Switching from Kessil to Reefbreeder

AZG · Feb 9, 2020

So I have a 90 gallon sps dominate set up. It’s been up and running for 5 years now. My current lighting is two tuna blues and aquatic life T5 hybrid. The kessils are great but once the T5’s go off I have some pretty mean shadows. I really don’t want to add another tuna blue mix. I don’t feel comfortable buying 1 new to go with 2 that are 5 years old.
With that being said I have a brand new Reefbreeder photon v2. I got it for a great price and it’s just been sitting in the basement. I tested it last night without the T5 and kinda fell in love with the spectrum. It was only a few minutes but a lot of the shadows were gone too. I’ll have more automation with the reefbreeder as well since I don’t have a controller on this system.
So my plan is to get par readings throughout the day and match it with the new light. I have a par meter so just need to pick a weekend day lol. The T5’s are staying so I’m including them in the readings. I’ve never switched lights before so I’m just looking for some advice. Does the plan I have seen okay? Should I just start the light out at 20% intensity and increase selected channels week to week? If anyone has any experience switching fixtures advice would be awesome, thank you!

Ron Reefman · Feb 9, 2020

You plan seems fine to me.

I have been using Photons almost since they first came out. I'd have made the switch you are making now, a long time ago. ;Hilarious

How tall is your 90g tank?

I had a 24" Photon V2+ over my 90g tank (36x30x20) and at midday I'm at 90% on blues and 30% on whites. But I had issues with front to back light spread and shadows due to the extra 6" (30" rather than 24"). So I added a 32" Photon V2+ behind the 24" Photon. I set it at 100% blue and 10% white at midday and my PAR in the middle (front to back where their light overlaps) went up about 25.

DonTavo27 · Feb 9, 2020

I agree with Ron Reefman. Your plan sounds
Good to me as well. I would probably start it
At half the intensity your kessils are running at now. When I made the switch from AI sols
To photon V2 , it did take some time for my corals to adjust to the V2, I’m talking like 2-3 months.

AZG · Feb 9, 2020

Ron Reefman said:
You plan seems fine to me.

I have been using Photons almost since they first came out. I'd have made the switch you are making now, a long time ago. ;Hilarious

How tall is your 90g tank?

I had a 24" Photon V2+ over my 90g tank (36x30x20) and at midday I'm at 90% on blues and 30% on whites. But I had issues with front to back light spread and shadows due to the extra 6" (30" rather than 24"). So I added a 32" Photon V2+ behind the 24" Photon. I set it at 100% blue and 10% white at midday and my PAR in the middle (front to back where their light overlaps) went up about 25.

Great thank you for the encouragement! The tank is 24” tall. I did noticed some shadows in the test run. But that was with out the T5’s on. I’m sure there will still be a few but it looked better than it does now lol.

AZG · Feb 9, 2020

DonTavo27 said:
I agree with Ron Reefman. Your plan sounds
Good to me as well. I would probably start it
At half the intensity your kessils are running at now. When I made the switch from AI sols
To photon V2 , it did take some time for my corals to adjust to the V2, I’m talking like 2-3 months.

That’s a good call. I’ll probably be doing that. I’d rather start it off slow then stress the boys out.

Aardvark1134 · Feb 16, 2020

So are going to switch out the best shimmer from one of the most expensive brands with one of cheapest ones that has poor light blending?

TheKyle · Feb 16, 2020

If you still have shadows reefbrite lumi lite led strips worked great for me to eliminate the shadows. They sit on top of the tank and you can pull them all the way to the front edge to get new direction of light coming into the tank without spillover. But probably more of a replacement for t5s which you already have. I have 72” on either side for my room divider tank.

AZG · Feb 16, 2020

Aardvark1134 said:
So are going to switch out the best shimmer from one of the most expensive brands with one of cheapest ones that has poor light blending?

Yes shimmer really isn’t a big deal to me.

Aardvark1134 · Feb 16, 2020

Well since that is the only reason to get a kessil you are probably right to downgrade to something that doesn't look as sharp.

427HISS · Feb 16, 2020

The problem is the cost of $440 each for a 2'x2' coverage. With most of us, we have a 4' long tank, so the cost's really high. But, a lot of the popular brands are way,...over priced. I don't want to start another argument for these company's, I'll say this though, $440 for one light, is sick.

AGZ, They are a quality light though. For my my tank it would be $1,760.

AZG · Feb 16, 2020

AZG said:
Yes shimmer really isn’t a big deal to me.

Aardvark1134 said:
Well since that is the only reason to get a kessil you are probably right to downgrade to something that doesn't look as sharp.

Ok thank you!

Mrtakeoff53 · May 5, 2020

Did you end up switching lights? I swapped my Kessil for a Reefbreeders light in March for shadowing issues and low PAR. I couldn’t be happier with the switch. My corals love the Reefbreeders light.

Scorpius · May 5, 2020

Par isn't everything.

RCS82 · May 5, 2020

I don't think you're downgrading at all. I haven't used a Photon but they seem great. I've had 2 360WEs and they had both failed less than 2 years old so meh, not crazy about Kessil. They're alright but the shimmer can be too much almost. Plus they are the king of shadowing. I like the move to the Photon you're making. Just try some more surface agitation and usually you will get some good shimmer with most lights.

Bpb · May 5, 2020

Not a downgrade. I’d choose reef breeders over kessil 10 times out of 10. I prefer the panel style over the dense matrix array

Bryknicks · May 5, 2020

Bpb said:
Not a downgrade. I’d choose reef breeders over kessil 10 times out of 10. I prefer the panel style over the dense matrix array

Agreed! I did not like the kessils at all. I ran them for a month before switching to the reefbreeders and couldn't be happier!

AZG · May 6, 2020

Mrtakeoff53 said:
Did you end up switching lights? I swapped my Kessil for a Reefbreeders light in March for shadowing issues and low PAR. I couldn’t be happier with the switch. My corals love the Reefbreeders light.

Yeah I made the switch. Every single acro in my tank is sprouting new sticks. I'm actually kind of blown away by how well they responded.

FiddlingEd · Aug 23, 2020

AZG said:
Yeah I made the switch. Every single acro in my tank is sprouting new sticks. I'm actually kind of blown away by how well they responded.

Hey, would you mind sharing what settings you're running on your reefbreeder? I recently added the aquatic life t5 hybrid to my photon v2 and am trying to land on a setting. I suppose it's time to rent the PAR meter again...

Zaireguy · Aug 23, 2020

Adam from battle corals swears by reefbreeders.i pmed him and asked him about them.
If he likes them that's a strong endorsement

AZG · Aug 24, 2020

FiddlingEd said:
Hey, would you mind sharing what settings you're running on your reefbreeder? I recently added the aquatic life t5 hybrid to my photon v2 and am trying to land on a setting. I suppose it's time to rent the PAR meter again...

Nothing crazy blues and purple range from 20%-60% through out the day. 20% at 9, 40% at 11, 60% 12-5, then back down. Red and green 10%-20% from 11am-3pm. White 20%12pm-4pm. Lights are on 9am-9pm, T5’s 11am-4pm. My rocks are pretty high I was getting 400par at the highest point. Hope this helps. My acros went crazy after the acclimation.