One photo to demonstrate why I am adding T5 to my Kessils

[Mr. Comer]

I've been messing around with the lighting setting and am not sure what I'll settle on. I was running B+/C+ but decided to try 2 B+ a week ago. Tank looks washed out and flat without the kessil. My original thought was do go old school thought and run t5 for 10 hrs and use the kessil for 6 hours at high intensity like I used to do with MH. Then I thought about running the kessil 10 hours at low intensity and the t5 for a MH substitute. So....for today I'm running both at 10 hours. The a350 are running both channels at half power the entire time. I'm addicted to the shimmer.

I've had the a350 for two years and have had little to no growth. I added the t5 without changing anything else and seen growth similar to my MH/T5 days. I borrowed our cubs par meter and the Kessil had very high par numbers even at the sand bed. I'll have to dig up the numbers and post them.

[BlueCat1949]

I was wondering why you just didn't run both together. That seems like the ideal for viewing and coral growth. I have the same size tank so this has got me thinking about replacing the current lighting. More interested in macros than corals though.

Bruce

[Coelli]

So as I write this I'm sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant waiting to meet another reefer and buy their ATI 4x24. I decided to keep the Kessils after all and offset the cost by finally selling some of my other unused equipment. I'll be mounting them to either side angled into the tank. Hope this works out!

[lhm nole]

I am running 7 kessil 360we and 8 4ft t5's on a 8 ft 30 wide 300 mixed reef.. Leds on 9 hours a day max intensity 35% color 10% .. T5's 5.5 hours a day 4 blue plus 2 coral plus and 2 purple plus ati bulbs and so far the results are great .. Tank doesnt have as much shimmer has more of the metal halide shimmer when the t5's are on ...

[Esage]

Originally Posted by Coelli

So as I write this I'm sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant waiting to meet another reefer and buy their ATI 4x24. I decided to keep the Kessils after all and offset the cost by finally selling some of my other unused equipment. I'll be mounting them to either side angled into the tank. Hope this works out!

How are you going to mount the Kessils to the sides of the ATI fixture?

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by lhm nole

I am running 7 kessil 360we and 8 4ft t5's on a 8 ft 30 wide 300 mixed reef.. Leds on 9 hours a day max intensity 35% color 10% .. T5's 5.5 hours a day 4 blue plus 2 coral plus and 2 purple plus ati bulbs and so far the results are great .. Tank doesnt have as much shimmer has more of the metal halide shimmer when the t5's are on ...

Sitting in a parking lot waiting to do a deal... You need help my friend.

[Fredfish]

Originally Posted by Mr. Comer

...
I've had the a350 for two years and have had little to no growth. I added the t5 without changing anything else and seen growth similar to my MH/T5 days...

Which, light spread issues aside, tells us that 2 a350s was not enough for that size tank. If I were to go all Kessil on a tank like that, I'd use 6 A150/160 to up the light and increase the spread. Adding T5 seems a good alternative.

I always thought that Kessil would eventually make modules with more, but smaller, clusters along the lines of the Hydra 52. I keep wondering what the downside of manufacturing something like that would be.

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by Esage

How are you going to mount the Kessils to the sides of the ATI fixture?

They'll be hung from the same EMT conduit mounts I'm using now, rather than the fixture itself.

Originally Posted by Fredfish

Sitting in a parking lot waiting to do a deal... You need help my friend.

Oh believe me, that joke was made. Especially since he also gave me a bag full of green stuff (grape caulerpa lol).

[RobTheReefer]

Shadowing galore.


Seriously, though, I would ditch the Kessils altogether and get a MH/T5 pendant and be done with it. If I had an open top tank in a large room, I'd still be using MH. I just can't do it in the tiny space that my tank is in.

I think twin 150w MH + T5 would be awesome for your tank.

[Coelli]

Just wanted to update!

This is the final (for now) T5 and Kessil configuration. Sorry the photo's a little fuzzy, had to turn the tank lights off and the room is dark.



It's been 16 days since I added T5s and... holy smokes.

- The shaded part in the photo in the OP is coloring up, still pale but the polyps are gaining color (not to mention they're extended).
- Almost every SPS is showing more polyp extension, something that's always been a struggle - some never showed any at all (SSC for one) but are now almost fuzzy.
- My "red" planet, toward the bottom of the tank, has been a pale green for months. It's now a deeper green, is getting pink on the corallites, and is encrusting like mad
- The pink stylo which has spent a year on 1" of encrustation is... branching!
- The rainbow stylo which was slowly encrusting for months is branching
- The magenta w/ green polyps stylo (a Steve Garrett piece) which has done nothing since April is coloring up and branching/growing
- The 3 Sunny Ds, which started out as 1 polyp in 10/14, are growing *3* babies
- The 2 rasta polyps which have done nothing for a year are making a baby
- The purple ribbon gorgonian is branching after months
- And on and on...

It's pretty crazy what a difference 16 days has made! I still need to work on positioning the light to eliminate shadows, I will probably move it toward the front of the tank soon, and eventually add another 4x24 or move to an 8x24.

Here's a triptych of the original frag. From left to right - Kessils only, 2x39 across the front of the tank, and Kessils + 4x24 ATI. You can clearly see the difference in polyp extension and a little color.

[RobTheReefer]

That's a happy looking coral. Congrats.

Do you think it could be more than just the shadowing? I'm starting to think that the 360's are lacking something in their spectrum or intensity.

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by RobTheReefer

That's a happy looking coral. Congrats.

Do you think it could be more than just the shadowing? I'm starting to think that the 360's are lacking something in their spectrum or intensity.

It very well could be; some of the coral weren't shadowed but had little to no growth. Whatever the T5s (3 ATI Blue+, 1 Coral+) are providing, it's something the coral needed.

[amcvay1979]

I honestly think the LED movement is great, but results tend to be better when you either have about twice or three times the LED fixtures the manufacturer recommends, or you supplement them with T5 light. If AI and Radions had about double the pucks in each fixture I think the results would be out of this world, cost would be insane though.

[SkullV]

Originally Posted by amcvay1979

I honestly think the LED movement is great, but results tend to be better when you either have about twice or three times the LED fixtures the manufacturer recommends, or you supplement them with T5 light. If AI and Radions had about double the pucks in each fixture I think the results would be out of this world, cost would be insane though.

Unfortunately, if all of the pucks were on the same plane and not angled in some way, the shading issue would still exist.

[amcvay1979]

True story. I love my AI's but I'm contemplating adding T5's to my setup to get rid of the shadows.

[don_chuwish]

The BRS videos on their 160 build pretty much convinced me too. My 120G had 2 x R420Rs planned as the only lighting but I think I'll be adding the 48" LET retro fit kit as well. Just 1 bulb in back and one in front, running parallel to the R420Rs. But now I need a hood that I hadn't wanted to deal with. Oh well. What does everyone think about bulbs, Blue+, Coral+, Purple+ or True Actinic? I've been leaning toward Coral+....

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by don_chuwish

The BRS videos on their 160 build pretty much convinced me too. My 120G had 2 x R420Rs planned as the only lighting but I think I'll be adding the 48" LET retro fit kit as well. Just 1 bulb in back and one in front, running parallel to the R420Rs. But now I need a hood that I hadn't wanted to deal with. Oh well. What does everyone think about bulbs, Blue+, Coral+, Purple+ or True Actinic? I've been leaning toward Coral+....

Do you have to have a hood? It would be maybe not as aesthetically pleasing but couldn't you hang them? I know I'd absolutely hate to have a hood or canopy, they're such a pain to deal with.

[don_chuwish]

Originally Posted by Coelli

Do you have to have a hood? It would be maybe not as aesthetically pleasing but couldn't you hang them? I know I'd absolutely hate to have a hood or canopy, they're such a pain to deal with.

The light bleed into the room would be excessive without one I think. Plus the retrofit kits are just a reflector, ballast and end caps - not really attractive to look at. I may hang the hood above the tank instead of resting it on the top - depends on how my space works out in the end.

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by Coelli

Do you have to have a hood? It would be maybe not as aesthetically pleasing but couldn't you hang them? I know I'd absolutely hate to have a hood or canopy, they're such a pain to deal with.

I am in the same boat in a way. My tank came with a hood and the wife wants it so I am getting a fixture as opposed to a retro kit so eventually I can wean her off the canopy and go back to being open top.

I have a 6 bulb unit coming and will put my 2 Kessils on the sides pointing inwards on the tank.

[Scorpius]

Subscribed to this thread as it has seriously made me question my two Kessil A360we's. My tank is almost identical to the OP's. I have serious shadowing issues already and want to nick this in the bud before any of my corals get bigger.

I will more than likely go with the 36in ATI Dimmable Sunpower. I'll completely remove the Kessil's, but save them incase I ever want to supplement or go back.

I can't just spending $1k+ on an ATI LED/T5 hybrid as that's insane.

[soulpatch]

Why not run your Kessils in conjunction with the T5? The shimmer and such that the Kessils give is awesome. Plus you could do as I am and angle them inwards on the tank and get away with the cheaper non dimmable lights and use the Kessils to dim down and up for the day.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

Why not run your Kessils in conjunction with the T5? The shimmer and such that the Kessils give is awesome. Plus you could do as I am and angle them inwards on the tank and get away with the cheaper non dimmable lights and use the Kessils to dim down and up for the day.

Choices SOOO MANY CHOICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Coelli]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Choices SOOO MANY CHOICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahaha yup! I'm (OP) using the Kessils from 8AM to 10PM ramping up and down for dusk/dawn. The first T5 channel comes on at 10AM and the second at 11AM, then off in reverse order at 8PM and 9PM. If I had more than a 4x24 I probably would cut that period down. So far so good.

[amcvay1979]

I'm trying to figure out if I want to make a canopy and keep my 2 AI 52's and add 2 2-bulb retro T5's but my tank is 30 deep and an extra tall canopy would SUUUUUUCK to try to get into and get my hands in the tank, which seems to be quite often.

[fishresponse]

So how many watts are running over your tank now?