Well on about 4 days ago on 2/28/09 i bought my self a brand new odyssea fixture. only costed me $356 from my lfs. aquatraders site is back up again and now my fixture is on sale there for $289.00 and they alos now have other fixtures with T5HO/mh but i only lost about $60 so its cool with me. in my lfs for evey single person that buys a fixture they open it and make sure the light is working perfectly before letting you have it and take it home. i have to say this is a great light for being nice and cheap compared to the prices of others. this baby comes with 2x250 15k mh, 2x96w Actinic pcs, and 6 led moon lights.



in total 6 switches but only 5 plugs:
2 ballast plugs
1 plug for fan
1 plug for actinic(but has to componets to use either 1 or both on the light fixture
1 plug for leds

not sure on the stories of other odyssea fixtures but this one the mh bulbs dont give out a yellow hue. its more of a white with a tint of blue, nor do the ballast heat up like crazy i can have the ballast on for 5 hours and leave my hand on there for 5 minutes with out being burnt.

the only trouble i had with this fixture so far is putting the legs on it lol 2 went on perfeclty the other 2 theres a metal piece you have to slide in through the fixture well last too were a little bit spread out so hammered them down 1 time to get them to slide in perfectly.

also when ontop of my tank very sturdy does not move at all or jiggle make noises from the fixture of ballast, only thing i would say i can hear is the water moving and just the fans but its a nice quite hum not a huge buzzing sound.



I will now show you some pictures of the fixture its self using a 5.1 mega pixel camera and you can tell me what you think.

Fixture its self:


(actinic and mh powering up just on bed )



Night Lights Only:




Actinic Only:



Metal Halides only:



Metal Halides and Actinic:




now heres a simple video but all the noise you will hear i have the window open, baby crying but cant really hear that, and just water going into sump when i open that door



sooo tell me what do you think so far? i think its pretty great for being cheap and if ever feel like upgrading just goign to change out the ballast and bulbs really.

looks like they either fixed their ballst or you got a much bluer bulbs..cause when i had my old 48" 760w odyssea light the MH made the water yellow because of the under powered ballast
I think they are good fixture for the money. The ballast are ehhhh..I replaced mine with oralvue ones when I had it. but if I had another one and wanted to get better ballast and keep it cheap I would get ballast wise ones.
I am sure others will say blah blah odyssea is junk. I will bet 95% of the ones spitting out that never even had one...For teh money it is a nice fixture. Just replace the ballast and its a great fixture and still WAY cheaper then anything else with the same configuration.

lol very well said and i plan on having this fixture for a long time and is badass lol. also agree that most people probley will have some bad say about it but hey thats life ballast doesnt get hot and my bulbs look sexy so im happy. just will probley upgrade the bubls and ballast in 6months-1year. but for now im good to goo

That would be awesome if they fixed the ballasts. I had heard rumor that it was happening, but no solid evidence.

SK8URDEAD, an easy way to check is to measure the wattage draw of the ballast with a Kill-a-Watt meter. You can get them from Radioshack now for about $20. It's a neat tool to have around the house. Typically the stock ballasts ran at about 160-170W. If see 200W+ you are doing alright. 250W+ would be fantastic.

well i get paid tomorrow soo tomorrow ill run by and grab one and there site has been updated with new fixtures aswell so who knows hopefully they did fix them a little before i got mine lol because. mine has been on hold for about a month because they didnt have any so when they got them new before they updated the site my lfs was able to get them brand new made. hmm i hope because i dont feel like upgrading the ballast later on. but then again my father is an electriction so i can have him run up the wattage since he probley has more high tek gadgets lol. but how fast does it take for these bulbs to full light? mine takes only about 2 minutes and boom its lit all the way.

evil you just got me excited then when i test the wattage im going to be disappointed maybe lol.

if you do replace the ballast and want to save oney
http://ballastwise.com/item.asp?PID=128&am...=17&level=1

I always choose to buy something , 2-3 months before the company does some kind of upgrade.

*mumbles to self*

hey man thanks for this link i can totaly do this if i need to upgrade thanks alot man. but yeah so far light is good its in my room and when im not at work or with gf im in here just watching shows and inspecting this light making sure nothing goes wrong. max tempature my tank is getting is 80 degress and i live in texas with no fan/ac on right now my tank atm is at 78 degress but at night it hits about 76, would this be ok for my fishes later on when i get some?

curious what do the ballast look like..I wonder if they look the same but maybe changed them to with all the new design it seems they are taking.
The old ones where silver ribbed with vent hole on the one side.

well they do look what you said so im thinking the ballast i have might not have been upgraded if they some how were in the website. but yes they are silver rectangular long. have a hole on one end with a black covered vent that are does pass though not sure if it has a mini fan lol let me check(nope) and does have a switch on other side connects to addapter to plug. i beleive they are the same ballast. they also dont make noise of anykind. also both arent that hot. when you first touch them they feel like it but dont burn my hand. cant smell a burning smell from them either.
only picture i have of them at the moment.

well it looks like the casing hasnt changed..but that doesnt matter. wonder if they made any changes inside

true but i probley wont end up taking it apart till it/if it bugs out on me but so far so good.

anyone else ever had one of these fixtures? i know i hear about the rumors lol but just wondering if some people other then myself own/have owned one of these.

A friend of mine has teh 48" version. He like it stock, but loves it with new Icecap ballasts and Phoenix bulbs.

Would that exact fixture fit over a 40B? That little setup would be great for a tank idea I have. I'll be following along to see the killawatt testing.

yea 40B is 36"

Okay then I'll be following along to see if you mod this bad boy in any way.

I am planning to get one from aquatraders.If your is doing fine I might order one next week when I get my pay check. How is the heat problem?

when I had the 48" version of the 760w 2x250 on my 75g..I never had a heat problem..the fan in the unit works pretty well at pulling the heat away. Even in the summer I think it only went up 1 or 2 degrees

to bad they dont offer 150w versions. I think 2x150 would be much better on the 40B then 2x250. save on power and still be plenty of light

Yea i just got a 24" one for my tank and i have loved it so far! My ballast had no heat issue's as well but i had a 150w phoenix on the tank before i moved to the 250 and i don't think it's as blue, more of a white light, which has been fine fore me, but i do plan of getting a different bulb. I also heard rumors about the bulb not firing right away, but mine fires right up! I think they must have improved these fixtures after seeing your good luck as well!

yeah this fixture would go good over a 40b might be a lot of light lol i have same specs but its 22 inch high.

also heat really isnt a issue you put your hand under the light lol yeah it will feel like your being burned after about 30-1 minute lol but usually my tank stays at 78deg but durring the hot part of the day goes up to 80 and i dont run a chiller and live in TX soo i say pretty good. fans are nice and quite.

yeah evil im probley going to do the same set up as your friend with the bulbs and ballast but only when its time to change the bulbs

i learned today how to make my sump quite!! lol fill the bottom intake with filterfloss so it kills the air going all the way up to the overflow and i hear no noise from overflow yes!!! only spot i here noise is in my trickle filter which i will mod and add more filter flose to shut that up lol and then i will have a perfectly quite fishtank is my bedroom

well on day 5 now and i see no problems still. mh turn on fast as hell lol to full power. only thing that bugs me is evap getting on the glass shield so every night i windex it clean lol because the evap spots i dont like just my thing lol either going to make a hanging kit for it for it to be higher or put on my glass top, but if i do that i think it will go higher then my max 80degrees and will need a chiller which i dont want..... hmmmmm still runing good though.

Does Odyssea have a manufacturer's website?

I'm looking at this new 2009 model on eBay from them, here...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ODYSSEA-48-760W-METAL-...%3A1%7C294%3A50

But at one point it says it's got power compact bulbs, and another point it says T5 bulbs (four of them).

It's rather confusing and I'd like to check it out on the manufacturer's website but I have no idea what that is. lol

Any thoughts?

Very curious. That picture sure does show T5s, but the fixtures have always had PCs. I would contact a seller on ebay named Hombby. He has a really good reputation for selling these, and actual custer service, unlike Aquatraders.

Yeah I actually just found out about this Aquatraders website and went through all their products. They sell their new 760 watt metal halide / PC fixture and they also carry the 716 watt metal halide / T5 fixture that I am interested in.

I spoke with a rep. on their live chat and inquired about the ballast, asking if the company had made any changes or improvements to their ballasts recently with their new products.

She said that the last major change was in 2007 when they switched from magnetic ballasts to electronic ballasts, but she really didn't have any more information about the ballast. Shipping to Ontario is $55.00 USD in case anybody is interested. She said their online ordering system should be completely up and running in about a weeks time (apparently this is their new website and it is still under construction).

Also, I read your entire thread just now evilc66 regarding improving the 250 watt ballasts. Interesting stuff. A similar fixture would cost me about 1000 dollars or more in Ontario here, so I am really considering this fixture from aquatraders. Even if both of the ballasts are total ######, it would still probably cost me less to replace them both.

This is the model I'm looking at:

http://www.aquatraders.com/odyssea-48-716w...with-t5-ho.html

The shipping is cheaper straight through their website than through eBay.

Thats great that they are selling them now witha T5 option. It would be great if they fixed the ballast too.

The ballast mod isn't perfect, but it has potential for getting a little more out of it without spending a ton. I'm sure replacing the ballast entirely will still be a very inexpensive option for you.

you can say that again. i was going to try that out if my bulbs didnt look so blue and white. but for now im just sticking it to stock. and yeah i had posted about the T5's somewhere else in a other topic

Thats not evaporated water. That's splashes from your tank surface, or micro bubbles popping on the surface.. Evaporated water is almost pure H20. Salt does not evaporate with it.

lol thats what my mother was telling me hmm i do see splashes but only when my returns are out of the water looks like there going in then.

well its been a couple of days and fixture is still runing great i just did some reaqua scaping and i see some growth in my lf. also bulbs still fire fast. no blinking,buzzing,humming,burning smell nothing just perfect so far .

well after doing some searching i saw some other members ballast off of there odyssea fixture. they were to run 250w mh aswell. the ballast looked the same but what i noticed is the switches. theres had a thin red switch while mine has a thicker/wider black and white switch. so im thinking maybe they might not have changed the outside of the ballast but maybe jsut the switch or inside some how. his was 18 months old and mine is brand new from last month.

Ballasts that my buddy had on his thats over a year old has large black switches.

hopefully i can get that killawat this thursday

How tall is the fixture including the legs? I'm thinking about getting one but height is a concern.

im following along, the killawatt test has me interested..

Yeah, indeed. It's thursday now SK8! Any killawatt test?

sorry guys i didnt have time to buy it. had to do a water change and buy some other stuff i required for the tank its self along with help my friend out. im going to see if i can just get one out of my dads truck to test it out. also the legs 3-4" tall but mine with the legs are about 5-6" but i keep my water level at the bottom of my rim so more room for less heat. also so far my max heat in tank is 80degrees lowest 78(sleepy time)

Cool cool. Well I'll be looking forward to the results whenever you are able to post 'em.

Glad to hear everything is working well with your fixture, regardless.

alright well payday is tomorrow and since i no longer need to spend money on equipment on my fishtank. ill be getting a xbox360,gearsofwars2,halo3,killawattmeter,and pair of clowns

my lights are still blasting perfectly like brand new nothing going wrong with them so far. i love my hermits and i got a yellowtailed damsel and forgot what the other fish was called lol. but yeah! looks like i have feather dusters really small ones growing. pretty cool i swoop my magfloat next to them and boom back in there tubes they go. also i seem to be growing some type of super small red algae. its not cyno i know what that looks like but its pretty cool very thin and tiny not long like the longhair algae i had growing till my hermits ate most of it. i also seem to have some weird purple plants growing. some look purple some look like a mix of red and purple. well yeah. hmmmm hers a pick of my rockscape i guess and my yellowtailed in this first pick is right next to my magfloat lol, the other one is hiding behind my overflow have to get a better pic of him later on.

im just happy i always thought of getting a AIO but i really like just building the thing on my own and even though ive paid more then $1600 for this before i got the fish it was worth it

also just some quick pics of firing up odyssea while i was cleaning my tank a bit and just some other random shots of stuff.

Did you ever get those kill-a-watt readings?

Just to add to the thread,

I own two Odyssey lights

24" 150w HQI + PC

and

48" (2)x250w HQI + (4)T5


I love them both and have not had any issues, I did how ever upgrade my bulb on the 24" to a Coralife 20k.

Yay for cheap ebay lights!

well its been what now a month or two since i got the lights? well i still have no problems, my bulbs are still giving out a nice white with a tint of blue, everything works like brand new. only thing i havent had the time to do is the killawat test lol. but other then that when i turn my mh's on my corals burst out with happyness spreading open. also i have a lot of coraline and looks uber sexy!!! purple,maroon and branching coraline.

That blue tint was definitely not present on my odyssea fixture (at least not until i got an icecap ballast )

i think theres a white ballance issue in the pick. taken with a cell phone and its actully pretty close to the same color. first pic is a 2009 odyssea 2x250 with 4 t5's over a 75g, second is a 24" sundail 4x24w t5ho with 2 aquablue spezials and 2 blues on the same tank long ago. the mh setup is bluer and just as bright but the camera shows it a little off. the tank had a nasty time for a few months under far less than ideal lighing so as you can see it suffered. most of the stuff is opening back up like it should now.

hey!

55$ usd for shipping to ontario:)
Great info there as im from here also,

I Thinking of picking up the 24" , any one know the Biggest 24" tank?
20G tall? maybe.

ANyways thanks for the review!

nice looks like the T5 one has a nice shine to it. i have the pc one as you probley noticed but you have to admit they run good for being cheap and if ever need to upgrade, only thing really is the ballast. the fan on my fixture is silent others say its loud. but yeah! also i might even get the 72" T5,3x250's later on because im upgradign to a 150G tank

nice, im considering it for the 180 im getting this weekend

QUOTE (Phase420 @ Mar 30 2009, 04:17 PM)
Just to add to the thread,

I own two Odyssey lights

24" 150w HQI + PC

and

48" (2)x250w HQI + (4)T5


I love them both and have not had any issues, I did how ever upgrade my bulb on the 24" to a Coralife 20k.

Yay for cheap ebay lights!







I dont think that 24" light u have exists. maybe a typo?




also. If they are underpowered 250w

That would be great for ppl that 1 in the 150watt rang hrh

well in a way but if they want 150w then i think they might just go and buy that instead because i wanted the 250w's because my tank is almost 2' deep(mine is 22" deep) but yeah still puts out great light just going to upgrade the balast in a couple of months.