Kessil lights

ALW · Mar 15, 2016

I bit the bullet and got a Kessil 360w for my 24x24x24 cube. I also got the controller and wonder what kind of schedule people are running. Have mainly lps but thinking about adding some more sps to go along with my montipora plates and hollywood stunner. Thanks!!

Kershaw · Mar 15, 2016

Color
Ramp 100% to 80% over 200 minutes.
Stays at 80 till evening then ramps from 80 to 15 over 180min

Intensity 15% to 90% over 200 minutes
Stays at 90 till evening then ramps from 90 to 15 over 180 minutes.

Make sure you acclimate corals before going to 90%
I raise 5% a week.

TheEngineer · Mar 15, 2016

I run mine with my Reef Angel controller, so I'm not sure how to relate back to the Spectral controller directly. My lighting schedule is as follows:

8:30A: Supplemental LED On
9:00A: Kessil Ramp Up Starts
10:00A: Kessil @ 60% Intensity, 45% Color
6:30P: Kessil Ramp Down Starts
7:30P: Kessil @ 0% Intensity, 0% Color
8:00P: Supplemental LED Off

dbrewsky · Mar 15, 2016

I would start roughly 50% intensity for 8 hours with a 1 hour ramp to full intensity and slowly increase and monitor the intensity to probably 100% based on your specifications over the next month or so and start there. These lights are not par monsters by any means, however it is best to allow a proper acclimation period.

TheEngineer · Mar 15, 2016

Kershaw said:
Color
Ramp 100% to 80% over 200 minutes.
Stays at 80 till evening then ramps from 80 to 15 over 180min

Intensity 15% to 90% over 200 minutes
Stays at 90 till evening then ramps from 90 to 15 over 180 minutes.

Make sure you acclimate corals before going to 90%
I raise 5% a week.

I'm surprised you are running it at 90%. At 60% the lux is plenty high at the water's surface.

dbrewsky · Mar 15, 2016

I had mine a 100% and my par readings with a properly calibrated apogee was surprisingly low even with a conversion factor.

Kershaw · Mar 15, 2016

Well I am running to kessils over a 48x30 area just want to make sure I get the light where I need it. Also kessils area little weak on with uv from what I have been told. . my poker star and superman montis love the light high. Amazing color on them. The base color of my montis where kinda brown until I got light closer to 80. Always had good growth and polop extension. But base color wasn't there.

TheEngineer · Mar 15, 2016

dbrewsky said:
I had mine a 100% and my par readings with a properly calibrated apogee was surprisingly low even with a conversion factor.

Hmm. I still don't trust par meters with LEDs. I did hear there was a new sensor released recently that is supposed to measure them more accurately. I feel like running much higher than I am would be too bright, but that's using my very uncalibrated eyeballs.

TheEngineer · Mar 15, 2016

Kershaw said:
Well I am running to kessils over a 48x30 area just want to make sure I get the light where I need it. Also kessils area little weak on with uv from what I have been told. . my poker star and superman montis love the light high. Amazing color on them. The base color of my montis where kinda brown until I got light closer to 80. Always had good growth and polop extension. But base color wasn't there.

Agreed. I added a 430nm booster LED to my setup. 48x30 with one A360?

Kershaw · Mar 15, 2016

I have 2 360s. Over 48x30. Looks great grate growth. But my tank is also only 20 deep and I run about 10 off water. Only issue I have had was the color of montis and a friend told me that the kessils are lacking enough uv for certain corals. Only my montis showed me that.

dbrewsky · Mar 15, 2016

Even with a lux meter, which I still believe is an approximation tool, the lux wasn't soaring like it should the way the light intensity on these lights get hyped up. Bulk reef supplies measurements in their LED video of the Kessil A360 WE also confirm results similar to what I measured. There are reporting at 6 inches on their test tank a max par of 189 and average of 64.5 on a 30"x30" test tank.

Don't get me wrong, I have Kessils on my current tank as they have great spectrum and I love the lack of disco ball, but I think people need to know there realistic performance potential before trying to rely on them and trying to design a lighting plan around the hype.

TheEngineer · Mar 15, 2016

It's always interesting to hear the experience of others. I haven't been amazed by my growth rate, but I don't think it has suffered. Up until two weeks ago I ran mine at 50%, I just bumped up to 60%.