Adding a Kessil 360X to my current AP9X

thatmanMIKEson · Jul 28, 2022

ScubaFish802 said:
at least the ap9x has the auto acclimation mode to ramp lights up slowly over a given period of time. I am up to 55% - 9” off the water (was 10 but my desk is near the tank and it burns my eyes after working all day )

What's your water depth? Yeah that blinding stuff is no fun! How do you like the light what size tank is it on?

ScubaFish802 · Jul 28, 2022

The tank is 21” tall but the water depth is only 19 or so - BRS series said to do a bit higher if I recall.. think they said 10 or 12 was ideal for this size.
I like it a lot so far, the shimmer is really nice - seems well made, looks sleek. Overall quite an upgrade over the cheap Fluval leds I had on the last tank!

chrisjj625 · Aug 7, 2022

Anyone have any last thoughts before I pull the trigger on one of these lights?

thatmanMIKEson · Aug 7, 2022

chrisjj625 said:
Anyone have any last thoughts before I pull the trigger on one of these lights?

So what's your plan?

chrisjj625 · Aug 7, 2022

thatmanMIKEson said:
So what's your plan?

Strongly considering another AP9X even though I am going to have to run them both at like 15%.

thatmanMIKEson · Aug 7, 2022

chrisjj625 said:
Strongly considering another AP9X even though I am going to have to run them both at like 15%.

Well that's not a terrible idea, that will look good on your tank...since we first started talking about this, I temporarily added a reefbrites 24" 50/50 led to the back section of the tank to help eliminate shadows, but its terrible lol, I know there's shadows now but I assume they will get worse as things grow out, I believe I will be going to two- three xr15's or some sort of flat panel light on this tank. Maybe even a large panel with a 3d printed shade on it, the shimmer on the kessils is amazing and most of the reason for getting them but the shadows are worse than losing the shimmer I think..idk ... this is coming off this weekend its been on a week but it's so ugly

minus9 · Aug 7, 2022

Why don’t you use a floating canopy and conceal the lights in there? Also, don’t get hung up on how many LEDs it takes to light a tank, that’s the biggest difference with new technology vs old. When growing certain corals, it’s gonna take more fixtures to adequately cover that area vs old school T5’s or MH. I think the suggestion of adding two 360x’s on either side is best, but your other option is to use LED bars that run the length of the tank, which is why I suggested a low profile floating canopy. If you don’t want to add another 360x (or two) then I would check out Quanta Pro bars (meso blue would be my choice) for fill light. If you don’t want to increase intensity, xho’s are an option, but I think they are way overpriced for what they are. I used six 360x’s and three LED bars on my custom 90g and I still had some shading. I love Kessil’s, as I love contrast, but it comes at a cost. I believe in combining LED styles (point source and panel) to cover a tank properly, but this all depends on the animals you’re keeping? Just food for thought.

chrisjj625 · Aug 7, 2022

Thanks guys. I don’t mind the shadows. I’m probably just trying to tinker, like we always do in this hobby.

chrisjj625 · Apr 4, 2023

Took me awhile to pull the trigger. But, this is where I ended up.

tmc13 · Apr 5, 2023

looks good. What intensity did you decide on?

chrisjj625 · Apr 5, 2023

So I was up to 40% with 1, so I dialed it back to 30% which gave me close the same par in the middle and added a two week acclimation starting at 80% for some added insurance.

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 5, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
Took me awhile to pull the trigger. But, this is where I ended up.

That looks great!!! I ended up getting the aquatic life t5 light with the ap9x and one reef brite, but still not 100% satisfied so I just got the ati straton to replace this again. I'm just having shadow issues and I'm addicted to tinkering, this tank footprint is difficult to evenly light also.

I like the look of your tank it's very attractive with the 2 ap9x's!!

chrisjj625 · Apr 5, 2023

thatmanMIKEson said:
That looks great!!! I ended up getting the aquatic life t5 light with the ap9x and one reef brite, but still not 100% satisfied so I just got the ati straton to replace this again. I'm just having shadow issues and I'm addicted to tinkering, this tank footprint is difficult to evenly light also.

I like the look of your tank it's very attractive with the 2 ap9x's!!

Yea I wanted to do the reefbrite fixture, but my tank isn’t dee enough and I didn’t want to hang it.

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 5, 2023

chrisjj625 said:
Yea I wanted to do the reefbrite fixture, but my tank isn’t dee enough and I didn’t want to hang it.

What lights and size tank do you have?

I screwed the RB to the aquatic life fixture, but on my other tank I contacted aquatic life and they sent me some mounting brackets for the track, so I have a 48" fixture with two RB lights front and back using those mounting brackets.

Here's that light

thatmanMIKEson · Apr 5, 2023

thatmanMIKEson said:
What lights and size tank do you have?

I screwed the RB to the aquatic life fixture, but on my other tank I contacted aquatic life and they sent me some mounting brackets for the track, so I have a 48" fixture with two RB lights front and back using those mounting brackets.

Here's that light

Just those ap9x's right? Your tank lights looks way better than mine to look at, very clean look!