ARRG I made a mistake so I'm pinning it up here. The A160WE featured in this video is a 40 Watt light. Which explains a lot. Everything else seems to be right but I got my models crossed when I looked up the specs. Sorry about that.
If you want to take the time , there's an easy fix for your broken light. There are driverless LED's on the market now , the 30 watt is approx. $8,- for 5 of them (look for 30W Cool White COB Chip Smart IC 110v) You may even be able to run the 50 watt version as the base is so big. Yes , yes , you need to solder 2 wires.(don't forget to put some silicone heatsink compound on the base of the LED when mounting it to the frame). Be careful not to reverse polarity. Big advantage of these LED's is that you can remove the big box on top of the reflector base (that only hold the obsolete driver) to create a smaller footprint. Just a suggestion , it would be a waste to throw out the broken units for such a simple fix.
Thanks for the side by side comparison. I use the flood lights and love them. I thought about getting a kessil for my 60 gal cube to really make it a sleek display, but I just can't justify the cost when I already have amazing growth.
I would be interested in PAR results and plant growth results after few months. Intensity is not enough to judge a light but thank you for showing us how it looks like, love your videos :)
My own experience with a flood light is quite positive. I grew lots of mid/low light plants, and they stayed nicely green and grew fast. For a really nice display tank that needs to be looking great, the Kessil is probably the better choice. For my own enjoyment and practicality, I'll keep with LED floods, and spend the extra cash on fish and plants. Thanks again for your videos, I look forward to them every week. Also - I have a lineatus puffer. I can vouch for their awesome personality. He's like my little water puppy. Totally recommended, but does not really fit with your typical community tank style. Mine has tank mates, but they're big enough, and were in the tank first.
i run two of the 30 Watt flood lights on my 120 gallon tank. They replaced my old T8 lighting for about one year now. Both lights still work great. My plants grow very well and the algae i used to have are pretty much history now. The light and shadow game in my tank is just amazing. And if i ever get tired of it i order a third light so the tank gets a more evenly lightning.
If you won't mind me asking, 60Watts in total for 120 gallons? Am I missing something here? That is like half a watt per gallon. I know that this system of watts/gallon is obsolete but still, I mean to some extent, it must have a little relevance. I am really intrigued man. Can you post a photo of your aquarium with the aforementioned light, please? I have a 40 gallon and use 120 Watt CFL bulbs (30W each) and it is still medium light and really struggle to grow high light plants. If what you are saying is workable, then this means that I can have a 15watt LED light and have happy plants. What do you reckon ?
I just purchased 2 of the 30w for my 75 gl planted tank. I currently have them about 7 inches above the water level which is 20 inches above the substrate. How far above the water mark do you have yours, and do you have ground cover plants? I had three 4 foot t5 sunblasters and the plants were growing like crazy but I didn't like how much they obscured the open top of the tank which is quite pretty and enjoyable to view.
Thanks for the comparison! I've wondered how they would match up. I had to replace my t5s. They did not shed enough light in my 150 and the replacement bulbs were expensive. After a couple of missteps, I got the big grey flood lights. 2- 300 watt floods make my tank bright all the way to the substrate. So far so good. Even if I have to replace them once a yr it will take nearly a decade to spend up to the price of a kessil. I just cannot justify the cost of the Kessil at my income. I feel even better about the choice now.
I've never understood the attraction of the Kessils. They definitely seem wayyyyyyy overpriced, plus I'm not a fan of the single point light sources unless there is only one light. Otherwise I'd take an LED bar for 1/4 - 1/2 the cost of several Kessils to get better, consistent coverage rather than a few spotlights.
I loooooove spotlight effect on tank it show shadow, highlight and contrast way better that LED strip light. You might see the fish less but ituch more dramatic light effect. I guess we have different taste.
Good video. I just put one on order. $30 Light for a planted 10 gal will allow the purchase of more expensive rocks; aqua soil etc. For beam width of the light put a graph (X,Y) on the floor and suspend the lights over it. Nice job!
Wow.. thanks for reviewing the flood light, been on my mind for a while. Thinking of upgrading my 40 falling dual t8's, this might be the guy. Thanks Pecktec!!
look up "solla" lights...........they're completely submersible!!! The manufacturer doesn't recommend submersing......but if it does fall in (no comment LOL) you're 100% OK. BTW I used the flood lights for my 125. Ended up going from 4, 30W..........to 2 15W!!!!! The 4 30 watters gave me an algae paradise.
I had the same problem when starting my 150 gal. walstad aquarium. I decided to go with the kessil A160WE because it was able to send more light to the substrate compared to the other lights and the tank is 21 inches tall. I have been running these lights for four years.
Great vid on the light comparison. The main point that I would not go with the LED flood was the heat but for the price a great deal. Need to see the update to see if it lasts too. Thanks for sharing.
I use the floods now and am very happy with them. They get warm but not hot enough to burn you. I use ZHMA lights 50 or 100W depending on tank size. On display tanks I like using a strip light in the front to brighten the display front to back. Using the floods for overall lighting about a foot over the tank maybe more depending on how much spread and intensity I want. Thanks for this video. I will not buy a kessil from what I have seen of them from youtubers.
I personally use a LED shop light that I found at Sam's Club. For $36 you get a Honeywell 48" 5000k LED at 42w it's rated at 4500 luman and they are linkable so you only need one timer and one plug. It is by far the best light I've found for my 4ft wide breeding rack. The light looks natural and for under $150 I can light all 4 shelves. That's 3 20 highs, 10 10gal and a 29gal.
I replaced my ancient T8 lighting with a 20W 6500K 2400lm flood light above my 14g. My plants started pearling within an hour of turning it on. They never did that with the T8. The important thing is to avoid COB LED and go with SMD. SMD doesn't generate as much heat (so the housing can be thinner), and it won't die on you that fast. Heat kills LEDs.
Dominic H. Do you think that the lights you mentioned would be good for a planted tropical vivarium? Sadly, there is not much about these lights in the terrarium comunity...
BaDumTsss I have no idea. With 2 additional months of use now, I can say that the light is pretty underwhelming. The difference is marginal at best. My Eleocharis started carpeting, but at a glacial pace, and the Monte Carlo growth hasn't improved at all. Lumen - which is nothing more than the visible brightness of a light source - is absolutely useless in determining whether the light will be good for plant growth.
Only one measurement unit is directly responsible for showing the useful amount of light for plants, and that's PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation). There are numerous light sources that have the PAR value on their box beside lumen or lux, I've seen them on Fluval lights for example. There is no other measurement unit that would even vaguely tell you what it does for plants. I'd highly suggest buying fluorescent lights instead of LED lights, because fluorescent lights generally have a more balanced color spectrum output that eventually determines the light source's usefulness for photosynthesis, LEDs can be wildly different.
My problem with Kessil is how many you need just to get a tank fully lit up. By the time you have the coverage of an LED bar you have spent like 10x more when getting Kessil lights. The fact they also don't even come with the gooseneck too.... I really think Kessil is overrated and overpriced for the light coverage you get.
ag.floats XR buying a Kessil is like buying an iPhone over an android. At the end is just quality. And they are really keeping that hipe up about Kessil being so great. :) sadly they are right. I hope nobody buys them, so that prices go down.
Very nice comparison of lights brother. We have seen and compared the rate and light output. But what was the effect on plants after long run? Which light is good in terms of plant growth. How was the pearling under both lights? Thanks in advance brother. Keep uploading such helpful videos.👌 And realy cool tshirt👌
Most aquarist product are just more expensive versions of stuff that's already out there. The aquarium hobby is out to gouge your wallet. It's a capitalist dream. Why do you think they tell you to feed your fish so much on food labels? Those same companies often sell pH balance, nitrate removers, ammonia removers. Before you know it you have the whole line of crap you don't really need. The aquarist hobby is a pro at selling you over priced things you don't need. Great vid. There is always a better alternative to aquarium "specific" items.
The companies aren't as bad as the idiots online forums spewing garbage about how you have to spend the most money to have the best aquarium. You'd think all these "hobbyists" are working for the companies but majority aren't
I have a suggestion for small ripariums: GE medium base non-dimmable 90w equivalent basic led outdoor floodlight. You can't easily pop off the diffusor like you can with the smaller household lights, so you have to cut them off with a saw or a rotary tool like a dremmel. The leds themselves have a built in lens directly over them that converts the light into a spot light if you remove the diffusor cap. I use 3 of these 3 feet above my 20gal long riparium, and 2 of them roughly 2 feet above the water in my narrow but tall paludarium, and they work very well. I think they're like 15 bucks for 2 of them.
I really like these side by side comparisons. It will be interesting to see this long term. I set up 16 tanks in my fish room with high end light tapes almost a year ago and the plant growth is great, with little heat and no problems. Lighting all 16 cost me $160.00 total.
I was experimenting with LED lightning fixtures since 2013. Build some myself, but always wanted to try the Kessil A360WE. I love it, Yes I like the shimmer, not everybody does. But it is the best simulation of how real sunlight behaves. There's a lot of hate towards Kessil, I don't get that. if you don't like them, who cares, nobody forces you to buy it :). And I don't think Kessil is overpriced, I built high-end fixtures for my 55 tall and ended up spending € 450,00. The A360WE cost me € 500, just € 50,00 more and I enjoy it way more than I enjoyed my other LED fixtures.
Kessil also makes a smaller less expensive light. I would add that to mix. I also have a par meter you can borrow. The smaller kessils do not get hot even without heat sink.
Thanks. In the UK on Amazon UK they go under the name of Gosun Super Bright 30W LED Floodlight and sell for about £24. I think I will give one a go not much to loose. I just need my glass lid first.
I purchased a used Kessil Purple H150(32 watts) for $50 w/gooseneck included. Not worth $50.. Kessil LED's are WAY OVERPRICED! And puts out quite a bit of heat for 32 watts! Thanks for the video. Now others can see the extreme difference. Primarily in the price!
Nice comparison sean. Never really seen side by side. Mine have been going for more than a year now and they're fine. I have mine mounted to a pvc fitting and the heat hasn't been an issue. The 100w light would be a beast!
Hi Pecktec and subscribers. Awesome alternative described towards end of long yet worthwhile comment post. :) Thanks for the video. Honestly i wasn't surprised. Used flood lights myself and know of their awesome power especially for deep planted tanks. Sadly quality and therefore life period is greatly variable. Some burning out in just a few months. A simple pc fan or small fan from eBay super cheap nearby is really useful for cooling and extending their lives. This is great if in a hood and especially above tropical aquariums. I like to buy a few of the couple $ USB fans and have them attached to a USB bus. So i can have tiny fans here and there near gear or specific tanks all around parts of the fish room with just one power point used. Additionally you can have the floodlights attached/hanging off a metal post (preferably rectangular prism). if done right with as much contact between lights and pole. It acts as a much larger heatsink addition. This can be done cheap or even with scraps from the garage in a very short period of time. I also recommend people use timers for their lights especially for Floodlights on aquariums. forgetting to turn one off can lead it to super heat itself and destroy a tank with algae just overnight. Using a siesta period (ligjts go off for 30min to 2 hours partway through lights on duration) during the light cycle not only interrupts algae formation but also gives the lights valuable time to cool down. Thereby extending their lives. One day i happened upon a alternative/upgrade to the floodlights. I still use today on my terrariums and aquariums. Car LED spotlights!! Yes. its that simple. For 50AUD i bought a pack of 8 of them. 30w. each with 6x 5w CREE LEDS. Mounting brackets. Large heatsink. They are also IP67 rated. As in waterproof! Being designed to sit on front bull bars on 4 wheel drives you'd expect them to be hardy. And hardy they are. rated to be able to be fully submerged up to 1 metre for 30 minutes. Pretty awesome and they even look good and professional. Their 1 con is they don't have power point plugs. simply the red and black wire coming from the unit. That isn't much of a problem. You can simply wire them to a AC power adapter rated at 40w+. Carefully wrap electrical tape over the cable connections and plug in/turn on. So very powerful. The more powerful the adapter the more you can attach, while still using only one powerpoint. You can for a few dollars buy plugs to attach the wires to. So they plug neatly into power adapters if you want them to look neater. Really there's a lot of flexibility. I even have dimmers on mine for a few extra dollars. They of course come in various levels of intensity like 10, 40, 80w. 3 of the 30w ones in my tall 55 planted is overkill so i use dimmers while maintaining full spread. As you can see each one takes about 15 minutes more to setup than a floodlight out of the box. Cost wise they are just as cheap as outdoor floodlights with a hardier build quality and i've not had one stop working on me yet. Mine also came with a 3 year warranty. Definitely getting more. Hope you read this. Love the channel. I went back to the beginning and watched every single video in order. Took a while. Thank you for providing Bee well.
Heres a link to the same type as what i got. www.ebay.com.au/itm/8x-4INCH-30W-CREE-LED-WORK-LIGHT-BAR-Flood-Spot-OFFROAD-4WD-SUV-ATV-CAR-LAMP-12V-/112192216658?hash=item1a1f2d5e52:g:9yoAAOSwux5YRiX0
The flood light is designed for outdoors applications, where the ambient temperature is much lower than indoors and inside the aquarium, hence no cooling fan but you could add any laptop style fan from Rapid for a low cost then you would get a much longer lamp life for the flood light.
Congratulations on the write up in Aquarium hobbyist. Good experiment. Wish you could compare spectrum as i had some die off from plants under another brand of cheaper led. Good video bro
+Dee From Brooklyn me too I know there is more than we can see spectrum wise. So just being as bright or close and seemingly the same color aren’t complete indicators. And I’ve read that some plants can adjust to some degree. But it’s sure hard to know for certain. I’ll be sure to update on how these do.
So I came back here, after buying what looks like the exact same light you have. Though they don't exist on amazon anymore. All the brands are just bulk ordered from alibaba and "Branded" different when you order enough. Either way.. I have two of these 30 watt cree floods on a 30 gallon planted with C02 injection and it grows like crazy. Now I don't have high light plants, mostly grasses, moss anacaris, baby tear ect. I have to trim every 3 weeks because they grow out the top of the tank... They have been going strong for over 4 years now, 8 hours a day. I need another light for my 10 gallon. I had a cheap aquaneat LED light that was 15 dollars on amazon, but it got wet and stopped working. lasted 6 months. I'm sad I can't find these anymore!
so these lights have without a doubt, better penetration into deep tanks than all the current led aquarium lights like nicrew or aquaneat... thanks for this video
I spent quite a bit of time trying to find lighting for a 30" tall tank too. Considered Kessils, had the same experience with the floodlights, and tried double stacking some finnex lights. I've had good results with SB reef fresh water lights! I'd recommend them to people who need to punch through a lot of water, but CO2 seems to be a must since PAR levels drop off significantly as you go deeper.
The colour temperature of the LEDs affects the CRI (Colour Rendering Index) so the cooler the temperature i.e. 6000k will wash out the colour of the plants and fish apart from the blue colours, the Kessel will enhance the greens and reds down at 3000K so if you like the blue look go flood lights, if you want lush greens and reds go Kessel or buy a 3000K flood light and get the best of both worlds for a much lower cost.
i use LED flood lights for years 3 x 100 w in my 250 gallon tank and is heavy planted. The plants doing very well. Not sure if is worth the money to spend money on expensive brand as they do pretty much same thing. It is preference and if you can afford it.
I use 5 of the cheap 100 watt led flood lamps on my 36 inch tall reef tank. I just went on eBay and bought the 30k chips and replaced the old ones that came with the cheap flood lamps. All in under 200 bucks. You don't have to always spend big bucks for big results. Check out my tank on line and you will agree with me. I don't get scared on pricing. I just do tons of research and diy!!!! Its not like I have a money tree in my back yard so I do what I can where I can to enjoy the hobby. Good luck to all diy guys. I hope you have the same and better success as I have
I've got a 60 tall planted I was looking to light with some of these lights and actually came across your review on Amazon, I said to my self "Wonder if he's got a video up?" and sure enough. thinking about getting two of these, little skittish about the heat though, they'll be going under a hood.
@@dcutl no worries at all i felt dumb for missing that. Both those lights are still going. The cheep one is on my sump and the other is on a friends tank.
I have the Kessils (for reeftank) and I just love them. Specialy with the spectrum controler (that for me is a must have - maybe not so much for a fresh water although is very nice - specially if you love technology). The only thing that I don’t like is the cords management. I have the gooseneck and the cords are just attached to it. Not that nice for a light on this price range. Regarding the flood light I do not know it but I had some bad experiences with this type of lights (plants didn’t like them). But was a different brand so not much to say (apparently there are people with successful results so maybe these ones are good). Good luck with your new project.
I love the Kessil I put on the cube. But this tank is so big I don't think I can afford to light it with them. So Im making sure there arn't any other options.
Interesting comparison. I don't *see* much difference, but there might be quite a difference in the light reaching the plants in wavelengths we don't see. A PAR comparison would be really interesting. I wonder if your local club has a meter that can be borrowed.
The $30 because of the wider surface area have a wider beam, but the kesil have a sharper look to,the light. A lot depends on the quality of the circuits. Turn the lights on and off is where the stress on the electronics is, and also the heat. I would start with the chapter lighr,and then buy the kesil
The thing that burns out in the standard Chinese floodlights is the cheap LED drivers they use, (Similar to a ballast on fluorescent lights) you can get replacements on eBay for around $5+ but you do still have to open up the back of the light and replace it, which is time-consuming. I do still have a few that have been running around three years now, I would put them at 70%/30% on reliability. These new Cree driven lights look allot more reliable and a step up, as far as the heat issue you can just pick up one of those $10 clip on fans to blow accross it or them. Congrats on your article, looking for my new edition of TFH in the mail.
Thanks a lot Sean! Your logo on the shirts are so cool. I would have bought it if I seen it in a store! So I am happy to support your great channel as well. Very nice video. The Kessil light is pretty much the only expensive light I never tried. Because they are REALLY expensive and videos like this shows that you need a lot on a big tank. But if money wasn't an issue, they do look very sexy. 😎
Technically the color temperature doesn't matter that much. Plants need enough light energy in a particular spectrum, and of course they don't want to get burnt by anything else. Other than that my biggest issue with these floodlights is that they mostly contain their power supply in the case itself, making it hard to control them externally.
Kessil have no right to charge what they charge for lighting. It's a good light but I've studied electrical engineering and none of their components cost anything in the range of what they are charging.
I switched to a led flood for my nursery tank, it's cheap n cheerfully I also used hdpe milk bottle tops to get the colour to my taste, I wld recommend them :)
Kessil is sure hustling their customers. If you want similar shimmer as the kessil, look for an led flood light that has a single light source rather than having the leds spread out.
If heat was a concern you could always buy some very inexpensive DC powered fans from eBay or Amazon and stick them on the top of the white to cool it down
I run all my 9 planted fishtanks on floodlights, love how cheap & bright they're ... The only bad part is that my room (where I keep most of them) is just like an oven, those lights get quite hot
I love my kessil a360 tuna sun, and I got it on Ebay for 68% less, which helps a lot. It runs very cold, which is good because heat is a light-killer. I'm not sure how to do it, but apparently you can rig up a laptop fan to cool things like a floodlight :) maybe that could help the floodlight run better
I prefer the floodlights, I'm currently running 3 100watts with 2 30watts on a 72inch long tank. The 100 are on the center while each end has a 30 watt to complete the coverage. I think you payed way to much for your flood lights . I got mine all 5 for 150 dollars thru master
Hi Sean! You mention making an LED light bar around the 3:00 mark. I looked at your other vids and couldn't find any that referenced that. I probably over looked it, but in any case, do you have a link to the LED light bar build that you did for the aquarium over your left shoulder?
Check out Kevin Novak's video on his version of the "Poor man's Kessil" He has come up with a lighting system that is just as good as a Kessil for a fraction of the price and it looks really nice above a tank.
I have two 20 watt, 6500K, floodlights on my 40 gal. dirted Walstad tank and they work amazing. I suspend them both 10 inches above water surface (36 inch long tank and lights are at 1/3 and 2/3, ie at 12 inches and 24) and have tremendous growth. The lights have been going strong for about 14 months now. The ones I purchased are made by Warmoon, not sure the brand matters really though. They about 20 dollars each.
In the perspective of the fish, is it comfortable to be bombarded by these bright lights? For the plants the lights might be significant but fish tend to live in somewhat clear water although murky habitats in the wild. I understand that as pets we should attain a home for these animals that is as close as possible to their natural settings yet at the same time we house them in unnatural situations.
I’ve used cheap floodlights on my tanks for years …I’ve never been into plants but the lighting effect and the shimmer is amazing for the money compared to t5 bulbs and led bars ….I’ve got two fluval plant led bars on top of my tank I never even turn on because I prefer the two $8 30w floodlights I have on Regular bulbs and bars with no shimmer make a tank look flat
Horticulture t5ho are the way to go. Best price. Made specifically to grow plants. And they are cheap. Check out sunblaster. I get 4 footers for $60 locally and they include a 6400k bulb.
Domt need to replace them every 6 months more like a year+ they are proven, give better spread, and have the option to mix color temps. They are only 54 watts. So maybe and extra dollar a year over a 30 watt led flood.
I get the whole money thing, but I have two kessil 360 we on my 90 gallon tank and let me just say they are worth the money. They light and look awesome on my tank and realistically we all want are tank to look there best,but if I had to go back I would just get a led strip too, I loved the t5 but was crazy and always changed my bulbs cause I'm nuts. It just made more sense to spend the money then always change my bulbs. Hope this helps.
I could hear a lot of auto focus noise from your camera during the video. If you are using a DSLR camera such as a Canon 80D I would recommend you check out some of either Canons range of smaller lenses. They have a really quiet mid video auto focus. Or check out sigmas 10-22mm lense. It's super quiet during mid video focusing. You of course would have to spend some money if you wanted a lens of that quality.
so the kessil looks better to me but the pricepoint on the floodlight is point in favor for it but if the heat is really bad then on one tank its fine but if you have a fishroom full of tanks with those then it might be for of an issue i think personally i would go with the kessils but if you do have a tighter budget then i totally see why you would go with the floodlights
@@pecktec Thanks for responding! So they did last quite a while then, that's interesting to hear. Sadly that 'brand' seems to have disappeared from the market. :( Any word on the street about what the current goto floodlight would be?
What do you do with extra aquarium strip lights? I am converting one to a hanging worklight over my hobby workbench. The light is perfect for model making. So, rather than trying lights and accumulating a few high end things under the stairs in storage..I have recycled the light and can swap out with others as I go...up here we don’t have the ready selection ..and prices are high..
You should do a review and unboxing of a chihiros a series led. eBay is flooded with these lights. I have heard that they are comparable with ADA for a fraction of the cost.
Hello Thanks for the vedio please I would like an advise I have juwel 350L Rio line which comes with multilux led lights since i am about to plant my aquarium and it is 1st time to plant aquarium does such light good for low to medium tec plants . Thanks a lot
Visually they really compare, light wise. I agree though I would be concerned about the heat. Do not know if that's what you are paying for with high end, for peace of mind having fans inside? Thanks for this comparison, very useful and a lot to think about. hope you managed to get that sump donated! :) Keep up the great work, you are an invaluable source of information! Cheers
The olny drawback of theese floodlights that I notice is that they produce a lot of heat. More than you'd expect from LED. It's nightmare in already hot day in small room without AC.
I still think that the Asta 20 light on amazon is a better deal regular price is around $43 is dimmable and comes with a remote that has wifi and its sync cable to each other and it also comes with a goose neck im running the saltwater versions on my marine tank and getting some for my planted tank
I've been intrigued by the LED lightbars used on cars, trucks and ATV's. You get insanely high lumens, high wattages, both flood and spot lighting all at insanely low prices. A 36" LED light Bar by a company called TopCarLight sells for $39.99 at Amazon, and is said to use 234 watts and give off 15,600 lumens all at 6000-6500 degrees kelvin. They come in all kinds of lengths for a few inches to many feet long with LED's over the whole length of the bar. If anything they're too bright, but dirty glass, screening, shade cloth, etc, can be used to reduce the light intensity. For lighting a tank from side to side, they're hard to beat. I'm not sure how much light spread you'd get from front to back, but side to side they seem like a really good option. The big drawback is they're made for use in cars/trucks/ATV's so they're all operated on DC, but you can buy DC converters for not much money. They are typically made tough considering how they're designed to be used (outside in all weather conditions attached to vehicles) and often come with one year or longer warranties. I've never seen anyone use one on an aquarium, but for a lot of light at a low price, over a wide length, they'd be kind of hard to beat.
Donald Shinn Every led you’ve seen is dc. Doesn’t matter if it’s meant for a vehicle or a fish tank or anything else. That’s what the brick on the power cords are for. Power converters. Any 12v wall wort adapter will power an led. Just make sure it’s output specs match that of the led/leds you’re driving.
+Pecktec I mounted mine with cheap Amazon microphone goosenecks. These adapters will convert microphone gooseneck threads to a standard size. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BNCFE72
I know this is a bit old and I will preempt this with I really appreciate this video! Buuuut, I think it's a bit unhelpful to say that "more experienced" aquarists want the more facy stuff. Plenty of experienced Aquarists try out the technical stuff or the expensive stuff but then go back to basics. I've been around or had aquariums for decades, research the living daylights out of everything, love aquarium science, was a breeder at one point, etc. and yet I still prefer low tech, low maintenance. I don't like running CO2, I don't like fancy technical apps and things like ReefPi, or min maxing of stats, etc. Not because I can't handle them, they're too technical, or 'hard' or I need more experience or whatever. But rather because I don't personally see the point, don't like using technology instead of my brain, don't like wasting money of things I can do myself or can set up in a more natural way. I don't begrudge other people for preferring that, whatever floats your boat. It's just that level of experience has nothing to do with preferring low or high tech. :)
Some times we describe groups of folks in wide strokes for the sake of time. If it’s broad enough it becomes inaccurate to a degree. More experience people care (maybe know is a better word?) more about these things I think that’s fair enough to say. It doesn’t mean you will do this or that or imply your not Experience if you don’t. I always give props to simple setups. It’s been so long ago I actually don’t remember what I said but I’m sure it was clumsy.
@@pecktec "some aquarists..." are less words than "more experienced aquarists" :) Implying certain techniques require more experience or that more experienced aquarists only prefer technical setups can give people (beginners especially) the idea that technical setups require huge amounts of experience or that experienced aquarists don't use low tech because there's something less 'valuable' or not as good about, that it's 'basic'. Or push beginners towards more technical setups and potentially cause frustration or unnecessary money. If we're making generalisations, we may as well make them useful and not ascribe meaning where there is none. I work in the health care sector and technocentrism/reliance on technology is becoming an increasing issue to the point where technology in many instances can cause more problems than it solves. Culturally this results in an expectation of technology when more efficient and less costly solutions exist. I can often see the same thought patterns in other areas of life, including aquariums. I see way too many conversation where naturalistic (aka 'low tech') techniques are viewed as inferior (at best) and where aquarists are encouraged towards unnecessary technological (and more expensive) solutions. I also see way to much frustration from people who have given up the aquarium hobby completely because technological solutions failed them and now all that equipment is worth a fraction of what it cost to buy. (Apologies for the novel, but I'm still dealing with concussion and don't have the easiest time conveying ideas succinctly)
@@Thorned_Rose I tried to meet you half way but seems like you just want to vent at me. There are all type of way yo appreciate the hobby. Nothing wrong with the way I do it. Follow your bliss do what you want.
@@pecktec Umm, ok? I thought we were having a genuine discussion about certain aspects of the hobby? I like to look at things in bigger picture ways so I can better help people and encourage people to look outside the box and find solutions to problems where they can feel accomplished. I mean, the point of this video is to look at an alternative. Which is great! Alternatives give greater flexibility and allow people who otherwise wouldn't be able to access something, to achieve their goal. Not venting at all! Just pointing out a different way of looking at things that's more inclusive :) Again, I appreciate your time and effort in making these videos and I wish you well.
Looking at the two, I would say the Kessil does look slightly better, the flood light puts in an impressive showing though! I'm so impressed with the flood light I've gone and bought a couple for my experimental tank :D. For the cost the flood light is a fantastic lighting option; assuming it lasts.
I don't know that i would ever invest that heavily in a freshwater aquarium for lighting but if you ever look into saltwater i would go kessil all day.
I have 4 tanks, all 90p size. I use 2 flood light, 6000K - 4500lm - 50W for each tank. I dose fert & CO2 as normal instruction, water change 50% every week. All my plants grow healthy, no algae booming, all going well for amost 2 years. I never use any expensive and fancy light for my tank, coz its wasting my money. I only spent around US$ 120 for 8 flood light. Sorry for my poor english 🤦♂️
I love kessils! though that cheaper led I would use on a shrimp tank for sure! I just bought two Tuna160’s for my 63 gallon saltwater tank they are a very solid for par rating. Can’t wait to see them on tomorrow and my corals opening up to get their new light with their colours popping. If you an save a few bucks why not use those other ones. Check finnex lights out too I have one on my 20 gallon reef. Still not as cheap as those floods but way more affordable than kessils.
Kessil overcharge on features that are unnecessary. $200 on LEDs that you can get for $20, you are really just paying for extra features and then a light design that is harder to mount.
ARRG I made a mistake so I'm pinning it up here. The A160WE featured in this video is a 40 Watt light. Which explains a lot. Everything else seems to be right but I got my models crossed when I looked up the specs. Sorry about that.
Have you seen this video yet? -- Don’t buy any aquarium lighting system to you’ve seen this video. - ruclips.net/video/uWna4cKscc0/видео.html
If you want to take the time , there's an easy fix for your broken light.
There are driverless LED's on the market now , the 30 watt is approx. $8,- for 5 of them (look for 30W Cool White COB Chip Smart IC 110v)
You may even be able to run the 50 watt version as the base is so big.
Yes , yes , you need to solder 2 wires.(don't forget to put some silicone heatsink compound on the base of the LED when mounting it to the frame).
Be careful not to reverse polarity.
Big advantage of these LED's is that you can remove the big box on top of the reflector base (that only hold the obsolete driver) to create a smaller footprint.
Just a suggestion , it would be a waste to throw out the broken units for such a simple fix.
Thanks for the side by side comparison. I use the flood lights and love them. I thought about getting a kessil for my 60 gal cube to really make it a sleek display, but I just can't justify the cost when I already have amazing growth.
People are nutz paying that kind of money for that Kessil. You can buy a grow light LED for a little over 100 that would blow that Kessel away.
hey , so u r saying halogen flood lights are okay for plants?
i heard that they dont produce the blue and red spectrum that plants mostly need?
I would be interested in PAR results and plant growth results after few months. Intensity is not enough to judge a light but thank you for showing us how it looks like, love your videos :)
My own experience with a flood light is quite positive. I grew lots of mid/low light plants, and they stayed nicely green and grew fast. For a really nice display tank that needs to be looking great, the Kessil is probably the better choice. For my own enjoyment and practicality, I'll keep with LED floods, and spend the extra cash on fish and plants.
Thanks again for your videos, I look forward to them every week.
Also - I have a lineatus puffer. I can vouch for their awesome personality. He's like my little water puppy. Totally recommended, but does not really fit with your typical community tank style. Mine has tank mates, but they're big enough, and were in the tank first.
hey , so u r saying halogen flood lights are okay for plants?
i heard that they dont produce the blue and red spectrum that plants mostly need?
i run two of the 30 Watt flood lights on my 120 gallon tank. They replaced my old T8 lighting for about one year now. Both lights still work great. My plants grow very well and the algae i used to have are pretty much history now. The light and shadow game in my tank is just amazing. And if i ever get tired of it i order a third light so the tank gets a more evenly lightning.
If you won't mind me asking, 60Watts in total for 120 gallons? Am I missing something here? That is like half a watt per gallon. I know that this system of watts/gallon is obsolete but still, I mean to some extent, it must have a little relevance. I am really intrigued man. Can you post a photo of your aquarium with the aforementioned light, please?
I have a 40 gallon and use 120 Watt CFL bulbs (30W each) and it is still medium light and really struggle to grow high light plants. If what you are saying is workable, then this means that I can have a 15watt LED light and have happy plants. What do you reckon ?
I just purchased 2 of the 30w for my 75 gl planted tank. I currently have them about 7 inches above the water level which is 20 inches above the substrate.
How far above the water mark do you have yours, and do you have ground cover plants?
I had three 4 foot t5 sunblasters and the plants were growing like crazy but I didn't like how much they obscured the open top of the tank which is quite pretty and enjoyable to view.
Thanks for the comparison! I've wondered how they would match up. I had to replace my t5s. They did not shed enough light in my 150 and the replacement bulbs were expensive. After a couple of missteps, I got the big grey flood lights. 2- 300 watt floods make my tank bright all the way to the substrate. So far so good. Even if I have to replace them once a yr it will take nearly a decade to spend up to the price of a kessil. I just cannot justify the cost of the Kessil at my income. I feel even better about the choice now.
I've never understood the attraction of the Kessils. They definitely seem wayyyyyyy overpriced, plus I'm not a fan of the single point light sources unless there is only one light. Otherwise I'd take an LED bar for 1/4 - 1/2 the cost of several Kessils to get better, consistent coverage rather than a few spotlights.
I loooooove spotlight effect on tank it show shadow, highlight and contrast way better that LED strip light. You might see the fish less but ituch more dramatic light effect. I guess we have different taste.
Kessils look freaking cool on a tank the spot light effect changes how your plants grow in makes a very unique look
Have you ever seen one in person?
Use PAR30 or PAR38 bulb then
Good video. I just put one on order. $30 Light for a planted 10 gal will allow the purchase of more expensive rocks; aqua soil etc. For beam width of the light put a graph (X,Y) on the floor and suspend the lights over it. Nice job!
Wow.. thanks for reviewing the flood light, been on my mind for a while. Thinking of upgrading my 40 falling dual t8's, this might be the guy. Thanks Pecktec!!
look up "solla" lights...........they're completely submersible!!! The manufacturer doesn't recommend submersing......but if it does fall in (no comment LOL) you're 100% OK.
BTW I used the flood lights for my 125. Ended up going from 4, 30W..........to 2 15W!!!!! The 4 30 watters gave me an algae paradise.
I had the same problem when starting my 150 gal. walstad aquarium. I decided to go with the kessil A160WE because it was able to send more light to the substrate compared to the other lights and the tank is 21 inches tall. I have been running these lights for four years.
To be perfectly honest, and to each their own... I like the look in the tank from the cheap light over the Kessel.
Great vid on the light comparison. The main point that I would not go with the LED flood was the heat but for the price a great deal. Need to see the update to see if it lasts too. Thanks for sharing.
I use the floods now and am very happy with them. They get warm but not hot enough to burn you. I use ZHMA lights 50 or 100W depending on tank size. On display tanks I like using a strip light in the front to brighten the display front to back. Using the floods for overall lighting about a foot over the tank maybe more depending on how much spread and intensity I want. Thanks for this video. I will not buy a kessil from what I have seen of them from youtubers.
Buying kessils for a planted tank one has to be nuts. These flood lights are the bang for the buck. Thanks for the video.
@pecktec Longevity update. Bought my flood lights in the beginning of May. Now Fed 2nd and zero issues with them.
Yeap I got three after this video and they are still running also.
15:45 the flood light looks better and brighter at least on a phone screen.
I personally use a LED shop light that I found at Sam's Club. For $36 you get a Honeywell 48" 5000k LED at 42w it's rated at 4500 luman and they are linkable so you only need one timer and one plug. It is by far the best light I've found for my 4ft wide breeding rack. The light looks natural and for under $150 I can light all 4 shelves. That's 3 20 highs, 10 10gal and a 29gal.
I replaced my ancient T8 lighting with a 20W 6500K 2400lm flood light above my 14g. My plants started pearling within an hour of turning it on. They never did that with the T8.
The important thing is to avoid COB LED and go with SMD. SMD doesn't generate as much heat (so the housing can be thinner), and it won't die on you that fast. Heat kills LEDs.
Dominic H. Do you think that the lights you mentioned would be good for a planted tropical vivarium? Sadly, there is not much about these lights in the terrarium comunity...
BaDumTsss
I have no idea. With 2 additional months of use now, I can say that the light is pretty underwhelming. The difference is marginal at best. My Eleocharis started carpeting, but at a glacial pace, and the Monte Carlo growth hasn't improved at all.
Lumen - which is nothing more than the visible brightness of a light source - is absolutely useless in determining whether the light will be good for plant growth.
Thank you for the quick response! Sad to hear that. So would a higher W help, or would it just increase the Lumen?
Only one measurement unit is directly responsible for showing the useful amount of light for plants, and that's PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation). There are numerous light sources that have the PAR value on their box beside lumen or lux, I've seen them on Fluval lights for example.
There is no other measurement unit that would even vaguely tell you what it does for plants. I'd highly suggest buying fluorescent lights instead of LED lights, because fluorescent lights generally have a more balanced color spectrum output that eventually determines the light source's usefulness for photosynthesis, LEDs can be wildly different.
Thank you! I will start learning about PAR and then decide what would be the best solution. You really helped me save some money!
Every time I've seen tanks with that "kessil shimmer" in person, it's made me motion sick/dizzy, so really having less shimmer is a good thing to me.
I have a kessil a80 tuna sun on a 7.5g high tech planted tank, love it, am growing high light plants no prob.
Any significantly bright light on any tank that is less then 10 gallons would be considered highlight lmao
My problem with Kessil is how many you need just to get a tank fully lit up. By the time you have the coverage of an LED bar you have spent like 10x more when getting Kessil lights. The fact they also don't even come with the gooseneck too....
I really think Kessil is overrated and overpriced for the light coverage you get.
ag.floats XR buying a Kessil is like buying an iPhone over an android. At the end is just quality. And they are really keeping that hipe up about Kessil being so great. :) sadly they are right. I hope nobody buys them, so that prices go down.
@@franciscoo.8656 I never heard about kessil lamps among aquascapers. The real high end lamps in LED are ONF and ADA.
Very nice comparison of lights brother. We have seen and compared the rate and light output. But what was the effect on plants after long run? Which light is good in terms of plant growth. How was the pearling under both lights?
Thanks in advance brother. Keep uploading such helpful videos.👌
And realy cool tshirt👌
Most aquarist product are just more expensive versions of stuff that's already out there. The aquarium hobby is out to gouge your wallet. It's a capitalist dream. Why do you think they tell you to feed your fish so much on food labels? Those same companies often sell pH balance, nitrate removers, ammonia removers. Before you know it you have the whole line of crap you don't really need. The aquarist hobby is a pro at selling you over priced things you don't need. Great vid. There is always a better alternative to aquarium "specific" items.
Developed by Stanford science graduates. In other words, a bunch of guys in debt to their eyeballs. LMFAO
Great point
The companies aren't as bad as the idiots online forums spewing garbage about how you have to spend the most money to have the best aquarium. You'd think all these "hobbyists" are working for the companies but majority aren't
I have a suggestion for small ripariums: GE medium base non-dimmable 90w equivalent basic led outdoor floodlight. You can't easily pop off the diffusor like you can with the smaller household lights, so you have to cut them off with a saw or a rotary tool like a dremmel. The leds themselves have a built in lens directly over them that converts the light into a spot light if you remove the diffusor cap. I use 3 of these 3 feet above my 20gal long riparium, and 2 of them roughly 2 feet above the water in my narrow but tall paludarium, and they work very well. I think they're like 15 bucks for 2 of them.
pretty cool comparison. I did not expect the LED Flood light to be even in the same playing field.
I really like these side by side comparisons. It will be interesting to see this long term. I set up 16 tanks in my fish room with high end light tapes almost a year ago and the plant growth is great, with little heat and no problems. Lighting all 16 cost me $160.00 total.
high end tapes? Tell me more or send a link. I'd like to see those.
CRI > 95% 5050 tapes they come in UV, 10K and a number of other varieties. I made a few videos on them if you are interested.
I was experimenting with LED lightning fixtures since 2013. Build some myself, but always wanted to try the Kessil A360WE. I love it, Yes I like the shimmer, not everybody does. But it is the best simulation of how real sunlight behaves. There's a lot of hate towards Kessil, I don't get that. if you don't like them, who cares, nobody forces you to buy it :).
And I don't think Kessil is overpriced, I built high-end fixtures for my 55 tall and ended up spending € 450,00. The A360WE cost me € 500, just € 50,00 more and I enjoy it way more than I enjoyed my other LED fixtures.
A Chinese grow light panel will blow multiple Kessel away for half the price of 1 ! I have had 1 running on a 125 for 3 years and it's awesome.
Kessil also makes a smaller less expensive light. I would add that to mix. I also have a par meter you can borrow. The smaller kessils do not get hot even without heat sink.
Thanks. In the UK on Amazon UK they go under the name of Gosun Super Bright 30W LED Floodlight and sell for about £24. I think I will give one a go not much to loose. I just need my glass lid first.
Great video, just bought some similar lights to replace an undersized "aquarium light" cant wait to see the results
I purchased a used Kessil Purple H150(32 watts) for $50 w/gooseneck included. Not worth $50.. Kessil LED's are WAY OVERPRICED! And puts out quite a bit of heat for 32 watts! Thanks for the video. Now others can see the extreme difference. Primarily in the price!
Nice comparison sean. Never really seen side by side. Mine have been going for more than a year now and they're fine. I have mine mounted to a pvc fitting and the heat hasn't been an issue. The 100w light would be a beast!
Great Video & Great overview on products. I've always been a sucker for the "cheaper" products on amazon etc..
Hi Pecktec and subscribers.
Awesome alternative described towards end of long yet worthwhile comment post. :)
Thanks for the video. Honestly i wasn't surprised. Used flood lights myself and know of their awesome power especially for deep planted tanks. Sadly quality and therefore life period is greatly variable. Some burning out in just a few months. A simple pc fan or small fan from eBay super cheap nearby is really useful for cooling and extending their lives. This is great if in a hood and especially above tropical aquariums. I like to buy a few of the couple $ USB fans and have them attached to a USB bus. So i can have tiny fans here and there near gear or specific tanks all around parts of the fish room with just one power point used.
Additionally you can have the floodlights attached/hanging off a metal post (preferably rectangular prism). if done right with as much contact between lights and pole. It acts as a much larger heatsink addition. This can be done cheap or even with scraps from the garage in a very short period of time.
I also recommend people use timers for their lights especially for Floodlights on aquariums. forgetting to turn one off can lead it to super heat itself and destroy a tank with algae just overnight.
Using a siesta period (ligjts go off for 30min to 2 hours partway through lights on duration) during the light cycle not only interrupts algae formation but also gives the lights valuable time to cool down. Thereby extending their lives.
One day i happened upon a alternative/upgrade to the floodlights. I still use today on my terrariums and aquariums. Car LED spotlights!! Yes. its that simple.
For 50AUD i bought a pack of 8 of them. 30w. each with 6x 5w CREE LEDS. Mounting brackets. Large heatsink. They are also IP67 rated. As in waterproof! Being designed to sit on front bull bars on 4 wheel drives you'd expect them to be hardy. And hardy they are. rated to be able to be fully submerged up to 1 metre for 30 minutes. Pretty awesome and they even look good and professional.
Their 1 con is they don't have power point plugs. simply the red and black wire coming from the unit. That isn't much of a problem. You can simply wire them to a AC power adapter rated at 40w+. Carefully wrap electrical tape over the cable connections and plug in/turn on. So very powerful. The more powerful the adapter the more you can attach, while still using only one powerpoint.
You can for a few dollars buy plugs to attach the wires to. So they plug neatly into power adapters if you want them to look neater. Really there's a lot of flexibility. I even have dimmers on mine for a few extra dollars. They of course come in various levels of intensity like 10, 40, 80w. 3 of the 30w ones in my tall 55 planted is overkill so i use dimmers while maintaining full spread.
As you can see each one takes about 15 minutes more to setup than a floodlight out of the box. Cost wise they are just as cheap as outdoor floodlights with a hardier build quality and i've not had one stop working on me yet. Mine also came with a 3 year warranty. Definitely getting more.
Hope you read this. Love the channel. I went back to the beginning and watched every single video in order. Took a while. Thank you for providing Bee well.
Heres a link to the same type as what i got.
www.ebay.com.au/itm/8x-4INCH-30W-CREE-LED-WORK-LIGHT-BAR-Flood-Spot-OFFROAD-4WD-SUV-ATV-CAR-LAMP-12V-/112192216658?hash=item1a1f2d5e52:g:9yoAAOSwux5YRiX0
I found it on ebay (23 Nov 2019), exact light listed as 30w Cree LED chips floodlight, waterproof, outdoor security lights
I'm just glad I got my kessil tuna sun with the adapter and the spectrum controller for $150, pretty great deal if you ask me
The flood light is designed for outdoors applications, where the ambient temperature is much lower than indoors and inside the aquarium, hence no cooling fan but you could add any laptop style fan from Rapid for a low cost then you would get a much longer lamp life for the flood light.
Good video. I'm going to have to pick up the flood light. I don't think you can beat that price point.
Congratulations on the write up in Aquarium hobbyist. Good experiment. Wish you could compare spectrum as i had some die off from plants under another brand of cheaper led. Good video bro
+Dee From Brooklyn me too I know there is more than we can see spectrum wise. So just being as bright or close and seemingly the same color aren’t complete indicators. And I’ve read that some plants can adjust to some degree. But it’s sure hard to know for certain. I’ll be sure to update on how these do.
So I came back here, after buying what looks like the exact same light you have. Though they don't exist on amazon anymore. All the brands are just bulk ordered from alibaba and "Branded" different when you order enough. Either way.. I have two of these 30 watt cree floods on a 30 gallon planted with C02 injection and it grows like crazy. Now I don't have high light plants, mostly grasses, moss anacaris, baby tear ect. I have to trim every 3 weeks because they grow out the top of the tank... They have been going strong for over 4 years now, 8 hours a day.
I need another light for my 10 gallon. I had a cheap aquaneat LED light that was 15 dollars on amazon, but it got wet and stopped working. lasted 6 months. I'm sad I can't find these anymore!
so these lights have without a doubt, better penetration into deep tanks than all the current led aquarium lights like nicrew or aquaneat... thanks for this video
That Flood Light rocks!!!! not too shabby
I spent quite a bit of time trying to find lighting for a 30" tall tank too. Considered Kessils, had the same experience with the floodlights, and tried double stacking some finnex lights.
I've had good results with SB reef fresh water lights! I'd recommend them to people who need to punch through a lot of water, but CO2 seems to be a must since PAR levels drop off significantly as you go deeper.
hey , so u r saying halogen flood lights are okay for plants?
i heard that they dont produce the blue and red spectrum that plants mostly need?
16:11 notice that almost all the fish are partying under the light on the left.
The colour temperature of the LEDs affects the CRI (Colour Rendering Index) so the cooler the temperature i.e. 6000k will wash out the colour of the plants and fish apart from the blue colours, the Kessel will enhance the greens and reds down at 3000K so if you like the blue look go flood lights, if you want lush greens and reds go Kessel or buy a 3000K flood light and get the best of both worlds for a much lower cost.
I hardly see a difference except the color and shimmy. This just answered my question - going to build a bar with a couple of those floods!
i use LED flood lights for years 3 x 100 w in my 250 gallon tank and is heavy planted. The plants doing very well. Not sure if is worth the money to spend money on expensive brand as they do pretty much same thing. It is preference and if you can afford it.
I use 5 of the cheap 100 watt led flood lamps on my 36 inch tall reef tank. I just went on eBay and bought the 30k chips and replaced the old ones that came with the cheap flood lamps. All in under 200 bucks. You don't have to always spend big bucks for big results. Check out my tank on line and you will agree with me. I don't get scared on pricing. I just do tons of research and diy!!!! Its not like I have a money tree in my back yard so I do what I can where I can to enjoy the hobby. Good luck to all diy guys. I hope you have the same and better success as I have
I've got a 60 tall planted I was looking to light with some of these lights and actually came across your review on Amazon, I said to my self "Wonder if he's got a video up?" and sure enough.
thinking about getting two of these, little skittish about the heat though, they'll be going under a hood.
The Kessil light that you used in your demonstration, the A160, is only 40 Watts.
Yeah I realize that a bit late and pinned a correction at the top there.
@@pecktec Oh OK. I must have missed it. Sorry.
@@dcutl no worries at all i felt dumb for missing that. Both those lights are still going. The cheep one is on my sump and the other is on a friends tank.
I think the flood lights a little brighter and better looking than the Kessel
I have the Kessils (for reeftank) and I just love them. Specialy with the spectrum controler (that for me is a must have - maybe not so much for a fresh water although is very nice - specially if you love technology). The only thing that I don’t like is the cords management. I have the gooseneck and the cords are just attached to it. Not that nice for a light on this price range. Regarding the flood light I do not know it but I had some bad experiences with this type of lights (plants didn’t like them). But was a different brand so not much to say (apparently there are people with successful results so maybe these ones are good). Good luck with your new project.
I love the Kessil I put on the cube. But this tank is so big I don't think I can afford to light it with them. So Im making sure there arn't any other options.
pecktec yeah that’s true!
Thanks peck! Definitely going to get flood lights next time I start a planted tank.
Interesting comparison. I don't *see* much difference, but there might be quite a difference in the light reaching the plants in wavelengths we don't see. A PAR comparison would be really interesting. I wonder if your local club has a meter that can be borrowed.
I almost broke down and got one. But more and more I hear thats not such a great tool either.
The $30 because of the wider surface area have a wider beam, but the kesil have a sharper look to,the light. A lot depends on the quality of the circuits. Turn the lights on and off is where the stress on the electronics is, and also the heat. I would start with the chapter lighr,and then buy the kesil
The thing that burns out in the standard Chinese floodlights is the cheap LED drivers they use, (Similar to a ballast on fluorescent lights) you can get replacements on eBay for around $5+ but you do still have to open up the back of the light and replace it, which is time-consuming. I do still have a few that have been running around three years now, I would put them at 70%/30% on reliability. These new Cree driven lights look allot more reliable and a step up, as far as the heat issue you can just pick up one of those $10 clip on fans to blow accross it or them. Congrats on your article, looking for my new edition of TFH in the mail.
Thanks a lot Sean! Your logo on the shirts are so cool. I would have bought it if I seen it in a store! So I am happy to support your great channel as well. Very nice video. The Kessil light is pretty much the only expensive light I never tried. Because they are REALLY expensive and videos like this shows that you need a lot on a big tank. But if money wasn't an issue, they do look very sexy. 😎
So true I just spent more than I've ever spent on the back ground. so Im looking to cut a corner here and there.
Looking forward to see your new tank!
Pretty amazing how at least in appearance the lights had practically no difference.
You should try a lumini light . I have a couple of them bought on amazon for about the same price . Pretty good light with a remote.
The new model of floodlight looks way better than the old one. With 6 LEDs versus 1 it should last longer too. Thanks for bring it up to us Sean.
hey , so u r saying halogen flood lights are okay for plants?
i heard that they dont produce the blue and red spectrum that plants mostly need?
Technically the color temperature doesn't matter that much. Plants need enough light energy in a particular spectrum, and of course they don't want to get burnt by anything else. Other than that my biggest issue with these floodlights is that they mostly contain their power supply in the case itself, making it hard to control them externally.
Kessil have no right to charge what they charge for lighting. It's a good light but I've studied electrical engineering and none of their components cost anything in the range of what they are charging.
I switched to a led flood for my nursery tank, it's cheap n cheerfully I also used hdpe milk bottle tops to get the colour to my taste, I wld recommend them :)
Kessil is sure hustling their customers. If you want similar shimmer as the kessil, look for an led flood light that has a single light source rather than having the leds spread out.
If heat was a concern you could always buy some very inexpensive DC powered fans from eBay or Amazon and stick them on the top of the white to cool it down
I run all my 9 planted fishtanks on floodlights, love how cheap & bright they're ... The only bad part is that my room (where I keep most of them) is just like an oven, those lights get quite hot
+Ricardo Ortiz I’d like a link for that! I’m having trouble finding some.
I love my kessil a360 tuna sun, and I got it on Ebay for 68% less, which helps a lot. It runs very cold, which is good because heat is a light-killer. I'm not sure how to do it, but apparently you can rig up a laptop fan to cool things like a floodlight :) maybe that could help the floodlight run better
I prefer the floodlights, I'm currently running 3 100watts with 2 30watts on a 72inch long tank. The 100 are on the center while each end has a 30 watt to complete the coverage. I think you payed way to much for your flood lights . I got mine all 5 for 150 dollars thru master
Wow even cheeper. Thats crazy! Do you grow plants under them too or just to light up the fish?
If you are using this would love update videos on plant growth and the such
Hi Sean! You mention making an LED light bar around the 3:00 mark. I looked at your other vids and couldn't find any that referenced that. I probably over looked it, but in any case, do you have a link to the LED light bar build that you did for the aquarium over your left shoulder?
Yes so many videos now. The title was DIY LED Light bar.
Thank you, sir! Great vids by the way. No nonsense, the way comparison vids should be.
Lol well some are no nonsense. Some are nutty but hopefully fun to watch. The one I sent you too has a clone of myself in it I think soooooo....
Check out Kevin Novak's video on his version of the "Poor man's Kessil" He has come up with a lighting system that is just as good as a Kessil for a fraction of the price and it looks really nice above a tank.
I have two 20 watt, 6500K, floodlights on my 40 gal. dirted Walstad tank and they work amazing. I suspend them both 10 inches above water surface (36 inch long tank and lights are at 1/3 and 2/3, ie at 12 inches and 24) and have tremendous growth. The lights have been going strong for about 14 months now.
The ones I purchased are made by Warmoon, not sure the brand matters really though. They about 20 dollars each.
KCinSoCal thank you for sharing your experience! Is there a strong heat production on the 20W lights?
In the perspective of the fish, is it comfortable to be bombarded by these bright lights? For the plants the lights might be significant but fish tend to live in somewhat clear water although murky habitats in the wild. I understand that as pets we should attain a home for these animals that is as close as possible to their natural settings yet at the same time we house them in unnatural situations.
I’ve used cheap floodlights on my tanks for years …I’ve never been into plants but the lighting effect and the shimmer is amazing for the money compared to t5 bulbs and led bars ….I’ve got two fluval plant led bars on top of my tank I never even turn on because I prefer the two $8 30w floodlights I have on
Regular bulbs and bars with no shimmer make a tank look flat
Do you have a link or anything to the spots you use?...I'm after a couple to go over my 3ft tank and don't want to spend a fortune!
Hum that might be an option for my 21 tall 18 wide 20 gallon heavy planted scarlet badis tank
Horticulture t5ho are the way to go. Best price. Made specifically to grow plants. And they are cheap. Check out sunblaster. I get 4 footers for $60 locally and they include a 6400k bulb.
Bulbs that need to be replaced every 6 months, which gets pricey over the years of a tank. Also far more energy over the life of the tank.
Domt need to replace them every 6 months more like a year+ they are proven, give better spread, and have the option to mix color temps. They are only 54 watts. So maybe and extra dollar a year over a 30 watt led flood.
I get the whole money thing, but I have two kessil 360 we on my 90 gallon tank and let me just say they are worth the money. They light and look awesome on my tank and realistically we all want are tank to look there best,but if I had to go back I would just get a led strip too, I loved the t5 but was crazy and always changed my bulbs cause I'm nuts. It just made more sense to spend the money then always change my bulbs. Hope this helps.
+jay dee I’d love to use them. But 4 of those is tough to afford. I may sub out something cheaper while I save up.
I could hear a lot of auto focus noise from your camera during the video. If you are using a DSLR camera such as a Canon 80D I would recommend you check out some of either Canons range of smaller lenses. They have a really quiet mid video auto focus. Or check out sigmas 10-22mm lense. It's super quiet during mid video focusing.
You of course would have to spend some money if you wanted a lens of that quality.
+BraydensBettas yeah something else I need to buy.
so the kessil looks better to me but the pricepoint on the floodlight is point in favor for it but if the heat is really bad then on one tank its fine but if you have a fishroom full of tanks with those then it might be for of an issue
i think personally i would go with the kessils but if you do have a tighter budget then i totally see why you would go with the floodlights
@pecktec Were 5 years down the line now, how did those floodlights fare?
I’m still using one of them on the plants in my sump. So I would say good.
@@pecktec Thanks for responding! So they did last quite a while then, that's interesting to hear. Sadly that 'brand' seems to have disappeared from the market. :( Any word on the street about what the current goto floodlight would be?
Sorry after I got these I haven’t needed anymore. Just be cautious. I’m sure if I took these apart I wouldn’t find quality workmanship.
Get the rgb flood lights so you get a wider spectrum of light ... works great on my reef tank
What do you do with extra aquarium strip lights? I am converting one to a hanging worklight over my hobby workbench. The light is perfect for model making. So, rather than trying lights and accumulating a few high end things under the stairs in storage..I have recycled the light and can swap out with others as I go...up here we don’t have the ready selection ..and prices are high..
You should do a review and unboxing of a chihiros a series led. eBay is flooded with these lights. I have heard that they are comparable with ADA for a fraction of the cost.
all things considered I would definitely go with the flood lights.
Hello Thanks for the vedio please I would like an advise I have juwel 350L Rio line which comes with multilux led lights since i am about to plant my aquarium and it is 1st time to plant aquarium does such light good for low to medium tec plants . Thanks a lot
Visually they really compare, light wise. I agree though I would be concerned about the heat. Do not know if that's what you are paying for with high end, for peace of mind having fans inside? Thanks for this comparison, very useful and a lot to think about. hope you managed to get that sump donated! :) Keep up the great work, you are an invaluable source of information! Cheers
The olny drawback of theese floodlights that I notice is that they produce a lot of heat. More than you'd expect from LED. It's nightmare in already hot day in small room without AC.
How many hours a day are your lights on?
Awesome video !
Thank you
Most go about 6 - 8 hours. The new ones where I can control the intensity throughout the day go much longer.
I still think that the Asta 20 light on amazon is a better deal regular price is around $43 is dimmable and comes with a remote that has wifi and its sync cable to each other and it also comes with a goose neck im running the saltwater versions on my marine tank and getting some for my planted tank
+Alexcus Simon those look cool.
I have to make one correction i believe that only the marine version comes with the remote but the planted does come with a physical dimmer switch
I've been intrigued by the LED lightbars used on cars, trucks and ATV's. You get insanely high lumens, high wattages, both flood and spot lighting all at insanely low prices. A 36" LED light Bar by a company called TopCarLight sells for $39.99 at Amazon, and is said to use 234 watts and give off 15,600 lumens all at 6000-6500 degrees kelvin. They come in all kinds of lengths for a few inches to many feet long with LED's over the whole length of the bar. If anything they're too bright, but dirty glass, screening, shade cloth, etc, can be used to reduce the light intensity. For lighting a tank from side to side, they're hard to beat. I'm not sure how much light spread you'd get from front to back, but side to side they seem like a really good option. The big drawback is they're made for use in cars/trucks/ATV's so they're all operated on DC, but you can buy DC converters for not much money. They are typically made tough considering how they're designed to be used (outside in all weather conditions attached to vehicles) and often come with one year or longer warranties. I've never seen anyone use one on an aquarium, but for a lot of light at a low price, over a wide length, they'd be kind of hard to beat.
Donald Shinn
Every led you’ve seen is dc. Doesn’t matter if it’s meant for a vehicle or a fish tank or anything else. That’s what the brick on the power cords are for. Power converters. Any 12v wall wort adapter will power an led. Just make sure it’s output specs match that of the led/leds you’re driving.
Those floods are always on sale. I bought mine for $22.99 on Amazon. And they do get hot.
+Andy Pastuszak thanks for recommending them! I got two more after I shot the video. For the 55.
+Pecktec I mounted mine with cheap Amazon microphone goosenecks. These adapters will convert microphone gooseneck threads to a standard size. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BNCFE72
I know this is a bit old and I will preempt this with I really appreciate this video! Buuuut, I think it's a bit unhelpful to say that "more experienced" aquarists want the more facy stuff. Plenty of experienced Aquarists try out the technical stuff or the expensive stuff but then go back to basics. I've been around or had aquariums for decades, research the living daylights out of everything, love aquarium science, was a breeder at one point, etc. and yet I still prefer low tech, low maintenance. I don't like running CO2, I don't like fancy technical apps and things like ReefPi, or min maxing of stats, etc. Not because I can't handle them, they're too technical, or 'hard' or I need more experience or whatever. But rather because I don't personally see the point, don't like using technology instead of my brain, don't like wasting money of things I can do myself or can set up in a more natural way. I don't begrudge other people for preferring that, whatever floats your boat. It's just that level of experience has nothing to do with preferring low or high tech. :)
Some times we describe groups of folks in wide strokes for the sake of time. If it’s broad enough it becomes inaccurate to a degree. More experience people care (maybe know is a better word?) more about these things I think that’s fair enough to say. It doesn’t mean you will do this or that or imply your not Experience if you don’t. I always give props to simple setups. It’s been so long ago I actually don’t remember what I said but I’m sure it was clumsy.
@@pecktec "some aquarists..." are less words than "more experienced aquarists" :) Implying certain techniques require more experience or that more experienced aquarists only prefer technical setups can give people (beginners especially) the idea that technical setups require huge amounts of experience or that experienced aquarists don't use low tech because there's something less 'valuable' or not as good about, that it's 'basic'. Or push beginners towards more technical setups and potentially cause frustration or unnecessary money. If we're making generalisations, we may as well make them useful and not ascribe meaning where there is none.
I work in the health care sector and technocentrism/reliance on technology is becoming an increasing issue to the point where technology in many instances can cause more problems than it solves. Culturally this results in an expectation of technology when more efficient and less costly solutions exist. I can often see the same thought patterns in other areas of life, including aquariums. I see way too many conversation where naturalistic (aka 'low tech') techniques are viewed as inferior (at best) and where aquarists are encouraged towards unnecessary technological (and more expensive) solutions. I also see way to much frustration from people who have given up the aquarium hobby completely because technological solutions failed them and now all that equipment is worth a fraction of what it cost to buy.
(Apologies for the novel, but I'm still dealing with concussion and don't have the easiest time conveying ideas succinctly)
@@Thorned_Rose I tried to meet you half way but seems like you just want to vent at me. There are all type of way yo appreciate the hobby. Nothing wrong with the way I do it. Follow your bliss do what you want.
@@pecktec Umm, ok? I thought we were having a genuine discussion about certain aspects of the hobby? I like to look at things in bigger picture ways so I can better help people and encourage people to look outside the box and find solutions to problems where they can feel accomplished. I mean, the point of this video is to look at an alternative. Which is great! Alternatives give greater flexibility and allow people who otherwise wouldn't be able to access something, to achieve their goal. Not venting at all! Just pointing out a different way of looking at things that's more inclusive :) Again, I appreciate your time and effort in making these videos and I wish you well.
Looking at the two, I would say the Kessil does look slightly better, the flood light puts in an impressive showing though! I'm so impressed with the flood light I've gone and bought a couple for my experimental tank :D. For the cost the flood light is a fantastic lighting option; assuming it lasts.
hey , so u r saying halogen flood lights are okay for plants?
i heard that they dont produce the blue and red spectrum that plants mostly need?
I don't know that i would ever invest that heavily in a freshwater aquarium for lighting but if you ever look into saltwater i would go kessil all day.
Thanks so much for the info.. I really enjoy your videos!!
+Amy Bennett thanks!
Considering the heat produced by the Amazon light would it be wise to put it in side of a canopy?
I think it would be easy and advisable to add a PC "muffin" fan.
I have 4 tanks, all 90p size. I use 2 flood light, 6000K - 4500lm - 50W for each tank. I dose fert & CO2 as normal instruction, water change 50% every week. All my plants grow healthy, no algae booming, all going well for amost 2 years.
I never use any expensive and fancy light for my tank, coz its wasting my money.
I only spent around US$ 120 for 8 flood light.
Sorry for my poor english 🤦♂️
No problem! Thanks for the input!
I love kessils! though that cheaper led I would use on a shrimp tank for sure! I just bought two Tuna160’s for my 63 gallon saltwater tank they are a very solid for par rating. Can’t wait to see them on tomorrow and my corals opening up to get their new light with their colours popping. If you an save a few bucks why not use those other ones. Check finnex lights out too I have one on my 20 gallon reef. Still not as cheap as those floods but way more affordable than kessils.
Kessil overcharge on features that are unnecessary. $200 on LEDs that you can get for $20, you are really just paying for extra features and then a light design that is harder to mount.
Wow,. great information. Thanks! Do you think there is any danger in leaving the cree led directly on the glass cover?
+Lisa C I think for liability reasons I’d have to say don’t do that. I’m doing it now but I really need to make something to hang them with.
+Lisa C be very careful of the plastic bracing in the center part (if your tank has it) my light bar melted a divot in mine.
Thanks for the insight!
Is it effective for the colour of the red plants?