[rlswaney73]

Hi All, I bought this fixture a few months ago thinking I would only need to use 2x54 at any given time because that was going to way to much light for a 55 gallon tank. I raised the fixture about 6 inches above my tank... thought I was golden but boy was I wrong.

Check out this review of the same fixture only a smaller bulb size.

http://evilslightingreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/odyssea-20-t5ho-fixture-review.html

They tested it @ 18 inches from the source and got a 50 PAR with all 4 bulbs burning... and that was with 2 Actinics and 2 day bulbs

I've been working with Hoppy for a couple of weeks now trying to isolate my issue and there it is... Thanks go out to Hoppy for all the help.

tonight I droped the light to the top of the tank and within a few minutes a world wind of pearling everywhere.

I'll be shopping for a new fixture with a quickness.

 

[Hoppy]

Because of the type of ballasts this uses it appears that the HO bulbs are only driven at NO or a bit more power. Of course you can't assume that other sizes of this fixture will be equally bad, but it isn't likely that they will be a great deal better either. Still, if you want 40-50 micromols of PAR you can get it with this fixture for tanks 18 inches high or less. But, how long it will last is a good question.

 

[aaronbrown]

i used the same fixture on my 75 and had good plant growth bulbs arent great still havent changed them out after 12-18 months now on a saltwater tank but only used for actinics still gat decent color

 

[HolyAngel]

I blew both ballasts trying to run 1 bulb(NOTE: not stock bulb!)per ballast.. I replaced both ballasts with a single workhorse 7. Needless to say I'm only running 1 bulb at 25" from the substrate and HAVE to keep adequete co2 and ferts or algea hell!

 

[HolyAngel]

All the moonlight LEDs blew within a year though, I still don't have a replacement for them yet.

Also, these use magnetic ballasts, you have to rewire the entire fixture in order to wire it for an electronic ballast. The fixture is pretty solid though and even with buying the ballast and rewiring it, it was still less then half the cost of a Catalina or tek fixture..

 

[koldsoup]

I'm a complete newbie at this stuff. Can someone simplify to me what the problems are? I bought the 4' one and have been using it for a month or so and it doesn't seem like there are any problems so far...

 

[HolyAngel]

1) The ballasts are not made to run 1 bulb each.
2) need 4 bulbs at 18" to equal 50 par, roughly low-medium lighting.
3) bulbs are not actually being run at HO wattage, more like NO.
4) moonlights blow within/around a year.

 

[TactusMortus]

I don't see what the issue is I mean you said you get 50 par with a light that cost 1/10 of the cost of the big boys. Why would you be telling people not to purchase this light? I use one on my 120 gallon tank with only two bulbs and my tank is 24" deep. Great growth on all my low/medium light plants. Before I went low light though I was running 4 bulbs and the light was 8" above the tank. I still had stellar growth on all high light stems and plants. I even had to much light in my opinion because even running co2 at about 20 bps I still grew an algae farm.

As far as durability goes I have two of the 24" long versions as well and they have been running for 18 months and 23 months. Only thing I have done is switch bulbs.

 

[johnny313]

its a great fixture for 100.00. i have one on my 120 for a year and zero problems.

 

[HolyAngel]

Oh it's worth the money in my opinion, especially if you swap the ballasts for electronic ones and rewire the fixture properly for them. Doing that made me have to cut down to 1 bulb 25" from the substrate instead of two-four bulbs like I needed originally.

 

[koldsoup]

So basically the output isn't as high as, say, other fixtures? Is that perhaps why I don't have any algae (or don't think I do) with 2x54 over a 55 gallon (roughly 20" tall?) and no CO2? How do the ballasts affect this?

Sorry for the noob questions, I'm still a newbie at this

 

[Hoppy]

I wouldn't say "don't buy this". I do say that you should be aware of what you are getting before you buy it. You will have a light that will very likely give you adequate light on tanks around 18-20 inches high, not high light, but good low medium light. And, that light level makes taking care of the tank much, much easier than with high light. How long it will keep working is an unknown, but it may well last as long as you want it to.

All I ask is that you not claim to have 4 T5HO bulbs on a 20 inch high tank with this one. That just leads people to believe that 4 Tek T5HO bulbs will work fine too.

 

[Mr_Bubbles]

After having looked at this I have to wonder. I run a 2 x 54 watt odyssea light on my 75 gallon tank about 5 inches from the top of the tank (so about 22 inches from the substrate) and assumed based off the Lighting chart in this sub-forum that I was running high light. Should I assume my model is really not giving me this amount of light? I have been dosing EI but use no test kits, so now I wonder if I've been dosing way too much and possibly pushing my CO2 too hard for the amount of light I have. Anyone know of any other in depth reviews for these fixtures?

 

[wkndracer]

Mr Bubbles, base your opinion on what you see as results in you're tank not on internet reviews. I have two Odyssea light fixtures and a filter. Working out fine for me so far.

 

[Mr_Bubbles]

Well being new to hobby (only a year), I have never had the joy of seeing anyone's successful planted tank in person, or well, at least not for what I'm wanting to achieve, only pictures. and I've had 0 luck with carpeting plants and wondered maybe if it's a lack of light. Though I must say my tank seems plenty bright but again, with nothing to compare to it's a hard call. I haven't been able to decide if I have too much light, and now wonder if not enough.

 

[NWA-Planted]

Holy, do you have a little write up or is there one out there to change the ballasts over to electronic? I just ordered a 72" one for the 125 I picked up, and I am fully aware with these things you get what you pay for. However for my purposes this should be more then enough lighting even if not running the wattage it really should. But in the long run changing over to electronic ballasts doesnt sound like a terrible idea considering the 72" with 4 bulbs was only 150 bucks...



Sorry for the thread hijack!!

 

[HolyAngel]

eh, i never made one when I did it to my fixture and i haven't found one online.. I could probably try and explain it with pics, but its not difficult. The tricky part is taking apart the fixture to get access to everything. Then its just cutting/removing the wires, putting in nice new bulb ends and wiring, and connecting them to the ballast like it shows in the diagram on the ballast or at the manufacturer's website. I used a workhorse 7, in which case you wire 1 red/Positive lead per bulb, and then wire all the bulb ends to connect to the single yellow/negative wire. Its really best to solder all your connections both for stability of the connection and to ensure its getting the best possible power.. but wire nuts will suffice.

 

[nalu86]

I know the Odyssea light bulbs are crap, but have you tried to get the PAR readings with, lets say giesemans, or other tec bulbs?

Where do they sell PAR readers? I would go buy one and test it on my fixture.

 

[TactusMortus]

Very good point nalu86 the review was done with odyssea stock bulbs. Which at the price they sell them at I always assumed were garbage bulbs compared to the better brands. I wonder if there would be a noticeable difference.

 

[GitMoe]

There are always so many unanswered questions with these Odyssea fixture reviews. That being said I love the 36" version I run over my 40B and I just ordered a 24" for my 20g today.