Profilux II plus aquarium controller

[Slick Fork]

So I'm sitting at home last night and my coralife powerbar failed.... so I was planning a DIY powerbar with heavy duty timers and all the good stuff and my wife asked how much it would cost to put it all together. Once she determined that it would be too pricey to let me continue.... I got my birthday present a couple of weeks early...



This morning I found a nice little box waiting with my coffee and am now trying to figure out all the gadgets on my new profilux controller!!

Anyways, aside from the announcement I do have a few quick questions, there will probably be tons more as I set this up afterwork tonight.

1) I've noticed it says in several places in the manual to not use an interface cable that didn't come from GHL as there are signals being transmitted that are meant for the remote display. My laptop doesn't have a serial port, however I do have a serial to usb connector that I purchased from Best Buy. If I connect that GHL cable to the profilux and Then use the USB-> SERIAL adaptor to hook up to my computer will I have any issues?

2) I can't find any information on these dimmable light bars other than the fact that they are over a hundred bucks each, could someone fill me in on size/wattage, etc. They do look neat... has anyone actually tried the "lightning storm" feature? Is there some benefit to corals/fish or is it just a "because we can" feature?

3) I noticed that there was mention of Dimmable sockets in the thread, will these function on the same idea as the Seio multicontroller? Any rough guesses as to when we might see these?

4) I am currently running a Giesseman eco 230 2x250watt HQI, 2x54watt T-5 fixture over the tank, does anyone know if the t-5 ballast is dimmable? I e-mailed Giesseman earlier but haven't heard back yet

Being at work instead of home setting this up is killing me!!!!

Cheers