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Thinkin of buying these lights. Any opinions? obviously im gonna upgrade the bulbs. Anyone have expience with these fixtures off ebay?
metal halide opinions?
- Thread starter dannyafoster
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Just my opinion, I would stick to the name brand ballast that are relatively popular in the hobby. I almost burnt my house down with an eBay 250w halide ballast. It's not worth the risk. I just ordered lumatek ballast from BRS for 150$ each, then u can buy your bulbs and reflectors local. I've got less than 500$ in my lighting, 2x selectable 250-400w ballast, cheap reflectors for the mean time, and radium bulbs.
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anyone else have issues or success with these lights?
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ugh any options on cheap halide t5 combo fixture for a 90g
Edit: ugh any options on cheap halide t5 combo fixture for a 90g
Edit: ugh any options on cheap halide t5 combo fixture for a 90g
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I would pick between the two, halide or T5, not both. You can get the work horse t5 ballast and drive the 54watt 4' bulbs for pretty cheap. That should light your 90 no prob!
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You might consider looking at Sanjay's test results for metal halide lighting. He tested with lots of different bulb/ballast combinations. I was personally shocked by the differences in actual lighting produced.
I had a 250w coralife light just like the one you posted and had problems growing sps due to inadaquite par. It was used when I got it but I changed the bulbs twice to new bulbs. Ballasts could have been failing, no idea. just my 2 cents
I had a 250w coralife light just like the one you posted and had problems growing sps due to inadaquite par. It was used when I got it but I changed the bulbs twice to new bulbs. Ballasts could have been failing, no idea. just my 2 cents
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so I dug a lil deeper into these lights from ebay. turns out they are odyssea. now I know this place has a bad rep for overheating and things of the sort. but what I also learned is that they did an overhaul on their light fixtures and they are not supposed to be that bad anymore. read a lot of good things about them. im tempted to get them. does anyone have this fixture currently?
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changed my mind found a great deal on an aquamedic light fixture with 2x 250w and 2x 150 for $100 just gotta buy the bulbs and ballast separately. anyone have experience with aquamedic fixtures?
Do you have a picture of what the reflectors look like? Reflectors can very in the amount of light they reflect. Reflectors like batwing varieties are basic and not very good. Others, like LumenMax, LumenBright, and some Hamilton Products are much better at reflecting light downward with less lateral light bleed, meaning light that doesn't go downward but out the sides of the fixture.
For example, my first SPS tank was a 120 gallon, and my fixture was a Current USA 2x 250 watt DE type that had batwing reflectors in it. I switched to LumenBright Minis with a similar 250 watt rated ballast, and it was like going from a 250 to a 400 watt halide wattage just from the change in reflector design from a cr@ppy one to a quality one. Killed a few corals by bleaching even with the new LumenBrights raised higher over the tank than the old fixture.
I had the Aquamedic 250 HQI Pendants on my tank years back and they were pretty good. I changed lights over the years (leds/t-5s) and finally came to what I have now and have never had better quality pumping light onto the tank. I've got the LumenBright Mini reflectors on Coral Vue ballasts (was going to Lumentek but got an awesome deal on some overstock Coral Vues). I've got Radium bulbs in there too and I am really happy that I went to this current configuration.
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It can only benefit you when you do your homework and not rush into something in this hobby. Ask others for their personal experience is very helpful here at ARC? You have been doing that, and you will see that it's beneficial when you are slow in your judgment to purchase Reef Keeping items.
It will save you some money and many headaches when you research before you impulse buy. Try and acquire a broad base in your research. This will help you when you decide which avenue to take on your journey of Reef Keeping. Keep the questions coming and post here at ARC and the experienced Reef Keepers will give you some insights on what may or may not be helpful with your Reef Keeping.
Wannabee
I've had AquaMedic fixtures and they are great for the money. The only complaint that I had with them was they use magnetic ballasts which are big, heavy, buzz, and generate heat. I converted to an electronic ballast and they were fine.
FYI this is an Odyssea light. They don't say that it is, but it is. If you buy it it will say it on the ballast, unless they switched it out. You'll have to figure out what size bracket this one uses, only an odyssea hanging bracket will hold it. The legs are pointless. It can't sit on the tank without temp problems.
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My brother used an older model for 2+ years.
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lol ok I did not read through the comments at first. Yes it is Odyssea. In the 6 months I ran mine it did not burn my house down lol.
My brother used an older model for 2+ years.
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ok this is the light fixture im currently looking at its currently been discontinued so its cheap. $100 it doesn't come with bulbs or ballast but I found thr aquamedic 250w ballast on ebay for $80ea and the 150w ballast on ebay for $50. any opinions? $310 doesn't seem that bad.
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