Which light?! Kessil or Hd Prime!?

[6TankReefer9]

Having both the Prime HD on my nano and 3 kessil a160 on my 80, I lean toward the kessil. Yes the prime has a lot of control features but you can't beat the look of a kessil in the water. The prime has noticeable color banding "disco" effect. I am probably more sensitive to the disco since I see both lights daily. For the price though, the prime HD is hard to beat. I'd keep an eye on the for sale section here, especially with the 360x coming out I'd bet you will be able to find a good deal on the kessil lights and controller.

I agree that the Prime has more features, but I also believe that there is beauty in simplicity and kessil has that spot on. Can you comment on the noise level of the Prime vs. the Kessil? And yes, kessils are a bit pricey new so hoping there will be some discount coming around this month or keep an eye out for lightly used ones.

 

[benha]

Prime for me. I like how BRS made a video to replicate radions AB+ light spectrum for optimal coral growth and I also like the physical aesthetic of AI primes over Kessils.

 

[Mpierce]

I agree that the Prime has more features, but I also believe that there is beauty in simplicity and kessil has that spot on. Can you comment on the noise level of the Prime vs. the Kessil? And yes, kessils are a bit pricey new so hoping there will be some discount coming around this month or keep an eye out for lightly used ones.

The both have a very slight fan noise, but it's very minimal. The prime fan is temperature sensitive so it doesn't run all the time. The kessil fan is always on when the light is on. I would also think 2 a80 would be a good choice. I run a single a80 on my frag tank and I think it does a nice job, things grow and color up just fine, but they are in about 8" of water.

 

[6TankReefer9]

smiley28 Was kind enough to take par reading of the A80 at full intensity 6" from the tank and got a average par reading of 70Par. Guess my dream of using a a80 with a BTA is out of the question now.

 

[Mical]

Kessil w/ their controller

 

[Proteus Meep]

I would recomend the AI prime myself...wifi built in and more control over the spectrum...i also find the aesthetic look of the unit itself much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than the kessils

My 12" cube with the prime over it

 

[JRAD]

The a80 is completely silent. No fan. It is a nice small unit. I use it with the kessil controller. Easy to program. The only thing I am not happy with regarding this setup is the ramp up\down. I want a natural gradual ramp up but it the a80 doesn’t seem to br able to go from 0 to 1% then 2%. Seems to start at about 5% which is kind of abrupt in a dark room. I have only had the prime for a few days. It has a fan which I do not hear over the background tank noise. One note though-I am only using it at a peak of about 8%. It is over a 12” deep tank that is cycling. The prime is infinitely controllable with phone or tablet. I set mine up to use only blue at 2% overnight as moonlight ! I prefer the ripple in the water of the Kessil. Reminds me of snorkeling in ultra clear Florida Keys water. The prime has plenty of ripple but the ripples have color and kind of rainbow-ish. I think this might be due to the prime having a big red led. If I turn down the red channel it might improve this. Also-the prime is crazy bright! Like a blowtorch at full intensity. Way overkill for my needs.

 

[Cabinetman]

Does kessel still sell parts and controllers for their older lights? Say the generation of the non HD hydra? If they do I'd go with them cause after buying a used pair of non HD hydra 26 without a controller I soon learned i couldn't buy a replacement controller. Discontinued. The price of these lights I'd expect to be able to buy parts for more than a generation back. Especially seeing how they are supposed to last...how many years? Being able to buy parts would be a big concideration considering the cost and the fact that they do break

 

[tylork92]

I’m running 2 prime HD with 2 T5 on a 40B. My BTAs are thriving

 

[Christopher Davis]

I have 2x 160 tuna blues noise is silent had them for 2 years now!

 

[JBKReef]

I'm a huge Kessil fanboy... so my vote is always going to be for kessil. BRS has said several times that they have office tanks with A80's on Nuvo 10's growing clams even. Just as high demand for light as nems. The Nuvo 10 is roughly the same size as a 12 inch cube.

I have 3 A80's, two over a 25 gallon lagoon, and one serving as my coral QT light. They are not super strong, and while you might be able to sustain nems I wouldnt expect them to thrive. The A160 allows for expansion as others have said, my vote is for the 160 so a couple years down the road when you want to branch out you can pick up another and be on your way.

Either light will serve you well, the AI Primes are awesome lights and you can just set up based on one of the many popular lighting schemes and not have to worry about spectrum. Set it and forget it just like the Kessils.

 

[Mpierce]

BRS has said several times that they have office tanks with A80's on Nuvo 10's growing clams even. Just as high demand for light as nems. The Nuvo 10 is roughly the same size as a 12 inch cube.

And a second a80 is an option if you feel like one isn't enough. I would think a BTA would be fine directly under an a80, but I only have corals under mine.

 

[Gil03]

I'd go with an AI, it has built in wifi out of the box, it's dang there 2019 and Kessil is STILL making people spend extra on an external controller. It's a no brainer imo AI gives you much more for your money and I've used both Kessil and AI. Also, Kessil doesn't give you the blue spectrum the way AI does, for some reason my blues on the A360 had a greenish hue to it no matter what I did.

 

[DSC reef]

I'd go with an AI, it has built in wifi out of the box, it's dang there 2019 and Kessil is STILL making people spend extra on an external controller. It's a no brainer imo AI gives you much more for your money and I've used both Kessil and AI. Also, Kessil doesn't give you the blue spectrum the way AI does, for some reason my blues on the A360 had a greenish hue to it no matter what I did.

Wifi is not important to everyone when choosing lights though. I for one am going kessil for the shear simplicity of design and function. I don't want to change multiple colors and I don't want to worry that my lights did not connect to wifi.

 

[Earl Karl]

AI Prime HD are the best bang for your buck LEDs, especially with the controllability right out the box. However, not as good as the Kessil for growing corals. The difference is the warm white diode, which is proven to accelerate coral growth in sacrifice of color. But with the other diodes, Kessil is far more superior when it comes to growing corals and showing their colors as it has superior color spectrum.

If you have the money, Kessil is the better option. If you are on a budget and want controllability right out the box, AI Prime HD is your best bet.

Keep in mind if you do go AI Primes and also plan to get high end acros such as horridas or tenuis, be prepared that your acro frags are pretty much gonna stay as a stub or grow very slowly due to the lack of warm white diode.

If you're going with other corals, you might as well just go for the AI Prime HD.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

AI Prime HD are the best bang for your buck LEDs, especially with the controllability right out the box. However, not as good as the Kessil for growing corals. The difference is the warm white diode, which is proven to accelerate coral growth in sacrifice of color. But with the other diodes, Kessil is far more superior when it comes to growing corals and showing their colors.

If you have the money, Kessil is the better option. If you are on a budget and want controllability right out the box, AI Prime HD is your best bet.

Keep in mind if you do go AI Primes and also plan to get high end acros such as horridas or tenuis, be prepared that your acro frags are pretty much gonna stay as a stub or grow very slowly due to the lack of warm white diode.

If you're going with other corals, you might as well just go for the AI Prime HD.

Please note that I am not asking this with any sort of rude connotation.

Do you have evidence to back this statement up? Other than anecdotal?

I would be interested to see a study/write-up of how big the difference is.

 

[Earl Karl]

@Js.Aqua.Project

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004484861200186X

They used LEP (Light Emitting Plasma) instead of LEDs, but still used the 6500k spectrum.

Daylight spectrum is more effective for coral growth, but you heavily sacrifice color as zooxanthellae will massively reproduce within the coral, turning the coral brown. But with the mixture of other color diodes, notably blue, you will get the best growth AND the best colors from your corals. Ecotech Marine Radion Pros and Kessil A360X Tuna Blues are your best bet for this.

From a anecdotal standpoint, I have had Acropora Horridas and Tenuis that stayed as a stub for over a year under AI Prime HDs. When I made the switch to Ecotech Marine Radion XR15 Pro G4, the same corals exploded in growth.

 

[Yvonne Wong]

I like the shimmer effect you get from Kessil lights and they are virtually silent. They remind me of metal halides I use to have in my reef tank. I vote for Kessil!

 

[hart24601]

Keep in mind the new 360x technology very well trickle down to the 160 line - WiFi with dongle and other colored diodes, that would make it more comparable to the AI prime - of course it’s more complex then. It’s hard to argue kessil tech at the moment is better since they are moving to the more modern standard of AI and such.

 

[mattzang]

I have just 1 ai prime HD over my 24x24x20 cube and it seems fine. I don't have any nems, I just don't want to risk it with my powerheads. I figured I'd just avoid putting anything that wants semi decent light on the outside edges, but I have a bunch of stuff that seems to be doing fine on the outer edges (acans, gonis, duncans, gsp, hammer, and a torch). Now I'm just trying to figure out what I can put really high up right under the light. Might have to get another one when stuff gets big and shadows more stuff, but I'd think it'd be fine on your tank. Plus the app is really cool. You can join a facebook group and download presets for it, then tinker with it from there if you want. I'm a big fan.

And noise wise, I can't hear it at all. I'm not super paranoid about a silent tank, though. I stood really close and all I can hear is the hum of the return pump and water trickle from the return jets.