Leemar Starphire 290
- Thread starter Kmooresf
- Start date
R
ReefLove
Guest
By the way, Are you happy with Kessils ?
I'm thinking of ordering Elos 120 XL which has 48 length and 31 depth front to back, but not sure how to light it with LEDs. Any suggestion ?
I'm thinking of ordering Elos 120 XL which has 48 length and 31 depth front to back, but not sure how to light it with LEDs. Any suggestion ?
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Well, that is a tricky question.
I personally LOVE the kessils. I also have a tank that is 31" front to back and the Kessils cover the bottom nicely. However when the fish swim at the front of the glass, they are shadowed. I keep them at 100% now and am getting some great growth and color from the coral. However the overall look of the aquarium is a bit blue. You can adjust them and change the color, however I prefer to keep them at full power for growth. So I am adding some supplimental lighting. These will be LED's accross the front and back to help light up the darker spots and help change the overall color of the aquarium. I have some idea's floating around and hopefully will have them in the next month or so.
I am also a big fan of the other full feature models like the Ecotech radions, the Aqua Illumination lights, orphek and the maxspects. I actually have two of the original Maxspect LED fixtures on the tank right now. They are also getting some great growth and color out of the coral. They will be replaced by more kessils once I get the money......simply for a more uniform look. Hoping to have the lighting completed after taxes this year.
I think a LOT of the brands these days will do the job, so it's really about the look you are going for. You tube is a great place to research the lights and see what others have done, or accomplished with different lighting set ups. It is a stressful decision to drop loads of cash and hope it is going to be everything you ever wanted. However it's become a lot like computers.........You buy it, and the next day there is some new and amazing fixture out there. LOL! I like the Kessils because they build some amazing lights. Small, sleek, quiet and BRIGHT! Also very simple, Light on, light off, and the corals love em. Sometimes I wish I had the fancy features of the others, but the reality is these lights are giving me everything I wanted from them when I bought them. Healthy / happy coral.
I don't think you can go wrong with any of the lights I mentioned. Good luck.
I personally LOVE the kessils. I also have a tank that is 31" front to back and the Kessils cover the bottom nicely. However when the fish swim at the front of the glass, they are shadowed. I keep them at 100% now and am getting some great growth and color from the coral. However the overall look of the aquarium is a bit blue. You can adjust them and change the color, however I prefer to keep them at full power for growth. So I am adding some supplimental lighting. These will be LED's accross the front and back to help light up the darker spots and help change the overall color of the aquarium. I have some idea's floating around and hopefully will have them in the next month or so.
I am also a big fan of the other full feature models like the Ecotech radions, the Aqua Illumination lights, orphek and the maxspects. I actually have two of the original Maxspect LED fixtures on the tank right now. They are also getting some great growth and color out of the coral. They will be replaced by more kessils once I get the money......simply for a more uniform look. Hoping to have the lighting completed after taxes this year.
I think a LOT of the brands these days will do the job, so it's really about the look you are going for. You tube is a great place to research the lights and see what others have done, or accomplished with different lighting set ups. It is a stressful decision to drop loads of cash and hope it is going to be everything you ever wanted. However it's become a lot like computers.........You buy it, and the next day there is some new and amazing fixture out there. LOL! I like the Kessils because they build some amazing lights. Small, sleek, quiet and BRIGHT! Also very simple, Light on, light off, and the corals love em. Sometimes I wish I had the fancy features of the others, but the reality is these lights are giving me everything I wanted from them when I bought them. Healthy / happy coral.
I don't think you can go wrong with any of the lights I mentioned. Good luck.
R
ReefLove
Guest
Knowing you have 31" front to back I asked you about LEDs. Because I sa you had about 3 tanks in total and you would have thought about these things hard.
Well, that's my only worry. Because 31 will be harder and costlier to light properly. Elos have very nice setup for lighting, but not sure how corals will react.
Well, that's my only worry. Because 31 will be harder and costlier to light properly. Elos have very nice setup for lighting, but not sure how corals will react.
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Got inspired to take some new pics. Some came out pretty nice. Thought I would share.
The big fat clown making my RBTA look very small. It has been hard to photograph such a dark fish, but I am happy these make her look as beautiful as she really is.
Clam is doing well.
ALMOST!! Zoom took out a lot of color.
The big fat clown making my RBTA look very small. It has been hard to photograph such a dark fish, but I am happy these make her look as beautiful as she really is.
Clam is doing well.
ALMOST!! Zoom took out a lot of color.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Kris
Is that "war and peace" war coral in the pic with the starry blenny?
Great shots! Bring your camera when you come visit!
Is that "war and peace" war coral in the pic with the starry blenny?
Great shots! Bring your camera when you come visit!
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
Hi there.
Been working on a plan to finish my lighting over the tank. I have already purchased three more kessil A350's.........replaced the A350W on the tank with an A350 and moved the wide over to the frag tank. Looks AWESOME!
Light is much brighter and less blue in person.
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to suppliment this Kessil lighting to get better coverage, and a little better color. I have the Kessils on 100% and would like to keep them that way. You really have to turn the blue down a lot to see a visual difference, so I don't want to take that away from the coral. So I would like to add lighting that will brighten up the tank and give it more of a natural look.
I believe I have the solution............I am going to add a LOT of light from the new Ecoxotic Panorama "marine" lights. http://www.ecoxotic.com/panorama-marine-led-system.html I will add two 36" half 12000K white and half 445nm Blue accross the front of the tank. I will also add three 24" of the same light accross the back of the tank. This will allow me to offset the lights to account for the overflow in the center. This will all be mounted in a "floating canopy" similar to what Robert at Neptune has done with is display tank.
The Kessil placement is based on where they are currently. The two on the ends will be replacing my maxspect fixture and I have the new kessils placed smack dab in the middls of where the maxspects are..........it ends up in a straight line by chance with the exception of the center kessil.
The new "Marine" fixture is an upgrade from the panorama pro units and can be connected to a controller with a remote that can control the white and the blue lights independently. You can dim each and set them on a "sunrise / sunset" mode. The controller also has a built in timer to turn them off and on. All 5 of the fixtures will work off of one controller. I have been on the phone with ecoxotic a lot lately confirming all of this.
At the moment I plan to use a pulley system to raise and lower the canopy for cleaning and maintenance. However I am pretty sure I will eventually have to add a track system as well to pull the entire fixture out from over the tank so I can really get in there. Gonna do just the pullies at first. I will use a 2:1 system so it will cut the weight in half when I am raising it. Still gonna be a heavy bugger.
This adds 145 watts of light in addition to the 5 kessils at 90w each for a total of 595 watts of LED over the tank.
Here is the canopy design I have come up with on google sketch. This is my template to scale. This will be stained to match the stand and will sit 10" off the glass. The lights will be slightly recessed and mounted to a perforated sheet metal to allow a little air flow. I will paint the sheet metal with a protective coating ahead of time. The kessils will be hung from the raised 2x2's.
What do ya think??
Been working on a plan to finish my lighting over the tank. I have already purchased three more kessil A350's.........replaced the A350W on the tank with an A350 and moved the wide over to the frag tank. Looks AWESOME!
Light is much brighter and less blue in person.
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to suppliment this Kessil lighting to get better coverage, and a little better color. I have the Kessils on 100% and would like to keep them that way. You really have to turn the blue down a lot to see a visual difference, so I don't want to take that away from the coral. So I would like to add lighting that will brighten up the tank and give it more of a natural look.
I believe I have the solution............I am going to add a LOT of light from the new Ecoxotic Panorama "marine" lights. http://www.ecoxotic.com/panorama-marine-led-system.html I will add two 36" half 12000K white and half 445nm Blue accross the front of the tank. I will also add three 24" of the same light accross the back of the tank. This will allow me to offset the lights to account for the overflow in the center. This will all be mounted in a "floating canopy" similar to what Robert at Neptune has done with is display tank.
The Kessil placement is based on where they are currently. The two on the ends will be replacing my maxspect fixture and I have the new kessils placed smack dab in the middls of where the maxspects are..........it ends up in a straight line by chance with the exception of the center kessil.
The new "Marine" fixture is an upgrade from the panorama pro units and can be connected to a controller with a remote that can control the white and the blue lights independently. You can dim each and set them on a "sunrise / sunset" mode. The controller also has a built in timer to turn them off and on. All 5 of the fixtures will work off of one controller. I have been on the phone with ecoxotic a lot lately confirming all of this.
At the moment I plan to use a pulley system to raise and lower the canopy for cleaning and maintenance. However I am pretty sure I will eventually have to add a track system as well to pull the entire fixture out from over the tank so I can really get in there. Gonna do just the pullies at first. I will use a 2:1 system so it will cut the weight in half when I am raising it. Still gonna be a heavy bugger.
This adds 145 watts of light in addition to the 5 kessils at 90w each for a total of 595 watts of LED over the tank.
Here is the canopy design I have come up with on google sketch. This is my template to scale. This will be stained to match the stand and will sit 10" off the glass. The lights will be slightly recessed and mounted to a perforated sheet metal to allow a little air flow. I will paint the sheet metal with a protective coating ahead of time. The kessils will be hung from the raised 2x2's.
What do ya think??
Coral reefer
Past President
I think you have a $hit ton of light!!!
Kmooresf
Supporting Member
aqua-nut said:
That is a great question. I was wondering if it was a bad idea after seeing this. However If you notice in some places there are significant shadows........the fish also shadow when they get close to the glass. I don't think it would be a problem at all with a 24" wide tank, but this is 31" wide and I think the supplimental light will make a big difference. I also notice the coral grows toward the kessils. Ok in the back, but in the front they grow away from you, and the color is away from you. I would love to see the coral with enough light to grow in ALL directions. I think the new lights will do that. They are also dimmable, so if it's too much, I can back them off.......finally.........they have blue actinic lighting that are controlled seperately and I can have my crazy blue tank in the moring and the evenings. It's a beautiful way to end the night.