8020 Kessil Mount

[pelphrey]

Received my 8020 at the beginning of the week. Got around to putting it together and mounting it on the tank stand last night. It was very easy to put together, as long as you know what mounting hardware belong to what fastener! All in all I have to say that the 8020 light mount is MUCH better then the Kessil goose neck, especially since I had the goose neck on the side of the tank. I'll have a full video on the 8020 coming out in the next couple of weeks.

For those interest this is the order that I placed with the hardware. To better help you purchase from the 8020 website I would suggest a few things. First choose your Framing Option first. Once you decide on your Framing Option use the Series of your frame to better sort your Fasteners (I used external fasteners). Second when you are buying fasteners pay attention to the Suggested Hardware tab at the bottom of the page. The Suggest Hardware will give you the exact part number you will need.

Kessil Goose Neck VS 8020

8020 with Kessil mounted - I am using the Kessil 90 with the 8020

I went with the 4 slot frame so that I can hide wires in the slots of the frame

Had to make the hole bigger on the fastener I bought. Right now I have zip ties holding the light to the 8020

 

[dbl]

Nice work...that looks sharp.

 

[Reeferfourlife]

Looks good. Was thinking of 8020 for my light mount too.

 

[pelphrey]

Unboxing the 8020, building my light frame and finally video of the 8020 mounted to my tank stand and over my 20 long!

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[pelphrey]

Nice work...that looks sharp.

Thanks! I was surprised how much it changed the look of the tank VS the gooseneck.

Looks good. Was thinking of 8020 for my light mount too.

I've done a video (It isn't published yet) on ordering 8020 and how I ordered mine. I'd never been on the website before and it was confusing at first, once I realized that the fasteners have a tab under the product with "Suggested Hardware" it made the process a lot easier!

 

[427HISS]

I just don't undertand,.....why Kessil won't come outwth something like this ? !!!
Nice job !

All said and done, how much was one mount ?

 

[pelphrey]

I just don't undertand,.....why Kessil won't come outwth something like this ? !!!
Nice job !

All said and done, how much was one mount ?

I can't remember, but I believe it was 65-70ish. The fittings and bolts are where the costs start to add up. I pretty much gave it away when I sold the tank it was on! Haha that's how this goes!

 

[427HISS]

Lol,...you lost out.

It really looks nice bud. MUCH,........better than the Kesil and all other diy's I've seen.

 

[pelphrey]

Lol,...you lost out.

It really looks nice bud. MUCH,........better than the Kesil and all other diy's I've seen.

I look at it like I helped out the next person getting into the hobby!

Really thought about 8020 again, I decided to use the kessil A series mounts this time. They are nice!

 

[427HISS]

They are nice, but do the cords still show, unlike the 8020 ?

 

[pelphrey]

The A series mounts do hide the cables inside of them. I'm using the A series extension and it was a pain getting the cables through!

 

[427HISS]

Ok, that's great news, if I keep my Kessil's I'll have to think about buying them.
I'm waiting on my T5 system to arrive and try it out vs the Kessil's.

 

[pelphrey]

Ok, that's great news, if I keep my Kessil's I'll have to think about buying them.
I'm waiting on my T5 system to arrive and try it out vs the Kessil's.

What T5 fixture are you trying out, how many kessils over your system right now? I've never used any light but kessil, actually toying around the idea of the ap700. I've thought about t5's I just don't know if I want to go that route.

 

[427HISS]

We are reefers from back in the 90's, and used VHO's and halides. Got out to pursue other hobbys (raced 360 winged dirt sprint cars and built a 1966 Ford 427 Shelby Cobra replica) and now we're back into the reef hobby.

We tried the box type Chinese light, Maxspect and Kessil's. We hate the disco ball effect and uneven color mixing. If it weren't for the halide heat, we thoughtabout goingback to halideswith either a LED strip or T5 for the actinics.

The Kessils are great, so I bought 4 used ones to daisy chain together for our in wall mixed reef tank and use one controler. We even thought of buying more Kessil's for our other tanks and program all of the together as one system. Sounds cool anyway !

So, two of the best T5 company's new lights are just too expensive (Giesemann and ATI) but we found a used great condition 6' ATI system, that the owner sent the fixture into a company that removed two of the tubes and replaced them with 6 LED pucks.

I'm excited to seeing how they look.

Even the top rated LED manufactures, I just don't feel the LED systems are here yet. I really like the ramp up & down though.
And, I still beleive the halides grow better and healthier corals. They also spread the light much better than LED's, with less shadow's.

If we wanted to go with halides, a reefer is selling his 6' Reef Brite blue for a low price.
That I think would be a wonderful combo.

 

[427HISS]

Oh, the Kessils are the best and have no disco effect, but we don't care for the blue. Everything we try, the light looks "washed out".
I could add blue stunner strip's, but,.........?

 

[dangros]

Agree. I have 2 Kessil360WE's on my 90g and SPS's dont grow very well. In a year, I got almost no growth. I'm doing automatic water changes and have a pretty nice setup, so I cant imagine it being anything other than the lights. I am considering taking a 48" T5 MH combo and cutting it's halides out - replacing them with the kessils. Not sure it's possible or feasible but I'm certainly not paying 1k for a combo with disco.

 

[427HISS]

If you don't like the Kessil's for growth, why are you gutting the halides and adding Kessils ?

 

[dangros]

If you don't like the Kessil's for growth, why are you gutting the halides and adding Kessils ?

Great question. First, I am only considering it. I'd say there is a 40/60 chance I go through with it. I dont know if it's worth the trouble. I like the Kessils a lot. They do almost everything right except grow SPS. My theory is that if I added T5's then the SPS's would grow and I'd maintain their benefits + the shimmer.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

I run my kessils with t5 and have seen some decent growth since adding the t5s. Granted I only have dual 160we over my 4' 90gal, they run at max 20% color 100% intensity. Joined up with 2 Home Depot dual t5 fixtures (working on getting reflectors but for now my hood is white inside) pushing (back to front) ati blue+, ati coral+, kessils ati purple+, ati blue+. Keeps the shimmer and also cuts shadowing out. I'll look for some pics of some sps up close before and after. But here's my tank for now with said lighting setup. No filter. (The shot was at 100% color on kessils as I couldn't get a decent one with the blue tint)

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Sunset Millie:
End of November, frag to left.

Friday before last: