# Kessil A80's on planted 20 long. Thoughts?



## Veritas (Aug 9, 2013)

why are you wanting to ditch the Fluval? Are you not getting good growth/results?


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

Veritas said:


> why are you wanting to ditch the Fluval? Are you not getting good growth/results?


Try something new, see how well they work (if suited), and very intrigued by Kessil. Also, when I bought my lights I only saw the 160's, never saw these before.

+1 for a shimmer effect


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## Veritas (Aug 9, 2013)

freshestemo412 said:


> Try something new, see how well they work (if suited), and very intrigued by Kessil. Also, when I bought my lights I only saw the 160's, never saw these before.
> 
> +1 for a shimmer effect



Gotcha. I was just wondering - as I myself am a little bit of a light whore and have bought several different setups of them. It's a little bit of a rabbit hole sometimes!


The A80 should be plenty of light for a 20g Long - it's a pretty shallow tank.


Also - Shimmer can be achieved with most LED fixtures, just create surface disturbance with the outflow.


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

Veritas said:


> Gotcha. I was just wondering - as I myself am a little bit of a light whore and have bought several different setups of them. It's a little bit of a rabbit hole sometimes!
> 
> 
> The A80 should be plenty of light for a 20g Long - it's a pretty shallow tank.
> ...


Exactly.. Ive had 4 so far haha. The fluval has been my longest one so far of only 5-6 months =p. I was thinking the same thing with my tank only being 12" tall.. maybe around 1 1/2 inch of sand.. so its only at max maybe 18" to the sand with the gooseneck. Also Ive read the 80 is half the intensity of the 160, I assume at full (the brightest the 80 will go is half of the 160 at full). I cant find anything on brightness / PAR for the A80's


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

> I recently had the fortune of borrowing a par meter from my local reef society and testing it out in my tank. The tank's dimensions are 24 x 10 x 10" and the par varied from 30 to 40 at a corner to 40 to 70 in the middle from bottom to top





> It is a 15 watt light - what did you expect?


https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/378524-par-for-kessil-a80/

Keep in mind this is reef centric where light "demands" are higher... PAR is the total of ALL visible light spectrum "Color" makes little difference if measured correctly.



> Fluval Fresh & Plant 2.0: 46 watts; 252 LEDs total; fixed color spectrum 7500K; adjustable brightness 100% - 10%; [email protected]”; [email protected]”; 120 degree lenses; 3 year warranty; fully sealed unit Potential issues: ‘touch’ control takes some practice (I did not try the WiFi model)


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...omparison-fluval-fresh-plant-2-0-fixture.html

your Fluval isn't even broken in yet... 
( I suspect some knew this was coming..)


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

freshestemo412 said:


> I was thinking about doing 2 Kessil A80's on my 20 long planted tank, with the gooseneck adapter for them.
> 
> *Given my current light is the Fluval Plant & Fresh 2.0, 7500K, and 35 watts, would 2 of these lights spaced out above the tank at 15 watts each suffice? Totaling 30 watts?
> *
> ...


Direct answer to your question =Yes
I suspect based on *my* hands on experience with that fixture you will need to dial the intensity down.
Your tanks as mentioned already is a shallow tank , that plays a lot as to what intensity you need.


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

charlie 1 said:


> Direct answer =Yes
> Your tanks as mentioned already is a shallow tank , that plays a lot as to what intensity you need.


I am talking about adding 2 Kessil A80's over a planted 20 long. (I think your implying about the Fluval over a 20 long?)

To add to that, Ive read somewhere the 80, at full intensity, is half of the 160 at full intensity. I would think thats pretty bright, just from seeing pictures and such.


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

freshestemo412 said:


> I am talking about adding 2 Kessil A80's over a planted 20 long. (I think your implying about the Fluval over a 20 long?)
> 
> To add to that, Ive read somewhere the 80, at full intensity, is half of the 160 at full intensity. I would think thats pretty bright, just from seeing pictures and such.


No , i`m talking about the Kessil A 80.
I suspect you would love it, as i have mine.


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

charlie 1 said:


> No , i`m talking about the Kessil A 80.
> I suspect you would love it, as i have mine.


Gotcha! Yeah I actually scolled down and saw the Kessil lighting post and saw your 15 gallon. That looks nice and bright. Would you mind telling me how many inches your have from the substrate, your intensity/spectrum and the height of your tank? :smile2:. Is it easy to dial in? Or is it guess and hope?

My 20 long is 12" high and I think the gooseneck is 10" (Bent down, Im thinking mine would be around 12-15 inches to substrate w/ the gooseneck)


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

freshestemo412 said:


> Gotcha! Yeah I actually scolled down and saw the Kessil lighting post and saw your 15 gallon. That looks nice and bright. Would you mind telling me how many inches your have from the substrate, your intensity/spectrum and the height of your tank? :smile2:. Is it easy to dial in? Or is it guess and hope?
> 
> My 20 long is 12" high and I think the gooseneck is 10" (Bent down, Im thinking mine would be around 12-15 inches to substrate w/ the gooseneck)


Here is the info.


> Light is about 7 inches off the top of tank, top of tank to substrate approx. 13 inches for a total of 20 inches light to substrate
> Tank is 19 .75" X 13"


Regards


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

charlie 1 said:


> Here is the info.
> 
> Regards


Wow, mine would be shorter than that! I might pull the trigger for 2 of them. That really does look bright given the height!

What is the intensity for the one in your picture? Have you played around with the 'Spectrum' dial, like is it easy to see the light change?


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

I`m running it at about 90%.
I`m guessing the spectrum is about 7,000K since it`s just a bit off the minimum spectrum.
Regards


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

Kessil A160WE Tuna Sun Review - Video Dailymotion

Starting 3:50 is color adjustment..
160 though..


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## DaveK (Jul 10, 2010)

I would say the Kessil A80's would give you excellent light, and would look great. However, they cost about $130 each. Since you would need two of them, you'd be spending about $260. 

On top of that, you already have good lighting, so I think the amount of improvement would be very modest at best. 

As for the shimmer, after awhile you hardly notice it. It's nice but not critical.

If you had lighting that just wasn't up to the job, I'd say the Kessil's would deserve serious consideration, even though they are somewhat expensive, but as matters stand I'd recommend you save your money. I don't think you'll see too much of an improvement, especially when the cost is figured in. 

I sure hate to think of the times I replaced working equipment and the new gear was only a little better than the old. Definitely wasn't worth the cost of the upgrade. Nowadays if I upgrade something I make sure it's going to be a quantum improvement over what is there.


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## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

DaveK said:


> I would say the Kessil A80's would give you excellent light, and would look great. However, they cost about $130 each. Since you would need two of them, you'd be spending about $260.
> 
> On top of that, you already have good lighting, so I think the amount of improvement would be very modest at best.
> 
> ...


Thats a great perspective to put on things. I did some calculations last night, saying that I sell my 2 lights I currently have, along with a belated Christmas present, I should only be spending around $40-$60 out of pocket. The only thing thats holding me back is well actually selling the lights, and is the 2 A80's would be bright enough, unless Im just overthinking things and thinking the A80's wont be powerful enough.

Im still trying to do research but I guess these lights just came out? YouTube seems to be flooded with the Tuna Blue's .. not the Tuna Sun =(, but I saw the Kessil post on here and saw some tank and it looks pretty bright IMO. 

We shall see...

Thank you!


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