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Coral Life Dual Power Center
- Thread starter ghost427
- Start date
There was a post not too long ago on RC about a house fire that was caused by a Coralife timer. There were several other people who chimed in with similar (or not quite as disasterous, but could have been) results from that timer. I took mine and threw it away. Take your warning and run.
For what purpose? Lights or pumps? For emaple, I use the Tsunami wavemaker for my PHs and the heavy duty outdoor timers for my MHs and regular grounded timers for the VHOs. That being said, using the heavy duty timers for any dual MH setup more powerful than a 175 Watt would probably be a problem. I'd love to know what people use as timers for their 250 and 400W MHs.
I'd imagine that much load going through something not made for that kind of wattage would be a problem. I've had two heavy duty timers "go slow" on me in the past two years. The guys at HD think it's because I'm running 350Watts through one timer. I can't imagine what 500 or 800 Watts would/could do. I don't really know that's why I threw it out there.
What do you MANUALLY turn on your MHs!?
What do you MANUALLY turn on your MHs!?
I would say try to return it. (IMO) stop going to OG2 for ANYTHING. Then go to HD and get yourself two regular grounded timers and a GFI. Put the GFI in and plug the two timers into that and the lights into the timers.
Yesterday was the first time I've been there in about 2 years. I just don't like the attitudes, the selection, or the algaes in their tanks. But this is really a conversation for the retailer experience forum. Like I said, HD stuff will work fine for your application. Anything else I usually go online. chamionlighting is one of my favorites.
grasshopper said:
D'oh! I didn't say it was a long term solution... I'm building a new hood for my tank because the standard Oceanic hood I have puts the MH closer than my comfort zone away from the water surface (well glass right now). So while I'm waiting to finish the hood (now I just have to stain it) I don't really care to have the lights on while I'm not home. So I run them in the evenings only. Hopefully by the end of the weekend it will be in place. They'll be on timers once they're in the new hood. So many things to do and so little time!
Any powerstrip will do. I have the entire tank on one GFI outlet. I go into the stand with two powerstrips, and then split off of that to two more. It's enough to handle all the stuff I plug into the tank. I wish I didn't have to do it this way but I have no other choice until I get out of my condo. I would just get two or three standard $5-$6 powerstrips with switchs. One helpful hint is to have all the pumps for the system eventually feed into one strip. Then in an emergency, or when doing a big water change you can turn all the pumps off with one swich flip.
Phyl, you do know that you shouldn't have the halides over glass over the tank right?? Plus, my bulbs are 5 1/2 inches from the water's surface for almost 3 years now. I won't say without a problem, 'cause then I'll go home to two blown bulbs 
but there is yet to be an issue.
but there is yet to be an issue.
What holds the jumpers in the tank if you don't have glass over it? Right now my PC fixture sits on the glass (again, I'm waiting for the new hood to install t5 retros for my actinics). Yet another reason I like being home while they're on. Work in progress... (but then again who's tank isn't?!)
I have a completely topless tank. (If only the wife would fall in line..... ;D) I have yet to have a problem with that too. But if you're worried about it, go to HD (one of my favorite stores obviously) and get the white plastic mesh that people put over lighting in stores and such. Some reefers also use it for their frags tanks so I'm sure you've seen it. Cut that to size. It's let's the light in and helps to keep the fish out. The problem with glass is twofold- 1) it keeps the heat in the tank, thus making it harder to cool the tank down using evaporation) and 2) it filters certain wavelenths or light - effectvely acting as a type of almost sunglasses for your corals. You'll get better growth and color from your corals if you remove the glass since they will get more and better light.
just a question about the guy who had a fire with his corallife power center... was it plugged into a GFI outlet? How many watts was powering with it?
I have the (single timer) coral life power center controlling my 4x55W T5 lights.
No problems so far.
It's plugged into a GFI outlet I installed before putting my tank together. I would think the GFI would trip if there was a short... I'm worried about a fire now...
I have the (single timer) coral life power center controlling my 4x55W T5 lights.
No problems so far.
It's plugged into a GFI outlet I installed before putting my tank together. I would think the GFI would trip if there was a short... I'm worried about a fire now...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=584645&highlight=fire+house
Same person responded to this thread also:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...id=580767&highlight=house+fire+coralife+timer
When I say I unplugged it and threw it in the trash after reading that I'm dead serious. There's no way I'd use one of those for *any* reason.
Same person responded to this thread also:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...id=580767&highlight=house+fire+coralife+timer
When I say I unplugged it and threw it in the trash after reading that I'm dead serious. There's no way I'd use one of those for *any* reason.
Two weeks seems to be the lifespan. I had 2 that worked great the first couple of weeks, than the daylight timer kept lagging. After a couple of day of resetting it, the timer stuck. I went to home depot and bought 2 10 dollar timers. They have been working great for a couple of months now.