Odyssea Light system... Yae or Nay???

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robert0762

robert0762

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Planning on purchasing a new lighting system.I want a halide/fluorescenmt all in one.Im thinking of getting the odyssea one from aquatraders wich is only 360 bucks.It comes with 2 250w halides 4 65w Compacts and 6 leds that price is unbeatable, wich kinda steers me away from this product . But i was wondering why is it so cheap and if it would be worth t to get it and just upgrade the ballasts?
Or is it total junk and more of a headache then its worth?
 
you hit it on the head, get and upgrade the ballasts if they fail. their bulbs are crappy too, but hell, theyre free so who cares.
the unit itself is great, looks great, physically as solid as any.
the ballasts do have issues on some units...
 
What about the compact fluor. ballast should i upgrasde that too??
 
I have two 24 inch 250 watt halide with 2 54watt pc's. Balasts suck and are kind of scary looking but i used one for six months before i got my Blue wave. The blue wave balast made them a lot brighter. I would say they are worth it.
 
I have the single MH version at the moment...

its a Chinese knockoff ... Being a cheap price means cheap hardware all around...

I have not had a problem with my ballast... I have read someone added a Icecap ballast when the Odyssea one went out...and the lighting actually increased bit on intensity.. (fact or not I dont know).

I do know that I changed the MH and PC bulbs and saw an immediate improvement with lighting and judging by my corals reaction ...I believe the bulbs they come with have a low life span on UV spectrum maintaining or simply are crap.

Just be aware that there was reports of there products having two issues I have read across other sites...

#1 is the ballasts
#2 is some of them have caught on fire

My experiences differ the fan is good...the ballast is good... the bulbs were junk. Thats all.

Its not that I hate odyssea I just think you should consider the con's before investing.
 
robert0762 said:
Planning on purchasing a new lighting system.I want a halide/fluorescenmt all in one.Im thinking of getting the odyssea one from aquatraders wich is only 360 bucks.It comes with 2 250w halides 4 65w Compacts and 6 leds that price is unbeatable, wich kinda steers me away from this product . But i was wondering why is it so cheap and if it would be worth t to get it and just upgrade the ballasts?
Or is it total junk and more of a headache then its worth?
Click to expand...

I have this exact lighting system from aquatraders. I agree that the bulbs are crap, but it got me started with sps. I have since upgraded the 250 wt halides to helios 20K, and the lighting looks great. I've owned my system for a year and a half, and my buddy ran it for over a year prior to that, so it's about 3 years old now. If I were doing it again, and on a budget I'd give it a Yae for sure.
 
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I have owned this setup for about 8 months now. I'm still on the original mh bulbs which I'm hoping to replace real soon. I don't really like the color of the bulbs but the growth rate for my corals is good.Hopefully changing to new bulbs will take care of that. The only issue that I've had is that one of the PC ballasts burned out about 3 weeks into it. got a replacement for 15 bux and no problems since. It has definitely been worth the money for me.
 
I bought the 48" about a year ago. IMO, you must change the ballasts. I bouht two ballasts from marinedepot, lumitec and they were about $110 each. The lighting difference was night and day. My big Chalice actually started bleaching a little due the the huge difference in light output. Anyways, I say go for it but make sure you change the ballasts, its worth it. I would leave the pc ballasts alone since they dont do much imo. If you have a covered hood, I would say it would be much cheaper to diy, but if all you have is a light on top of your display, the cheap light sure does look really nice.
 
ROLLINS said:
I bought the 48" about a year ago. IMO, you must change the ballasts. I bouht two ballasts from marinedepot, lumitec and they were about $110 each. The lighting difference was night and day. My big Chalice actually started bleaching a little due the the huge difference in light output. Anyways, I say go for it but make sure you change the ballasts, its worth it. I would leave the pc ballasts alone since they dont do much imo. If you have a covered hood, I would say it would be much cheaper to diy, but if all you have is a light on top of your display, the cheap light sure does look really nice.
Click to expand...

Cool... do you have any before and after pics for comparison?
 
Pictures, as you requested. These pictures are with the same bulb, ushio 10k's. At first I thought the bulbs that came w/ the fixture was the main source of the problem, but after I swapped out the bulbs I had the same poor results, I knew it was the ballasts. The Odyssey ballast for the right side bulb was real yellow compared to the left side. Once in a while the ballast would "kick in" and the color would match the other side. Needless to say I virtually had zero growth from my corals with the odyssey ballast, and my tank looked real dull and yellow. The lumatek ballasts are great, and well priced. Hope this helps!

Ryan
 
Is price an object? or do you just not want to spend very much? (I know it sounds like I am asking the same question twice, I hope you get my meaning;))
If you can afford it then just go all the way the first time, I went cheap on one set of lights and wound up replacing everything anyway a year later. If you really can't afford it then they are just fine for a lighting system, I have a good friend that has used one for a couple years now. Good luck!:)

Tim
 
ROLLINS said:
Pictures, as you requested. These pictures are with the same bulb, ushio 10k's. At first I thought the bulbs that came w/ the fixture was the main source of the problem, but after I swapped out the bulbs I had the same poor results, I knew it was the ballasts. The Odyssey ballast for the right side bulb was real yellow compared to the left side. Once in a while the ballast would "kick in" and the color would match the other side. Needless to say I virtually had zero growth from my corals with the odyssey ballast, and my tank looked real dull and yellow. The lumatek ballasts are great, and well priced. Hope this helps!

Ryan
Click to expand...

Wow... those Odyssey 10Ks with the Lumatek ballasts look better than my Helios 20Ks with the factory Odyssey ballasts. I never knew the ballasts could make such a difference. My corals grow, but I'm not entirely sure if they are growing as quickly as they should be. My sps never grew until I added a CA reactor, but I'm getting off topic. You got me thinking it might be time to switch those out. Were both pics taken with the same camera with the same settings? Thanks Ryan!
 
The ballasts are only pushing 150w and should be pushing 250w. Thats why its a night and day difference between a odyssea ballast and a real ballast.
 
Yes, same camera and same settings. The lumatek ballasts are about $120 each. They have great tech. support located out of the Bay Area CA. Also, the 5 year warranty really caught my attention. You would have to take your fixture almost all the way apart and splice in a few wires, took me about an hour to do, overall is was pretty easy and well worth it.
 
luke33 said:
The ballasts are only pushing 150w and should be pushing 250w. Thats why its a night and day difference between a odyssea ballast and a real ballast.
Click to expand...

Hi Luke,

I just checked the ballasts and no where in them do they state what wattage they are, so I am under the impression from the aquatraders website that they are indeed the "External 250W Electronic HQI Metal Halide Ballasts with On/Off Switch". How do you know they are otherwise? Thanks!

Link to the site is here: http://www.aquatraders.com/48-760w-metal-halide-system-electronic-ballast.aspx
 
ROLLINS said:
Yes, same camera and same settings. The lumatek ballasts are about $120 each. They have great tech. support located out of the Bay Area CA. Also, the 5 year warranty really caught my attention. You would have to take your fixture almost all the way apart and splice in a few wires, took me about an hour to do, overall is was pretty easy and well worth it.
Click to expand...

Well I've taken it apart before for a small fix so it's familiar ground. Plus my dad was an electrician so I can always lean on him if I'm in trouble...
 
ROLLINS said:
Yes, same camera and same settings. The lumatek ballasts are about $120 each. They have great tech. support located out of the Bay Area CA. Also, the 5 year warranty really caught my attention. You would have to take your fixture almost all the way apart and splice in a few wires, took me about an hour to do, overall is was pretty easy and well worth it.
Click to expand...

lumatek ballasts are probably some of the best on the market, and not that much more expensive. perfect replacement ballasts for these.
 
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