Kessil or reef breeder?

[Talon33]

So I am setting up my tank right now and need some advice on lighting. I originally had 4 Kessil a150 sky blues I was going to use. 3 of which I already have. Well I found a reef breeders photon w 60 for $450 that has only been turned on once so I grabbed it. Basically I like the kessils a lot, the shimmer is amazing and good color but concerns me with what corals it can grow. Reef breeders seems to be a great light. Controllable and powerful. Shimmer may not be as great but looks like people are having great success with these lights and sps.

Basically which lights should I sell. I like the Kessil but I really would like lighting to not be the issue with corals I want to keep. Can't afford to put 3 or 4 360we over it or I would in a heartbeat! Lol

 

[Talon33]

Also tank is 6ft 125 gallons

 

[Blue Space]

I have heard some great things about the the reef breeders and have also had good experience myself using kessil but I think once you have seen both types of fixtures on the tank the call will probably be pretty easy to make...

 

[DaveK]

Here is the thing. No matter what you get your still going to want those Kessil 360 WE's. I'd say that sooner or later, your going to end up with those or something similar.

I don't think either the three Kessil A150s or the Reef Breeders photon w 60 is going to be enough by itself to light your tank for SPS.

I'd say run the lighting you now have, the three Kessil A150s and the Reef Breeders photon w 60. Try various configurations, such as the Reef Breeders photon in the middle and the Kessils on the ends, or the Reef Breeders on one end and the Kessils on the other. Pick the configuration you like best.

Then figure out the lighting you might want to get in the future.

 

[Talon33]

It's a hard choice, I really can't afford to keep both right now. I mean that like $400 worth of coral when I sell one or the other! Kessil look nice and sleek. Shimmer is awesome. Color good but stuck in that spectrum. Reefbreeders nothing but good things to say, powerful par monsters, full spectrum; controllable.

Davek why do you think the reefbreeders couldn't grow coral. I have seen a number of videos and people having success grow lots of sps under these lights. Is it a coverage thing? Or do you think the LEDs are weak. They are 3 watt LEDs but I think they are not driven to a full 3 watts. Allows them to skip a bit on the cooling which makes the lights cheaper I suppose.

I need one light or the other to last me for awhile till I can go 360we. I'm am wanting to do a mixed reef. With sps and LPS, maybe some softies on the sides and down low

 

[DaveK]

I consider the Reef Breeders Photon w 60 to be an ok, but somewhat low light. Others don't feel that way.

Just to give you some idea, I run 4 AI Hydra 52 fixtures over my 125 gal, 6 ft long reef. At full power they are 135w per fixture, for a total of 540w of led lighting at full power. I run mine at about 80%. Compare this to the Reef Breeders Photon w 60, which at full power is 215w. To be fair, the AI Hydra 52's do have those UV and Violet LEDs in them, which wouldn't do much to change PAR. They are more for making the coral colors look good. I should also point out that most of my corals are soft corals. If I were going for SPS corals, I'd want additional light.

You'll also see that the Reef Breeders Photon w 60 is only 55 inches long. A 125 gal tank is 72 inches long. So the fixture is short but about 17 inches. LEDs tend to send their light straight down. This means your going to have dim ends of the tank or a dim side of the tank, depending upon how you position your light. This is not necessarily bad if your careful about the aquascape, but most tanks that do this end up looking far less than ideal. This I why I recommend you keep both kinds of lighting.

This isn't so much a case of not being about to grow SPS corals at all. It's more that you'll get less than ideal results.