Question for Kessil Users

[apstreck]

So I decided to finally pull the trigger on some Kessils, and I have a few questions about switching from T5's. They are on order right now at my LFS and should be here next week.

I'm currently running 6xT5HO Aquaticlife fixture on a 75g DT, 8 total hours, 50% first and last half hour. I received the light in a package deal from a guy getting out of the hobby, and while I know that I could stick with it and grow just about anything, I really like the sleek look of the Kessils and the bulb replacement seems like it will be a pain to keep on a revolving schedule. Plus, ATI bulbs can be tough to find locally on a consistent basis (especially Blue+ for some reason).

1. Acclimation: Do I need to run them on lower intensity and slowly ramp up over time? It's actually a relatively new setup so I don't have a ton of coral, just some LPS frags and some zoas.

2. How much could I realistically get out of the used fixture? It's in perfect working order except one of the 8 sets of moonlights doesn't come on. It has 5 month old ATI bulbs. Was hoping to get in the neighborhood of $250 - is this reasonable?

3. Do they link together to plug into a single timer? I don't have an Apex yet, shooting for tax return time.

4. Do you guys run stunner strips or anything similar to reduce shadowing? Will shadowing be very noticeable with 2 lights on a 75g?

5. Finally, any other general advice/tips and tricks that would be helpful for running these lights?

Thanks.

[DDon]

1. You will need to acclimate.
When I first switched from an 8 bulb t5 to kessils on a 72g, I started at 50 or 55% intensity and ramped up 5% a week until about 75% then slowed down to 2-3% a week.
Since you don't have much coral yet and nothing too light demanding, I would keep them pretty low, it will make adding new corals easier. You will just need to watch your corals for how they react.

2. No idea on value of your existing fixture, you would need to browse for similar fixtures for sale and see what they are going for.

3. I'm not exactly sure what you are asking here. Are you looking to plug 1 light into a timer and the other into standard outlet, link them with a control cable and have the single timer control on/off for both lights?

4. I added a third fixture (not kessil due to tank configuration) to reduce shadows and for better coverage. Only did this because I was going heavy with sps and with my rock structure and where I placed the corals I wasn't getting the coverage I needed. When I upgraded tanks I ended up supplementing with t5s.
With that said, I think you will be fine with just the kessils for quite some time. If you get to a point where shadowing is becoming an issue for your corals, then look at adding additional lights.
How much shadowing you have is going to really be dependent on what your rock structure is like. If you have a lot of overhangs or tall structures with sharp drop offs you will have more shadowing.
I assume your tank is 4 ft in length. If you hang each light about 12" in from each end you should have pretty even coverage since each gives about 24" of coverage.