Kessils + ???

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

@Esage - I didn't want to hijack the "what have you done to your tank today" thread, so figured I'd ask you here. Keep me posted on your T5 experiment and let me know which way you go.

Reason I am interested is, I have been running the (2) 360WE's and I love them through my Apex and I feel the growth of my corals is decent and of course, I LOVE the shimmer. What I am finding I don't like is the lack of "pop" when I have the white up. I find that I enjoy having the color at about half of the intensity and try to keep them balanced as they rise and fall throughout the course of the day. If I turn the color down to less than 50% of the intensity setting I feel it becomes too blue and loses the brightness or clarity I get when they are balanced. I guess what I'm saying is I'd like to have either T5's or maybe even some ReefBrite blues to be able to keep the Kessil color more white and then have the "pop" without losing the clarity. Does that make sense? Do you have the same complaints? Does anyone else running 360's want to share their experience and thoughts?

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

Also, if Kessil owners that use Apex Fusion don't mind sharing, could you post your Fusion graphs. Thanks! I'd like to get an idea of how others are running them throughout the day. I've searched and seen a few, but most are older, so just wondering how folks are running them

portsie · Feb 1, 2016

Here's how I run mine. I really like the kessils, I have 2 over my 90g. I can't imagine supplementing them with something blue though. I think if you tinkered with it enough you could find that color/intensity sweet spot.
http://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj610/Portsie12/9116E552-D905-4BF5-9BB0-807C212C2E9B.jpg

portsie · Feb 1, 2016

Here's how I run mine. I really like the kessils, I have 2 over my 90g. I can't imagine supplementing them with something blue though. I think if you tinkered with it enough you could find that color/intensity sweet spot.

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

Thanks Portsie, I have been tinkering and I find something I like for awhile and then I see someone else's tank and go hrmmmmmm. lol. Thank you for sharing!

portsie · Feb 1, 2016

No problem, I know how you feel. I'm in the final stages of a 250g build, I'm adding 3x250w metal halides and 3 kessils. Just couldn't afford to buy all the kessils I'd need up front.

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

Oh wow, the first post didn't have the image and I had not clicked the link before I posted, you go WAY up there with your color, very interesting. What are you keeping in your 90? I'm mostly softies / lps currently as I rebuild my SPS collection.

portsie · Feb 1, 2016

It's mixed, few sps, huge leather, mostly lps. Everything grows like a weed.
I know my color gets up there lol, I guess I just like seeing the tank in all of the different colours the light can give. I've read that the color you choose with the kessils doesn't really affect growth at all, so I just run the whole spectrum because I can[emoji1]

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

I cheated and clicked your photobucket link and you have a similar coral selection as I do. I might have to keep tinkering like you said. And you posted before I could finish lol. Thanks again for sharing!

My thoughts on the ReefBrites were to supplement during the time I have high intensity, just to get a little more pop, and then have them shut off as sunset starts. My set up flat lines for a few hours. I might have to try something similar to yours and see what I think after a few weeks.

Reeflogic · Feb 1, 2016

This is what I have been running.

TheEngineer · Feb 2, 2016

I recently added a 430nm LED to supplement my A360 and it makes a huge difference. I run at about 50% intensity and 40% color (that's 100% blue, 80% white). There is a very noticeable increase in "pop" of the corals.

Esage · Feb 2, 2016

I love my Kessils but the reason I'm testing all T5 and maybe a retro T5 with Kessils is, as my colonies get bigger I was getting horrible shadowing and started losing heads on the under side of my colonies. Within the first day of running the T5 it was obvious the light coverage was better than the Kessils and the undersides of coral were getting light. I think LEDs are great but you need to double up on manufactures recommend coverage once corals start to grow in.

AllSignsPointToFish · Feb 2, 2016

I

Esage said:
I love my Kessils but the reason I'm testing all T5 and maybe a retro T5 with Kessils is, as my colonies get bigger I was getting horrible shadowing and started losing heads on the under side of my colonies. Within the first day of running the T5 it was obvious the light coverage was better than the Kessils and the undersides of coral were getting light. I think LEDs are great but you need to double up on manufactures recommend coverage once corals start to grow in.

I agree. I have three A360WEs on my 125 gallon and I'm considering supplementing with T5s to alleviate some of the shadowing I'm getting on larger colonies. Most colonies are small right now, so the issue is minimal, but I expect it to get worse with time.

Reeflogic · Feb 2, 2016

@Esage & @AllSignsPointToFIsh , thanks guys, that makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I relocated when the tank was less than a year old and during all the madness I lost 99% of my SPS, which all started from frags anyways, so I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing shadowing on larger colonies, but I can definitely see this being a problem down the road!

icecool2 said:
I recently added a 430nm LED to supplement my A360 and it makes a huge difference. I run at about 50% intensity and 40% color (that's 100% blue, 80% white). There is a very noticeable increase in "pop" of the corals.

Thank you! I had hoped to speak to someone who did this, now I need to check out your system!