Kessil A360X Re-Visited! New PAR data and NEW setup guide.
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heliguy71
Active Member
Sure, we may have bored you to death with our last BRStv Investigates episode of the Kessil A360X....
This time, we're telling you how to set one up using that boring data!
U
User1
Guest
Sure, we may have bored you to death with our last BRStv Investigates episode of the Kessil A360X....
This time, we're telling you how to set one up using that boring data!
Great job!
Edit: Forgot to say that it would have been nice to include a test using their lens. It will help punching through taller tanks while narrowing the spread a little bit. Seems like a fair trade off for those having taller tanks or those who want a bit more par in a focused area. I would wager using them will change the spacing.
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@Greenjeans , beautiful tank! You can certainly lower the lights if you don't have corals but personally I favor keeping lights higher as less worry of splashing and stuff that inevitably happens. Since you don't have corals, you don't need to worry to about par. I'd make a floating canopy. I keep my kessils at 12" high. I lose some intensity because of the spread but I don't have light spill because of canopy. If you don't like the look of the canopy, I'd buy some 3d printed cones to place on end of the kessils. Some people have used theater lighting type cones. Do a search and you can find you a solution that will still look sleek. Of course, lowering lights will be fine. You don't have corals so just lower intensity. In fact you don't need hardly any intensity right now with fish only tank. I'd keep intensity just enough to get the amount of algae growth you want on rocks for any grazers you might have. No need to worry with high intensity
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Funny to see ULMS mentioned with at least five different montis in the tank; good luck with that LOL. I think one of the biggest things I overlooked when going SPS was just how much maintenance was required on cutting corals back. Putting something off one week was detrimental to the health of another acropora. I though I placed corals far enough from one another when I started but I was so mistaken. If you don't have 8" between frags, you've messed up something fierce right off the bat because you're only giving something a 4" diameter to grow in (nice sized frag, crappy sized coral). Acropora need to be placed a minimum of a foot apart (and that is too small in my opinion) or you have a lot of work on your hands (once they take off, they go big and you go home).
FYI, I did PAR testing using your meters using (4) a360x and the PAR using the narrow reflectors was a good 40-80 higher. I initially bought the reflectors because I have a deep 30" tank. I do not use them now because I added t5s to help with shadowing but I tested the a360x with and without the reflectors and it was a consistent 40-80 higher.
VegetaD
Community Member
Excellent, thanks for the info, this is useful. I have t5 supplements planned. How are off the water did you test, was it 8 as they tested, I am debating ,6 vs 8; for w 10 ft with t5
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User1
Guest
The updated video they released last week the tested at 6", 8", 12" for sure. Maybe a few others but it seems the ideal range is between 6 and 8" depending on application. They also revised their spacing.
Interesting that we are not seeing them compare par spread between the G5 and 360's. 360's while a lower PAR light have some really great spread for the light type.
Mine is actually at about 9". I have a half cylinder tank so there werent any premade hybrid fixtures I could use. So I used a 48" and 36" retrofit t5 kit and put the kessils in between. The t5s sit about 8" and kessils around 9" cause of the way the mount was made. My kessils are only running around 40% to get the PAR I need. They were at 100% before but with the t5s I had to turn them down quite a bit. The PAR benefit using the reflectors at 100% was 25-50 at 24" from the surface and 100-180 at 12". At 40% the benefit was 10-30 at 24" and 80-100 at 12" from the surface. Once I get my acros in I can turn it up. Overall quite a benefit.
OP
OP
Depending on your tank goals (LPS/Soft or SPS dominated), I think the same recommendations will serve you well. You will likely need to turn down the overall intensity because of the smaller tank dimensions, but if you test with a PAR meter you'll know for sure that you got it right.
OP
OP
I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow your question here. Basically after you test your settings with a PAR meter to verify you are in the right ranges, then you can build a daily lighting schedule with those settings during the peak of your day. It's up to you how long you want to make that "peak" duration of the day, which we typically default to 9hrs with a 30min ramp up and down.
Thank you for the answer,I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow your question here. Basically after you test your settings with a PAR meter to verify you are in the right ranges, then you can build a daily lighting schedule with those settings during the peak of your day. It's up to you how long you want to make that "peak" duration of the day, which we typically default to 9hrs with a 30min ramp up and down.
and yes that's exactly what I was referring to. the schedule, I'm not sure how to make it. Ex.
9am - 10am C 1% I 0%
11am - 12pm C 20% I 70%
8pm - 9pm C 10% I 30%
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