akma Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I run. Halides on my main dt. But I'm attaching a frag tank. Was going to go with a 4 bulb ati t5 but looking into leds. I've run ai sol, nano, radion gen 1 2 and 3, kessil 150. I love t5 because it keeps my colors the same. I can go see the Kessil 360 locally but don't have the opportunity to see the nanobox around here. Can anyone give me input and why they love theres so much? How is growth and coloration with sps and especially acans. Thanks Link to comment
uwdanno Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Doooo it..... Never owned a Nanobox but the vast majority of the TOTM's are powered by Daves little wonders. I can speak for the Kessil 360. The color on Kessils is amazing. Zero disco effect. The light blends together very nice and clean- much like MH. You do get some shadowing though with only one. I haven't had mine long enough to see the impact of that but there are many beautiful sps tanks powered by kessil. You really can't go wrong. If they are side by side equal to you. Go with Nanobox. Dave is doing awesome things. He runs a business to make buck, but his innovation is great for the Reefing hobby and he cares about your tank. Tough call! Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 +1 Kessil. I have had really great growth and color. The natural shimmer is awesome as well. It is apex ready with the cord. Im not a fan of the radions, to christmas tree looking for me. Link to comment
braaap Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Both are very capable fixtures. It really is going to be personal preference. Dave's are fully controllable and offer a moonlight function where Kessil you only control blue or white with no moonlight. Both will grow basically anything you put under them so it really boils down to your control preference and your budget. +1 Kessil. I have had really great growth and color. The natural shimmer is awesome as well. It is apex ready with the cord. Im not a fan of the radions, to christmas tree looking for me. Radion disco can be fixed with the wide lenses or proper mounting distance. Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Custom Kessil Moonlighting - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Dave's lights are a cut above the rest. For a small company to have so many TOTM winners running their products is pretty indicative (nanotopia's 2015 tank, ninjamyst, teenyreef, trueisb2, justind823, 4x5, and uwwmatt all ran nanobox lights at the time of their winning; currently metrokat's future TOTM is running a nanobox ATI retrofit). However, for a frag tank only where you want a shallow tank with extremely even lighting an ATI T5 would also be an excellent choice. Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I run. Halides on my main dt. But I'm attaching a frag tank. Was going to go with a 4 bulb ati t5 but looking into leds. I've run ai sol, nano, radion gen 1 2 and 3, kessil 150. I love t5 because it keeps my colors the same. I can go see the Kessil 360 locally but don't have the opportunity to see the nanobox around here. Can anyone give me input and why they love theres so much? How is growth and coloration with sps and especially acans. Thanks All are good lights, Daves IMHO lightyears better than most listed. however, I would go with something as close to what is in your display so that the frags don't have light change issues. I've heard a lot of people have issues going from Halide to LED etc....... something to consider. Link to comment
matty0206 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Custom Kessil Moonlighting - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 Very cool idea. What did you need for this other than the strip and power supply? Link to comment
akma Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 Thanks. I'm actually trying to heat about the negatives. Everyone always gives positives but the negatives will help me decide bettEr. hate constantly buying the "best" leds to onlby sell for a loss afyer a few months. Lol Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I owned the nano box for a few days. Waited forever to receive it. Got it. Paint coming off. Wires/led fried. Not happy. So I sent back and bought a kessil. Here ya go - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 Very cool idea. What did you need for this other than the strip and power supply? Link to comment
DaveFason Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I will be a little one-sided but a few things to point out. More even spread than the single point source Sleek Unit and mounting ( not a huge factor in your case ) Wireless Connection Gorgeous LED Array Again you can't go wrong either way but I figured I would pipe in I owned the nano box for a few days. Waited forever to receive it. Got it. Paint coming off. Wires/led fried. Not happy. So I sent back and bought a kessil. Here ya go - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 I will admit during that time period I was behind. I bought a house, full time and moving everything over. Shipping can sometimes kill me as each unit is a one off ( yours was a three color scheme ) but please don't put out outrageous claims that the wires/leds were fried. I take pride in each unit and make sure once it leaves it is 100% working ( I snap a picture of every unit ). Things can happen I understand but your unit was in TERRIBLE condition when I received it back and I can guarantee that it was not sent that way. And I still issued you a full refund. Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I will be a little one-sided but a few things to point out. More even spread than the single point source Sleek Unit and mounting ( not a huge factor in your case ) Wireless Connection Gorgeous LED Array Again you can't go wrong either way but I figured I would pipe in I will admit during that time period I was behind. I bought a house, full time and moving everything over. Shipping can sometimes kill me as each unit is a one off ( yours was a three color scheme ) but please don't put out outrageous claims that the wires/leds were fried. I take pride in each unit and make sure once it leaves it is 100% working ( I snap a picture of every unit ). Things can happen I understand but your unit was in TERRIBLE condition when I received it back and I can guarantee that it was not sent that way. And I still issued you a full refund. Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Thanks. I'm actually trying to heat about the negatives. Everyone always gives positives but the negatives will help me decide bettEr. hate constantly buying the "best" leds to onlby sell for a loss afyer a few months. Lol If you aren't in it for the "best LEDs" then it doesn't actually matter which one you buy. Buy whichever one you think looks best. The whole point of debating these lights is based on which one is better in terms of LEDs and what you get. There really aren't any negatives with either unit. Both Kessil and NB make great lights. Negatives to the Kessil is that you have to buy the controller and mount separately and it ends up costing more. I have a NB and it's great. People like their kessils too. Dave is a great guy and has top notch customer service. As a price comparison, you get more for your money out of Nanobox. Buy whichever you like more. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 OP, what size tank are you lighting? That's the main determining factor. If it's a large area, smaller point-source lights will do a decent job since the frag tank will be flat (no rocks to interfere or create shadows, etc). If you're doing mostly SPS, then a more even light source will lead to faster growth given all else the same (good flow, good filtration, plenty of food) and more even coloration. Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 You don't have to buy a controller for the kessil. You can control via the knobs on top of the unit. Kessil is also apex ready, I don't believe the nano box is, may be wrong. You can control it via apex with the $20 cable or homemade cable if you choose to do so. I did personally buy the controller for the ramping etc, but now have no need for it and will be selling now that I have the apex. If you aren't in it for the "best LEDs" then it doesn't actually matter which one you buy. Buy whichever one you think looks best. The whole point of debating these lights is based on which one is better in terms of LEDs and what you get. There really aren't any negatives with either unit. Both Kessil and NB make great lights. Negatives to the Kessil is that you have to buy the controller and mount separately and it ends up costing more. I have a NB and it's great. People like their kessils too. Dave is a great guy and has top notch customer service. As a price comparison, you get more for your money out of Nanobox. Buy whichever you like more. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 You don't have to buy a controller for the kessil. You can control via the knobs on top of the unit. Kessil is also apex ready, I don't believe the nano box is, may be wrong. You can control it via apex with the $20 cable or homemade cable if you choose to do so. I did personally buy the controller for the ramping etc, but now have no need for it and will be selling now that I have the apex. Nanobox units all ship with a Bluefish Mini as the controller now, which is accessible from anywhere through the app, so Nanobox doesn't need Apex control. Then again, I don't like the idea of having a single point of failure for everything, so I'd rather have a separate ATO controller, separate light controller, separate array for sensors, etc Link to comment
tibbsy07 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Then again, I don't like the idea of having a single point of failure for everything, so I'd rather have a separate ATO controller, separate light controller, separate array for sensors, etc beat me to it Link to comment
gus6464 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 I owned the nano box for a few days. Waited forever to receive it. Got it. Paint coming off. Wires/led fried. Not happy. So I sent back and bought a kessil. Here ya go - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 Don't think you have any clue how hard it is for a normal wire to fry. I have melted and fried cables on my RC cars but I have been pushing close to 250A on the wire. Dave's LEDs at most will be pushing 1A on a wire. A bad solder point will blow the LED easily but frying the wire is not going to happen. I would have believed fried emitters no problem and stuff like that happens but you lost me at fried wire. Link to comment
akma Posted May 28, 2015 Author Share Posted May 28, 2015 By "best" I wasn't talking about the pysical unit. I mean more as an coral growth and color. I have yet to find an led that brings out colors in my acans like my t5s. But I've heard great reviews about kessill and nanobox so I'm trying to see if they are what I am looking for. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 By "best" I wasn't talking about the pysical unit. I mean more as an coral growth and color. I have yet to find an led that brings out colors in my acans like my t5s. But I've heard great reviews about kessill and nanobox so I'm trying to see if they are what I am looking for. The issue is not having enough cyan or red with most acans. Kessil won't help you out there, unfortunately, as those are two areas of spectrum they cut out as much of as possible. Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 The issue is not having enough cyan or red with most acans. Kessil won't help you out there, unfortunately, as those are two areas of spectrum they cut out as much of as possible. Big time. There is a huge difference be in my tank with acans with my Cyan, Standard Blue, and Warm whites channel on and off. I owned the nano box for a few days. Waited forever to receive it. Got it. Paint coming off. Wires/led fried. Not happy. So I sent back and bought a kessil. Here ya go - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2215243 You are the first person I've ever heard complain about any of Dave's work. This leads me to believe that it was a shipping problem. Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Here is a pic of my acans under my kessil. Currently I have 4 new heads growing and color stays the same if not better than what picture shows. By "best" I wasn't talking about the pysical unit. I mean more as an coral growth and color. I have yet to find an led that brings out colors in my acans like my t5s. But I've heard great reviews about kessill and nanobox so I'm trying to see if they are what I am looking for. Link to comment
jtgrimes Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Im probably not the first, and im most certainly not the last. Shipping yea took forever, longer than told. But after waiting a long time and then receiving the product I was very happy until i got home. Noticing the paint began to rub off. Maybe I shouldnt of said fried but definitely the soldering was crappy as the leds would flicker etc and then not even power. And the gooseneck, and the main head being way to loose. Scared it would fall in the water. Seemed to be very rushed. Most of the time I see Dave being spot on with his leds, which made me choose to go nano box. But you can't be spot on 100% of the time and I was the unlucky one. But very happy with the kessil as far as color/growth and I can always use it to upgrade and move to bigger tanks. It all is going to come down to what exactly your looking for and your tanks needs. Big time. There is a huge difference be in my tank with acans with my Cyan, Standard Blue, and Warm whites channel on and off. You are the first person I've ever heard complain about any of Dave's work. This leads me to believe that it was a shipping problem. Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 The issue is not having enough cyan or red with most acans. Kessil won't help you out there, unfortunately, as those are two areas of spectrum they cut out as much of as possible. I'm just curious how do you know that? I have a rainbow Acan under my Kessil A160we in my 28G Nanocube and I just can't see where they "cut" that. I also have a nanobox minitide on my Fusion 10G and I'm pretty pleased with that light too, but I just don't see a dramatic difference between those two lights. OP, LED's look different in real life, than what you see in the pictures here and anywhere BTW. Link to comment
braaap Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Nanobox units all ship with a Bluefish Mini as the controller now, which is accessible from anywhere through the app, so Nanobox doesn't need Apex control. Then again, I don't like the idea of having a single point of failure for everything, so I'd rather have a separate ATO controller, separate light controller, separate array for sensors, etc How is it a single point of failure? If properly setup your Apex can't fail. Even if the head unit dies the outlets are set to a certain mode. So a ON or OFF state. Ya that would suck but you set it so if it does fail they keep vital systems running and shut down others. A separate controller for each item is overkill. OP - I seriously think you will be incredibly happy with either light. Nanobox has control of individual channels and a real moonlight. Kessil does control of only whites or blues. Nanobox is not Apex ready. Kessil is Apex ready. Nanobox does have the bluefish mini though. Those are the only "Cons" I can think of between the 2 lights. Since you seem so worried about the coloration(which you should be) get a Nanobox Hybrid. T5 and LED goodness all in one pretty package. Link to comment
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