Kessil A360's?

[Grayout]

I've taken the plunge and moved away from metal halides/T5's/VHO's and power compacts for the new LED's and so far I'm pretty impressed. In the past I've had pretty good success growing hard corals using 250's but the power usage and heat was always a concern. Not to mention the spectral shift over time and need to replace an expensive bulb once a year.

Currently, I have three Kessil A360w's (their newest model) over a six foot frag tank, controlled by an Apex and have seen solid growth from monti's and acro's. Many of the browned out colonies I've picked up are already turning to their original colors after only a couple of weeks.

Is anyone else running these lights locally and if so at what intensity?

[WarDog]

Welcome to the club! Currently mine are running at 85% intensity and all my colours are coming back. I was running them at only 65% before and lost all my fancy colours.

[Grayout]

I was running mine at 80% for a few weeks and after speaking with the Kessil technical support guru he recommended ramping to 100% at 30 minute increments over a few weeks to acclimate the corals. So far, I'm at 100% for two hours with no ill effects with plans to stretch that over four hours. I read online from other Kessil customers that they had bleaching at 100%, so I was a bit worried to give it a try. I'm also using the highest setting for spectrum which is pretty white and close to a halide 10k bulb.

What's the depth of your tank and how high did you mount the Kessils? Mine are 7" over the water and the frag shelf is 10" below the water. Evidently, with them only 7" over the water the spread is around 18" per the Kessil tech support. They couldn't provide me with any par values, however.

[hfp75]

I have 2x 360WE over my tank and am running at the peak 85% Intensity... I am on the blue side of the color spectrum.

My tank is a 20x20x48 and I have pretty good coverage. I do miss T5s though...

I would like a 3rd 360WE for this tank.

I am running 2x 350w over my 4ft frag tank (48x 16x 16) and it is not enough light. I need to get another 350w for this tank. Blue is full power and white is 3/4.

I like the goose-neck concept of Kessil. My 360we x2 are controlled by my Apex. I am about 10" over the tank.

[mikellini]

I am running 50% intensity about 8" above the surface. I was up to 60% with monti frags and they all bleached and subsequently died, I think I had other issues tho. Gonna keep ramping...

[Grayout]

The Kessil rep indicated that the par meters available do not accurately read the intensity of these lights. I haven't seen any spectral analysis of these anywhere. It seems like they are pretty experimental and no one really knows how they will grow corals. I tried to pin down the Kessil rep on what their results were in the lab regarding coral growth but he didn't seem to have that much info. More and more coral farmers are starting to switch over to LED's such as www.uniquecorals.com but I suspect they will supplement with T5's. I've seen solid growth with motipora already but the acropora have only begun to show better coloration. This could be from many factors such as cleaner water, however.

[Skimmer Juice]

currently running a single a360we on a 36x20x20 run at %100 intensity and full blue about 6 inches from water surface . my Nems seem to love the light compared to when I had t5's running . My lps are doing great with decent growth much deeper colors and I have 4 sps under it , a birds of paradise , a green confussa , a potato chip coral and a red digitata and they are all doing fine . Have not bleached anything with the light running at %100 intensity .

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by Skimmer Juice

currently running a single a360we on a 36x20x20 run at %100 intensity and full blue about 6 inches from water surface . my Nems seem to love the light compared to when I had t5's running . My lps are doing great with decent growth much deeper colors and I have 4 sps under it , a birds of paradise , a green confussa , a potato chip coral and a red digitata and they are all doing fine . Have not bleached anything with the light running at %100 intensity .

That's crazy... did you have to taper up the intensity?

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by Skimmer Juice

currently running a single a360we on a 36x20x20 run at %100 intensity and full blue.

Say Whaaaaat? 100% blue and 0% white? Ludicrous! Lol.

[Grayout]

So far I'm up to three hours at 100% and 10k with no issues from the acro's but the chalices are going to need to be pushed further away from the center of the light. Think they may like the lower par since they are showing a little lightening. The cyphastrea may also need to be pushed further away on the frag rack too. The monti's are also enjoying the full power/spectrum. I think these lights are a lot more powerful than most people think. There are lots of forums chastising their ability to grow acro's/monti's. Yes, they may not be the best with super deep tanks but for shallow (frag tanks) I'm already seeing pretty good growth.