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AI Prime or Kessil A160


zak.payne

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I have an awfully tough time making up my mind on lighting, but I know it's an important purchase for the life of the aquarium. I think I've seen every video and read every article out there on both of these lights and now I'm looking to you guys to help me make my final decision.

 

I know Kessil makes a fantastic light. They look nice, they run well and overall I've heard good things. However, the downside is the inability to fine-tune the lighting and you have to purchase the Spectral Controller, which is an additional $100. I do also like the shimmer effect I've heard about.

 

Now the AI Prime is nice because it has the built-in WiFi and the app the goes along with it. That's nice to be able to fine tune the whole thing and not have to pay extra for it. I do also know that the Prime gives a bit of a shimmer effect, but not so much it looks like a disco ball.

 

Both are fairly cheap to run (40W for the Kessil and 45W for the Prime), so that isn't a problem for me. I've heard both can grow coral, so it's really just a matter of picking one. Have any of you used one or the other and could provide some advice on the two?

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I had the same dilemma. I went with the prime for the sole purpose of controllability. I wanted a lunar cycle and total control of each spectrum. I love my light. It does have a shimmer but not as nice as the kessil

 

In all honestly I feel the kessil is a better light. Better shimmer for sure. But not as much control.

 

You can't go wrong with either. Both are great lights from reputable companies.

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I had the same dilemma. I went with the prime for the sole purpose of controllability. I wanted a lunar cycle and total control of each spectrum. I love my light. It does have a shimmer but not as nice as the kessil

 

In all honestly I feel the kessil is a better light. Better shimmer for sure. But not as much control.

 

You can't go wrong with either. Both are great lights from reputable companies.

 

I forgot to mention in my initial post, but I heard that at one point the AI Prime brackets would droop, is this still an issue or has AI fixed that? That would be a big thing for me, as I want the tank to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

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Do you have an apex controller, or will be getting on in the future? If so, with the kessil you won't need the spectral controller.

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Do you have an apex controller, or will be getting on in the future? If so, with the kessil you won't need the spectral controller.

 

I plan to eventually, however I don't know how in the future that will be. My guess is at least a year.

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The brackets do not droop if you tighten them properly. The part of the bracket where it screws into the fixture should be tightened so that drooping doesn't occur. I have never had any issue with my AI Prime. Its a great light for the price. I did have the Ecotech Radion r30 pro before this light, fantastic light for my 29gal and I consider controllability to be comparable to the prime.

 

 

I forgot to mention in my initial post, but I heard that at one point the AI Prime brackets would droop, is this still an issue or has AI fixed that? That would be a big thing for me, as I want the tank to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

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The brackets do not droop if you tighten them properly. The part of the bracket where it screws into the fixture should be tightened so that drooping doesn't occur. I have never had any issue with my AI Prime. Its a great light for the price. I did have the Ecotech Radion r30 pro before this light, fantastic light for my 29gal and I consider controllability to be comparable to the prime.

 

 

I wish I had the money to drop on a Radion :P but happy to hear the Prime is getting some positive reviews. I know it shouldn't be the sole purpose of buying a light, but I REALLY like the ability to control it without the requirement of a separate controller.

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Also something to note, I would like to do SPS coral down the line. Would either of these lights be able to handle those? Nothing extreme for the SPS, but more so the beginner ones.

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I forgot to mention in my initial post, but I heard that at one point the AI Prime brackets would droop, is this still an issue or has AI fixed that? That would be a big thing for me, as I want the tank to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible.

When the light first came out the specs for the ball joint in the mount were off which caused the mount to droop no mater what you did. It was a defect in the product. My mount had that issue, and AI CS took care of me and send me a new bracket for free. I now have NO issues with my mount and it works as it should. I actually love my mount and think it looks very aesthetically pleasing.

Any new light ordered should come with the fixed mount. They also will have a gooseneck mount available soon if you like that style.

Also something to note, I would like to do SPS coral down the line. Would either of these lights be able to handle those? Nothing extreme for the SPS, but more so the beginner ones.

You will be able to house some SPS, make sure your coral is high up and directly below the light. It won't support it off to he edge of the tank. .

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When the light first came out the specs for the ball joint in the mount were off which caused the mount to droop no mater what you did. It was a defect in the product. My mount had that issue, and AI CS took care of me and send me a new bracket for free. I now have NO issues with my mount and it works as it should. I actually love my mount and think it looks very aesthetically pleasing.

Any new light ordered should come with the fixed mount. They also will have a gooseneck mount available soon if you like that style.

 

You will be able to house some SPS, make sure your coral is high up and directly below the light. It won't support it off to he edge of the tank. .

 

I bought my bracket when the light first came out. I still use some rigid tubing to correct the droop. Do you think now it is too late to ask AI for a replacement bracket? Who did you speak to there to help you? thanks

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reefernanoman

I have an awfully tough time making up my mind on lighting, but I know it's an important purchase for the life of the aquarium. I think I've seen every video and read every article out there on both of these lights and now I'm looking to you guys to help me make my final decision.

 

I know Kessil makes a fantastic light. They look nice, they run well and overall I've heard good things. However, the downside is the inability to fine-tune the lighting and you have to purchase the Spectral Controller, which is an additional $100. I do also like the shimmer effect I've heard about.

 

Now the AI Prime is nice because it has the built-in WiFi and the app the goes along with it. That's nice to be able to fine tune the whole thing and not have to pay extra for it. I do also know that the Prime gives a bit of a shimmer effect, but not so much it looks like a disco ball.

 

Both are fairly cheap to run (40W for the Kessil and 45W for the Prime), so that isn't a problem for me. I've heard both can grow coral, so it's really just a matter of picking one. Have any of you used one or the other and could provide some advice on the two?

 

I absolutely love My Kessil A160we one my 10G and 28G tanks. Better growth and colors than anything that I have ever owned. Lunar cycle would be nice, but it's just a gimmick. I control mine with Apex Jr, which can give you dawn and dusk effects.

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I absolutely love My Kessil A160we one my 10G and 28G tanks. Better growth and colors than anything that I have ever owned. Lunar cycle would be nice, but it's just a gimmick. I control mine with Apex Jr, which can give you dawn and dusk effects.

You can do a ramp up and down with an Apex Jr?! That's big. I thought I could only do that with the standard Apex.

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I bought my bracket when the light first came out. I still use some rigid tubing to correct the droop. Do you think now it is too late to ask AI for a replacement bracket? Who did you speak to there to help you? thanks

 

Anyone there should be able to help you. I talk with Ryan or Alex often.

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You can do a ramp up and down with an Apex Jr?! That's big. I thought I could only do that with the standard Apex.

 

With the Jr you'd need to buy the VDM module to control them.

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I bought my bracket when the light first came out. I still use some rigid tubing to correct the droop. Do you think now it is too late to ask AI for a replacement bracket? Who did you speak to there to help you? thanks

I don't recall the name of the person who helped me but I called their customer support line. It took me a few times to get through and connected with a rep. I told them my issue and they didn't question me at all, just told me why the mount droops and apologized and said they would get me a new one. I did this about 5 months ago so I bet you can still do it. They will stand behind their product. I even bought my light used from someone from here and was worried they wouldn't send me the new mount because I was the second owner. They didn't ask where I bought the light so of course I didn't tell them. But I am very pleased with their support. Also the app is very simple to use and navigate. I just with they had some templates for different settings to go off of.

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reefernanoman

You can do a ramp up and down with an Apex Jr?! That's big. I thought I could only do that with the standard Apex.

Yeah, like someone mentioned, through the VDM module. Also try to see both lights in action. I have heard that the fan on the Prime is pretty loud. The fan on the Kessil is almost completely silent.

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Yeah, like someone mentioned, through the VDM module. Also try to see both lights in action. I have heard that the fan on the Prime is pretty loud. The fan on the Kessil is almost completely silent.

 

I've seen the Kessil A360 in person a number of times, so I can assume the A160 is similar, just smaller. But definitely dead silent!

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I have a Kessil 360 on my lagoon 25 and it is indeed a very nice light, I have the Kessil controller which I no longer use and currently control through my apex. However, I do have one thing I just learned and hate about this light - not sure if this will apply to the 160 but the 360 turns off at 15%. With my programming I will ramp down to 0 color (blue) over 120 minutes but the light will go off while only around 36% due to the intensity going to 15%. Just a FYI, perhaps this doesn't even apply to the 160, but fwiw the lights are great!

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I have two 160's over my 22g and absolutely love them. I use to control them with my apex, but was getting weird voltage, which made one light brighter than the other (long story short), they sent me a new light and I decided to use the spectral controller instead of my apex. I wasn't doing anything fancy with my programming, just ramping up, holding peak, then ramping back down, which is easily done with the SC. I don't care about moon/lunar lighting cycle, nor do I need "weather" clouds, I need a light that provides the right spectrum and intensity and Kessil has been doing the job for over a year now. I have a sps dominant tank and everything is growing just fine. I'm only reaching 65% intensity at my peak and will bump it up to 70% shortly. Anyway, these lights are great and I really like the small form factor pendant style, kinda reminds me of my 175w mh pendant that I use to have over my 15g back in the day, but a lot smaller.

No matter what light you choose, if you're going to grow sps, then get two to reduce shading. Unless you're only going to keep tabling and/or plating type sps, then one might do the trick? Here are a couple pix showing when I started the tank with one 160, to it's current state with two. I've fragged the s. guttatus three times already and I'm about to frag it again. I also need to frag the orange cap, as it's growing over my m. mollis (aka, purple haze).

Feb. 5th 2015

IMG_1848_zpsorqfi2ib.jpg

Jan. 30th 2016

IMG_2732_zps0mmr9bk3.jpg

Bonsai as a frag, ^^now in the center of the pic above ^^(March 2015)

DSC_0010_zpsp5qsvulq.jpg

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reefernanoman

My fusion 10G with Kessil A160WE:

IMG_3664%20copy.jpg


I have a Kessil 360 on my lagoon 25 and it is indeed a very nice light, I have the Kessil controller which I no longer use and currently control through my apex. However, I do have one thing I just learned and hate about this light - not sure if this will apply to the 160 but the 360 turns off at 15%. With my programming I will ramp down to 0 color (blue) over 120 minutes but the light will go off while only around 36% due to the intensity going to 15%. Just a FYI, perhaps this doesn't even apply to the 160, but fwiw the lights are great!

Yeah, it's the same with the A160WE, but that doesn't bother me at all honestly. I do a ramp time of 80 minutes for the color and 120 minutes for the intensity all through Apex too.

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Yeah, like someone mentioned, through the VDM module. Also try to see both lights in action. I have heard that the fan on the Prime is pretty loud. The fan on the Kessil is almost completely silent.

 

 

You can hear the fan, and a slight buzz, but other equipment like the MP10, return, and skimmer are just as loud. Actually, the prime is probably the one thing I don't hear unless I'm within 1 foot of the light. The noise isn't an issue

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  • 3 weeks later...

Do you have an apex controller, or will be getting on in the future? If so, with the kessil you won't need the spectral controller.

Would one be able to control the Kessil A160 with the Reef Angel?

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Would one be able to control the Kessil A160 with the Reef Angel?

 

not sure I have no experience with the Reef Angel

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As long as there's a 0-10v analog output option and you use a 3.5mm 3 wire audio plug, yes.

 

And there's an attachment that does that so yes.

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