity by 10 - 15 minutes each week, while monitoring your corals. If there are any signs of stress, reduce the intensity period for a week and then continue trying to increase it. When you can no longer increase the peak intensity period you will have found your optimal lighting for your tank.
Sample Program:
Time Color Intensity
8:00 0% 10%
10:00 10% 50%
12:00 30% 100%
14:00 55% 100%
16:00 20% 50%
18:00 0% 0%
It is important to note that the A360s are designed to always deliver the best spectrum. The color control is primarily for aesthetics. Hence, the intensity settings are what will be essential to coral growth and health.
While it is difficult to make a lighting schedule for a specific tank, we can provide you with a sample program to start with and work off of once your tank has acclimated to your lights.
First enter the program below as your Quickset program, and then run it in the Acclimation Mode for 14-days, starting at 50% intensity, and returning to the Quickset program. After the 14-day period you can extend the period of peak intensity by 10 - 15 minutes each week, while monitoring your corals. If there are any signs of stress, reduce the intensity period for a week and then continue trying to increase it. When you can no longer increase the peak intensity period you will have found your optimal lighting for your tank.
Sample Program:
Time Color Intensity
8:00 0% 10%
10:00 10% 50%
12:00 30% 100%
14:00 55% 100%
16:00 20% 50%
18:00 0% 0%
It is important to note that the A360s are designed to always deliver the best spectrum. The color control is primarily for aesthetics. Hence, the intensity settings are what will be essential to coral growth and health.
JDMREEF
Active Member
I had one over my bc29.
700 10%
900 25
1130 50
1400 65
1600 10%
2100 0
I kept my tank under actinics for most the time. awesome light overall. there are some shadowing issues with only 1 I found. maybe you can run a 10k 150 in duo with the 160. I am going back to t5s
700 10%
900 25
1130 50
1400 65
1600 10%
2100 0
I kept my tank under actinics for most the time. awesome light overall. there are some shadowing issues with only 1 I found. maybe you can run a 10k 150 in duo with the 160. I am going back to t5s
Hellsinki
Active Member
baby steps. I would lay off the whites and keep it under 75% intensity until everything is acclimated. The A160WE is a super light. More powerful than most people think. Measuring PAR will be sketchy due to the design of the light, you won't get meaningful readings.
Because the light receptors in our eyes do not see equal intensity over the entire visible spectrum, it is difficult at best to determine whether you have enough PAR for SPS, LPS, or soft coral simply by judging the intensity of light. Coral responds to light in the nanometer ranges where our eyes cannot judge the intensity. A PAR of 200 at 460nm will look much dimmer to our eyes than a PAR of 200 at 560nm. The best method to ensure you have enough PAR for the coral you are keeping is to invest in a Apogee PAR meter. I have heard many people say that LEDs are not as bright as metal halide or T5. This is because most quality LED fixtures are able to fine tune the spectrum to the ranges coral respond to by using LEDs specifically made for those ranges. Combining this LED array results in a spectrum most favorable to coral. Most of this range will appear lower in intensity than it actually is.
