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Which light would you rather have?


cbachman

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So im getting my taxes back soon and am considering two different light upgrades for my 50 gallon tank. One is used one from a local reefer for $400 and the other is from aquatraders.

 

Option A is a used Coralife Aqualight Pro. Here are some quick stats: 2x150W 10000K HQI MH,

2x96W Actinic 03 PC. Retails for $830. Link:

http://www.marinedepot.com/Coralife_48_Inc...ES53506-vi.html

 

Option B is Odyssea 48" 716W Metal Halide System Advance Plus from Aquatraders. Its selling for only $289 with free shipping. 2x Odyssea 250W DE HQI Bulb 15000K, 4x Odyssea 54W T5 High Output Bulb Actinic Blue, 6x Dual Bluemoon LED. Link:

http://www.aquatraders.com/ProductDetails....67&CartID=1

 

Thanks for everyones input.

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Even with the price factored in I would probably go with the Coralife light. I almost purchased a Odyssea light at one time, but after reading up on them I heard of the MH's causing several house fires due to faulty wiring. They may have fixed this issue sense then, but I still don't really think that the fixtures are going to hold up as well in the long term.

 

The only other real wonder for me is the size of tank this is going over. If it was a deep or larger tank then maybe I might try the Odyssea, but that would depend on me seeing some current reviews for the products.

 

Also hello, from a former Nebraskan.

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how old are the bulbs on the coralife? you'll definitely want to change out the bulbs on the odyssea. if it were me though, I'd get the coralife.

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phi delt reefer
how old are the bulbs on the coralife? you'll definitely want to change out the bulbs on the odyssea. if it were me though, I'd get the coralife.

 

 

odyssea's quality has improved somewhat but remember the old adage - " you get what you pay for".

another option is this;

http://fishneedit.com/2-x-150w-mhl-with-2-...ft-2150224.html

 

fishneedit has received some favorable reviews from the nanoreef forums.

 

unless you can get that coralife light for $100 dont waste your time. PC's are old and inefficient and you have to swap out the bulbs every 4-6 months.

 

everyone loves to buy something the second they get some cash - i would highly recommend you put the money aside and save a couple hundred more and get a REAL light. It will have some re-sell value. Have you considered an all T5HO option? A four or 6 bulb ATI Sunpower is in the $400ish range - you could even get a tek light cheaper than that and just us a clip on fan to keep it cool.

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PDR has a point. ATI can be re-sold with alot of its value carried over. i wouldn't put that much faith in coralife/odessy. if you fancy a retro kit reef geek has some with the new tek2 reflectors powered by LET, Icecap, or a full on ATI setup or teklight set up. either way i think your better off either saving the money and getting something more "worth it" vs buying something "ok" now and regretting it in 6months- 1 year and have to spend even more money to get a better light.

 

good luck hope you make a good decision.

 

wait dude reef geek has the 36" tek elite 6 bulb for $309... its an easy choice from here on out.

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Thanks for the input everyone! Im still not too sure. The only reason I would consider oddysea is because I purchased one their 30" metal halide systems about 2 years ago and had good luck with it. No house fires. I think those are a thing of the past. Part of the reason im upgrading is because after the two years ive owned it, the original MH bulb just burned out! It probably should have been replaced after 9 months i know but it kept good color and i never had an algae outbreak so I just ran with it. The metal halides fixture from Hellolights.com is freaking gorgeous! Ill have to see if I got cash for that. I think ill spend some time research TEk lights today. Ive never really considered them. I thought MH were a better option for keeping any kind of coral. Any more input from any one? I really appreciate it. I hate having to spend big amounts of money so i tend to over think it alot. Like I said I still kinda like the Oddysea because ive had good luck with them in the past. Resale value isnt too important to me. I dont feel like I would be leaving the hobby any time soon and this is biggest tank I would want in an apartment. Thanks again everyone.

 

Also hello, from a former Nebraskan.

 

Where in Nebraska did you live? Yesterday the high was 2 degrees and the wind chill was -20. Dont ya miss it lol.

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IMO that corallife light isnt worth 800+ new. 2x 150W MH and 2 PC bulbs for 800 bucks? no thanks

 

i would go with the oddysea. 2X250W and 4 54W T5HO will give you far more light.

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Sorry about that. For whatever reason I thought I had replied to you last night. There is a huge debate between a lot of people about what is better, T5 vs. MH. As far as I can tell, they both work equally well. If you really want to throw a wrench into things though start talking about LED too, but lets ignore that for now.

 

I'm just still iffy on the oddysea fixtures myself. I'm sure they've made some changes sense I looked up their stuff (lawsuits will do that to a company), but it's just something that will always make me wonder about the quality of their product. Otherwise, check out some T5 lighting.

 

Oh, I was from the Northeast corner about an hour North of Norfolk, in a town called Laurel. If you haven't heard of it don't worry to much. I don't miss the weather out there at all. It's cold here when it gets under 35. I can only imagine the fun everyone is having in the snow right now.

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the best looking tanks with sps with perfect color were all 6 bulb ati T5's

i have leds and they are amazing.

a T5 and led combo light is the best light u can get there is no debate about it

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phi delt reefer

there is no question as to whether t5's can keep corals or provide a thriving light source for them. It's only an issue when the tank gets to be like 24+" deep - the 'penetration power' (...hehehehe) is limited. But even then at that depth people start using 400w halides. You can overdrive T5's as well but you get some spectrum shift - there are some bulbs that are overdrive capable (icecap and sunlight supply recently released their own line but i dont think they are in production yet)

 

i wont comment on LEDs - there enough threads on it in Nano-reef. probably more than all other forums combined :)

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I had an odyssea MH fixture before my leds. I loved it, and it worked great. I'd buy another. Check out topdogsellers on ebay. They sell the odyssea fixtures, but are more customer friendly than aquatraders.

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issue fixed or not, a company that sends out a product with less than great quality to begin with is something to question right out the gate. if you wanna stick to MH why not get a couple of icecap ballasts and a pair of reflectors and call it good. you're likely to spend around the same if you find a good used deal, and you're more assured of a quality product used or not. know what i'm saying?

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the 24"+ rule is not a problem for T5HO. With good reflectors and bulbs it will penetrate all the way to the bottom.

 

i have a DIY 7 bulb T5HO with icecap reflectors on my 30" tall tank and still getting over 200 par on the sand bed

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a T5 and led combo light is the best light u can get there is no debate about it

 

Actually there is plenty of debate about it. MH by itself competes with LED/T5

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Damn guys thanks for all the great info! Well after some thought and a crap ton of overtime at work this week (damn iphone launch) I think I decided on putting some extra coin into my lights. The 2 x 150W MH with 2 x 2bulbs 4Ft Fixture from fishneedit.com looks beautiful. Its a big upgrade from what I have and its kinda middle of the road cost wise at about $430. Now i just need to decide on color. I was thinking 14000k for the MH and one white and one blue for the t5's. Does that sound about right?

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I have a odyssea fixture. I bought it about 2 years ago. Its been running for a year and 1/2 with no problems. They do NOT catch fire anymore, I believe this did happen when they had magnetic ballasts many years ago.... The ballasts are overrated though, my 250w ballast did about 180w and the 96w cf ballasts do about 70 each. This wasn't a huge issue for me, sure its not as brights as it would be if it put out the full wattage, but for the money its alot of light. I've read the new black box ballasts actual do their rated wattage.

 

Its a great beginner fixture IMO, the price is awesome and the only problems I ever had with mine was the fan dieing. Be aware though, that if the ballast you get doesn't put out enough wattage it will only fire bulbs from Odyssea, which aren't that bad. I had decent growth/coloring under them. I would suggest the Odyssea fixture, the amount of light for the price trumps the overated wattage specs and if you don't like their bulbs you can get a new mh ballast and bulb for a cheaper total than it would cost to get a name brand fixture with name brand bulbs and ballast (leaving you a spare ballast and bulb for emergencies). Great for someone just getting their feet wet in the hobby.

 

At the 1 year mark I switched out the MH ballast with a IceCap 250, so that it would be able to fire a Phoenix 14k.

 

RC ( :bling: evil :bling: ) forums has a 300 something page thread of people showing their Odyssea fixtures off and also showing how to do some modifications to the fixtures.

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A thought though, isn't 2 250w halides over a 50g going to cause some serious heat issues?

 

I have a 45g and my heater cuts off most of the day bc of a single 250w above my tank, with no canopy.

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gulfsurfer101

You won't need a white T5 bulb with 2x250w mh. The dusk and dawn effect you can get out of the actinics before and after MH's kick on are all worth it to me.

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A thought though, isn't 2 250w halides over a 50g going to cause some serious heat issues?

 

I have a 45g and my heater cuts off most of the day bc of a single 250w above my tank, with no canopy.

 

The fishneedit fixture is 2 x 150 MH. Hopefully that isnt too much heat

 

You won't need a white T5 bulb with 2x250w mh. The dusk and dawn effect you can get out of the actinics before and after MH's kick on are all worth it to me.

 

The fixture is 2 x 150 MH. I do lov the dusk and dawn of the actinics. So what temp should i get the MH? 14000k?

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Your bulb rating is going to depend heavily on your own preferences and the brand that you go with. I've used and been very happy with Ushio 20K's that give a good color, but for my next bulb I will probably try a Phoenix 14K.

 

Just make sure to look around at the bulbs that your getting before you do. A lot of times the fixture that they're in can cause them to look slightly different too.

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For bulb options at the time of order, I'd get the 20K lamps. They are whiter than what most would consider 20K, and the same holds true for the other color temperatures. The 20K ends up being a decent 14K bulb once it's broken in.

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yup i totally agree with evil, i had borrowed a 150DE FNI fixture from a friend while i got another light and it had a 20k radium installed. and it did look alot whiter than what i expected a 20k radium to look like much more on the 14k side.

 

i've got a 250w SE hamilton 14k on an icecap ballast and its pretty good at lighting up the tank a good mix of blue and white. i'll probably still go back to the 20k radium though.hopefully i'll be able to remove some of the t5 actinics.

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Welp I did it! I got the FNI 2 x 150MH with a 20000k bulb and two blue t5's to compliment it. Im pretty stoked! This is the biggest purchase ive made for my tank thus far. I also got a new skimmer. An ASM mini g with needle wheel. Next week should be a great for my tank! I want to thank all you guys for help. Your info and thoughts were a huge help to me!

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