Why the Kessil H380 was my best purchase ever

[minus9]

Anyone build a canopy around this cannon to limit the light spread (5x5)?

No, but I'll be wrapping my stand with walnut panels soon.

 

[Chitown tom]

Great read!

I have been running my h380 for about a week. I ordered a baseball size clump from algae barn and now the cheato takes up the majority of my fuge.

The growth is amazing best $300 I spent!

 

[drtrash]

Come on, is your Fuge the size of a baseball? I just put in what I think was 2 golf ball size a week ago and looks bigger but could of just opened up from shipping

 

[Rick Krejci]

Anyone build a canopy around this cannon to limit the light spread (5x5)?

I've tried a few things to limit it so my skimmer wouldn't get too much light. This lens shade fits on it without blocking the vents and can at least block in one direction:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/825818-REG/Flex_Lens_Shade_A001_Flex_Lens_Shade.html

I needed to narrow the beam even further so I made a cone from flexible material (cheap vinyl baseboard stuff) and attached it to the light using zip ties/strong double sided tape. Now I can control the spread however I want.

I did start my tank with Chaeto and the H380 before adding life. Used ammonia and Dr. Tims and dry rock. I ended up with no "green" life on the rock and started to get Dinos and Cyano since my phosphates were always dead 0. Didn't have a cleaning crew since there was nothing to clean.

Then I let my DT get a little dirtier (went on vacation and purposely let the algae grow in the DT for fish to eat). Then I got a few true live rocks for diversity and now manage the H380 time and have a heavy bioload with moderate feeding and still have to dose Nitrates and Phosphates to keep them off the floor. Everything much more stable and looking great! No sign of cyano or dinos. I need to find an equilibrium with H380 time and nitrate and Phosphate levels to avoid dosing.

Really the H380 can be way too efficient a nutrient remover, particularly early on when microdiversity populations aren't healthy and stable, causing an imbalance and letting Dinos and Cyano to out-compete everything.

 

[drtrash]

I am new to the h380 experiment, I started with new chaeto (2-golf ball size) with light on only 5 hrs. Will monitor growth rate and determine how long before the nutrition crash will occur. May have to go with less time eventually. Any negative issues with low light runtime?

 

[Rick Krejci]

I am new to the h380 experiment, I started with new chaeto (2-golf ball size) with light on only 5 hrs. Will monitor growth rate and determine how long before the nutrition crash will occur. May have to go with less time eventually. Any negative issues with low light runtime?

Good plan...starting slowly and monitoring and measuring. Shouldn't be any issues running short, other than less PH stability effect.

I'm waiting for them to come out with an adjustable version, since most of their lights have that feature. And with a 10v control line so a controller could adjust the ramp of light. Even the H80 has those features. And/or a medium (H180???) version for smaller fuges.

 

[drtrash]

I asked they said to buy a h80

 

[Holdbar7]

Anyone have experience with the H350 Magenta? I just got one used and will be using it to grow cheato

 

[Crabs McJones]

Good plan...starting slowly and monitoring and measuring. Shouldn't be any issues running short, other than less PH stability effect.

I'm waiting for them to come out with an adjustable version, since most of their lights have that feature. And with a 10v control line so a controller could adjust the ramp of light. Even the H80 has those features. And/or a medium (H180???) version for smaller fuges.

There is a middle of the road, the H150. But unfortunately it looks like they're discontinuing it. There is residual stock available from what I understand.

 

[randy4083]

I just bought this light 2 weeks ago and it grows cheato really fast and before I bought it i couldn't find nobody selling it on here and now I've seen 3 in the past week and I'm wondering why there selling them?? What's the best height to keep it at off of the water because I don't have alot of room above my sump

 

[drtrash]

All the way up

 

[Rick Krejci]

I just bought this light 2 weeks ago and it grows cheato really fast and before I bought it i couldn't find nobody selling it on here and now I've seen 3 in the past week and I'm wondering why there selling them??

It is an intense light for small sumps and can be overly efficient in stripping nutrients so some may opt for something less powerful. I also think it could be a Christmas echo effect.
Also, my system runs virtually silent in my living room, and when I first got the H380, it was pretty noisy...I could clearly hear the fan come on from across the room with the door closed. Kessil even sent me a new one, which was identical. They said it's normal. Over the course of a month, the noise got much better, where now I barely notice when it comes on.

What's the best height to keep it at off of the water because I don't have alot of room above my sump

Like drtrash said, as high as possible. May need to limit light incursion to other parts of the sump depending on the layout.

 

[randy4083]

Here's a picture of my sump and the light what do you think in the way of the height and stuff

 

[randy4083]

Here's a picture of my sump and the light what do you think in the way of the height and stuff

Nevermind about this because I just thought about something I have a nail up higher then the gooseneck will allow me to go so I'm just gonna hang the light on the nail and then I'll be atleast 10 inches off of the water would this be enough because I'm gonna put a pump in with the chaeto to keep it tumbling because it's gotten so big that it stopped tumbling after a week of growing. But will 10 inches off of the water be high enough because that's about as high as I can go I'm pretty sure

 

[Kyl]

There is a middle of the road, the H150. But unfortunately it looks like they're discontinuing it. There is residual stock available from what I understand.

H150 has been discontinued for almost a year. Kessil won't comment on a replacement, but as I've noted earlier, you can pretty much bet they'll come out with a H160 that's fully adjustable. They wouldn't even need to do anything other than subbing out the diode pcb on the A160 line.

I have the H150 Magenta, the intensity on it is pretty good. Mine is magnet mounted to the stand currently, so it's about 16" from the water line and the refugium section itself is 18" W x 18" L x 9" H. Eventually I'm dropping that to about 10-12" when arm mounted, and intend for a whole big area of chaeto and other macro to take over.

 

[Jerry Ebner]

I was on the fence about the H380 some BRS reviews say they didn't get good growth. Not knowing the factors it's hard to say. I am setting up a new build so I was going between the H380 and the H80. After days of thinking about it Some members here told me the H80 was great for them, I got the Medium Eshops Cube sump so I don't have a huge amount of space but I am hoping I got the right light for my sump/setup. Never set up a refugium before so time will tell.

 

[rock_lobster]

I'm not sure that a 100w led refugium light with 3' of penetration is a great idea unless you are running a public aquarium.

 

[ReeferBean]

Anybody use something like a lamp shade to keep some of the light out from other areas of your sump? Any easy diy ideas?

 

[Maximus]

Anyone run the h380 and got rid of their skimmer?

 

[Christopher Davis]

Not to steal the thunder on your post or kessils because I love em and currently run them on my display!

For me a kessil on a Refugium is to much IMO, and I mean that simply for costs! It’s by all means freaking awesome! But I like to save money where I can!
My refugium is powered by a 20 dollar homedepot LED flood! At 6500k! And this thing just blows up my Chaeto! I’m only sharing this on here for informative purposes! I trim once every 2 weeks at least a kings bag full.
My fuge dimensions 10x12
You can see the Chaeto is thick at mat like! It grows to the shape of my fife then I get to chopping! I just wish my tangs liked the stuff!
Lit 24hrs a day!
I will have to double check on the watts of the bulb!
Maybe I’ll put a kessil to the test on my 125!