Acros and Kessils?

[TonyB]

Is anyone having good success growing acros under Kessil A360XE’s? I’m currently running two on a 48x24” tank and was hoping for 20x20” of decent coverage from each. They look great but I’m concerned about the shading which got me wondering what others are doing.

 

[areefer01]

There are plenty of aquariums running Kessil a360x (earlier version) with great success. Acropora dominated displays included. Best bet is to just do a search on Kessil and Acropora or include a360x.

 

[jvb89]

If you can get those acros in 250-400 par, the kessils will definitely grow them. The dilemma is shadows from a single point light souce.

 

[billyocean]

Pretty much any reef light will grow acros as long as there is enough coverage

 

[JonoH]

@Reefer Matt uses Kessils I believe...

 

[JonoH]

REEF OF THE MONTH NOVEMBER 2025 - Reefer Matt’s Amazing SPS Journey

R2R Username: @Reefer Matt My Tank Thread: The Journey of my SPS Tank! Hey Reefers! I’m Matt LeBrun aka Reefer Matt! I’m an avid aquarist who loves all things reefing! As a hobbyist, I have grown my love of reefing into many different side adventures, I just can’t get enough! I share my reefing...

www.reef2reef.com

I was right :-)

 

[Reefer Matt]

You may need four of them for spread depending on where you put the coral. I have two a360x and two a360xe on a Reefbrite fixture to help eliminate shadows. Kessils are one of the most expensive ways to light a tank because they don’t have perpendicular spread. It’s a street lamp effect.

This is a 75 gallon 48” long tank. I added shades to keep light spill down.

 

[painter1982]

I have two on my 60g 24” cube. My sps are doing good. I’m debating on my new eshopps m130 to use them or a hybrid of lights. I was thinking 5 a360xe. I love the look and color. Or 3 kessil and 2 nicrew 200’s. But the nicrew seem to have the purple look I don’t care for. Maybe that can be tuned out. Idk.

 

[Fish Fan]

REEF OF THE MONTH NOVEMBER 2025 - Reefer Matt’s Amazing SPS Journey

R2R Username: @Reefer Matt My Tank Thread: The Journey of my SPS Tank! Hey Reefers! I’m Matt LeBrun aka Reefer Matt! I’m an avid aquarist who loves all things reefing! As a hobbyist, I have grown my love of reefing into many different side adventures, I just can’t get enough! I share my reefing...

www.reef2reef.com

I was right :-)

^This!

You may need four of them for spread depending on where you put the coral. I have two a360x and two a360xe on a Reefbrite fixture to help eliminate shadows. Kessils are one of the most expensive ways to light a tank because they don’t have perpendicular spread. It’s a street lamp effect.

This is a 75 gallon 48” long tank. I added shades to keep light spill down.

And then @Reefer Matt beat me to it

I'm pretty sure you need to look no further than this to decide If Kessil lights are effective or not.

I'll add, nothing except metal halide and the sun itself shimmers like a Kessil, in my humble opinion

 

[bobnicaragua]

I’ve run Kessil /T5 hybrid in an acro tank and had great results. Kessils need supplementation in SPS tanks.

 

[Tinklez]

How many kessils would you need for a 30x24x16 tank? Would hydros 32 be better if I’m aiming for mixed reef?

 

[skey44]

Short answer yes they can grow Acropora! I have all Kessil currently in acropora heavy tank.

I’m currently switching to Reef Breeders for my main tank trying to address shading. I think if I had taken the time to build a way to mount some supplemental led like Quanta bars with my 2x AP9x I could have been happy. But ultimately sleek mounting solution is imperative for my situation and the shading of the corals led me to order a RB Meridian yesterday. I have a few corals that aren’t growing into the shapes I desire and I’m attributing it to hard shadows. Time will tell.
They grow LPS great BTW. My LPS are going nuts. I’m hoping the upgrade makes my lighting better suited for my Acropora corals.

Dramatic shading here toward the periphery of the usable light

Hard shadows evident here with growth toward light and shading on front side of Acroporas.

Tank looks amazing overall. Just unsatisfied with some of the shadows in my situation. You can see I added my a160’s back to try to help my growth contest frag pictured up top.
Tank dimensions 48x24x16” for reference.

 

[Rosengrant826]

 

[TonyB]

Thanks everyone for the input. Turns out I overestimated the coverage I would get out of the Kessils and need to either add a couple more or add supplemental strips. I'm a halide guy from the early 2000's so I need the shimmer of the Kessils LOL. Back then we used the strip lights just to add some blue to the 10k lights and they didn't add to the par. How much do these new LED strips contribute to increasing par, or do they just help with the shadowing?

 

[jvb89]

Thanks everyone for the input. Turns out I overestimated the coverage I would get out of the Kessils and need to either add a couple more or add supplemental strips. I'm a halide guy from the early 2000's so I need the shimmer of the Kessils LOL. Back then we used the strip lights just to add some blue to the 10k lights and they didn't add to the par. How much do these new LED strips contribute to increasing par, or do they just help with the shadowing?

I love the kessil shimmer! The par will increase as long as they aren't too far from the coral, also it depends on how many strips you put on and their wattage.

 

[TonyB]

I'll go with the quads if I decide to go Reefbrite. For the same money I can buy two more Kessils, but will likely still have some shadowing. I think Reefbrite setup is the play, then maybe add a third A360 if I come across a deal on one.

 

[jvb89]

I'll go with the quads if I decide to go Reefbrite. For the same money I can buy two more Kessils, but will likely still have some shadowing. I think Reefbrite setup is the play, then maybe add a third A360 if I come across a deal on one.

Some of this also depends on if your doing full acropora tank or a mixed reef. If mixed you can do some choice acro placement where the lights overlap better. Full acro tank = as multiple angles as possible i.e. blanket of light

 

[TonyB]

I'll go with the quads if I decide to go Reefbrite. For the same money I can buy two more Kessils, but will likely still have some shadowing. I think Reefbrite setup is the play, then maybe add a third A360 if I come across a deal on one.

Some of this also depends on if your doing full acropora tank or a mixed reef. If mixed you can do some choice acro placement where the lights overlap better. Full acro tank = as multiple angles as possible i.e. blanket of light

It’s a mixed reef. Lots of lps along the bottom and the acros are on the top 1/3.

 

[jvb89]

It’s a mixed reef. Lots of lps along the bottom and the acros are on the top 1/3.

Also, as they are frags you can get away with less(not less par,just less fixtures)but as they grow the shadows will get worse and extra angles of light will be needed.

 

[skey44]

It’s a mixed reef. Lots of lps along the bottom and the acros are on the top 1/3.

I’d look at the quanta bars! They’re very high quality for the price and add to par significantly. Especially the 14k color.