Kessil LED vs Halide T5

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

I have nearly identical frags I've set up in two different frag tanks and will use this thread to track progress. Just curious to see how it goes!

Tank 1, frags are in 250-350 PAR, frag tank is 48" long 24" wide, frag racks are 5" below water surface. There are 3x A360WE set up 10" above the water spread out over the tank, 100% intensity, color at around 60% on the dial. Photo period is 10 hours.

Tank 2, frags are in 250-350 PAR, frag tank is 48" long 24" wide, frag racks are 5" below water surface. The fixture is a 48" giesemann spectra with two 400w radiums on luxtore 450w super lumen setting and 4 T5 bulbs. T5s are on 8 hours total, Halides on 6 hours total, the overlap equates to 10 hours photo period.

Both tanks are centrally plumbed to the same sump so parameters are always the same. The coral frags are ORA pearlberry, tyree rainbow stylo, rainbow monti, cornbred flaming phoenix monti, red robin stag.

LATEST UPDATE: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/kessil-led-vs-halide-t5.331640/page-14#post-4211940

Starting photos:
Halide/T5:

LED:

joekool · Oct 19, 2017

You checked these with a PAR meter while setting up????

Should be a cool experiment I'm on board to see what happens

joekool · Oct 19, 2017

You should also have them plumbed together so that they both have the exact same water parameters no matter what

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

joekool said:
You checked these with a PAR meter while setting up????

Should be a cool experiment I'm on board to see what happens

Used a seneye for par and a lux meter just above the water.

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

joekool said:
You should also have them plumbed together so that they both have the exact same water parameters no matter what

I did. I even said that.

DSC reef · Oct 19, 2017

I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.

dragon99 · Oct 19, 2017

Awesome! What bulbs in the MH/T5? (edit: I see radium, but what T5)

Spectrum would have to match exactly for the PAR #'s to really be equivalent.

joekool · Oct 19, 2017

I think as long as the par numbers are the same it shouldn't matter what bulbs they choose as long as they're getting the same amount energy.the visual color isn't necessarily the best for the coral I would just be happy with using the same water same photo period And see which ones actually look better in the long run as far as growth color and the way they grow not necessarily be impressed by some growing a lot bigger or a lot taller over the other when they don't look as good as the other so it should be interesting that's all
be interesting to see what the corals do using the same water and the same par values measured at the surface and you all know that the par values are going to degrade as the metal halide and T fives age

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

dragon99 said:
Awesome! What bulbs in the MH/T5? (edit: I see radium, but what T5)

Spectrum would have to match exactly for the PAR #'s to really be equivalent.

Two ATI actinic and two ATI blue plus.

And matching spectrum would be impossible because of the nature of how each works. I'm using color/combination of arguably the most popular bulbs and the kessil have smart logic where the color to the eye shouldn't matter much. That said I think both provide the necessary spectrum for coral growth and coloration.

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

DSC reef said:
I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.

I'll let people draw their own conclusions based on pics as this progresses.

VJV · Oct 19, 2017

Great thread [emoji106]. Following along!

dragon99 · Oct 19, 2017

BoomCorals said:
Two ATI actinic and two ATI blue plus.

And matching spectrum would be impossible because of the nature of how each works. I'm using color/combination of arguably the most popular bulbs and the kessil have smart logic where the color to the eye shouldn't matter much. That said I think both provide the necessary spectrum for coral growth and coloration.

Love the look of actinic T5's! You're right matching is probably impossible with a Kessil since you have very limited control. Just pointing out the difference that exists even with PAR almost the same.

Both tanks are using gyre's for flow?

10Seconds · Oct 19, 2017

Great thread. I will be following along.

One suggestion. When taking pictures, to compare better the progress of the corals, it might help to take some pictures with ambient or supplemental room lighting so the photos are produced under the same lights and not just the lighting being tested.

Then we can see the growth and development of the corals not just how they are looking when lit by a certain light.

Just a thought.

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

dragon99 said:
Love the look of actinic T5's! You're right matching is probably impossible with a Kessil since you have very limited control. Just pointing out the difference that exists even with PAR almost the same.

Both tanks are using gyre's for flow?

Yes an xf230 on each end both set to random with 70% max

BoomCorals · Oct 19, 2017

10Seconds said:
Great thread. I will be following along.

One suggestion. When taking pictures, to compare better the progress of the corals, it might help to take some pictures with ambient or supplemental room lighting so the photos are produced under the same lights and not just the lighting being tested.

Then we can see the growth and development of the corals not just how they are looking when lit by a certain light.

Just a thought.

I appreciate the suggestion but the non scientific goal here was to show each and how they look and grow under each. So turning on my regular room lights I don't think is going to add anything.

One thing I might do on occasion is put both into the same tank for a side by side under the same lighting.

A. grandis · Oct 20, 2017

DSC reef said:
I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.

LOL!!!! Yup, please nothing called scientific nor semi-scientific here, man!!LOL!
Oh gosh!

Grandis.

teller · Oct 20, 2017

I find this thread very useful.

I completely understand you are just comparing the two systems you have in use in your location, but wouldn't be more fair the following scenarios?

MH alone for the 7 hours period like the Kessils?
Or
The Kessils on for 5 hours complemented with T5 for four hours overlapped in 7 hours.

Thank you very much for your time and effort and of course money spent @BoomCorals .

alton · Oct 20, 2017

I am curious to see if you end up with the same results as my favorite LFS did while running Kessils exclusively? The corals under their Kessils grew very fast and are now colonies but only have polyps on the top half of the SPS which looks very odd compared to most other types of lighting. I will have to check the Model # of Kessil next time I go visit.

BoomCorals · Oct 20, 2017

teller said:
I find this thread very useful.

I completely understand you are just comparing the two systems you have in use in your location, but wouldn't be more fair the following scenarios?

MH alone for the 7 hours period like the Kessils?
Or
The Kessils on for 5 hours complemented with T5 for four hours overlapped in 7 hours.

Thank you very much for your time and effort and of course money spent @BoomCorals .

It's two light systems against each other. The T5 are part of the fixture just as much as the halide. The purpose of this test is really for my own goals. I just thought I'd bring you guys along for the ride.

For me, there are some customers who want coral grown under halides/T5. I can now offer that. In addition I grow some of my own colonies that I frag, so I want maximum coral health and growth. If I was just a turn and burn vendor who doesn't care about growth then I'd just use whatever light makes the corals look expensive.