Kessil A360w controllable LED

[Sancho]

38353After looking at many lighting options for my new tank I decided to purchase the new kessil A360w. I looked into various Chinese led's simply because they seemed to be a more cost effective solution. I did find some good options but lack of customer support and reviews on lights left me looking for something else. It came down the Radion, AI Vega, and the Maxspect Mazara. Then I saw the pendants in action fell in love with the Ecoxotic Cannon, although was turned off by the fact that you need 2 one white one blue and you need to buy the ecoxotic controller. the cannons are also the most expensive option. I stumbled across the kessil 360 last week on reef2reef did some research and ordered them. They have been on my tank for 3 days now and I am super impressed with this light. Unlike the kessil 350 these are controllable with apex and other aquarium controllers. I am experimenting with different color combinations and different power levels. Right now I am running at 50% and my corals love this light. I am trying to get my hands on a par meter and will update this thread with the par levels. My only complaint about this light is the way it is mounted or hung. Kessil makes a gooseneck that is ugly in my opinion , as now they don't sell a hanging kit.

[gnarledout]

I have 2 Kessil Sky Blues on goose necks and I like the look a lot. I heard the 350s are bad ass though. If your corals love the light setting you have them at then I would recommend leaving them where they are. Playing with the full spectrum of those lights would be tempting though. Have fun.

[jessegarcia28]

what sz is your tank ur running the kessil 360 & what type of corals do u have
& lets see some pics :)

[Sancho]

36 gallon Solana mixed tank acro's, monti's, stylo, anemone, mushrooms, gsp, zoa's, pally's and leather coral that I can't seem to kill or get rid of. Will post pics tomorrow

[jessegarcia28]

very nice!
have fun
jesse

[Esco reef]

Nice man , keep us updated with par readings so I assume you could control the lights for dusk to dawn ? ? ?

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

[Sancho]

Yes it it fully controllable with apex and all other aquarium controllers

[JohnnyAirtime]

Kessil makes a nice 90 watt "compact" light for those needing the output in a small tank.
And now that you can use a "controller" with them, it'll be a nice unit for those with one. The light-to-light link function is nice too. And will allow a bigger tank more flexibility.

Now they are using a multi-chip based LED (http://www.kessil.com/images/aquarium/product/img_15.jpg).
Similar to what the Orphek DIF-100 (http://orphek.com/orphek-products/dif-pendants/), and the 3 color chip I use in my pendants (http://jatproducts.com/1-LED/pendant-RGB.html).

More on the Kessil light, for those looking; http://www.kessil.com/aquarium/A360.php


The only things I can think of that bother me, as they aren't discussed in detail (are below);

They don't explain the actual chip's blend of colors, or what's exactly used. This below statement from Kessil, is a lame description. and to say it's proprietary and spectral intelligence... blah!
"The A360 features Kessil's new proprietary Kessil Logic™, a unique form of spectral intelligence developed for precise color blending and optimal coral growth"
They do show a graph on their page, but this statement tells me it's not an actual graph of the light. Just a representation. "*Color temperature for reference only, and is not a direct measurement of CCT"

The cooling apparatus of the light isn't discussed in detail.
They don't explain the cooling, nor do they talk about what kind of temps it can handle. For example, mounting it in a canopy... and if temps get too hot, does it shut down like the other models? If so, what's that temp range?

$449 is pretty steep, but in the range of some of the similar wattage lights.
The lights I use for example (are just about a $100 more), are 120W and use 3 color LEDs. However, they are much bigger and aren't able to be "controlled" with a controller.

... get some pictures AND more importantly... some video! Let's see your new light in action.

[Sancho]

i have been looking for awhile now for an LED that would do what my metal halides did 15 years ago.(without the heat and cost) There is so much hype about one versus the other. Kessil's description on this light, i do agree is lame. They also dont go into how the cooling system works. Although this light has preformed beyond my expectations. The fan is very quiet, in fact you cant hear it at all, also the light itself dosent produce much heat. I dont want to take it apart but it appears to have some sort of radiator inside of it. Dont know if it is liquid cooled or not. I had it side by side with a Radion, AI Vega, and an Ecoxotic Cannon system. the Cannon was the winner hands down. With a tie (in my opinion) between the A360 and the Radion, and the AI Vega coming in last. I chose the A360w option based on warranty, price and the Apex controllability. the cannon option you need one blue one white and their controller (in other words $1200 + for one blue and one white) so my 97 gallon would cost me a min of $2400 just on lights. Cost and lack of one single multichip was the only reason i didn't go with the cannons. I am happy I bought the Kesssil. They are an up and coming California company and respond quickly to customer feedback. The shimmer is awesome and my corals are responding very well to this light. I cant complain in fact this is a great light for the money. Will get pics up as soon as I can.

[CoralDreams]

I have just purchased 4 of the A360W and will be setting up soon, Still waiting for more parts to start the build. Can't wait to see your pics of your setup Sancho.

[RussM]

Regarding control with an Apex - with a little bit of creativity in programming, the A360 can be controlled today by an Apex for spectrum and intensity. It's not ideal, but it works. In conjunction with Kessil, Neptune is developing new firmware for the Apex to work specifically with the A360 in a much better way. They've already demo'd preliminary code at Reefstock. Neptune is aware that these new lights are selling like crazy, and plan to have the new firmware out as soon as practical.

If I didn't already have a brand new Acan Lighting Prism ready to go, I'd jump on these new Kessils for my new tank build.

[Sancho]

38355

[frostee]

Why did you get the W and not the regular light since you are running a small cube?

[Sancho]

The cube is temporary. I am building a new tank. the cube is 24" wide and the wide fills it nicely no dark spots. my new tank will be about 48" wide and I think 2 wides will fill that tank with light. I dont understand why Kessil made 2 options when I looked at the non wide vs wide. The wide just made sense the standard Kessil seems to leave shadows and dark spots in the tank. as the wide fills the tank with light. The PAR levels on the narrow were better in the center of tank and down to the bottom but the over all spred even in a smaller tank faded quickly. The Par levels on the wide were somewhat less than the narrow but had more good PAR through out the tank. I was on a road trip and stopped @ a LFS in norcal he had these and other leds set up and was happy to par all of them for me. I cant give you all the readings as I was on vacation but the wide was the one that made sense to me.