[Centromochlus]

Has anyone had the chance to try out the new Kessil A150W LED Aquarium Light? We just started selling these at Aquatouch and apparently they come in a 6700k version (along with 10000k, 15000k, and 20000k). The brochure says that they're as good as a 150 watt metal halide. The A150W uses 32W of LED and apparently covers 12 to 24 inches. The actual light is 4" tall and 2.5" wide. At a little under $300, i think they're pretty affordable if they can perform as well as they're advertising it...

 

[OverStocked]

For the price, there are a LOT of options out there. For what would effectively be lighting for a nano/small tank... $300 does not seem like s steal to me.

While I'm sure the out put is sufficient inside the coverage area, I only have 1 tank they'd work on all alone. My bigger tanks would require 1200 bucks in lighting...

 

[zachary908]

We have a 20k one on display over a 29 gallon Bio cube reef where I work. it is insanely bright, and has a great spread. On your 90 I'd imagine you would need two of them.

 

[zachary908]

Mvava makes great LED fixtures as well... little pricey though.

 

[IWANNAGOFAST]

we have 2 of those, 20000k at our shop over our 90 gal reef, covers the whole tank.

I saw the 6500k version in person too, it didn't look as bright to me.

 

[xmas_one]

why are they calling it a 150w...

i hate all the hocus pocus the led manufacturers are using in their marketing.

tell us how many leds it is and the wattage for each led, please.

 

[prototyp3]

Not really the ideal LED fixture for planted tanks in my opinion. I want:

dimmable - nope
color control - nope
silent - maybe?

 

[HypnoticAquatic]

im still just using the ufo led 90w an dam that thing is bright seen grow studies that were slightly better than a 400hps, been growing plants just fine but i wouldnt suggest getting one without whites im sure i would be even more pleased if i had picked that one instead. still need a par meter to see what its measuring but i know if u look at it you will just see spots and colors for several min.
why not set one up at aquatouch to test you guys got several nice tanks down there to see if it can hold its own? would be a better selling point imo as seeing it in action people go dam that nice an its only 32w thats less than most lights in a house sold!

 

[Centromochlus]

We do have 3 of them set up on display tanks at the store but they're all 15000k i believe.
I'd like to see the 6700k in person.

 

[zachary908]

If the my store gets a 6700k one I'll let you know, I'm sure they will test it out.

 

[IWANNAGOFAST]

Albany aquarium has 2 of the 6500k bulbs. It helps that Kessil is local to us so the owners of the company visit all the LFS's

It's called 150w because its supposed to be a 150w metal halide equivalent.

They do run silent though, or as silent as can be, there is a tiny fan in them.

 

[JasonG75]

And in the planting world aren't we more concerned with PAR as aposed to Watts?

 

[IWANNAGOFAST]

in any world par is more important, salt or reef, even more so in salt tanks, since they need at least like, 100+par at the substrate. I know dudes that run their tanks at 400+ par at the substrate on a 30 inch deep tank.

to the naked eye, the 6500k kessil isn't super bright and the spread isn't that great, but they were mounted really close to the tank, only about 15 inches off the substrate.

 

[redfishsc]

For the price, there are a LOT of options out there. For what would effectively be lighting for a nano/small tank... $300 does not seem like s steal to me.

While I'm sure the out put is sufficient inside the coverage area, I only have 1 tank they'd work on all alone. My bigger tanks would require 1200 bucks in lighting...

100% agreed. The Kessil looks like a nice light but at 32 watts, I severely doubt it matches the same PAR distribution of a 150w halide. Normally LEDs seem to give around double/triple the PAR efficiency of halides/T5's (if using top quality Cree/Rebel/Bridgelux LEDs). Even "triple" can be a bit enthusiastic.

But they are claiming nearly 5X the efficiency if they are claiming that they put out comparable PAR distribution of a 150w halide, which honestly is exactly what they seem to be doing.

That's just way too ambitious IMO.

 

[IWANNAGOFAST]

the Kessils don't run the normal cree led's that a lot of fixtures run, they have some bespoke multichip LEDs or something. I imagine that the par at the middle of the beam matches a 150w mh, but outside of the center it probably drops a lot.