odyssea lights

[jacrmill]

anybody have any experience with them? They are pretty cheap, which is nice, but scares me. the one i am looking at is $90, it is a 2x65. it has the lunar lights, and seems nice, but im not sure. What do you guys think? would these work well under my wooden canopy?

 

[patandlace]

I've had Odyssea PC lights for over a year now and have been very happy with them. From what I hear the older model MH fixtures had a little problem with catching on fire. I think they've fixed that I just replaced the bulbs on mine and could have got a new fixture for the cost of the replacements.

 

[jacrmill]

i guess that fire thing would be kind of a problem. do you have yours under a canopy? if so, how is the temp? Im kinda worried about putting a light fixture like this under a wooden hood...do you have a pic to post easily? if not, no big deal...

 

[hocky]

I've had a 72" Odyssea PC fixture for several months and it has worked perfectly. Doesn't run hot, turns right on every time. I was happy enough with the brand that I upgraded to their new 1150watt MH/PC combo and it is excellent as well.

 

[jacrmill]

does this PC system run cool enought that I could put it under my wood canopy? I am not going to put a glass cover over the water, and I was thinking of putting them higher in the canopy....do you think this would work, or should I do a retro? just dont want to overheat the tank or start a fire with my new canopy....

 

[joncat24]

if you have a canopy , you are more than likely gonna have to do a retro-fit. Most fixtures will not fit under a canopy.
As for the odyssea lights, I have had three fixtures now, and all were perfect. I think they are awesome and would not hesitate to buy another one.

 

[cj7eagle]

I have the 48" halide fixture over my tank, and love it. It does run warm, but it is halides.
If you are looking at the 30" fixture, I would save up a little more and go with the halides. When i started out, i upgraded my regular bulb unit with power compacts, and then later upgraded to metal halides. I would have saved a bunch of cash if i would have skipped the power compact step.
If you plan on keeping corals, PCs will be fine for a lot of them, but halides are the way to go IMO.

 

[zsqure]

I have the 48" 4x65w pc fixture under a custom hood suspended 9" off of the water and no problem with heat, I run a steady 80.5 to 81 degrees round the clock, I know this because I have checked the temp at 6am before the lights come on. There was an individual on this site who has pictures of his mh odyssea fixture with different ballasts and maybe bulbs also. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

The Odyssea mh fixture is very tempting but I might go with outer orbit instead. I realize it is twice the price but why buy a product to do something at 60% when you can buy another product that is 100%?

 

[cj7eagle]

the bulbs that the halide fixture come with are horrible, but i knew that going in. I replaced mine with 14k phoenix bulbs. with the fixture, and two bulbs i paid $470, which is still way less than the 250w coralife fixture at $900 plus

 

[jacrmill]

im not looking at the MH option, I just need PCs for my little tank. I was talking about the 2x65 watt PCs. Do you think these would do well over the tank, or would it get too hot?

 

[hocky]

Heat should definitely not be an issue with the PC's.

 

[cj7eagle]

i dont think it would get too hot in the canopy, but i have never tried it.
what size tank do you have?

 

[jacrmill]

37 gallon

 

[bluedogge]

I am currently running the odyessa 4x65 watt power compacts, and they are under the canopy of my 75 gallon tank. My Canopy is not a custom one, it is the one the tank came with when I bought it new from petsmart. You will have to worry about the heat. My tanks runs about 76 degrees at night with just the lunar lights on, but during the warmer parts of the day with all the power compacts on, my tank tempature rises to around 81-83 degrees. To help with the problem I just started leaving the lid of my canopy open and that helps keep the tempature at a solid 79-80 degrees. However I got lucky and had to do no retro fitting at all. I just mounted the lights with the legs directly on the tank like normal, and the canopy fit right over top of them without touching them. I only have about 3/4 of an inch clearence above the lights though. I hope this helps.

 

[mmm33732]

ive got the 4x65 unit. pretty nice unit for the money. the bulbs they come with are crap though. very yellow even though it clames its 10,000k and true actinic. it runs pretty hot, but nothing to effect my waters temp. i have mine inside my canopy. the unit itself is 47.75" across. so whatever it says the dimensions are, its gunna be damn close so make sure that can fit inside you canopy if you get one. if you do get it though, id deff change the bulbs out. but that alone will cost 35-60 bucks depending on the brand for 2. add that to the price of the unit and it may not seem as worth it anymore...
i had mine for about 7 months so far and am not going to be using it anymore. i'm switching to halides so i can keep better corals easier. diy and its actually gunna end up costing the same as my pc fixture did. you may want to look into that route instead of upgrading again later down the road. i wish i would have instead of paying twice now.