Need Lighting advise

[revrick3]

Have 90gl and went against better advise and purchased a 48 inch odysea light from aquatrader. BAD LIGHT. Had trouble since it arrived and they have not returned my emails.
Now I am going to have to purchase new light and need advise. I plan on soft corals, zoas, anemone and fish. would I be better off a T5 6 bulb extreme pro. or spending more and getting MH. If getting MH would I need 2-150 watt or 2- 250 watt, possibly with c couple of T5 actinics along with it. What would you guys suggest on this.

 

[wangotango]

If you wanted to go halide then go with two 250w bulbs. If you wanted to go with T5, then either a 6-bulb Icecap retro (with IC ballasts), the 7-bulb Aquactinics Constellation, or the 8-bulb TEK. Either would let you keep whatever you wanted.
-Justin

 

[mr_x]

revrick- what are you going to do with the odessey light? is it a metal halide fixture? why not just buy some ice cap ballasts and some decent bulbs and keep the fixture? at this point, it should save you some money.
btw- make sure you post a thread about that company and your experience. don't let them get away with that again. i've noticed that when you post a thread about a negative experience with a store, suddenly they become quite helpful.

 

[ncabw]

Whats makes these lights bad? if they are up and runnig would u then consider them a decent/usefull light. i'm looking for a new light fixture and these lights are a good price.

 

[revrick3]

The Odyssea is a 4 bulb T5 fixture. Wasnt sure you could post a thread just for a bad experience with a named company, will do.
For Yellow Tang. Out of the box all lights would not start up, had to play with the wiring quite a bit to get them lit, then each day the same thing as they start up. The wiring is obviously low quality, the bulbs are not tight in the end caps and dont make good connections. I had to continually move wiring around to make good connection. That makes me uneasy about overheating and fire potential. The light also doenst have independant reflectors which I thought it did have. Price is good but customer service stinks. I also have a PC from this company that was several months old when I started. It already has a switch that is going bad. poor quality materials.

 

[moprint]

The ballast on the Odyssea fixtures do not put out the wattage they are advertised as. The bulb are not the best. Replace the stock ballasts with Icecap that plug right in and you have a decent fixture for less money then like a Coralife HQI Pro.

 

[revrick3]

Mr. X if I post a thread, do I post it here or in different section? Thanks for help, learning a lot here and starting to find out in this hobby cheap isnt always good.

 

[mr_x]

i don't know for sure. i'd probably put it in the general forum..new reefkeepers maybe. just be completely honest and i can't see why anyone would object.
moprint is right on about the odyssea fixtures too.