Returning to the hobby - Any LED systems that look like metal halide?

AquaLogic · Dec 22, 2023

piranhaman00 said:
I cannot even watch YouTube videos of people running only kessil, it looks horrible and hurts my head haha. I prefer flat t5

Different strokes I guess. I hated the way T5 looked when I ran it.

Ironwill723 · Dec 22, 2023

I love my Kessil a360x's. I plan to add more or even some a500x's. If you like the old school look of MH you will like the kessils. The only light I have found that looks like the sunlight beams through the water while snorkeling.

AquaLogic · Dec 22, 2023

Ironwill723 said:
I love my Kessil a360x's. I plan to add more or even some a500x's. If you like the old school look of MH you will like the kessils. The only light I have found that looks like the sunlight beams through the water while snorkeling.

That's what I'm going for. I'm a diver, and I want a light that looks like it looks when I'm diving. That is NOT T5 for sure, or radion.... Looks like only Kessil and metal halide achieve this.

Ironwill723 · Dec 22, 2023

pblogic said:
That's what I'm going for. I'm a diver, and I want a light that looks like it looks when I'm diving. That is NOT T5 for sure, or radion.... Looks like only Kessil and metal halide achieve this.

Yep, you will be pleased with them. If you need any help or have any questions I would be glad to assist. Good luck.

mtraylor · Dec 22, 2023

One of my lfs has a display tank with kessels on it and it's beautiful. It's behind wall and framed in front like a picture on the wall. It gives off the nostalgia that you are referring too and just looks beautiful. It's the only aquarium in store that gives that sparkle and great feeling like that

AquaLogic · Dec 22, 2023

mtraylor said:
One of my lfs has a display tank with kessels on it and it's beautiful. It's behind wall and framed in front like a picture on the wall. It gives off the nostalgia that you are referring too and just looks beautiful. It's the only aquarium in store that gives that sparkle and great feeling like that

That sparkle and feeling is so important to me. I remember many years ago when I started in the hobby I listened to everyone's advice and went with T5. When I got it all setup, I didn't understand why I had no shimmer like I saw at my LFS. I was so disappointed because my reef looked flat and lifeless. It made me very sad. After some research I came to understand point source lighting, and found out the LFS was using metal halide. I switched and was so happy. I could never, never use T5 again, and I could not use radion because they look just like T5. I have also notices in watching youtube videos and looking at photos of people's reefs that it seems to be popular now to have an extreme blueshift to the lighting. To me it looks ridiculous. That is not what it looks like in nature when you are under water.

I know to some in the hobby, coral growth is the most important thing, and aesthetics mean nothing. To me, the aesthetics.. the look and the feeling is what means everything.

mtraylor · Dec 22, 2023

Very cool. I used to run mh's for many years with vho supplements. The shimmer was very nice. Heck I can remember the old school aquarium screen saver with shimmer.

You-know-what you want and it's great that you can replicate that in your own aquarium. That's what's all about.

Please share pics once you get it all setup

tmc13 · Dec 22, 2023

Another vote for Kessil. From your description of what your looking for, Kessil is the best fit. As others have said, if the shimmer is too much for you, just control how much surface agitation you're getting and dial it in until you get the look you want.

Gill the 3rd · Dec 22, 2023

This is going to sound odd but it worked really well for me. On my old tank I ran a hybrid t5 fixture with blue bulbs (forget which ones exactly) paired with freshwater kessils. It looked just like a metal halide and I now run viparspectras with those same freshwater kessils to get the similar look.

minus9 · Dec 22, 2023

Here’s my Kessil powered nano system.

Mwatts12 · Dec 22, 2023

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I recently posted my experience with Kessil. I am not biased they are beautiful lights and have always been my fave. But I bought 3 brand new and each one quit working slowly after the first year. It was insane.

AquaLogic · Dec 23, 2023

Mwatts12 said:
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I recently posted my experience with Kessil. I am not biased they are beautiful lights and have always been my fave. But I bought 3 brand new and each one quit working slowly after the first year. It was insane.

I’ll likely buy them from Amazon and tack on a 4 year warranty,

Spare time · Dec 23, 2023

The a500x can be mounted rather high which is nice to get wider shimmer lines. Unfortunately they are quite expensive.

Bpb · Dec 24, 2023

pblogic said:
Hi all! After about ten years I am returning to the hobby. Right now I'm looking to setup a nano tank because we may need to move again in a year or so, but I'll be going big thereafter.

I'm looking into lighting right now. Previously I used 250W x 2 -Phoenix 14k Metal halide lights over my 75 gallon reef and I love the way they looked. For me, this look is really critical. I strongly dislike the look of T5. I have run T5 in the past and never want to do so again. I have fun metal halide plus t5 and I dislike what the t5 does to how things look. Having something I can transfer to a larger tank would be ideal.

I was wondering if there are any LED fixtures out there that will give this same metal halide shimmer. The look is more important to me than anything, I'm not going to be growing anything super challenging in this nano so my main concern is the beautiful shimmer like I got from the phoenix bulbs. Is this possible to achieve with LED? I would prefer to save the power and not have to run halide if I can avoid it. It's been a long time since I've looked into lighting, so any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: Wanted to note, I'm not looking to debate LED vs metal halide in any aspect other than the way it looks and power consumption. I'm looking to achieve an aesthetic, not interested in the debate over what grows better.

Ultimately I'm just looking for the LED fixture that looks the most liked MH.

Kessils come close if you add a bit of fill light from t5’s. That will mute the extreme caustic lines. Kessils alone are a lot more harsh than halides. The reflectors minimize and mute shimmer quite a bit. Don’t expect kessils alone to perform like halides do, even if they look similar. You need a lot more supplemental lighting. The kessils are mostly for visual effect

AquaLogic · Dec 25, 2023

Bpb said:
Kessils come close if you add a bit of fill light from t5’s. That will mute the extreme caustic lines. Kessils alone are a lot more harsh than halides. The reflectors minimize and mute shimmer quite a bit. Don’t expect kessils alone to perform like halides do, even if they look similar. You need a lot more supplemental lighting. The kessils are mostly for visual effect

800$ is a heck of a lot for just a visual effect!

braaap · Dec 25, 2023

T5 with NanoBox retrofit. I can help you with the retrofit as I am not making the parts to build them. They have a great shimmer and have amazing coverage. 5 channel control too!

DHill6 · Dec 25, 2023

Kessil 500x on a reefer 170, no problem runs great. I love the shimmer and I noticed a big difference in coral color when I switched to Kessil. They’re healthy, no problem there. Easily controlled with phone app. I haven’t had a problem there either.