An Odyssea review - Page 7

i was sitting in front of my tank today (which oddly enough is something i very rarely do) and i got to thinking about this thread.  i am still so pleased with this fixture.  i had some problems at first: green algae and lost most of a real nice monti cap, but that was because of how i changed the lighting.  all of my corals are doing great.  i am seeing growth that i never really noticed before- partly because i let the bulbs on my old fixtures get way too old and partly because i have much better light coverage.  i think i will stick with these bulbs for the rest of the summer and then change them out with some phoenix bulbs.  still miss having moonlights, but i will be adding a strip sometime soon.  i'm glad that i raised the fixture 12" in the canopy, because i dont have central air and last summer my tank was getting too hot.  guess i'll be investing in some fans soon, too.  

Fixture is still running strong.  Still haven't changed out the bulbs for phoenix yet.  SPS are growing fast and clam still seems to be happy.  I am still very pleased with this light.

Thanks Sweatervest.  I really like the 72" fixture.  It has 3 250 watt MH and 4 80 watt T5's.  It was a real dog trying to work out getting it to fit on my tank because of the trim, but once I got it figured out I was instantly pleased.  I don't know if you read through this entire thread, but I switched from 2 36" fixtures to this, and although I have it concealed in a canopy, I am happy I went with the 72".  I've been running the stock bulbs from AT.  The MH are 15k and look pretty alright.  I was going to get some Phoenix bulbs but with all the expenses I have in the next few weeks I decided to try out the 20k Odyssea bulbs.  It's not even time to replace them yet, but my last semester of nursing school starts in a week and I want to get all this stuff done ASAP while its still on my mind.  I know that as soon as school starts a lot of things will have to be pushed by the wayside until December because it's such a demanding schedule.  I will post pictures of the 20k bulbs once I order them.  Probably won't be for another week or so because I have furniture to buy and a car to get inspected.  

^Thanks SV.  I'm excited about graduating.  Once I start a nursing position and get established I want to upgrade my entire system and use the 125 as a sump.  Between the time I graduate and start this new tank I will do more research on DIY LEDs.  I simply dont have the finances or time to research and build one right now.  I went back and forth on whether to try out the Odyssea bulbs or buy Phoenix.  I decided on going with Odyssea b/c for the price of 3 Phoenix bulbs I can get a Milwaukee pH controller and the Odyssea 20k's.  If they dont work out, then I will replace them when the fixture and the rest of the bulbs hit the 1 yr mark.

My bulbs are hitting the 9 month mark soon so it's going to be time to change them out.  I'm very happy with the growth and color that I've gotten with this light.  I'm still surprised with the bad rap Odyssea gets, because my experience with them has been very rewarding.  Like I said before, I was going to get the Phoenix 14K's because I've heard such good things about them, but I'm going to give the Odyssea 20k's a shot.  I have no complaints about the 15k's that came with the fixture, I've had great growth and all of my corals are maintaining their radiant colors.  I'm going to order them as soon as I hear back from AT regarding pricing... my buddy wants two of their 150 watt MH bulbs and I want to know if I can get them at the discounted price since I'm ordering three 250's for my tank.  I'll post pics comparing the 15k's and the 20k's once I get them.  Until then, here are two FTS with MH and actinic only.  

I have just recently re-aquascaped my tank.  My softies were taking over and I want to focus more on SPS.  Some of the rock is new and some of the old rock was flipped around so there's not much color on them.  Before re-doing the 'scape my rocks were covered in coralline.  I think the white rocks reflect the light in a weird way with the halides on, but the color still isn't yellow as I've heard some people complain that the Odyssea bulbs are yellowish.  To see some close ups of my corals check out my re-build thread:

http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/389056/taking-a-new-direction

The pics toward the end of the thread are a much better quality than what I've posted in the past.

I guess Odyssea has changed their lights a bit because my buddy just got a 48" MH fixture and it has a separate plug for the moonlights, unlike mine that has the moonlights wired in with the T5's and I can't use them on a timer.