F&S reef
Community Member
Howdy, first post here. Ive been lurking here and reading threads that I found through google for a few weeks now. I am returning to reefing with my son after about a 15 year hiatus. Me and my son popped into a LFS just to look and he caught the bug the same way I did when I was about his age. He wasn't quite born yet when I got out of reefing and its exciting to see how cool he thinks it is. So we went on a metroplex wide tour of all the LFS to #1 see if he was still interested after seeing a lot of it and #2 decide what we liked if we decided to pursue this for real.
We did decide to dive in and I have purchased us a tank as of yesterday. We bought a waterbox marine x 90.3 with the oak colored stand. I did not buy their lighting package which is what I am here for today. The dimensions of the tank itself are 35.4"×19.7"×21.7" and the tank is 59.3 gallons with no brace or obstructions on the top.
After looking at all the lighting options at the various LFS I have seen all of the popular options that are for sale when it comes to LED lighting. When I last got out of this hobby the LED stuff was just coming on. I still have a brand new in the box 250w halide setup with m80 HQI magnetic ballast and phoenix 14k bulb that I was going to put over an oceanic 30g cube tank, lol. That stuff while never used is all 15+ years old now.
What this whole story gets down to is that I really liked the kessil a360x lights when I saw them in the stores. I liked how it made the corals in the stores pop, I like the shimmer, and I liked the aesthetics. Now I have spent quite a while searching, reading, and watching videos on these lights and the consensus that I observed is that its about 50/50 on them. For what we are going to do which is going to be softys and lps I think from what I have gathered we will be more than fine. I do not want to add supplemental lighting FYI.
My question boils down to this I know for sure I need at least 2 of these, the mounts and the wifi dongle. Would I be better off with 3 turned down a bit or the 2 running higher output? MAYBE one day after we get this down real good id like to do one of the easier SPS like a monti or something but that's way down the road.
We did decide to dive in and I have purchased us a tank as of yesterday. We bought a waterbox marine x 90.3 with the oak colored stand. I did not buy their lighting package which is what I am here for today. The dimensions of the tank itself are 35.4"×19.7"×21.7" and the tank is 59.3 gallons with no brace or obstructions on the top.
After looking at all the lighting options at the various LFS I have seen all of the popular options that are for sale when it comes to LED lighting. When I last got out of this hobby the LED stuff was just coming on. I still have a brand new in the box 250w halide setup with m80 HQI magnetic ballast and phoenix 14k bulb that I was going to put over an oceanic 30g cube tank, lol. That stuff while never used is all 15+ years old now.
What this whole story gets down to is that I really liked the kessil a360x lights when I saw them in the stores. I liked how it made the corals in the stores pop, I like the shimmer, and I liked the aesthetics. Now I have spent quite a while searching, reading, and watching videos on these lights and the consensus that I observed is that its about 50/50 on them. For what we are going to do which is going to be softys and lps I think from what I have gathered we will be more than fine. I do not want to add supplemental lighting FYI.
My question boils down to this I know for sure I need at least 2 of these, the mounts and the wifi dongle. Would I be better off with 3 turned down a bit or the 2 running higher output? MAYBE one day after we get this down real good id like to do one of the easier SPS like a monti or something but that's way down the road.
I don't know anything about Kessil lights (I run an AI Prime HD over my 5g) but you will get plenty of informed replies here. You can also search that light on here to see which members are running them (or did at one time). Intensity is important but I think what you need to figure out is the coverage each light will give you. You might find two is enough and not even at full intensity because where the light overlaps (if there is overlap) will have a fair bit of light. The other factor is how deep the light penetrates for the depth of your tank. You can always contact kessil with your tank's dimensions to get their opinion as to two vs three for the type of coral you want. 
