- Today on "BRStv Investigates"
a completely brand new light from Kessil,
with a pretty unique purpose,
that defines it as the right tool for your right job.
What that job is,
and how well the new Kessil AP9X performs,
in our light testing round-up is coming up.
(upbeat music)
Hi I'm Randy with this Friday's BRStv Investigates,
where we experiment on our own tanks
so you don't have to experiment on yours.
And today we have our hands on the latest Kessil AP9X,
and running it through our series of BRStv Investigates,
light tests for spreads, spectrum and PAR.
To help you decide if this sleek looking led,
is going to be the right tool for your tank lighting needs.
You consistently hear us talk,
about using the right tool for the right job
and today you're going to see,
what that means using the Kessil AP9X,
not only for tanks filled with fleshy LPS
and gardens of colorful zoanthids and pallies
but how we believe that this light
and its predictable light spread and distribution,
is going to be a solid lighting choice,
for arguably one of the most popular
and at times most challenging tank types reefers strive for,
being the mixed reef.
In my opinion, mixed tanks are by in large,
some of the most popular tank types out there.
And even myself as a self-proclaimed stick head,
I find it hard to not be tempted,
by a gorgeous scoly, rainbow Acan colony,
or even the latest bounce mushroom morph.
So for those coral collector type reefers,
who strive to keep all types of coral
choosing the right lighting tool,
that's capable of meeting the PAR demands,
from SPS, to LPS and softies all in the same tank
is very important.
And today you'll see how the AP9X,
has changed the lens design, and optics, and reflectors,
to create a uniquely rectangular,
distribution shape of light
and predictable PAR zones for both LPS and SPS corals.
This is definitely one of those tools
that not only looks great over your tank,
but also makes the corals inside the tank
look awesome at the same time.
Let's get right to the testing of the 185 watt AP9X,
by focusing on the three main components
of reef tank lighting.
Which is spread, spectrum and PAR.
Spread meaning that we'll test the light distribution,
and optimal mounting of the two dense matrix LED clusters,
each with 55 LEDs, housed under a single lens
and how their fixed spacing
at about nine and a half inches on center,
inside the AP9X body,
perform in a 24 inch by 24 inch testing area.
We will also test the spectrum output of the AP9X
and spoiler alert, it's nearly identical
to the A360X and something we've grown to trust,
of being capable of producing some of the best tanks
that we've ever had here at BRS.
Including the BRS160 and all three UlM tanks.
And finally, we look at PAR
and the recommended settings to help dial in the AP9X,
to meet our corals PAR needs, for energy and coloration.
So with that, let's dive into today's testing
that we will use later on,
to create our template starting point settings
that you can use for your own tank.
And that all begins with the three aspects of spread
and how many AP9Xs we recommend,
for a 24 inch by 24 inch and 48 by 24 inch coverage area.
How to space two AP9Xs optimally,
over that 48 inch area for the most even light distribution.
And most importantly, the ideal mounting height for the 9X
that achieves the best spread possible,
without losing too much light outside of our tanks
into the surrounding room.
So how many AP9Xs do we recommend?
I'll make this one easy
and say that for LPS and mixed reef tanks,
one 9X will meet our needs,
for a 24 inch by 24 inch testing area
and likely upwards of a single 36 inch tank.
While two AP9Xs are our choice,
for the four foot by two foot tank like this 120 gallon.
How did we come to that conclusion?
Let's take a look at the data that we tested,
in our attempt to find the ideal spacing,
for two Kessil 9Xs.
Where as a starting point,
we mount them evenly spaced across our 48 inch tank,
with the dead center of each light at 16 inches
from the left and right edges respectively.
Then we measure a grid of 66 PAR data points
12 inches deep in the tank,
to compare the average part in the center
against the average part in the outer edges.
In this test, because the PAR is naturally hotter,
in the center of the tank
where a majority of the light intersects.
We're looking to space the 9Xs closer to the outer edges,
until the average PAR on the left and the right
is at or within 75% of the center average PAR.
Which after spacing to AP9Xs further and further apart,
one inch at a time while testing at each stop,
we finally crossed that 75% goal,
where we find our BRS recommended spacing
with the center of both lights mounted at 13 inches
from the left edge and 13 inches from the right edge.
Giving us an average PAR difference,
of 317 versus 410 or 77%.
Next up for spread is the third most important aspect,
of spread performance
and that is to determine the ideal mounting height.
Where our goal is to strike a balance
between finding that sweet spot height,
where our 24 inch square testing area
has the most even PAR distribution as possible.
While maintaining at least 85%
or more of the average PAR inside the tank,
because the higher you mount your light,
the more efficiency you lose,
to light spilling outside of the tank.
We start the mounting high test,
with the AP9X installed,
just six inches off the top of the water.
And from our grid of 36 PAR data points taken,
six inches deep in the tank.
We find that distinct,
rectangular PAR distribution shape I mentioned earlier
with a center hotspot at 725 outer ring at 238
and a total average overall PAR at 392.
It's pretty obvious that this mounting height isn't ideal.
So we'll need the raise the light higher
to improve the spread in the front and the back of the tank.
However, just by looking at the AP9X design
and the heat map at this ultra low mounting height,
although there are two lights
splitting the length of the tank.
There's really only one light,
splitting the front and back width,
which is what provides that maximum left
and right coverage area for tanks,
that are similarly rectangular-shaped.
So based on this performance,
we continue to raise the light one inch at a time,
testing the total average PAR
of the same 36 data points along the way
and stop the light test,
when we mounted it at 10 inches off the top of the water,
and we reached our 15% efficiency loss threshold.
Which allowed us to cool down the center
from 725 at six inches, to 494
and increase the PAR spread into the outer edges to 259,
giving us our BRS recommended mounting height.
This 10 inch mounting height,
is the same we used for the light spacing test
and what we do we'll use to provide you with settings,
and PAR numbers in just a moment.
But now that we have found the ideal spread for the AP9X,
let's check out the data that we gathered for the second,
of the three components to reef tank lighting
with a couple of spectrum output tests.
So spectrum is something,
that I feel Kessil does extremely well
since the inception of Kessil logic.
Which recognizes reef lighting as a primary component
to coral life support and energy requirements,
rather than the fun toy or gadget.
And because of that,
choosing a spectrum that meets both the coral's needs
and tank that looks amazing,
is one of the easiest adjustments,
you'll make with your AP9X.
So to break that down even further,
in our spectrum testing section,
we'll look at the three aspects
of what spectrum channels the AP9X offers,
how to use those channels intuitively
to choose our recommended spectrum mix.
How the final recommended spectrum,
compares to the gold standard ATI Blue Plus T5 bulb
and what you and expect from the single lens design,
in terms of blending each LED color
into one even blend inside our tanks.
There are no surprises here,
in the four controllable spectrum channels from the AP9X
compared to similar channels,
that we saw with the A360X.
However, with the built-in WiFi control of the 9X
accessing those channels,
is as quick as scanning the QR Code label
and making adjustment,
which is about as plug and play as you can get.
The color channel scales from zero to 100%,
giving you the option of a heavier blue when set to zero
and adding in more white as you climb the scale.
Basically you can set this channel,
to what you think looks best
trusting that the blue band of spectrum,
where corals draw a major portion
of their energy needs from, will remain constant.
After that there are three channel options,
with a violet channel, red channel and green channel,
which can be controlled on their own,
via intensity sliders when choosing your spectrum.
And that leads us,
into the next aspect of investigating spectrum
by choosing a mix of these four channels.
That we feel provides the widest spectrum representation
between 400 and 500 that we target with each light we test.
This one again is pretty simple,
using the same spectrum settings
we chose for the Kessil A360
and that is the blue color channel set to 20%,
violet at 100% to widen out that blue band
and red set to 20% where we've seen Kessil lights,
highlight orange and red accents in our fishing corals.
Like we found in Ryan's softy UlM Tank.
So here's how that spectrum mix looks,
compared to the ATI T5 Plus bulb
and as you can see, it does track pretty well
within that target blue range.
However more prominent at 458 instead,
of the 430 to 440 range
and it has a deeper near UV range beyond 400 in around 390.
Now we take the BRS recommended spectrum mix
and test the dense matrix lenses
at their ability to maintain that spectrum,
when tested inside a tank full of water.
Blending each individual LEDs
into one uniform spectrum underwater
has proven to be difficult for some reef LEDs to accomplish.
Due to the nature of how ripples at the water surface,
tends to break up the individual colors,
which sometimes leads
to that disco ball type effect inside our tanks.
So with our spectrometer measuring,
10 different points underneath a 60 Gallon test tank.
We see how well the tight grouping array,
of 110 LED chips under two single lenses performs
at maintaining our recommended spectrum.
Which provides some of the most even spectrum blending
on the market without the need for diffusers
and some of the closest performance to T5s
that we've tested.
With that, we've now covered two
of the three main components to lighting,
your reef using the Kessil AP9X
and walk away more informed on how high to mount them,
how many you need to cover common tank sizes,
and what BRS recommends for spectrum settings.
But how do we use that information
to really hone in on optimal settings
for different coral types, with different PAR needs?
That's exactly what we're covering,
in this next section of PAR
and what intensity settings we recommend,
with the data to back them up.
Those recommendations start by using a single AP9X,
to light a 24 inch by 24 inch area
where we share the intensity settings
that we use to achieve a tank full of lower light demand,
LPS, softies, and pallies.
As well as the common mixed reef tank,
with some higher PAR demand SPS near the top,
and middle of the tank,
and strategically placed the LPS and softies
in the lower part zones near the bottom.
First at that LPS and softy dominated system,
where our goal is to fill the entire tank,
with as much PAR in a range between 75 to 150 as possible.
And we do that by placing the 9X,
at the recommended 10 inches off the water
and lowering the overall intensity
of our recommended spectrum ratio
to 20% of the initial settings
that we shared in the spectrum section.
That means our color channel remains the same at 20%.
However, the overall intensity we set to 20%
and since the overall intensity slider
doesn't control the violet and red channels.
We lower them to an equal 20% ratio,
with the violet channels set to 20
and red set of four.
Using those settings, we tested grids of PAR at 612,
and 18 inches deep in our test tank,
to find 70 out of 108 data points
within that 75 to 150 goal.
Which works out to be 65% of the entire tank,
or just 5% short of our typical goal,
yet it's still a pretty good performance.
So now it's here
that we typically share settings for SPS dominated systems,
but given the shape of the light spread
and predictable distribution,
attempting to find settings that filled the tank,
with 70% or more of PAR within 200 to 350
wound up being more of a Whack-A-Mole game
but in doing so, we discovered that the AP9X
makes for a great mixed tank light.
With zones of the tank in that 200 to 350 PAR
for Acro sticks and other SPS,
as well as predictable pockets of 75 to 150,
for those LPS and zoa's and similar corals
for those who wanna add them to the tank.
With that in mind,
we set that overall intensity slider to 55%,
violet to 55% and red channel do 11%,
which created 51 out of 108 data points
throughout the entire tank, in that 200 to 350 range.
And the rest falling very close,
to the upper end of 75 to 150.
Meaning that depending on your aquascape
and as the corals grow to create shadows underneath,
we're left with ideal pockets of PAR
that will fall within that 75 to 150 range.
For your favorite Acan, Duncan colony scoly,
or even zoa garden.
Next we find out if that performance,
for mixed tanks and LPS is linear
when we double the tank length and double the AP9Xs.
So we mounted to 9Xs at the same recommended 10 inches
and spaced them at the recommended 13 inches on center,
and then measured the PAR across 198 data points,
in the top middle and bottom of the tank.
Again to reach those LPS
and softies dominated tank PAR goals,
we reduce the intensity across all channels
to 20% of the original.
Which is the exact same settings
that we used on the 24 inch tank
and surprisingly, we measured 129 out of 198 test points
in that 75 to 150 range,
which works out to be exactly the same,
65% of the entire tank,
that we found on the 60 Gallon Cube.
As for the same test of two AP9Xs,
set to higher intensities
over our four foot by two foot testing.
Again, we're looking for as many points as possible
in those higher PAR goals for SPS between 200 and 350.
And with our channels set to 50% of max
meaning intensity of 50, violet of 50 and reds of 10,
we find that an amazing exact replica performance
as our 60 Gallon Cube for mixed reefs.
With 93 out of 198 or 47% of the entire tank top to bottom,
and a true definition
of predictable distribution on all fronts.
We've tested other Kessil lights,
like the super wide angle floodlight of the Kessil A360X,
the extreme angle spotlight of the Kessil T365
and now the AP9X,
which falls somewhere in between
as a really interesting option for mixed tanks
with intentional high and low PAR zones,
at the same time in the same tank.
And regardless of the specific job
that you're trying to achieve,
it's pretty easy to see that Kessil has a solution.
Our mixed reefs do come with some unique challenges,
like I mentioned earlier,
because of the different PAR needs
for the different coral types.
And the most valuable tool available to us reefers,
to ensure that the lights are optimally set,
for those specific needs of a mixed reef is a PAR meter.
But did you know that there's a basic way to use a PAR meter
in a pro way that you may not have even considered?
Before setting up your lights,
you need to see Ryan's PAR meter video
that shows you the secrets to using one correctly.