Kessil A-360WE, thought this were best light, but PAR reading shocked me

[balajeek15]

Based on your PDF you tested your PAR at 38% intensity. You can get much more PAR out of the kessil than that.

So is there a max limit that we can run, meaning is it safe to run at 100% (sorry i think from electrical point of view where don't run at their peak at all times) correct me if I am wrong. thx.

 

[Sm51498]

As you can see i get just around 100 PAR at top at my current set percentage, wouldn't you need at least 250+ PAR to grow acro on top, which is what i am trying set by increasing the percentage slowly. The whole idea i started with this percentage is becaz of some post here suggested at that level and I I just believed it.

No, you don't *need* that much. Many people feel they get better coloration at higher par values and that's a valid thing to shoot for but if your system has been running at these current values successfully and you're happy with the results, I don't think pumping up the lighting is likely to give you anything extra. I always strive not to solve problems I don't have.

 

[balajeek15]

No, you don't *need* that much. Many people feel they get better coloration at higher par values and that's a valid thing to shoot for but if your system has been running at these current values successfully and you're happy with the results, I don't think pumping up the lighting is likely to give you anything extra. I always strive not to solve problems I don't have.

I don't have acro's since 2 weeks ago and the guy i got the acros told me my kessil light does not have enough PAR to grow many of his acros.

 

[jurgenph]

I don't have acro's since 2 weeks ago and the guy i got the acros told me my kessil light does not have enough PAR to grow many of his acros.

that's funny
i've seen many, MANY great SPS tanks lit by Kessils.
even my LFS converted every single one of their tanks to Kessil only.


J.

 

[CindyKz]

I wasn't trying to imply that you need more PAR, only that it's available if you want it. Saying you are "shocked" by PAR numbers measured with settings of less than half the available power made me think you weren't aware.

I have no idea if running any light at 100% will be harmful. I would post the question to Kessil.

 

[Sm51498]

I don't have acro's since 2 weeks ago and the guy i got the acros told me my kessil light does not have enough PAR to grow many of his acros.

Has he tried? People throw around a lot of opinions as fact with little in the way of experience or evidence. I think a good read on the evidence says that corals adapt to a wide range of lighting conditions, you're far more likely to kill a coral by bleaching it under strong lights than by not giving it enough light.

 

[Austin R]

Would one of these lights (Kessil A-360we) be enough for a 24x12x12 tank? The tank is gonna be bare bottom frag growing tank

 

[MTBake]

Would one of these lights (Kessil A-360we) be enough for a 24x12x12 tank? The tank is gonna be bare bottom frag growing tank

Yes. But the sides of the tank might be kinda dim. 2 a160we would work very well, imo

And it's fine to run these at 100%. And they do grow acros. I use one to light about one third of my tank. I run it at 100% on the whitest setting for 10 hours a day with no ramping.

 

[balajeek15]

Would one of these lights (Kessil A-360we) be enough for a 24x12x12 tank? The tank is gonna be bare bottom frag growing tank

Yes my result showed at higher percentage it produced nice 300+ par in middle 6" below surface, but as MTBake said side of the tank it may lack.

 

[Shane1975]

To the OP, You could always add t5 lights to supplement which is what BRS has done. More is not always better though. I’ve left 400 watt MH and then Gen 4 Radion XR30’s and finally settled on A360we kessils supplemented with 4 ati t5’s just for their simplicity and ease of use on a 6’ tank. Also they are the easiest to clean which is one less maintenance headache. Then you can keep anything you please concerning par.

Also what height do you have your lights above the water? I find 5.5” spaced 2’ apart to be ideal.

Below is a graph from another R2R user’s findings with two 54 watt t5’s. Maybe someone can link to his post as I can’t seem to find it.

 

[balajeek15]

Update: Its been a month now after started to work on reading my PAR and in the process of increasing them. I reached my light level from [65 color, 40 white] to [90 color, 46 white] as of today. next week it will be 95/48 and will stop at that level.

Another update: Adding Hydra 26 HD in between the Kessill next week but plan to run at low level for now and slowly increase to may be 40%. Will be removing Neptune LSM and use the Hydra as a Lunar cycle, (man seem complicated to setup the Lunar on Hydra)

Now a days i need to clean my front glass every-other day as i see thin green film, wonder is it just becaz of the light increase!