Kessil Lighting Schedule

[Briko03]

I am having some trouble with my sps corals and I am wondering if my lighting schedule might be off somewhat. When I set it up originally i used this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlb6kGiVvPQ

Does anyone else have any schedules they can recommend that are treating their corals well.

 

[daves-reef]

I am only a month into using Kessil LEDs. Running two A360WE on my 120 display with T5 supplements.
Which Kessils are you running? How are you controlling them? What size is your display tank?

I think its real important not to set intensity too high. They are really strong and you can't tell by brightness to naked eye how strong they really are in my opinion.

I am running a 12 hour photo period. Intensity ramps up and I only peak at 55% intensity. Been ramping up from 45% over past month. But I also have the 4 T5 supplements. Most posts on RC I have read don't recommend going much over 80% and that's after acclamation.

 

[wpeterson]

I currently run 3x A350s on a 90 gallon tank (36x24x24). I run one at 100% intensity in the center and the sides at about 75% intensity. However, because of how powerful these are I only run them for 8 hours from 12pm to 8pm.

On the weekends I extend the period to 10 hours, from 10am to 8pm so I can enjoy the tank all day.

 

[daves-reef]

Are they A350s or A360s. How are you adjusting intensity. Do you have the Kessil spectral or other controller? Do they have the control knobs on top for intensity and color? I run my Kessils on an apex with VDM module. I never owned or seen a 350s series Kessil so I am not sure if they are adjustable or controllable at all. I have seen a 150 and that did not have adjustment. Just one color and 100% intensity. I thought the original 350s were not controllable at all either.

I don't think shorting the length of photo period to 8 hours is less intensive from an LED power perspective. I suggest you dial back LED intensity if you can. By using the controller or the knobs on top. 3 larger Kessils on a 36 x 24 inch tank sounds like a lot of power to me. But I am no expert. I am only running 2 with T5s on 48 x 24. You could also try raising the height of the fixtures if they are not controllable.

 

[wpeterson]

A350s are the manually adjustable precursor to the A360s, with similar output and features but no variable speed cable inputs for control - just physical knobs.

The theory I have read is that you want good light intensity to get a strong color reaction from the colors, but with more intensity you may need to shorten the photo period so as not to provide too much light.

Alternately, you can run less intensity over a longer period of time. It seems to make sense that the maximum intensity you can run for 8 hours is higher than the intensity you can get away with running for 10-12 hours.

Running a shorter 8 hour period seems to work well for us, but your experience may vary. I also have a pretty deep 24" tank, where my SPS are about 12" below the surface. My lower light corals are about 18"-24" from surface.

 

[daves-reef]

I suggest turning down the intensity. IMHO photoperiod ( how long you have your lights on) is totally different than intensity. You did not post any specifics on what your SPS troubles were. There are a lot of things other than lighting that could be an issue. I know to well about that as I have had my share of SPS problems.

You might search about LED burning corals and SPS bleaching from too much light. That's what I mean by intensity and it's not just with Kessils other LEDs can have similar issues.