A lighting thread for all the kessil A360x haters

[rtparty]

Thank you for this. Thats what I've seen too, price per PAR has been a lot higher than other lights and seems to be #1 complaint. Interesting note about the 2 year failure rate, I'll be on the look out for that. Cross my fingers here :( . What lights do you recommend?

Depends on the day

Light recommendations come down to budget, mounting options, preferences, etc. There are so many good lights these days including Kessils. I use Tuna Suns on my vivarium and the plants love them.

I really like the new Nicrew lights. Giesemann V12 is amazing. AI Blades are excellent. I’m going back to halides on my new system

 

[Hooz]

There is a copy of this light specifically at 1/3 the cost
A7s roughly $130-160
Reefi uno 2 more than double the power similar price. (Run 1 instead of 2)
Noopsyche k7 $160-200 more power bigger spread
Nicrew makes 100 watts $200 150 watt $250 and 200 watt $300
A8se. Better spectrum more than double the power, worst control through app. $200
Smatfarm g6 $180 140 watts

The Nicrew Gen 2 might be better, but FishOfHex did a direct comparison between the OG Nicrew and Kessil. He had two frag tanks on the same "system" (shared water), used similar size frags of the same coral and lit one tank with Kessil and the other with Nicrew. The growth was similar, but the coral grown under Kessil had noticeably better color.

Like I said, the Gen 2 Nicrew is probably better than the OG, but I would hesitate to argue that anything is "better" than anything else at whatever cost. You don't know what you don't know. Sure, they will both grow coral, but one produced significantly better color, to the point that he was debating switching all of his tanks to Kessil. It might be "good enough" for you (budget, or whatever), but that doesn't make it "better".

Now... That being said... I started as a Kessil guy myself, but I've since moved to other lights because I found something that fit my needs better. No hate from me, but I also don't use them anymore.

 

[pwfess]

The Nicrew Gen 2 might be better, but FishOfHex did a direct comparison between the OG Nicrew and Kessil. He had two frag tanks on the same "system" (shared water), used similar size frags of the same coral and lit one tank with Kessil and the other with Nicrew. The growth was similar, but the coral grown under Kessil had noticeably better color.

Like I said, the Gen 2 Nicrew is probably better than the OG, but I would hesitate to argue that anything is "better" than anything else at whatever cost. You don't know what you don't know. Sure, they will both grow coral, but one produced significantly better color, to the point that he was debating switching all of his tanks to Kessil. It might be "good enough" for you (budget, or whatever), but that doesn't make it "better".

Now... That being said... I started as a Kessil guy myself, but I've since moved to other lights because I found something that fit my needs better. No hate from me, but I also don't use them anymore.

I think that's a good point you mention, that it's hard to argue "better" than anything else. Whats good for one person might not be for another...for whatever reason (could probably argue that for a ton of aspects in reefing).

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Tank looks great dude. You pay more but the build quality is superior.

I personally use AI lights but I love the build quality on Kessil and might make a switch on a smaller tank one day.

 

[Marco_99]

Most people don’t like Kessil because they are one of the most expensive ways to light a tank per amount of light spread you (don’t) get with them. That said, I am also a Kessil user.

What bars are you running

 

[Marco_99]

Depends on the day

Light recommendations come down to budget, mounting options, preferences, etc. There are so many good lights these days including Kessils. I use Tuna Suns on my vivarium and the plants love them.

I really like the new Nicrew lights. Giesemann V12 is amazing. AI Blades are excellent. I’m going back to halides on my new system

I’m waiting for the next “cool” trend to be halides on all nano tanks.

 

[pwfess]

Tank looks great dude. You pay more but the build quality is superior.

I personally use AI lights but I love the build quality on Kessil and might make a switch on a smaller tank one day.

Thanks. Yeah, def pay more but sometimes you get what you pay for....sometimes haha. Every time I've reached out to kessil customer service they've been good!

 

[pwfess]

What bars are you running

I'm curious about that too

 

[Reefer Matt]

What bars are you running

Reefbrite xho

 

[rtparty]

I’m waiting for the next “cool” trend to be halides on all nano tanks.

We did it back in the day. It’s near impossible today with no 70w halides and 150w halides much more difficult to get

 

[TX_REEF]

As a kessil lover, I approve

approved

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

i used 2 of them. The color is gorgeous and shimmer is great, but the PAR they put out is not impressive, especially at depth. Combine them surrounded by reefbrites on each end and space them 2 feet apart in a 4 foot tank, now that’s a different story.

 

[skey44]

2x ap9x working well for me. I desire some more coverage and less shadowing across the front of the tank. Some of my acropora are growing better towards the light.
Will know more about shadowing as my acropora grow in, but I have no reason to upgrade, likely just add a blade on the front portion of tank.

 

[CBonito]

i used 2 of them. The color is gorgeous and shimmer is great, but the PAR they put out is not impressive, especially at depth. Combine them surrounded by reefbrites on each end and space them 2 feet apart in a 4 foot tank, now that’s a different story.

Here's what I'm rocking. I refuse to replace the kessils because I love them. The look in my opinion is unmatched by any other LED. BUT yeah, you need a few of them for enough coverage. with the 55* reflectors though, they are a lot more potent. I light up the center "oval" of the tank with them and angle them to overlap. so I get all of the nice shimmer/intensity and the straton covers the entire tank so between the 2, I get an impressive blend of light, a ton of flexibility, redundancy and enough light to hard boil an egg. It's an excellent combo.

Normally I would run a 400 watt halide maybe 14k and let it eat, but It'll just be ugly and a PITA.
The kessils give me the MH look with a lot less headache and space. Regarding the 2 year thing...I just had to replace a power supply on one of them. It's because I had both stacked on top of one another and the bottom one overheated itself. My bad. I got a new one for 16 or 18 bucks on Amazon! ha! Back in business.

 

[melfy]

My first reef light was the A80 on a IM 10g tank. Loved it. Than tried rhe AI prime and was like meh. Upgraded to a nyos 300 (36" x 22 x 21) and have 2x XR15 g6 blue...I hate them. My 2 kessil 360xe came in today!!! So 2 radion g6 xr15 with the rms will be up for sale at a good price lol
My tank is basically all softie, except for my duncan coral

 

[Staghorn]

Running 3 a360x on my 120 with t5 in a hybrid fixture. I love the color and shimmer. With that being said I had one unit fail. And I had to replace it.

 

[skey44]

Hate hate hate hating along :)

 

[melfy]

Set up my kessil 360xe...LOVE them!!! IMO it just looks much more natural. No more messing around with 10 different colors, no more disco lol
First picture with the kessil and 2nd one with the radion, no filters

 

[jimenez]

Most people don’t like Kessil because they are one of the most expensive ways to light a tank per amount of light spread you (don’t) get with them. That said, I am also a Kessil user.

can you share what type of bracket you used for the kessil lights

 

[Reefer Matt]

can you share what type of bracket you used for the kessil lights

They are on a Reefbrite xho fixture.