AquaTraders: Has anyone ordered from here before?

[cameron]

Darren24;62335 wrote: Be afraid be very afraid. I ordered a PC fixture from them about 1 year ago. It worked for 5 minutes and then would not turn on. I tried to contact them by phone and email and received no response at all. I ended up having to contact my credit card company to get my money back. The light was a POS.

Check the connections... most likely just a loose wire. This is pretty common from their fixtures.

 

[theplatypus]

Cameron;62339 wrote: I think you are wrong... just a few posts below mine comes these posts:

Asking the original tester:

Original tester replies:

He clearly compared one ballast and bulb combination to another and did not at least that I can find in subsequent posts try same bulb, same fixture. Later on he posted this:



In my personal viewing, I did not see the Odyssea ballast having any problems firing the Ushio bulbs and the PFO ballast had no problems firing the Odyssea bulbs. The 10k Odyssea bulb did put out substantially lower PAR numbers and it is my understanding that the Odyssea bulbs are hit or miss when measuring one bulb to another.

I was mistaken on the same bulbs part; however, I curious as to how/why people are getting such significantly different numbers. THe bulbs alone are not likely to account for 1/3rd of the par. Meanwhile the tests you "witnessed" have them performing at a level with PFO ballasts. Maybe it's just that Odysea/Jebo's quality control is just that bad. Who are you in that reefcentral thread?

 

[cameron]

Bulbs can make a huge difference. Try my ballast which is a 250w Icecap. If I hook up a Phoenix, according to Sanjay's research will get about 90 PPFD. The Reef Optics is 41 which is less than half on the same setup. Bulbs make a huge difference.

I am not saying the Odyssea ballast is a wonder by any stretch, but what I am saying as that for a ballast that costs about a quarter what a typical ballast runs there is some value for the dollar. Comparing that ballast along with a bulb that costs half as much simply isn't fair. PAR for the dollar the Odyssea comes out to a reasonable deal. However, you do have to deal with a budget company in terms of service and support.