Reefi vs Kessil 360x

stros · May 16, 2020

Trying to see if anyone has any comparison of the Reefi extreme vs the Kessil 360x. I know the kessil has the best shimmer, but want to know if the Reefi have better fill in so you don't have to supplement with t5. I am also interested in long term growth and color with both fixtures. I want to change leds on my current tank. Tank is a Fiji cube 81 gal mixed reef. Dimensions are 36x24x24 .
Thanks for any input!

Mark

F i s h y · May 17, 2020

I've begun a retro light set for my build (that technically hasn't started) I've got 8 x 36" T5 and 4x Kessil A360WE for a 72Lx30Dx24H tank I will be having built custom. Hopefully someone with experience with the Reefi Extreme and A360X will chime in...

Ron Reefman · May 17, 2020

I've talked with Daniel, the designer and builder of the Reefi fixtures. Hopefully he will jump in here and offer some help. I'm actually interested in trying his fixture. I just have a hard time justifying the expense since I already have 3 Reef Breeder Photon V2+ fixtures (2 over my 36x30x20 DT and 1 over my 16g Rock Flower Anemone breeding tank).

@danlu_gt

RCS82 · May 17, 2020

You're comparing 1 Reefi Duo Extreme to 2 kessil 360Xs I hope. Some people just compare light to light without taking into account number of pucks or wattage which obviously impacts price.

stros · May 17, 2020

I am looking at doing 2 Kessil 360xs or 2 Reefi Duo extremes. Big price difference on the total. 900 for the kessils and 1500 fro Reefi.

stros · May 19, 2020

Thanks for all the input! How hard is it to find the correct light schedule and color settings? I assume it is very hard to tell without a par meter. How long do you keep it on the program before trying an adjustment. Again I assume it has to do with how your corals react.

stros · May 20, 2020

What is a good par meter to help set up your fixture?

Hemmdog · May 20, 2020

stros said:
What is a good par meter to help set up your fixture?

Apogee

xiaoxiy · May 20, 2020

Hey stros. I have the exact same tank you have and it’s been lit with a metal halide/t5 combo for the six months that it has been running. Last week I took the plunge and bought 2x ReeFi duo extremes to replace my current light. I was going to set them up and PAR match them this coming weekend. I’ll post my settings once I get them set up!

danlu_gt · May 20, 2020

stros said:
What is a good par meter to help set up your fixture?

Apogee's new full spectrum sensor is good.. only need to correct for the 400nm PAR reading from their PAR response curve chart.

stros · May 21, 2020

xiaoxiy said:
Hey stros. I have the exact same tank you have and it’s been lit with a metal halide/t5 combo for the six months that it has been running. Last week I took the plunge and bought 2x ReeFi duo extremes to replace my current light. I was going to set them up and PAR match them this coming weekend. I’ll post my settings once I get them set up!

Awesome! I am interested to see the results. Please post some photos of you tank and mounts. Thanks again.

Ron Reefman · May 21, 2020

I have an old Apogee meter I bough many years ago in a huge group buy at another website. It was known to read most of the blue spectrum leds low, so we add 10-15% for the blues. Other than that, it's nearly indestructible.

stros · May 28, 2020

Hey xiaoxiy,
Do have any photos of your tank with the new lights up and running?

xiaoxiy · May 28, 2020

Yup! FYI, the video is a bit more purplish/warm than what I see in real life with my settings.

This picture is more true to life.

stros · May 28, 2020

Thanks for the update! The video of your tank is great thanks for posting. Your tank looks very nice. Can you continue to post some updates as you get some more time on the lights. Interested to see if things change much.

xiaoxiy · May 28, 2020

stros said:
Thanks for the update! The video of your tank is great thanks for posting. Your tank looks very nice. Can you continue to post some updates as you get some more time on the lights. Interested to see if things change much.

Will do!

So far everything looks good approximately 6 days in. I was expecting an increase in alk due to the change in light and photo-acclimation, but my alk consumption has actually increased a bit, which is a good sign. Acros still are visibly growing as well, which is always a good sign as well. Coloration remains good, perhaps even a bit better since the swap.

I'll keep ya'll updated though!

stros · Jun 21, 2020

After much debate I decided to go with 2 ReeFi duo extremes . I have been in contact with Daniel the owner and all I can say is awesome customer service. Not only did he answer all my questions he even did some custom 3D printed mounts for my set up. I should have them this coming week. I am looking forward to seeing them in person.

xiaoxiy · Jun 21, 2020

stros said:
After much debate I decided to go with 2 ReeFi duo extremes . I have been in contact with Daniel the owner and all I can say is awesome customer service. Not only did he answer all my questions he even did some custom 3D printed mounts for my set up. I should have them this coming week. I am looking forward to seeing them in person.

I think you're really gonna like them. I have not regretted swapping to the Reefis. I've run Radions, Orpheks, Nanoboxes, ATIs, and Gieseman fixtures in the past, and my favorite fixture so far is the Reefi. My corals also continue to do exceptionally well too despite going from halide/T5 to pure LEDs.

stros · Jun 21, 2020

Any hints to getting the acclimating right . I currently have 1 Ghl mitra over my tank . I know these have great power and having 2 makes me worry about burning corals. What height off the water is recommended ? It is a mixed reef with small frags at this point.

xiaoxiy · Jun 21, 2020

stros said:
Any hints to getting the acclimating right . I currently have 1 Ghl mitra over my tank . I know these have great power and having 2 makes me worry about burning corals. What height off the water is recommended ? It is a mixed reef with small frags at this point.

I did a careful acclimation process over the course of 21 days, which seemed to work well. No corals deaths, and all of my corals kept growing at a rapid rate.

I had a friend help me PAR map most of my tank (especially the locations of each of my acro mini colonies) across the light settings of my previous light setup. I then matched my previous schedule/spectrum (visually matched) with the Reefi. Finally, I PAR matched as best I could and set the lights to run acclimation mode starting at 85% over 21 days.