Kessil LED vs Halide T5

BoomCorals

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I have nearly identical frags I've set up in two different frag tanks and will use this thread to track progress. Just curious to see how it goes!

Tank 1, frags are in 250-350 PAR, frag tank is 48" long 24" wide, frag racks are 5" below water surface. There are 3x A360WE set up 10" above the water spread out over the tank, 100% intensity, color at around 60% on the dial. Photo period is 10 hours.

Tank 2, frags are in 250-350 PAR, frag tank is 48" long 24" wide, frag racks are 5" below water surface. The fixture is a 48" giesemann spectra with two 400w radiums on luxtore 450w super lumen setting and 4 T5 bulbs. T5s are on 8 hours total, Halides on 6 hours total, the overlap equates to 10 hours photo period.

Both tanks are centrally plumbed to the same sump so parameters are always the same. The coral frags are ORA pearlberry, tyree rainbow stylo, rainbow monti, cornbred flaming phoenix monti, red robin stag.

LATEST UPDATE: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/kessil-led-vs-halide-t5.331640/page-14#post-4211940


Starting photos:
Halide/T5:
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LED:
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DSC reef

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I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.
 

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Awesome! What bulbs in the MH/T5? (edit: I see radium, but what T5)

Spectrum would have to match exactly for the PAR #'s to really be equivalent.
 

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I think as long as the par numbers are the same it shouldn't matter what bulbs they choose as long as they're getting the same amount energy.the visual color isn't necessarily the best for the coral I would just be happy with using the same water same photo period And see which ones actually look better in the long run as far as growth color and the way they grow not necessarily be impressed by some growing a lot bigger or a lot taller over the other when they don't look as good as the other so it should be interesting that's all
be interesting to see what the corals do using the same water and the same par values measured at the surface and you all know that the par values are going to degrade as the metal halide and T fives age
 
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BoomCorals

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Awesome! What bulbs in the MH/T5? (edit: I see radium, but what T5)

Spectrum would have to match exactly for the PAR #'s to really be equivalent.
Two ATI actinic and two ATI blue plus.

And matching spectrum would be impossible because of the nature of how each works. I'm using color/combination of arguably the most popular bulbs and the kessil have smart logic where the color to the eye shouldn't matter much. That said I think both provide the necessary spectrum for coral growth and coloration.
 
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BoomCorals

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I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.
I'll let people draw their own conclusions based on pics as this progresses.
 

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Two ATI actinic and two ATI blue plus.

And matching spectrum would be impossible because of the nature of how each works. I'm using color/combination of arguably the most popular bulbs and the kessil have smart logic where the color to the eye shouldn't matter much. That said I think both provide the necessary spectrum for coral growth and coloration.
Love the look of actinic T5's! You're right matching is probably impossible with a Kessil since you have very limited control. Just pointing out the difference that exists even with PAR almost the same.

Both tanks are using gyre's for flow?
 

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Great thread. I will be following along.

One suggestion. When taking pictures, to compare better the progress of the corals, it might help to take some pictures with ambient or supplemental room lighting so the photos are produced under the same lights and not just the lighting being tested.

Then we can see the growth and development of the corals not just how they are looking when lit by a certain light.

Just a thought.
 
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BoomCorals

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Love the look of actinic T5's! You're right matching is probably impossible with a Kessil since you have very limited control. Just pointing out the difference that exists even with PAR almost the same.

Both tanks are using gyre's for flow?
Yes an xf230 on each end both set to random with 70% max
 
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BoomCorals

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Great thread. I will be following along.

One suggestion. When taking pictures, to compare better the progress of the corals, it might help to take some pictures with ambient or supplemental room lighting so the photos are produced under the same lights and not just the lighting being tested.

Then we can see the growth and development of the corals not just how they are looking when lit by a certain light.

Just a thought.
I appreciate the suggestion but the non scientific goal here was to show each and how they look and grow under each. So turning on my regular room lights I don't think is going to add anything.

One thing I might do on occasion is put both into the same tank for a side by side under the same lighting.
 

A. grandis

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I've been waiting for this boom corals! I'm not against led lights at all but the pics under that geismann are seriously nice. You know there's gonna be a few people that are gonna hate and pic your comparison apart. Just don't write scientific anywhere in your thread! Lol.
LOL!!!! Yup, please nothing called scientific nor semi-scientific here, man!!LOL!
Oh gosh!:p
Grandis.
 

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I find this thread very useful.

I completely understand you are just comparing the two systems you have in use in your location, but wouldn't be more fair the following scenarios?

MH alone for the 7 hours period like the Kessils?
Or
The Kessils on for 5 hours complemented with T5 for four hours overlapped in 7 hours.

Thank you very much for your time and effort and of course money spent @BoomCorals .
 

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I am curious to see if you end up with the same results as my favorite LFS did while running Kessils exclusively? The corals under their Kessils grew very fast and are now colonies but only have polyps on the top half of the SPS which looks very odd compared to most other types of lighting. I will have to check the Model # of Kessil next time I go visit.
 
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BoomCorals

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I find this thread very useful.

I completely understand you are just comparing the two systems you have in use in your location, but wouldn't be more fair the following scenarios?

MH alone for the 7 hours period like the Kessils?
Or
The Kessils on for 5 hours complemented with T5 for four hours overlapped in 7 hours.

Thank you very much for your time and effort and of course money spent @BoomCorals .
It's two light systems against each other. The T5 are part of the fixture just as much as the halide. The purpose of this test is really for my own goals. I just thought I'd bring you guys along for the ride. :) For me, there are some customers who want coral grown under halides/T5. I can now offer that. In addition I grow some of my own colonies that I frag, so I want maximum coral health and growth. If I was just a turn and burn vendor who doesn't care about growth then I'd just use whatever light makes the corals look expensive. :p
 

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