Kessil light setting help

[alex277]

Apologies in advance, I’m looking to get my first coral added, I have never kept any before, so I’m kind of new to all of this. My tank has been running for about 10 months with fish, I have a Waterbox 220 (6’x2’x2’) and have 3 kessil a360x’s. I am looking to have an LPS dominant tank, with a few softies, and one birdsnest coral towards the top. I have my lights set to 100 for the spectrum, and 65 for the intensity. Based on the research I’ve done and BRS provided par, this should give around 100 par at the bottom, and around 160 at the top. I may adjust this up or down a little, but to my understanding this is approximately the ballpark of where I want to be, as I’m shooting for a medium light system.

My primary question is in relation to spectrum, is it okay to use the 100 setting? It is the most appealing to my eyes, aesthetically, and the more actinic lighting gives me headaches (may just be me, I have chronic migraines). I could probably lower this down a bit though if needed, like 90 or 80? My understanding is that the kessil logic sets it to be sufficient, regardless of what spectrum is chosen, but will the extra white light cause any issue potentially? And does the intensity sound about right, or any recommendations to change it, given the type of corals I’m shooting for?

Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Congrats! My experience with kessils is that it really makes no difference on the color setting so set it however you like, that it is appealing to you and doesn’t trigger those nasty headaches! I have very frequent migraines and clusters myself and am extremely light sensitive. There are 3d printed light shields out there that can help with light spill and visibly seeing the light source. The kessil shimmer can trigger those headaches as well and can be toned down a lot by adding t5s or led bars. Probably too much info but I know severe headaches and feel for others suffering with them. Depending on what your livestock choices are you may end up cranking the light intensity up quite a bit. I think you’re much better off starting low and working your way up if needed and your current level sounds like a great starting point to me. Good luck

 

[Acros]

I can confirm that it does not reduce PAR. The difference in PAR at 0 and 100 were within 10% on my ap9x.

 

[Suohhen]

Absolutely agree and the only thing I would add is coral florescence is strongly related to lighting, not only in terms of intensity of specific blue bands, but also a lack of other bands. Overly blue is not my preference either but I find the Kessil blue balance to be fine and ofc you could always keep naturally colorful corals/florescent and just be careful with things in the middle like brains and lords that can look totally different with minor changes in lighting.