Trying all LED

[Cari]

Hi fellow reefers! I need some help with Kessil AP 700’s, please.

I have an Aquatic Life fixture inside a canopy over a standard 90 gallon (48”L x 24” H x 18” W). Currently running 2 Kessil AP700’s only, mostly due to heat. Would like to go totally led and retro fit the t5 section with led’s.

I used an Apogee 510 to get some par readings. I’ve attached a pic with readings taken with Kessil only and with the t5’s for comparison. The readings were taken with main powerheads off, return on. The lighting fixture sits 11” above water.

The goal for the tank is LPS dominate with a few SPS in upper half. Here are my questions:

1). What is correlation between Kessil intensity and par? Meaning if I increase intensity by 5% say, how much increase in par?

2). What length of time are you running peak for LPS, in particular torch, hammer, frogspawn, oxypora chalice ?

3). What led strip would you use with the Kessil?

4). Should I change AP700’s (5 yrs old) out for the AP9X ?

Thanks for your help!

 

[MnFish1]

1). What is correlation between Kessil intensity and par? Meaning if I increase intensity by 5% say, how much increase in par?

I suppose you could contact Kessil for general recommendations. PAR decreases significantly with depth - and there are multiple other factors that affect PAR (the yellowness of the water, etc etc)

2). What length of time are you running peak for LPS, in particular torch, hammer, frogspawn, oxypora chalice ?

I tend to use nature for my settings - i.e. the reef is pretty sunny for much of the day. At absolute 100% peak I guess about 4 hours - but then slowly decrease (ie.. 80% for 2 hours, 60% for 2 hours, etc.

3). What led strip would you use with the Kessil?
I'm not sure I would use both.

4). Should I change AP700’s (5 yrs old) out for the AP9X ?
I would say only if you there is an issue with your older lights - or there is a feature with the new lights that you can't live without

 

[Cari]

Thanks for giving me some insight. I’m not sure if there is anything wrong with the lights. I‘m getting par readings of 110 on the bottom and 180 half way up, at 85% intensity.

I don’t know if that’s normal or not. When I look around the R2R site, seems like a large number of people are running them well below 85% intensity.

I agree with the length of time for peak, I’ll have to check on other intensity. I think the program just says 10% when they come on and then slowly goes up to 85% at start of peak time. Maybe I could put other “points” on the chart to actually read varying intensity.

Seems like I could run just the kessil on their own. What would be the best par for hammer, torch and frogspawn?

Thanks!