Odyssea Lights

Does any one have any experience with the Odyssea Metal halide lights from www.aquatraders.com ?: I have been thinking about upgrading from power compacts to MH for my 120g FOWLR tank. I know I dont need them for this tank but I love the shimmering effect that MH's give. The Odyssea fixtures are cheap and I was wondering how they hold up and if they are flimsy.:-/

 

I have the 36" Odyssea MH (480 total watts) fixture coming on wed. I have had good experiences with Odyssea, as my skimmer and one of my PC fixtures are both Odyssea. I have heard some bad things about them but that has not been my experience. I'm sure PowderTang will chime in on this telling you your friggin house will burn down. Don't listen to stuff like that as he has no proof of this and the only report of a fire with this brand that I could find (and I searched, a LOT), was with someone who MODIFIED the ballast. I will let you know on wed when I get the fixture. There has been a lot of buzz on this site lately about this brand. Personally having had firsthand experience with 2 different products by this company, I feel they are worthwhile.

 

I like the Hamilton Reefstar pendants to compliment my pc strip fixture for my 125 gallon reef. (2) 250 watt and (1) 400 watt HQI metal halides. Aqua medic also has a nice selection of metal halide fixtures!
Metal halides are awesome though and will not go back to pc's etc, other than to acclimate my tank simulating dusk/dawn cycles with (2) 55watt actinic bulbs.

 

In a few years Odyssea might make a big come back, and the prices will increase.

 

The only reason I'm looking at the Odyssea is because of cost savings. Supposedly they have new models with improved external ballasts. I would like to buy another Orbit fixture but they are 2X as much as the Odyssea. My wife would have a cow if I spent another $800 on lighting.

Brandon, let me know how well your Odyssea is made and if the fan's are too loud. Thanks!

 

UPDATE: Oops...nevermind...I saw your pics and info about the lights on another thread. Looking great!

>>>I'd love to hear how your 36" MH lights are working out for you, too, Brandon. I've been looking at their setups myself, but want some reviews of the new ones.

 

Odyssea metal halides - fire

48" Odyssea metal halides -bought in mid-January. NOT MODIFIED at all. Thought they were working fine until I came home from work just last night and the halide bulbs were not lit. I checked the fuse and it was burned out but there was a REALLY bad smell coming from the ballast so I opened it up and found that one of the components had completely completely melted down and was a black plastic blob. I'm not sure if there was actually any fire or if it just fried, but either way, thankfully, no fire of any kind extended beyond the ballast. LFS is going to check into a replacement ballast, but I'm not so sure I want to replace it. It just really stinks that we spent the money on the Odyssea one if we are going to end up completely replacing it. We just bought some new frogspawn this weekend so I hope it survives in the meantime:-[

 

Odyssea Metal Halides

Oh yeah - before the halides we had Odyssea PC lights and had no complaints except that the fans were noisy. Although... we only had those for about 6 months before upgrading to metal halides. But I think everything I've heard about fires has been with the metal halide ballasts.

As far as the Odyssea metal halide fixture itself, very stable and sturdy and seems to have good light output. Much sturdier construction that the Odyssea PC fixture. The fans on the halides are a little noise when it first starts up but I after that it's pretty quiet.

 

It looks like they have new ballasts on the odyssea MH's. I wonder if they are any better?

 

Man that SUCKS! I know I have been really positive about Odyssea and their products lately...but that SUCKS! I have to admit that worries me. Honest to god I was gonna sell my PC lights on ebay, but for some reason decided to keep them...just in case. I mean so far things have been going and growing great. And mine is a new model. Is the component that melted replaceable? Where did you get it from? Well, KARMA! I really went with Odyssea because I am kind of out to prove that they don't suck as much as everyone says(plus it was better for me financially). I will eat my hat if mine has a meltdown like that.