A8SE Max II Reef Light

Uriken · Feb 17, 2025

Hello everyone. I procrastinated for months when I heard about the Chinese knockoff of the radions out there for a quarter of the price with the mounting arm. I made the move and purchased a A8 SE Max Gen Ii. With the mounting arm I paid $246. I previously had 2 Kessil A360s over my SPS tank and they always made the corals look great yet things seemed to grow at a snails pace. I mounted this light and now only it for a month I love it. My only concern is the mounting arm. It's made from heavy aluminum including the mounting base that fits over the glass. I began to wonder if this may create future contamination issues in my water since the waterline does touch the base. I know metals in the water can introduce issues over time. I'm thinking I may get creative and somehow create a condom of sorts so the water never really makes contact with the aluminum base. Lowering the water line isn't feasible with my overflow design and location.
Any thoughts on this? My Kessil mounting arm looks identical to the one they sell for the A8 light but they used plastic for the base rather than aluminum.

FrugalReeferJon · Feb 17, 2025

Uriken said:
Hello everyone. I procrastinated for months when I heard about the Chinese knockoff of the radions out there for a quarter of the price with the mounting arm. I made the move and purchased a A8 SE Max Gen Ii. With the mounting arm I paid $246. I previously had 2 Kessil A360s over my SPS tank and they always made the corals look great yet things seemed to grow at a snails pace. I mounted this light and now only it for a month I love it. My only concern is the mounting arm. It's made from heavy aluminum including the mounting base that fits over the glass. I began to wonder if this may create future contamination issues in my water since the waterline does touch the base. I know metals in the water can introduce issues over time. I'm thinking I may get creative and somehow create a condom of sorts so the water never really makes contact with the aluminum base. Lowering the water line isn't feasible with my overflow design and location.
Any thoughts on this? My Kessil mounting arm looks identical to the one they sell for the A8 light but they used plastic for the base rather than aluminum.

I don’t mean to steer your post off course or go off on a tangent but although lighting does play a role in the growth of corals it’s not the only thing. You also have to factor in other things like flow, nutrients and major, minor, trace elements, the big 3 especially.

Uriken · Feb 17, 2025

Tell me about it. My tanks 36 years old as of 2 months ago.

MikeyG · Mar 31, 2025

I would certainly try to rig something up with the Kessil arm. Even though putting a condom over that thing.... man, you might be on to something here. Who knows. You could just start labeling it as the sexy arm

Sidius · May 2, 2025

Hey! How's the A8SE II Max after owning it for a couple months?

I'm considering ordering a pair for my tank but there aren't any other reviews of it that I can find.

Uriken · May 21, 2025

I had to adjust them down a bit on the intensity due to some bleaching on a couple of my more sensitive SPS but the growth has been noticeable. All SPS have new branches forming. They do run hot so I added the Hyyger Reef fan set with the thermostat to keep the air moving under the lights. You will be happy with them.

shaggydoo92 · Aug 15, 2025

I'd love to know your thoughts about the light now I'm kind of in the same predicament as you and you first started I'm looking around at lights and not sure what to get

shaggydoo92 · Aug 15, 2025

Sidius said:
Hey! How's the A8SE II Max after owning it for a couple months?

I'm considering ordering a pair for my tank but there aren't any other reviews of it that I can find.

Did you end up ordering these?