Kessil a80 vs Kessil a160we

[Hexadron]

Hey guys,

 

So I am currently running 2x Kessil a160we's over my 20 gallon and really like the spread and color I get with these two fixtures; however, what I am not thrilled over is the fan noise. By no means it is loud, but it is the loudest item on my tank, and I am looking to go as near silent as possible, without compromising coral health.

 

I have a mixed reef with a clam and everything is doing well.

 

I run at various color temps throughout the day on my Apex and Intensity ramps up to around 40% max. From what I have read about the new a80, it is approx a third less wattage, but it looks like improved optics which I know can make things not so black and white with wattage.

 

So the question is, can I replace 2x Kessil a160we's with 2x Kessil a80's without compromising health?

 

Bonus question: What intensity (percent) would an a80 match approx 40% of a a160we?

[Cencalfishguy56]

Hey guys,

 

So I am currently running 2x Kessil a160we's over my 20 gallon and really like the spread and color I get with these two fixtures; however, what I am not thrilled over is the fan noise. By no means it is loud, but it is the loudest item on my tank, and I am looking to go as near silent as possible, without compromising coral health.

 

I have a mixed reef with a clam and everything is doing well.

 

I run at various color temps throughout the day on my Apex and Intensity ramps up to around 40% max. From what I have read about the new a80, it is approx a third less wattage, but it looks like improved optics which I know can make things not so black and white with wattage.

 

So the question is, can I replace 2x Kessil a160we's with 2x Kessil a80's without compromising health?

 

Bonus question: What intensity (percent) would an a80 match approx 40% of a a160we?

the fans not even loud tho lol but considering the a160we is pushing ~40watts and the a80 is ~15 watts you'd probably have to have the 80's on full blast and closer to the water line

[MainelyReefer]

I don't think so and here is why...

I have an older kessil A150 still in use on my 40, that thing is a beast I love it but the fan is so high pitched and loud. I am sure the a160 is slightly quieter but I feel your pain,

I also just got the kessil A80 for my nuvo pico 4 and I love it as well as it is dead silent and that tank is in my bedroom, however the optics on the a80 are so wide. My tank is 8 inches wide, so pretty narrow but even 4 inches from the water the light is spilling over before it gets to the tank. Second issue is the little gooseneck for the A80 doesn't actually bend far enough and flat enough to allow a great amount of adjustability.

I fully understand why you ask because I love kessil and have gotten incredible growth out of everything under the a150 and that's why I went with the a80. I would just be worried about the penetration of light as my tank isn't more than 10 inches so the lights only traveling 14 total and that has kept my coral healthy.

Bonus question guess answer: two a80 on max

[Hexadron]

the fans not even loud tho lol but considering the a160we is pushing ~40watts and the a80 is ~15 watts you'd probably have to have the 80's on full blast and closer to the water line

 

Well although the fans aren't loud as I said in my OP, it is the loudest thing on my tank. Kind of strange that i'm asking for a "downgrade" huh?!

 

I don't think so and here is why...

I have an older kessil A150 still in use on my 40, that thing is a beast I love it but the fan is so high pitched and loud. I am sure the a160 is slightly quieter but I feel your pain,

I also just got the kessil A80 for my nuvo pico 4 and I love it as well as it is dead silent and that tank is in my bedroom, however the optics on the a80 are so wide. My tank is 8 inches wide, so pretty narrow but even 4 inches from the water the light is spilling over before it gets to the tank. Second issue is the little gooseneck for the A80 doesn't actually bend far enough and flat enough to allow a great amount of adjustability.

I fully understand why you ask because I love kessil and have gotten incredible growth out of everything under the a150 and that's why I went with the a80. I would just be worried about the penetration of light as my tank isn't more than 10 inches so the lights only traveling 14 total and that has kept my coral healthy.

Bonus question guess answer: two a80 on max

 

 

You share my pain! Yup, tons of people think i'm crazy, but the a160we are not silent. They are not loud either, but somewhere in between.

 

I had no idea it has that kind of spread. That's a good thing I think, and my tank is only 13" deep (total; not including sand and water line, so less in reality) and i have mine about 6 inches from the water line and act slightly angled in like this:

 

\ \ / /

-------------

 

 

I have LeRusso mounts so changing to the Kessil mounts would be a slight downgrade and they do look rather short too. I'm fine running them at 100%, but hate the idea of no 'bumping it up' if I feel it necessary for growth etc. I really appreciate your feedback GraniteReefer!

 

Looks like I'll probably stick with mine for now. Maybe Kessil will make an ap160 or something one of these days with either a quieter fan or no fan at all!

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

Well although the fans aren't loud as I said in my OP, it is the loudest thing on my tank. Kind of strange that i'm asking for a "downgrade" huh?!

 

 

 

You share my pain! Yup, tons of people think i'm crazy, but the a160we are not silent. They are not loud either, but somewhere in between.

 

I had no idea it has that kind of spread. That's a good thing I think, and my tank is only 13" deep (total; not including sand and water line, so less in reality) and i have mine about 6 inches from the water line and act slightly angled in like this:

 

\ \ / /

-------------

 

 

I have LeRusso mounts so changing to the Kessil mounts would be a slight downgrade and they do look rather short too. I'm fine running them at 100%, but hate the idea of no 'bumping it up' if I feel it necessary for growth etc. I really appreciate your feedback GraniteReefer!

 

Looks like I'll probably stick with mine for now. Maybe Kessil will make an ap160 or something one of these days with either a quieter fan or no fan at all!

lol true, I guess my mp10 isn't dead silent so I don't even notice the fan on the kessil! btw their customer service is top notch, my blue LEDs were burning out and they shipped me a new light

[DAP]

Total anecdotal evidence, but I relocated one of the A160we on my tank and added an A80

I also have the kessil controller.

So I figured I better turn the A80 up to 100%, since I was running my 160 at like 50%. These are all peak times.

My Zoas did not like it one bit, had to turn the A80 down..... neither did my Digitata and Montipora, they were starting to bleach.. They are doing much better with the light turned down to 60%.

 

As far as the A160we fan, I have to put my ear right up to the fixture to hear it, and then I only hear the air, not anything mechanical.

 

I spray mine out with air, every month........ I also have a very dusty house.....

[Cencalfishguy56]

Total anecdotal evidence, but I relocated one of the A160we on my tank and added an A80

I also have the kessil controller.

So I figured I better turn the A80 up to 100%, since I was running my 160 at like 50%. These are all peak times.

My Zoas did not like it one bit, had to turn the A80 down..... neither did my Digitata and Montipora, they were starting to bleach.. They are doing much better with the light turned down to 60%.

 

As far as the A160we fan, I have to put my ear right up to the fixture to hear it, and then I only hear the air, not anything mechanical.

 

I spray mine out with air, every month........ I also have a very dusty house.....

interesting, I told everyone that a80 packs a punch but everyone said 15watts is child's play lol I've burned shit with my a160 easy, I'm at peak 60% I also had to move my digi from under it because it started to bleach lol

[Hexadron]

lol true, I guess my mp10 isn't dead silent so I don't even notice the fan on the kessil! btw their customer service is top notch, my blue LEDs were burning out and they shipped me a new light

 

I also had one of my lights start to flicker and got a replacement right away.

 

Total anecdotal evidence, but I relocated one of the A160we on my tank and added an A80

I also have the kessil controller.

So I figured I better turn the A80 up to 100%, since I was running my 160 at like 50%. These are all peak times.

My Zoas did not like it one bit, had to turn the A80 down..... neither did my Digitata and Montipora, they were starting to bleach.. They are doing much better with the light turned down to 60%.

 

As far as the A160we fan, I have to put my ear right up to the fixture to hear it, and then I only hear the air, not anything mechanical.

 

I spray mine out with air, every month........ I also have a very dusty house.....

 

 

I bet it's those crazy engineers at Kessil along with their optics. I shouldn't get hung up on wattage, but ~1/3 (15w vs 40w) is a pretty big difference. Keep us posted! Do you have a tank thread?

[Horerczy]

Total anecdotal evidence, but I relocated one of the A160we on my tank and added an A80

I also have the kessil controller.

So I figured I better turn the A80 up to 100%, since I was running my 160 at like 50%. These are all peak times.

My Zoas did not like it one bit, had to turn the A80 down..... neither did my Digitata and Montipora, they were starting to bleach.. They are doing much better with the light turned down to 60%.

 

That's not a surprise. Adding an A80 at 100% is basically the same thing as adding an A160 at 50%. That's a hefty spike.

[DAP]

 

I also had one of my lights start to flicker and got a replacement right away.

 

 

 

I bet it's those crazy engineers at Kessil along with their optics. I shouldn't get hung up on wattage, but ~1/3 (15w vs 40w) is a pretty big difference. Keep us posted! Do you have a tank thread?

No tank thread yet, but I think I will finally create on over the holidays.

[Hexadron]

Just an update, After checking in with everyone here at NR, I decided to see what Kessil says about their light, and only a day after sending my inquiry, this was their response:

The number of A80 and the intensity depends on the type of corals you plan to house- SPS dominated tank or mixed reef tank. Please see the coverage and placement details below:

Mixed reef = covers 14” x 14” at 4” from water line

Soft/lps coral= covers 20” x 20” at 6” from water line

The A80 is more efficient light than the A160 so around 90% intensity is close to the A160 @ 45% intensity. Please let us know if you have any further questions and we'd be happy to assist you. Thank you!

 

I noticed they didn't really specify SPS coverage details, but I know this light isn't geared towards that. Mine would technically be a mixed reef anyways.

 

With this info I decided not to proceed as 90% intensity doesn't give me much options to increase intensity if needed. So I will keep my a160we's for now, but if I ever run a small <10g nano/pico, this would be my first choice hands down!

[Hexadron]

Hah, spoke too soon. My urge of holiday shopping got the better of me, so I decided to place an order for 2 of the a80's. I'm going to try them out and see how i like them. If they don't work out i'll keep them as back-ups or for a QT tank, or sell them. I'll keep my progress updated, but they probably won't be delivered until closer to or after Christmas.

[bdare]

Well?  Did you get the A80's?

[KyleAwesome]

In case anyone else is asking a similar question, I run two A80's w/ a controller over my IM lagoon 25 (24x20x12) and never get past 20% intensity. Any higher and my softies pitch a fit. I agree on the goosenecks, they're... bearable. The lights however, top notch. I've seen a lot of hate for these guys but I have no complaints. Here is the tank at 20%

 

[bdare]

17 hours ago, KyleAwesome said:

In case anyone else is asking a similar question, I run two A80's w/ a controller over my IM lagoon 25 (24x20x12) and never get past 20% intensity. Any higher and my softies pitch a fit. I agree on the goosenecks, they're... bearable. The lights however, top notch. I've seen a lot of hate for these guys but I have no complaints. Here is the tank at 20%

 

Looks great.  Can you post of pic of how the lights look over the tank? 

 

On a side note... watch out for those palys in the front center.  When I upgraded from a 70 to a 120 I replaced all my live rock because those damn things took over my tank over taking several corals!

[charlesgage]

17 hours ago, KyleAwesome said:

In case anyone else is asking a similar question, I run two A80's w/ a controller over my IM lagoon 25 (24x20x12) and never get past 20% intensity. Any higher and my softies pitch a fit. I agree on the goosenecks, they're... bearable. The lights however, top notch. I've seen a lot of hate for these guys but I have no complaints. Here is the tank at 20%

 

I have a Red Sea 170. Looking for more shimmer than my Nanobox has. Would the 80's penetrate 20" you think? Tank is the same dimension as yours but deeper. 

[KyleAwesome]

2 hours ago, bdare said:

Looks great.  Can you post of pic of how the lights look over the tank? 

 

On a side note... watch out for those palys in the front center.  When I upgraded from a 70 to a 120 I replaced all my live rock because those damn things took over my tank over taking several corals!

 

I dont have a great picture from the top down, but this will hopefully give you an idea.

 

 

As for the palys, thanks for looking out, its a bit of an illusion, that isn't one single rock and there's a bit of a gap between that and the next one. We'll see, they're a very pretty shade of blue that I haven't seen before, but if they start take over, I'll maroon them in one of the corners.

 

2 hours ago, charlesgage said:

I have a Red Sea 170. Looking for more shimmer than my Nanobox has. Would the 80's penetrate 20" you think? Tank is the same dimension as yours but deeper. 

 

Thats a good, question. They work great for me with this water depth, but my hunch is that you'd need to drive them quite a bit harder to compensate for the extra depth. I'd hazard a guess and say they'd probably work well if you're not trying to keep SPS, I would personally worry about headroom, if you start out driving them at 65-75% you may not have that much extra umph for later down the line. 

 

As for shimmer, I honestly don't notice all that much of a difference between the kessils and my other lights, HOWEVER I have a lot of surface agitation so I was receiving a good bit of wave action shimmer prior. With that said, they've exceeded my expectations in all other areas! 

[bdare]

Looks good.