Jeff Rehling
Guest
I am upgrading from a 75 to a 105 which is 24" deep. I have two kessil 360s now. I'd like to add a third light but can't afford a kessil. Any good amazon Chinese affordable options for a temporary fix?
Lighting
- Thread starter Jeff Rehling
- Start date
Coral reefer
Past President
Find a used kessil that matches what you have. Don't waste money on temporary.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Don't bother with cheap crap until you can afford what you want. Just don't put anything too low in the tank, or crank up the intensity on what you got.
Jeff Rehling
Guest
good advice
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be a snob for "cheaper" stuff, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Chinese black boxes (although there is, but that's another topic), but unless you WANT that as a light, why spend money on something you really don't want just to wait until you can afford something you can. You spend $100 or so on one of those lights, well you effectively raised the price of the Kessil that you DO WANT by $100.
Jeff Rehling
Guest
more sage advice
roostertech
Guest
+1
$100 is nothing compare to the amount of time and $ that already is in your tank
$100 is nothing compare to the amount of time and $ that already is in your tank
The cheap ends up being expensive.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
The black boxes are capable of growing coral if you know what intesity/spectrum to use.
Honestly, patience is the key to success in this hobby. Wait until you have the equipment you want. Every one of my tanks has been set up with Craigslist specials and it's a lot more stress that way.
Honestly, patience is the key to success in this hobby. Wait until you have the equipment you want. Every one of my tanks has been set up with Craigslist specials and it's a lot more stress that way.
Not always true. Cheaply made lights with the wrong wavelengths can cause enormous problems wit algae, cyano, dino's, etc.
grizfyrfyter
Guest
Agreed. Not all black box lights are the same.
Switching from black box to a nice fixture in a year or whenever also can stress the corals you do have.
I just switched from two kessils and a crappy MH (I repaired one kessil, bought one new and pieced the MH together from lots of not working pieces) to 4 kessils. Corals were very irritated, even with starting at lower intesity.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
1) If you can't afford to do it the way you want once, can you afford to do it twice?
2) If permissible (salt spray concerns) lower the lights for a while.
3) Don't put coral low in the tank.
4) I maintain a successful SPS tank (not mine) with large areas at 50-70 PAR. That is lower than most think. You might be ok for a while if you accept slower growth.
5) Buy used gear, just follow the Kessil cleaning guidelines when you get it.
6) I've seen black box successes and failures, but more importantly it sounds like that isn't what you want long term
7) Shift you two lights closer together and just put up with dim edges for a while.
2) If permissible (salt spray concerns) lower the lights for a while.
3) Don't put coral low in the tank.
4) I maintain a successful SPS tank (not mine) with large areas at 50-70 PAR. That is lower than most think. You might be ok for a while if you accept slower growth.
5) Buy used gear, just follow the Kessil cleaning guidelines when you get it.
6) I've seen black box successes and failures, but more importantly it sounds like that isn't what you want long term
7) Shift you two lights closer together and just put up with dim edges for a while.
Jeff Rehling
Guest
my electric is through the roof because of a basement tenant
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Is it your tenant? Or shared utilities that's doing this?
Because San Francisco gets the short end of the stick when it comes to electricity, first off we have a very small baseline that we "should use" because we don't "need A/C" and "have access to natural gas for everything else" so if you so much as turn on a light you don't need you're almost in the second tier , and second PG&E is I believe only second to Hawaii for electrical rates which is a travesty and a huge rant session and I will happily pass on getting into those rants now
That said if it's your tenant, and they are in fact using a lot of electricity (i.e. only electrical cooking, electrical heating, etc) then you need to change that pronto, either raise their rent as a result or replace their electrical appliances. If you're sharing utilities in a common building, then that's on your landlord and you have two households who are adding to the same electrical usage so of course you're going to be knocked into higher tiers very easily, you could get dual meters for the residence, but considering the nature of SF housing chances are that won't happen.
Because San Francisco gets the short end of the stick when it comes to electricity, first off we have a very small baseline that we "should use" because we don't "need A/C" and "have access to natural gas for everything else" so if you so much as turn on a light you don't need you're almost in the second tier , and second PG&E is I believe only second to Hawaii for electrical rates which is a travesty and a huge rant session and I will happily pass on getting into those rants now
That said if it's your tenant, and they are in fact using a lot of electricity (i.e. only electrical cooking, electrical heating, etc) then you need to change that pronto, either raise their rent as a result or replace their electrical appliances. If you're sharing utilities in a common building, then that's on your landlord and you have two households who are adding to the same electrical usage so of course you're going to be knocked into higher tiers very easily, you could get dual meters for the residence, but considering the nature of SF housing chances are that won't happen.
Jeff Rehling
Guest
the problem is we have gas furnace for the main house and in-wall electric heaters and they crank them up around 11pm. I can see the power spikes on the website
You have a gas furnace but the in-walls are electric?
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
My guess is common "San Francisco in-law" setup, where it's a single family home, and was plumbed/wired/ducted as such but the basement/garage level was converted to a separate residence but nothing else changed, and since garages are typically not heated in order to make it a liveable space you put in electric wall heaters because there is electricity down there. The furnace heats the upstairs, and electrical heats the down.
Bottom line is you shouldn't include utilities for a tenant, however I'm not sure PG&E will put in two meters at a single address unless it's actually permitted as a multi-unit residence, which most of those in-law setups are not.