PAR Testing - Kessil A80 vs $30 Kingbo bulb

[BoomCorals]

if the kessil is like the other kessils the par reader will not read it right and we all know that kessil is a very capable light

I'm hoping Dana will shed some light on that eventually, as it does seem like Kessil somehow does more with less. So far in my own testing, the Kessil growth is just as fast as my other LED(s) is for the same size frag, cut at the same time from the same coral.

 

[BoomCorals]

Good to know about the distance from source to sensor. I'll test at 12 inches in order to standardize. When I started doing light measurements back in the early 90's, I used a distance of 3.5" since most luminaires rested on the aquarium's top and this was the distance from source to water surface. Times have changed... Matt @BoomCorals - I'm testing the Kessil AP700 now. This will get involved when considering multiple spectral/intensity settings. Thanks again for your support!

I'm glad I could help the cause! I'm curious to see if Kessils suck or are great or are in the middle of the road.

 

[Mike N]

if the kessil is like the other kessils the par reader will not read it right and we all know that kessil is a very capable light

Very true.
This test is only measuring par, not pur, nor spectrum.
That being said, I still expected better PAR numbers from the A80. (I own 3)

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Good to know about the distance from source to sensor. I'll test at 12 inches in order to standardize. When I started doing light measurements back in the early 90's, I used a distance of 3.5" since most luminaires rested on the aquarium's top and this was the distance from source to water surface. Times have changed... Matt @BoomCorals - I'm testing the Kessil AP700 now. This will get involved when considering multiple spectral/intensity settings. Thanks again for your support!

Your welcome.
It also allows you to "see" the hot spot in the light. When I saw the ap700 at macna last year that's what impressed me so much. There wasn't one One close to a 48x 24in tank.

And it was funny to watch the kessil guys scramble when I pulled out a meter. But hey.

They were super cool though and showed me the whole line and what they could do afterwards

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I'm glad I could help the cause! I'm curious to see if Kessils suck or are great or are in the middle of the road.

Hahaha. You could get some SB's!

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I will say after having diy leds, chinesse black boxes radion g3 pros I now have 3 360s over a 90 I like the kessils better and I'm running them at a pretty low percentage compared to my radions.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Following. I found this thread on "todays posts" a few moments after talking up my two kessil A80's over my IM 25. ;Bored They've been working well for the last year for me...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Following. I found this thread on "todays posts" a few moments after talking up my two kessil A80's over my IM 25. ;Bored They've been working well for the last year for me...

What kind of coral do you have in there if I may ask. How high I've the bottom of the tank are they?

Low par from a lamp BTW is not always a bad thing depending on what you're keeping. It's just another choice in the lineup from a manufacturer. 8o 160 360 etc.
imo were kessil to publish it would be a lot easier to make those choices.

 

[kyleinpdx]

What kind of coral do you have in there if I may ask. How high I've the bottom of the tank are they?

Low par from a lamp BTW is not always a bad thing depending on what you're keeping. It's just another choice in the lineup from a manufacturer. 8o 160 360 etc.
imo were kessil to publish it would be a lot easier to make those choices.

Various, the bigger colonies are mostly LPS but I’ve got a good mix of shrooms, zoas, a big branching hammer, a few gonis, a RBTA. The lights are about 9-10” above the water line. The gonis, hammer and RBTA are closer up on the rock work, probably 2/3rd up the tank. It helps that the IM25 water depth is only about 11”.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Various, the bigger colonies are mostly LPS but I’ve got a good mix of shrooms, zoas, a big branching hammer, a few gonis, a RBTA. The lights are about 9-10” above the water line. The gonis, hammer and RBTA are closer up on the rock work, probably 2/3rd up the tank. It helps that the IM25 water depth is only about 11”.

Long photo period by chance?

 

[dz6t]

Long photo period can compensate for low par.
In terms of low par reading for kessil, partly due to most par meters are weighting on the red led output heavily.
I don’t think kessil has dedicated red in their matrix, at least I don’t see it in my A360we.

White led is board spectrum, via shining a blue light on phosphor coating.

Newer white led is shinning a purple light or near UV light on phosphor coating.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Long photo period by chance?

A bit longer than some but not by much, lights come on at 12:30pm, 45min ramp up to 40%, stays there until 9pm then a 45min ramp down. I run moonlights through my reef keeper that come on 15mins before the mains turn off.

 

[dragon99]

I wonder then if the Kessil H80 has the same par values. I should test this with my seneye tonight..

BRS did some par measurements on the H80 (~5min mark)

The H80's don't push much PAR, but have the right spectrum for growing stuff.

 

[Crabs McJones]

BRS did some par measurements on the H80 (~5min mark)

The H80's don't push much PAR, but have the right spectrum for growing stuff.

Thanks for this. I have an H80 over my fuge, and its a bit smaller than the 36x36 they measured over. Mine is only about 10"x11" about 12" deep. and the light is approximately 6" off the water surface

 

[Dana Riddle]

Long photo period can compensate for low par.
In terms of low par reading for kessil, partly due to most par meters are weighting on the red led output heavily.
I don’t think kessil has dedicated red in their matrix, at least I don’t see it in my A360we.

White led is board spectrum, via shining a blue light on phosphor coating.

Newer white led is shinning a purple light or near UV light on phosphor coating.

Agreed that longer photoperiod can compensate for low PAR (requires a calculation of total number of photons using the Daily Light Integral formula) as long as we don't get carried away and fail to meet the zooxanthellate compensation point. But I suspect you knew that already -perhaps someone reading this could make a poor judgment call based on assumption. Luminaires using UV LEDs potentially report low PAR due to the diode's output being outside the range of most PAR meters' bandwidth (that is, 400-700nm) but I've seen a meter out of the UK that measured down to about 390nm. I'll use a LiCor quantum meter but might make some comparisons with the newer Apogee sensor.

 

[Dana Riddle]

BRS did some par measurements on the H80 (~5min mark)

The H80's don't push much PAR, but have the right spectrum for growing stuff.

I shudder when considering how much work these tests involve. Good Lord.

 

[dz6t]

It is interesting to see the par value of a $30 light vs the par value of a $120 light.
But I think these two lights are aim at different market segments. The kessil is controllable, better build and elegant to look at.

 

[oreo54]

You can find this on Amazon but I often wonder the credibility.

 

[oreo54]

In terms of low par reading for kessil, partly due to most par meters are weighting on the red led output heavily.

No, not really.. The below 400nm is under-sampled (by definition) but "may" only boost PAR by 10%...(guessitmate)
Of course it depends on your definition:
https://www.licor.com/env/products/light/quantum.html

PHOTON count

ENERGY count..

 

[Ranjib]

I am not surprised. Those bulbs are pretty darn effective. And likely to beat anything similar at that form factor/watts. I ran an ABI tuna blue, which kicked off rapid coralline growth (and hair algae). I did not like them in the long run though, can't dim them. And in my pico reef (3.7 g) the disco effect was pretty big. Fixed spectrum was also not very enjoyable (may be because I was running kessil on by 29G already). Coraline growth almost stopped after I switched to kessil (and green hair algae) .. now after almost 5 months, coraline is coming back, and algae is very less (not green hair , but the ones that form spots in glass)

I still have two of this type of bulbs,,.. I'll always recommend them if anyone who is on budget.

I would love to make these things dimmable (and probably controllable spectrum as well) , someday