New "extreme" PC vs. MH

mombostic

mombostic

Member
Okay, I've tried everything under the sun to fix my Coralife pc fixture, and it still doesn't work, so I'm throwing in the towel and getting a new fixture. Here's the deal:
Orbit has the "new" thing called Extreme compact fluorescent, which is 520 watts in a 48" fixture. It is 4-130 watt bulbs. The price on this fixture is $509.
There is a MH 48" fixture that is 500 watts, 2-250 double ended bulbs. The price on this fixture is $639.
The last fixture is a pc/MH combo fixture, and it is 2-250W MH, and 2-96W pc bulbs. Right now it is on sale for $654.
Now, here's a few of my questions. The "extreme" actually has more wattage than the MH fixture--does that mean you could have something like clams under it? 520 watts is a lot. However, I haven't had the best of luck with a pc fixture. Would it be better to go with the straight MH fixture and forget it, even though it's less wattage? I've never heard of this "extreme" pc before, and I wondered if anyone had any experience with such a thing. Any feedback would be very welcome.
Thanks!
 
maingo

maingo

Member
Man.... I got 2X250w 14k MH retros on the giant bay you know, for $220.00 and they are awesome. I really think you should look into retroing your own save a ton of money...
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
PC's will never compete toe to toe with MH......Pentration and reflectors are a very big key that you won't get out of the PC. It all reverts back to it has nothing to do with watts.......
 
mpls man

mpls man

Active Member
totally agree......i built my light setup from scratch, 542 watts total...
cost was about $250.00 -$300.00 max.
 
cowfishrule

cowfishrule

Active Member
depends on what you want to keep.
i am very happy with my pc's, and im keeping shrooms, pusle xen, hammer, torch, kenya tree, zoos, and a maze brain under them.
i've also keep a bta very successfully under pc's.
vho is another option to go.
i like my pc's because they are quiet. where my tank is, i cant have ballasts buzzing, skimmers skimming, or 4" fans exhausting.
 
cowfishrule

cowfishrule

Active Member
oh yeah,
forgot this.
also- if you go retro, you can wire everything so that its easy for you to repair or change things if needed- in a fixture, its not so easy.
 
mombostic

mombostic

Member
Well, I'm not going retro. I have to do everything myself, and unfortunately electrical work is not on my list. Two to three hundred is a lot of money for something that I can't ever get to work, right?
Keeping money aside, I read something up there that concerned me a little bit--how noisy are metal hallides? Have any of you heard of that "extreme" pc fixture before, or have any experience with the orbit fixtures at all? The Coralife didn't impress me. I don't want a whole lot of noise. I'm getting ready to upgrade my skimmer for that very reason.
Also, what about that pc/mh combo fixture? Any thoughts on those?
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
"extreme" doesn't mean anything in this case. for current usa/orbit pc fixtures it simply denotes the fixtures that have more bulbs or wattage than their standard fixtures. a standard 4ft pc fixture usually has 4-65w or 2-130w bulbs which for most 4ft tanks isn't much to begin with (good for low light softies, LPS may survive but derserve better). doubling that up with more pc bulbs isn't "alot". on most 4ft tanks (75g and up) that just moves you from weak lighting to average meaning now you can comfortably keep LPS and have less thought to regards with placement. It doesn't move you into any new keeping territory.
In fact if your 4ft tank is a 55 or 75g (20" or less) two 150w HQI (regular Sunpod which is $200 less than the one your looking at) or two 175w mogul (300-350w) blows that 520 watts of pc out the water and allows you to keep pretty much anything. So unless you have a 90 or 120 gallon you dont even need to get the 2-250w version to keep everything. Even the 2-150w HQI over a 90/120 is better than all 520w of that pc fixture. you can still keep most any SPS placed high with that where with the pc fixture your limited to slow growth and low light SPS (ex montipora) at best. Not to mention shimmer lines are priceless!
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by COWFISHRULE
depends on what you want to keep.
i am very happy with my pc's, and im keeping shrooms, pusle xen, hammer, torch, kenya tree, zoos, and a maze brain under them.
i've also keep a bta very successfully under pc's.
vho is another option to go.
i like my pc's because they are quiet. where my tank is, i cant have ballasts buzzing, skimmers skimming, or 4" fans exhausting.
My magnetic ballast don't hum, and my fans kick on 1 time a day as well as the chiller....
 
mombostic

mombostic

Member
It is actually a 90. I guess it sounds like the mh is the way to go. That pretty much opens up to keeping just about anything, right? Not that I'm excited about going reef crazy, but I have two percs in a BTA that would benefit, plus, if I ever decide to keep something like a clam, I'll have that option.
I have one more question, then I promise I'll shut up. What kind of difference in heat are we talking about in a pc fixture like I have now versus the mh. I do not have a chiller, and my tank stays at a stable 77 degrees. The cost of a chiller may put the mh out of the question. I'm trying to consider everything before I make a major purchase, you know? To say the Coralife fixture has been a let-down is an understatement. While by most standards it was cheap, it certainly wasn't cheap enough to last for as short a time as it did.
 
cowfishrule

cowfishrule

Active Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
My magnetic ballast don't hum, and my fans kick on 1 time a day as well as the chiller....

i had a used hamilton 175wt ballast that used to rattle n hum when it was running.
 
jeeperrs

jeeperrs

New Member
I was reading some about the odyssea light fixtures and that some people have had problems. What do you think about the quality of the product? I think for the price it sounds amazing. Just wanting to get some feedback from anyone who may have one of the new fixtures with the new ballast.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by jeeperrs
I was reading some about the odyssea light fixtures and that some people have had problems. What do you think about the quality of the product? I think for the price it sounds amazing. Just wanting to get some feedback from anyone who may have one of the new fixtures with the new ballast.
For under $170-$200 per 175w or 250w SE retro set up you can have perfectly reputable and service friendly halides with reputable bulbs and none of the reliability and customer service issues of Oddyssea. even if I didn't have a canopy (which I didn't) I'd just build one (which I did) or buy one so I could use retro lighting. same with supplemental. For $100 or so you can add perfectly reliable and reputable twin 55-96watt pc retro supplemental lighting or save another hundred and get superior VHO. even retro TEK T5 supplements are well under $200. I'd much rather spend my $450 t0 $500 on that then save a pityful $100-150 on Jebo/odyssea and all the unknowns and finger crossing that comes with getting it. Somebody mentioned the housing on the newest models are exactly like coralifes, (which isn't saying much, flimpsy and inferior to current usa, TEK ect), so more than likely coralife and oddysea are made by the same manufacturer (although they dont share the same light/watt combo on any fixtures). at least there's peace of mine with aftercare with coralife (but no savings).
 
mombostic

mombostic

Member
Originally Posted by sign guy
nothing a few fans cant fix

Like fans on the lights or what?
So the Odyssea isn't any good? I was not impressed with Coralife, and this time around I'd rather pay more money and get something that is actually going to last.
This input is great.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by COWFISHRULE
i had a used hamilton 175wt ballast that used to rattle n hum when it was running.
That's why I gave up using Hamiltons overpriced stuff.....PFO's are dead silent.....
 
mombostic

mombostic

Member
Also, I did see that I have priced the Sunpod Pro, which is the 500 watt model. On my 90, is the 300 watt sufficient? Is mh really that much better than pc? That model is a lot cheaper. I read the quote way back up there that is was better even than the 520 watt pc--I'm not arguing, but could someone explain that to me? I don't exactly understand why that is. You here everyone on hear everyone on here talking about watts per gallon and all of that, but I have always wondered about the thinking behind that. For example, 55 and 75 gallon tanks are the same depth, so isn't the stuff in the water getting the same amount of light from a fixture, even though the watts per gallon goes down?
Wow, who would have thought you'd actually have to THINK to be a marine hobbyist????
 
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