Kessil A360WE

[slief]

Originally Posted by wesleyforbes2

YES, AWESOME! I now am on Fusion and am just waiting for the lights and VDM module to come in. Once I hook the VDM up to my Apex Lite, and the lights up to the VDM, the graphs for color and intensity should just show up right?

Also, I know that you go to a ton of shows and frag swaps, but I actually met you and Jim Stime (LA Fish Guy) about a year ago down in Ventura County at a frag swap.

Once you add the VDM, you will see 4 addition variable speed ports in the configuration menu. If you attach the VDM cable into port 1/2 on the VDM module and the other end to the Kessil. The first of the ports in the Fusion setup menu will be Color and the second will be intensity.
This is a snap shot of my graphs after initial setup. The blue line is color and the orange line is intensity. You can add points to the graph, you can drag it or you can edit the values of each point by clicking on the gear icons in lower lines below the graph and modifying the values.

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by markster33139

As slief said before you should at least buy/borrow a par meter so that you can determine some basic par numbers at different intensities for when you do get corals in the future. You can then use those numbers as a guide to help you place them later on.

How accurate are the numbers really tho? I've read you can add up to 40% to numbers on the blue end, and 10% on the white end... Is this correct? Also apparently the angle you hold the sensor at makes a huge difference... For a maxima on the sandbed, I should be shooting for 150+ PAR, correct?

[wesleyforbes2]

Originally Posted by slief

Once you add the VDM, you will see 4 addition variable speed ports in the configuration menu. If you attach the VDM cable into port 1/2 on the VDM module and the other end to the Kessil. The first of the ports in the Fusion setup menu will be Color and the second will be intensity.
This is a snap shot of my graphs after initial setup. The blue line is color and the orange line is intensity. You can add points to the graph, you can drag it or you can edit the values of each point by clicking on the gear icons in lower lines below the graph and modifying the values.

OMG! If this is what I think it is, this looks so much easier than what I have been reading! I wonder why when I looked this up and did searches, it says that you have to enter like 4-6 profiles, then write programming commands using these profiles. I printed out all kinds of examples just to get me on the right track.

So just to be clear, do I still have to do all of that?

[slief]

Originally Posted by wesleyforbes2

OMG! If this is what I think it is, this looks so much easier than what I have been reading! I wonder why when I looked this up and did searches, it says that you have to enter like 4-6 profiles, then write programming commands using these profiles. I printed out all kinds of examples just to get me on the right track.

So just to be clear, do I still have to do all of that?

This is what you think it is. If you are using the standard Apex web interface, you would have to create the individual profiles for sunrise, daytime, sunset, etc for both color and intensity. Fusion eliminates the need of creating profiles. The graphs and their points create the profiles for you and do so based on time and percentage automatically.. You set the value you want at each point and it creates the ramp up and ramp down. If you want more points, you go to the lines below the graph and click the gear on the left and select "Add Point". An additional point will be created between that one and the next one down. You can adjust the points by dragging them on the graph or go to the lines down below, click the gear and select "Edit" and type in what ever percentage and time you want. Once you have your graph setup for Color, you upload to Apex and repeat the process for intensity or you can do this from a single graph with both color and intensity on the same graph as show above. You get both graphs on the same page by using the compare option which is on the top right of the page. Then you can click on the blue or the orange graph points and adjust either color or intensity. It didn't take any reading to figure it out. I just kind of dumb thumbed my way through the interface and figured it out on my own. It's very intuitive.

While I am very proficient at creating profiles and really didn't figure I would ever need or want to use fusion, I was wrong. Fusion made the task a couple minute process. The only thing I had to determine was the color I liked and my ramp points for both color and intensity. Frankly, it made the programming process stupidly simple. I've been running neptune controllers since their very first generation Aqua Controller some 20 years ago and I have to say that Fusion is arguably the biggest advancement for a Neptune Controller since their debut. I absolutely love my Apex and couldn't imagine keeping my tank without it but Fusion coupled with the Apex makes an already great controller better by leaps and bounds. Especially for somebody without Apex programming experience.

[wesleyforbes2]

Originally Posted by slief

This is what you think it is. If you are using the standard Apex web interface, you would have to create the individual profiles for sunrise, daytime, sunset, etc for both color and intensity. Fusion eliminates the need of creating profiles. The graphs and their points create the profiles for you and do so based on time and do it automatically.. You set the value you want at a certain point an it creates the ramp. While I am very proficient at creating profiles and really didn't figure I would ever need or want to use fusion, I was wrong. Fusion made the task a couple minute process. The only thing I had to determine was the color I liked and my ramp points for both color and intensity. Frankly, it made the programming process stupidly simple. I've been running neptune controllers since their very first generation Aqua Controller some 20 years ago and I have to say that Fusion is arguably the biggest advancement for a Neptune Controller since their debut. I absolutely love my Apex and couldn't imagine keeping my tank without it but Fusion coupled with the Apex makes an already great controller better by leaps and bounds. Especially for somebody without Apex programming experience.

That's me! The person with no programming experience. Now, I just have to wait until my VDM and lights to get here and I'm set!

One more question in terms of setting up the points for color. As it shows in your screen shot, the percentage that is related to the time of day. Are you able to immediately see what color you have set and easily adjust it until you get the right color, save it, then move on to the next point? Also, is there a way to run the program you just set in like 30 seconds so you can see what it all looks like?

I'm super excited!

[slief]

Originally Posted by wesleyforbes2

That's me! The person with no programming experience. Now, I just have to wait until my VDM and lights to get here and I'm set!

One more question in terms of setting up the points for color. As it shows in your screen shot, the percentage that is related to the time of day. Are you able to immediately see what color you have set and easily adjust it until you get the right color, save it, then move on to the next point? Also, is there a way to run the program you just set in like 30 seconds so you can see what it all looks like?

I'm super excited!

Yes, once you adjust the color or intensity and send it to Apex, the color and intensity will change momentarily there after.

There is a playback feature that will run through the entire 24 hour program. Once you have the graph completed and sent to Apex, you hit the "Play" icon and it will play through the program really fast. While it does work, it goes so fast that the ramp up and down doesn't really give you a great idea of what the ramp will like under normal circumstances. As such, I didn't find that feature terribly useful. Essentially it takes my 12 hour light cycle and plays it back in 12 seconds or less so a 1-2 hour ramp is really too fast in playback mode to get a good idea of what it will look like.

I am not sure if you have a full Apex or not but if you have a full Apex and are not using the built in VDM ports, you really don't need the VDM module to control the Kessils. You can do it from the Apex VDM ports. Only difference that I am aware of is that the VDM supports weather effects such as clouds. Other than that, everything else should work the same via the base units Variable Speed Ports. All you need is the Kessil cable to connect to them which is the same as the cable used with the VDM module. In my case, my variable speed ports were in use controlling my Tunze Streams so I needed a VDM module for my Kessils.

[wesleyforbes2]

Originally Posted by slief

Yes, once you adjust the color or intensity and send it to Apex, the color and intensity will change momentarily there after.

There is a playback feature that will run through the entire 24 hour program. Once you have the graph completed and sent to Apex, you hit the "Play" icon and it will play through the program really fast. While it does work, it goes so fast that the ramp up and down doesn't really give you a great idea of what the ramp will like under normal circumstances. As such, I didn't find that feature terribly useful. Essentially it takes my 12 hour light cycle and plays it back in 12 seconds or less so a 1-2 hour ramp is really too fast in playback mode to get a good idea of what it will look like.

I am not sure if you have a full Apex or not but if you have a full Apex and are not using the built in VDM ports, you really don't need the VDM module to control the Kessils. You can do it from the Apex VDM ports. Only difference that I am aware of is that the VDM supports weather effects such as clouds. Other than that, everything else should work the same via the base units Variable Speed Ports. All you need is the Kessil cable to connect to them which is the same as the cable used with the VDM module. In my case, my variable speed ports were in use controlling my Tunze Streams so I needed a VDM module for my Kessils.

Thank you, you have provided me with great information and have relieved me of the programming stress I was feeling before!

I have an Apex Lite so I don't have the built-in variable ports. I may use the cloud cover just to give the corals a break from having full daytime lighting constantly throughout the daytime lighting period.

I saw your video on Youtube and the tank is looking great. There seems to be a ton of coralline algae growing!

[slief]

Originally Posted by wesleyforbes2

Thank you, you have provided me with great information and have relieved me of the programming stress I was feeling before!

I have an Apex Lite so I don't have the built-in variable ports. I may use the cloud cover just to give the corals a break from having full daytime lighting constantly throughout the daytime lighting period.

I saw your video on Youtube and the tank is looking great. There seems to be a ton of coralline algae growing!

Glad to help! Yes, my coraline growth, especially on my glass is border line out of control and I don't dose a thing either. It's pretty tough to keep under control and I really need to get in and do some serious scraping with my algae dozer pads. That said, my rocks have litterally grown inches over the years.

As for clouds, as of this moment there is no way to implement clouds or weather feature with Kessils via Fusion. I suspect that is in the works. You would have to create profiles for that. The only concern I would have is that Fusion creates weird lines of code for the profiles unlike the code you would normally write through the native Apex interface. As such, I'm not sure how that would be implemented in conjunction with the Fusion code. Truth is, I am sure it would be simple but I just haven't bothered to check. If nothing else, you could start a thread in the lightin or Fusion section at the Neptune forum at neptunesystems.com


Edit: I went and posed the question on the Neptune forum about adding weather profiles to Fusion generated Kessil programming as I was curious myself.
Here is a link to the thread.
http://forum.neptunesystems.com/show...2378#post52378

[moondoggy4]

Originally Posted by firemountain

Ok. Thanks for the info. With the controllability of the 360WE using their controller, I am assuming that I will not only need to keep the intensity down, but keep the color in the blue/UV spectrum for a good portion of the photo period. Luckily I have an alcove/cave area that will give them the low light/ low flow they require.

In terms of your Yumas....if you have any do's and dont's, I would appreciate your input. Thanks.

Yuma's grow well in my tank I am using a 6 bulb tek elite, you can watch the yuma's to see how they like the light, they will move if it is too intense but when they do they leave a bit of a foot a baby so to speak and another one will grow there as well, so if you aim the led at them and turn them up for a couple of hours you can make them move and give you more babies.

[firemountain]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

Yuma's grow well in my tank I am using a 6 bulb tek elite, you can watch the yuma's to see how they like the light, they will move if it is too intense but when they do they leave a bit of a foot a baby so to speak and another one will grow there as well, so if you aim the led at them and turn them up for a couple of hours you can make them move and give you more babies.

Awesome... Thanks for the info!! I will definitely keep my eye on them to see how they respond. I didn't know they would respond that quickly to that type of lighting intensity change.

Maybe I will pick up a used Kessil 150 in the future to temporarily mount and shoot the area under the alcove, getting them to move. After seeing the YUMAS and the WWC BOUNCE mushrooms, I am partial and don't want any other type of mushrooms in my DT.

[121568WF]

Originally Posted by slief

Glad to help! Yes, my coraline growth, especially on my glass is border line out of control and I don't dose a thing either. It's pretty tough to keep under control and I really need to get in and do some serious scraping with my algae dozer pads. That said, my rocks have litterally grown inches over the years.

As for clouds, as of this moment there is no way to implement clouds or weather feature with Kessils via Fusion. I suspect that is in the works. You would have to create profiles for that. The only concern I would have is that Fusion creates weird lines of code for the profiles unlike the code you would normally write through the native Apex interface. As such, I'm not sure how that would be implemented in conjunction with the Fusion code. Truth is, I am sure it would be simple but I just haven't bothered to check. If nothing else, you could start a thread in the lightin or Fusion section at the Neptune forum at neptunesystems.com


Edit: I went and posed the question on the Neptune forum about adding weather profiles to Fusion generated Kessil programming as I was curious myself.
Here is a link to the thread.
http://forum.neptunesystems.com/show...2378#post52378

Once my lights arrive and I get them hung, I will be looking into the weather options. It was my belief that only through the VDM would you be able to add at least cloud cover. But then again, you are using a VDM so go figure.

Looking forward to seeing the LA Fish Guy episodes featuring your tank!

[121568WF]

Originally Posted by slief

Glad to help! Yes, my coraline growth, especially on my glass is border line out of control and I don't dose a thing either. It's pretty tough to keep under control and I really need to get in and do some serious scraping with my algae dozer pads. That said, my rocks have litterally grown inches over the years.

As for clouds, as of this moment there is no way to implement clouds or weather feature with Kessils via Fusion. I suspect that is in the works. You would have to create profiles for that. The only concern I would have is that Fusion creates weird lines of code for the profiles unlike the code you would normally write through the native Apex interface. As such, I'm not sure how that would be implemented in conjunction with the Fusion code. Truth is, I am sure it would be simple but I just haven't bothered to check. If nothing else, you could start a thread in the lightin or Fusion section at the Neptune forum at neptunesystems.com


Edit: I went and posed the question on the Neptune forum about adding weather profiles to Fusion generated Kessil programming as I was curious myself.
Here is a link to the thread.
http://forum.neptunesystems.com/show...2378#post52378

I just looked at the question and answer and started to feel stressed again! I will wait and see how you do it and if you like it see if you can talk me through it!

[slief]

Originally Posted by 121568WF

I just looked at the question and answer and started to feel stressed again! I will wait and see how you do it and if you like it see if you can talk me through it!

I'm not sure I will be adding weather as I don't see a real need for clouds. If I decide down the line to dig into it further, I will look back to this thread and message you. That said, it should be very simple. Just add the weather code at the end of the intensity outlet programming after all the code created by Fusion..

So you create a profile called "Cloudy". The control type would be weather. You would setup the clouds as you like in the profile. Their are fields for that. Then you would decide whether you want the clouds to occur at predetermined time. If so, you would use the If Time statement shown in that thread. If you want them to occur randomly, then you would use an OSC statement. You can also have them occur based on local weather if I am not mistaken. I'd suggest reading the comprehensive manual for using If time, OSC and additional weather features.

Here is a screen shot of a Profile named Weather with a control type of Weather.

[Yellow Eyes]

Has anyone implemented the season table into the Kessils yet? Can you do that using the graphing function?

[JavyJaverson]

hey guys need some advise. i'm buying 4 kessils for my 180 (6x2x2). My tank is SPS dominated and i have most of my sps towards the middle level of the tank. I'm wondering whether i should get the a360n or the a360we.

[slief]

Originally Posted by JavyJaverson

hey guys need some advise. i'm buying 4 kessils for my 180 (6x2x2). My tank is SPS dominated and i have most of my sps towards the middle level of the tank. I'm wondering whether i should get the a360n or the a360we.

With a 24" deep tank, I would say the WE unless you plan on using more lights to make up for the more narrow light pattern of the N. Three WE's would light your tank up very well IMO.

[Chrisjbarry]

I love them on my tank. I have 3 on a 48x26x20deep

[dpstrand]

Has anyone hung their kessil from the ceiling? If so, how did you manage the cords? Can anyone help provide any details on the power cord, how thick, how long, etc? My wife would want me to run all wires up to the ceiling somehow, but my concern is getting them back down to the apex and power supply. She doesn't like the look of the gooseneck and wants them to look more like a pendant you would hang over a bar.

[BOMPH]

Originally Posted by dpstrand

Has anyone hung their kessil from the ceiling? If so, how did you manage the cords? Can anyone help provide any details on the power cord, how thick, how long, etc? My wife would want me to run all wires up to the ceiling somehow, but my concern is getting them back down to the apex and power supply. She doesn't like the look of the gooseneck and wants them to look more like a pendant you would hang over a bar.

I would say the cords, which have a 'brick' supply mid cord, are about 10 ft tops. I would detangle the mess under my tank for you if I wasn't so lazy! But I don't think they are long enough for that. Dependant on where the apex is, of course.

[Aquatron]

I saw a video where a reefer removed the lens off his Kessil 360's and replaced it with the adjustable lens from LED Group Buy. He claims it made a night and day difference using the Lumia-5-1-optic-lens?

[kirkaz]

edit.....sorry, started new thread

[slief]

Originally Posted by Aquatron

I saw a video where a reefer removed the lens off his Kessil 360's and replaced it with the adjustable lens from LED Group Buy. He claims it made a night and day difference using the Lumia-5-1-optic-lens?

Any chance you have a link to that video?

[Portsie]

I've had my 2 up for about a week and am having an issue. One of the lights is perfect, but there is a clear color banding around the outside edge of the light. About an inch of purple and 1/2 inch of yellow/green. Any one else find this?

[dpstrand]

How loud is the fan in one of these guys?

[ps3]

very quiet