# Kessil Tuna Sun vs Ecotech xr15fw



## DaveK

I think either one would work out just fine. Both are high end lighting systems. Both can be set to adjust the spectrum where you want it. 

The "disco effect" is often more a factor of how the lighting is installed, especially how how it's mounted in relation to the water surface. Reef systems tend to want max light and tend to mount them too low, thus causing the effect. 

Your question is a bit like asking which canister filter is best, and getting people that love Eheim, people that love Fluval, and people that love SunSun and all swear their brand is the best.


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## Qwedfg

Thank you for the reply.

If we are using your example then we know one of the lights will be better since Eheim destroys the other types of canister filters  . 

The two things I'd like feedback on:
- Would two xr15w or two Kessil a160 be enough for a 4 foot tank. I've seen the 4 xr15 reef editions over an 8 foot tank and they covered the length ok so I'm guessing two would be fine over a 4 foot tank. I have never seen kessils in person.

- Any opinions on how they grow plants. For some reason, there is not as much user information to be found for freshwater as there is for reef equipment.


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## jeffkrol

Qwedfg said:


> I am going to be setting up a 48" long tank once I fix it. Would it be better to go with 2 x Tuna Sun or 2 x xr15fw. I've seen the xr15 over a reef and it had a very severe disco effect (probably less of this on a freshwater tank with less water movement) but I like the features and the look. I will also be using a vortech on this tank so it would be cool to link everything together.
> 
> On the other hand I really like the natural light a kessil fixture puts out. The only negative I've heard is that it doesn't do well with red plants.
> 
> Any personal experience would be great.


you are arguably better off with this one as opposed to either of the others....
HALO Deluxe FX80 Freshwater LED Aquarium Light Fixture: Aquarium Lighting

If you want a pendant type light..............


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## LRJ

Qwedfg said:


> I am going to be setting up a 48" long tank once I fix it. Would it be better to go with 2 x Tuna Sun or 2 x xr15fw. I've seen the xr15 over a reef and it had a very severe disco effect (probably less of this on a freshwater tank with less water movement) but I like the features and the look. I will also be using a vortech on this tank so it would be cool to link everything together.
> 
> On the other hand I really like the natural light a kessil fixture puts out. The only negative I've heard is that it doesn't do well with red plants.
> 
> Any personal experience would be great.


I have two of the Radions over a 24" tank - tank has a tall driftwood that requires two for coverage. I think you could do two of them over a 48" depending on your hardscape. I love being able to control the lights and the VorTech through ReefLink. I would easily buy the Radions again. I have no experience with Kessil, but I'm sure they're great based on the number of positive reviews I see. As a previous poster said, I doubt you'll be dissapointed either way. I personally wouldn't buy the Halos, but that's just for aesthetic reasons. To me they look bulky and distracting from the tank, not sleek like the Radions or Kessils. Just my taste.


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## Qwedfg

LRJ said:


> I have two of the Radions over a 24" tank - tank has a tall driftwood that requires two for coverage. I think you could do two of them over a 48" depending on your hardscape. I love being able to control the lights and the VorTech through ReefLink. I would easily buy the Radions again. I have no experience with Kessil, but I'm sure they're great based on the number of positive reviews I see. As a previous poster said, I doubt you'll be dissapointed either way. I personally wouldn't buy the Halos, but that's just for aesthetic reasons. To me they look bulky and distracting from the tank, not sleek like the Radions or Kessils. Just my taste.


Thank you for the reply. 

I am somewhat nervous about the coverage of the xr15. At 300 bucks a pop buying 3 would really make my wife kill me.

From what I've seen, the kessil and the halo both have better spread and color blending than the radion.

I've compared prices across the three and they are pretty close over all. All calculations are pre-tax.

2xRadions xr15fw, reef link, 2x RMS mount = 876

2xKessil a160we, kessil controller, 2xMounting Arm, 2x90 degree adapter = 687

1xHalo Deluxe, 1xHalo Standard, 2xMounting Arm = 769

Going to be a tough decision.


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## Jeff5614

I have a pair of Kessil A160we's over a 120H and I find them more than enough light for my purposes. They're around 8 inches over the water surface and provide even coverage and what I think is a very natural looking color. I run them at 50% intensity at the peak of my photoperiod. Of course my tank is ferns, moss and a couple of Marsilea species.



LRJ said:


> ... As a previous poster said, I doubt you'll be dissapointed either way. I personally wouldn't buy the Halos, but that's just for aesthetic reasons. To me they look bulky and distracting from the tank, not sleek like the Radions or Kessils. Just my taste.


I agree with both comments.


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## Qwedfg

Jeff5614 said:


> I have a pair of Kessil A160we's over a 120H and I find them more than enough light for my purposes. They're around 8 inches over the water surface and provide even coverage and what I think is a very natural looking color. I run them at 50% intensity at the peak of my photoperiod. Of course my tank is ferns, moss and a couple of Marsilea species.



Thanks for your input.

Do you have any pictures of your 120 gal tank? 

I was looking at your 75 gallon and it is beautiful. I am almost thinking of going back to T5s but the fixtures are ugly and buying bulbs is annoying.


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## jeffkrol

Jeff5614 said:


> I agree with both comments.


To each their own.. 


Qwedfg said:


> Thanks for your input.
> 
> Do you have any pictures of your 120 gal tank?
> 
> I was looking at your 75 gallon and it is beautiful. I am almost thinking of going back to T5s but the fixtures are ugly and buying bulbs is annoying.


Why are you sticking w/ "cans"??


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## Jeff5614

Qwedfg said:


> Thanks for your input.
> 
> Do you have any pictures of your 120 gal tank?
> 
> I was looking at your 75 gallon and it is beautiful. I am almost thinking of going back to T5s but the fixtures are ugly and buying bulbs is annoying.


The 120H is 85 gallons approximately. The 120 denotes the 120cm length. The tank is approximately 48 inches long, 24 tall and 18 deep. Close to the size of a standard 90 gallon.

T5's do give a lot more flexibility in appearance of the visible light with all the bulb choices that are available. Appearance of the fixture is no problem if they're going to be in a hood, but if you decide to go with a rimless tank or have the fixture exposed it's a bit of a different story. The biggest reason I switched to LED's after going with a rimless tank was appearance of the fixtures.

I'll look through my pics and see what I can find.

Bump:


jeffkrol said:


> To each their own.. ..


I'm not knocking the Halo's and as LRJ said in his post, it's a matter of individual taste. Things would get pretty boring if everyone liked the same stuff.


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## jeffkrol

Thought I needed to clear something up here 
1)Refer any "pendant style" lights as "cans".... regardless of brand.
Meaning individual "cans" vs strip lighting.. 
2)Agree w/ the fact that variety is the spice of life.


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## Qwedfg

This tank is/will be rimless once I'm done putting it back together. It is a Mr Aqua 48x18x18 tank but it was sold to me with one of the panels broken. I just cut it apart today and am going to replace the panel this weekend.

The reason I'm interested in pendant fixtures is the way they look over the tank. I am pretty sure I am going to go with Kessil but I'm a little nervous about Red plants. I've been searching online and haven't really see to many pictures of tanks with the kessils. 

I was on my local reef forum looking for some deals and there are a lot of people selling metal halide reflectors/ballasts. I bet a 6500k MH bulb would look amazing over a freshwater tank....


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## toybox22

I have a Mr Aqua 34 gal 24"x 18" x 18" tank. I have a single Kessil A360WE Tuna Sun over it, mounted with the mounting arm, not the goose-neck. I run it off my Apex controller and can controller the color and intensity. With all that, I love this light. It's simplistic and super powerful. I run it at 90% intensity and should probably lower it because I'm having algae issues, but I don't have any problem with any plants. I read about it not handling reds well, but I have no issue with my reineckii and other red colored plants. It's quite and just looks gorgeous over the tank. I can provide more pictures of anything you'd need and am happy to help answer any questions. There aren't many reviews of the kessils in freshwater, I'm trying to do my best to help from my experience with mine in the 2 months I've had mine.

Here's a link to the colors and intensities. The pictures don't really show the true difference, but it's better than not knowing.
Kessil Color/Intensity

Showing the plant colors.


This is from tonight.


You can look at my tank journal for some more pics. I haven't updated it in a little, but plan to soon with lots of pictures and info.


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## Chandy

Hey there,

I also contemplated between the Radion and Kessil about 3 weeks ago for my 120cm x 45cm x 60cm tank, which is essentially 48" x 18" x 24". 

I got 2 x Kessil A360WE Tuna Sun, 2x A series mounting arms, 1 set of extension mounts and a Kessil Spectral Controller. Not sure which mounting arm you were referring to, but if its the rigid one like I have, you won't need the 90 degree adapters. 

I chose the Kessil over the Radion because Kessil's can be adjusted to display a warmer colour. The Radion's warmest colour to me looked very similar to a cool white. I also find that the rigid mounts for Kessil's are much more elegant than the Radion's. 

I went with the A360WE over the A160WE because my tank has a height of 60cm/24" as opposed to your 45cm/18" tank. Considering the height difference of 15cm, I think the Kessil A160WE would be a sufficient light to grow your plants whether it be a high or low tech setup. 

I'd also highly recommend the spectral controller not just to control the lights as a timer but to stimulate sunrise and sunset's. The intensity of the light will gradually increase and decrease. In the 2 weeks that my tank has been set up, I have plants beginning to flower and pretty stable growth. I would highly recommend the Kessil's.

Goodluck with your choice  

I've attached a few pictures of the lights when I was setting it up so you can get a feel of what it will look like on your tank:



















If you're looking for more photos, you can check out my thread I started over in the Tank Journals section: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...-sanctuary-%96-komoda-%91skyclear%92-4ft.html


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## jeffkrol

> I chose the Kessil over the Radion because Kessil's can be adjusted to display a warmer colour. The Radion's warmest colour to me looked very similar to a cool white.


Not sure how that is possible...Kessil goes from 6000K to 9000k w/ no color adjustment
Xr-15FW states "neutral white" (which is usually around 4000-5000k) and has deep red leds to lower k and blue to raise K value.
Running the 2 reds and 5 neutral whites should produce a warm light in the 4000k range. Adding deep blue at 50% will push you to 9000K
At 75% deep blue you should be in the 15000K range..
Violets just screw things up .. 

theoretical and rough estimates but don't see how Kessil, which goes crisp(blue-ish) 6000K white to blue white,9000k, could possibly be warmer than a xr-15...


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## Qwedfg

Wow thanks for the first hand accounts guys. Both of your tanks are looking great. My tank will be a high tech dutch styled aquascape so high light is going to be important. I really love the way the kessils look and those new mounting arms are really nice. Do you think the a160s will be enough or should I think about the 360s?

I found a guy selling two xr30w gen2 for a good price but if this falls through I'm definitely going to go with kessils.


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## Chandy

jeffkrol said:


> Not sure how that is possible...Kessil goes from 6000K to 9000k w/ no color adjustment
> Xr-15FW states "neutral white" (which is usually around 4000-5000k) and has deep red leds to lower k and blue to raise K value.
> Running the 2 reds and 5 neutral whites should produce a warm light in the 4000k range. Adding deep blue at 50% will push you to 9000K
> At 75% deep blue you should be in the 15000K range..
> Violets just screw things up ..
> 
> theoretical and rough estimates but don't see how Kessil, which goes crisp(blue-ish) 6000K white to blue white,9000k, could possibly be warmer than a xr-15...


Sweet input, I was not aware of the hard facts/specification. 

I speak from visual observation. My LFS had both lights setup side by side, demonstrating both the lights to me. No matter how we adjusted the Radion, it just didn't look as warm in my eyes.



Qwedfg said:


> Wow thanks for the first hand accounts guys. Both of your tanks are looking great. My tank will be a high tech dutch styled aquascape so high light is going to be important. I really love the way the kessils look and those new mounting arms are really nice. Do you think the a160s will be enough or should I think about the 360s?
> 
> I found a guy selling two xr30w gen2 for a good price but if this falls through I'm definitely going to go with kessils.


In Australia, the A160 is almost half the price of the A360, I'd personally save that money to get an Apex controller or CO2 system. Hopefully other member's will be able to give you a better response in relation to the difference in power output between the two lights.


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## jeffkrol

Chandy said:


> Sweet input, I was not aware of the hard facts/specification.
> 
> I speak from visual observation. My LFS had both lights setup side by side, demonstrating both the lights to me. No matter how we adjusted the Radion, it just didn't look as warm in my eyes.


Yea theory and reality aren't always the same.. still.. if you get a chance have them run it w/ all purple channels off and just the neutral white and red channel.. changing red in 25% increments.. 
anyways a thought , they don't have the fw version.. 
fw


> Neutral White: 5
> • Deep Blue: 2
> • Blue: 2
> • Green: 2
> • Hyper Red: 2
> • Indigo: 1
> • UV: 1


15 pro


> • Cool White: 4 Cree XP-G2 (20W)
> • Deep Blue: 4 Osram Oslon Square (20W)
> • Blue: 4 Cree XP-E (12W)
> • Green: 2 Cree XP-E Green (7W)
> • Hyper Red: 2 Osram Oslon SSL (6W)
> • Yellow: 1 Osram Oslon SSL (3W)
> • Indigo: 2 SemiLEDs (5W)
> • UV: 2 SemiLEDs (5W)


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## Fiishman

Yea pretty sure they were showing the XR15W rather than the XR15FW. The FW can be quite warm


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## toybox22

Qwedfg said:


> Do you think the a160s will be enough or should I think about the 360s?


My LFS has single A160's over 2 cubes that are 18" around. And they cover them great and the plants are gorgeous. But if you can afford the A360's, I feel it's better to turn them down a little if you have too much light. Rather than running the A160 at full if you need more. Whether running the lights below a 100% increases life, idk, but I'd like to think it doesn't hurt.

This guy has a gorgeous cube tank that he has a single A150 over, which is similar to the A160.
Gorgeous Cube

 Old LFS tank thread I found.


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## jeffkrol

Fiishman said:


> Yea pretty sure they were showing the XR15W rather than the XR15FW. The FW can be quite warm


SPECTRA

Odd thing is, using the cool white, yellow and deep red you can STILL drive the k to 4740....................

IF I was a suspicious person I'd question the LFS's credibility..


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## Mattcosner10

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am also considering changing lights on my 36 in 50 gal. Right now I have a prism light which is working fine but doesn't give off much shimmer if any at all, which is something I really want. I love the look and shimmer from the kessil 160, but am a bit hesitant to spend over 500$. Does the ecoxotic e series create a similar shimmer? What are your thoughts of the two?


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## Fiishman

Mattcosner10 said:


> Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am also considering changing lights on my 36 in 50 gal. Right now I have a prism light which is working fine but doesn't give off much shimmer if any at all, which is something I really want. I love the look and shimmer from the kessil 160, but am a bit hesitant to spend over 500$. Does the ecoxotic e series create a similar shimmer? What are your thoughts of the two?


I do have some 36" EVO Quads 3W for sale if you're interested. They are super bright and have lots of shimmer but you'll probably want to raise them above the water.


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## LRJ

Fiishman said:


> Yea pretty sure they were showing the XR15W rather than the XR15FW. The FW can be quite warm


I can attest to this. The XR15FW can be warm.

Here's the XR15FW over a 24" Mr. Aqua. Transitioning this to a ducth scape, so the wood and then the second light will eventually be gone:








Here's the settings in the pic above:


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## Chibils

I can't speak for the Radions or the Halos but I bought 3 Kessils for a 6 foot tank and put 2 over my 4 foot tank for a while. I think the spread is plenty, and I love the light color. 

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk


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## jsarrow

LRJ, this is a really cool tank you posted. Any chance you started a journal on it and any feed back regarding the Radions?


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## charlie 1

Qwedfg said:


> Wow thanks for the first hand accounts guys. Both of your tanks are looking great. My tank will be a high tech dutch styled aquascape so high light is going to be important. I really love the way the kessils look and those new mounting arms are really nice. Do you think the a160s will be enough or should I think about the 360s?
> 
> I found a guy selling two xr30w gen2 for a good price but if this falls through I'm definitely going to go with kessils.


I`m interested in a follow up by the OP.
What did you settle with?
What is your review of it ?
Regards


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## sevendust111

charlie 1 said:


> Qwedfg said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow thanks for the first hand accounts guys. Both of your tanks are looking great. My tank will be a high tech dutch styled aquascape so high light is going to be important. I really love the way the kessils look and those new mounting arms are really nice. Do you think the a160s will be enough or should I think about the 360s?
> 
> I found a guy selling two xr30w gen2 for a good price but if this falls through I'm definitely going to go with kessils.
> 
> 
> 
> I`m interested in a follow up by the OP.
> What did you settle with?
> What is your review of it ?
> Regards
Click to expand...

I am curious too


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## jeffkrol

jsarrow said:


> LRJ, this is a really cool tank you posted. Any chance you started a journal on it and any feed back regarding the Radions?


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1058722-32-gallon-frameless-semi-dutch-2.html


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## LRJ

jsarrow said:


> LRJ, this is a really cool tank you posted. Any chance you started a journal on it and any feed back regarding the Radions?


Hi jsarrow, there is a journal for the tank here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/875121-32-gal-mr-aqua.html. It has since been converted to a Dutch style, and now uses a T5 fixture. I had been curious to try T5 lighting and thought it might render greater contrasts for the Dutch, so I ended up selling the XR15s to buy an ATI dimmable unit. Having now used both, I would not switch back to LED if keeping a Dutch style aquarium. That said, I used the Radions for about a year before the switch, and overall had a great experience. They're very powerful, highly controllable, relatively quiet, and never had any issues with them. I would highly recommend getting ReefLink though; otherwise you won't be taking advantage of the full programmability of the light, which is one of its best features. I would definitely use them again for the right sort of nature style setup.


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## jsarrow

Thanks LRJ for the link to your journal and the info on the lights; think I'll stick with my T5 set up for now.


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