Kessil and supplement lighting

[Seansea]

Can't beat kessils for looks. I got a quanta pro reef crest and an orephek blue plus to supplement my 2 kessils. They are both great to be honest.

But you will want time to just run the kessils for looks of tank. The bars will dull the shimmer. I ramp up and down kessils to peak for 3 hours and run them for an hour peak then kick on the bars for 5 hours. Just the look of kessils alone makes tank look mesmerizing. But the bars have definatly excelerated coral growth

 

[Bitter old man]

I'm surprised on the cost!

Nowhere near being worth the price. Just my opinion. I owned a set.

 

[pauldelray]

I am looking at a few options for lighting
Asking opinions and/or experience from anyone that are running the combos I am considering

tank is 40x24x22 (90 gallons) I will have up to 18" above the tank to mount lights
Goal is to build a SPS dominate tanks with a few LPS low

I already have 2 Kessil 360xe's. Currently running 1 over a 75-gallon rubber maid sump to cure live rock I just got from KP aquatics. It has some good life on it so I have it running a short blue photo period on it. I really like the light!

Option 1: 2x Orphek 36" Or3. 1 blue sky and 1 blue plus. Ramp up and down with the Kessils and put the bars on a timer
Option 2: 1 Neptune Sky in the middle with the 2 kessils flanking it
Option 3: 2 36" reefbrite strips. I would run them the same as option 1
Option 4: 2 AI blades.

For Option 2, I would make the Sky the primary and use the Kessel's as a point source.

I have no Experience with AI blades but interested to hear any experiences with them

open to other suggestions

I have been in this hobby for over 40 years. In my opinion, no led light can come close to the days of VHO actinic lighting combined with metal halides. Until now! I currently have a Kessil 160 on a Waterbox 20 cube. When looking for supplemental lighting, I came across a YouTube video of LumiLite ULTRA actinic VHO strip lights made by Reef Brite. When I heard their pitch which claims they have figured out how to achieve the super actinic VHO in an led, I had to try it out. Since my Kessil sits dead middle mounted on an arm bracket, I started with one Lumilite strip on the very front edge of the tank. It comes with nice mounting clips that sit perfectly on the sides of the the tank. Sure enough, these lights live up to their claim. They light up the tank, get rid of all the shadows and allow to me to achieve that magenta or purple look. I immediately added a second strip to the back edge of the tank as well. With the beautiful purple/ magenta pop, I was able to bring my Kessil 160 up to 65% color. Prior to adding these strips, 65% would normally make my entire tank look washed out. Not anymore. I now have that sunlight shimmer without compromising the color. In two weeks time, my corals are not only popping with color, they are changing colors to brighter shades and growing faster. I actually spoke with the owner of the company. He was really nice to speak with. There is only one place that I find selling these lights online: https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/reef-brite-lumilite-pro-ultra-actinic.html
Do not be confused by Reef Brite's other led strips. You need to be sure you are buying their latest "Super Actnic VHO". They are offered in around seven sizes. The 18" fits my Waterbox 20 cube perfectly. Again, I use two strips. One on the front edge and one on the back edge. They do not come with a controller option, but they do have dimmers that separate out the purple and blues. They mention there is a third party controller than can be used with them. I just adjusted the dimmers on each strip until I found the color that looked best and have them on a simple timer. My Kessil is on a controller. The strips do not block any of the shimmer from my Kessil. I recently added a 3d printed shade offered on ETSY to my Kessil 160 that took away any over cast of light in the room. Hope you find this helpful!

 

[George's reef]

I have x4 Kessil 500x and x6 OR3, best lighting combination I have ever used and I've used almost everything.

Being able to use Ecotech rails (only decent product they make now) makes it even easier. If I wanted I can easily hit over 1k par 6" deep in the aquarium. I peak at 750 for an hour and ramp down to 300.

I'm able to grow SPS on the ground in a 30" tanks

what is the measurements of your tank?