Aquatraders.com?

[pumbaafoot]

I recently was looking at aquatraders.com and their low prices caught my eye. Cheap price usually equates to cheap product in my experiences but I would love to be told otherwise in this case. If anyone has any thoughts on the "odyssea" line or aquatraders.com, please chime in. Thanks everyone!

 

[jav'sreef]

i just ran into that site too they do have really cheap prices on skimmers .....iam also curious

 

[cheeks69]

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums.../11242-brand-check.html?highlight=aquatraders

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...sion/9575-lights-2.html?highlight=aquatraders

 

[SoliSteve]

My Odyssea came with broken MH's and CF's and half the hardware was missing. It took a month to haggle to get the replacement parts but I did get them. It was a lot of work on my part. The only issue I have with the lights is what I had to do to hook them up to separate timers but the lights do work, the fans work fine - the Customer Service was lacking, to put it mildly.

 

[BoomerD]

In this hobby, usually, you get about what you pay for...low price = low quality. Aquatraders has a pretty terrible reputation, even in the local San Francisco community.
Poorly built, low quality products,
backed up by little to no warranty,
and poor to non-existant customer service ...

 

[pumbaafoot]

Thanks for the info everyone. Ill be sure to forget about that site. Thanks again!

 

[aand6543]

I recently was looking at aquatraders.com and their low prices caught my eye. Cheap price usually equates to cheap product in my experiences but I would love to be told otherwise in this case. If anyone has any thoughts on the "odyssea" line or aquatraders.com, please chime in. Thanks everyone!

I ordered and recieved a 20" metal halide and compact flourescent light fixture with leds 2 years ago. If you have ever heard that the true color intensity (ie 10,00K, 14,000k, or 20,000 k) of a bulb truly is contigent upon the quality of it's ballast? I found this to be true with this fixture. The color was not what it was with the same bulb inserted into another more expensive ballast. Other than the trueness of the bulb it looked well and served my purposes very well. After a year and 1/2 the switch to the leds wore out and I could no longer turn them on. Someone who was comfortable with electrical work could fix that easily. I also ordered and recieved a compact flourescent fixture for my planted tank. As of last week, one of the caps that hold the bulb in has a short in it and works erratically. This fixture is now a little over 11 mos old.

In my opinion, the Oddysea product line is great for a short time. During that short time you can save you money for something long lasting, or just buy a whole new fixture from them when the old one wears out. The aquarium light industry is constantly improving upon itself and makes better models all the time, so to buy cheap and then replace is not such a bad idea. Especially when it comes time to buy new bulbs.

Best of luck!

 

[NATIVEVAMAN]

According to a guy on another forum he bought a fixture from aquatraders.A mh /t-5 unit.two of the t-5 bulbs were broken and had no markings on them.He had to rewire it to get to work.

 

[George771177]

i bought a metal halide and power compact fixture from them and everything came to me in good conditions and it works great. i have had the fixture for a little over 2 months and iam happy with the fixture and the service from the business. i guess it must very from customer to customer. the only complaint i have is that thier are four power cords that make for a mess but iam mounting a shelf undernieth my aquarium to take care of that. Maybe i just got lucky but to hell with everyone that is knocking this fixture i dont have boat loads of money laying around and my corals are now thriving under this fixture compared to the 4x65 watt pc's i used to run.

 

[bhohimer]

I would like to make a comment regarding this thread.....

The person that referred me to aquatraders.com was at my LFS. He has been selling coralife and other fixtures for several years. He, so kindly, informed me that the lights that are sold under the odyssea brand name are manufactured by the same company that manufactures the coralife lights (notice the "exact" similarity in the fixtures)....Has anyone tried to deal with coralife customer support lately?

In summary, my odyssea products have exceeded my expectations. I mean, come on, the same light that sells for $350~ is only $109 without the little rectangluar brand-name plate.

I have a skimmer from there also...PS75 is the model. The powerheads on the skimmer are of what seems to be a slightly inferior quality. I say this only because of the fact that I have recently snapped an impeller shaft during routine cleaning. It's a 250gph unit. Luckily, I can replace the entire pump with strainer, foam, and mounting kit for $12.95.

Anyways......I took a chance and sounds like I lucked out

ps-no broken bulbs upon delivery (4x65pc 2w2b)

 

[framerguy]

In this hobby, usually, you get about what you pay for...low price = low quality. Aquatraders has a pretty terrible reputation, even in the local San Francisco community.
Poorly built, low quality products,
backed up by little to no warranty,
and poor to non-existant customer service ...

I would just like to back up this post as it reflects my own experience with them. They couldn't even be bothered to pick up their phone or answer emails...I gave up trying which is what they were hoping for. The light I got from them worked for three weeks.

 

[got2envy]

So..I stupidly order from aquatraders and then find a light somewhere else..I call to cancel the order and the lady tells me that there is a $20 charge for canceling my order because it was packed and ready to go..yet I had placed the order the night before and then waited till the time they open (11am California time) I called at 11:05am..scam artists I tell you

Do Not, I repeat do not take a chance with this site!!!

PS I am fighting this charge with my discover card

 

[Whacked]

my LFS sells Odyssea products so I deal directly with them. The price I pay would be the same as if I ordered from aquatraders and paid shipping.

I have several Odyssea products and have had zero problems.
Wont for into detail here but I posted a review of the PS75 skimmer here.

As for the MH units, many claim the unit seemed underpowered and once the ballast was replaced, a good unit for cheap. The claim that they start fires was the old version with magnetic ballast. I dont recall ever seeing anything in searches that they actually caught fire but instead melted.

Forthe underpowered ballast, this guy posted a great thread as to why and a easy fix. Shouldnt have to put in thermal grease, but it is a easy fix
Easy Fix for the 250W Odyssea Electronic Ballast - Nano-Reef.com Forums

 

[electricman]

i hate to say this but i got to fixtures from that site had no problems 1 is two years old the other is 3 months old.i was thinking about the mh fixtures for my upgrade,but afraid of the heat problem.does anybody have that fixture?does it run hot?

 

[chrome91]

i hate to say this but i got to fixtures from that site had no problems 1 is two years old the other is 3 months old.i was thinking about the mh fixtures for my upgrade,but afraid of the heat problem.does anybody have that fixture?does it run hot?

ive heard bad stuff about the MH too, but apparently it was a bad batch. just as a test i ordered the odyssea 24" 1x250w MH/2x65w actinic PC for my 125g. it should be here monday and after i get it going i will post

 

[electricman]

let me please because it looks like a good light cheap and i if gotta replace a ballast iam still ahead of the game ty.

 

[chrome91]

its the same light as this one, i paid about $220 with shipping. I just need it for a anemone in my 125g. thought it would have been here yesterday, but i checked the tracker and it looks like monday

 

[chrome91]

let me please because it looks like a good light cheap and i if gotta replace a ballast iam still ahead of the game ty.

surprisingly it came a couple hours ago, i didnt know packages came Sunday

its been running for a hour and it seems good, its got a large fan, 5"-6", and you can put your hand on top of the light and its barely even warm

only bad thing is i couldnt get the legs on for some reason, i tried every single one and they wouldnt go in. i just thought screw it and used 2 small wood boxes as legs

it takes up 4 outlets, 1 for the halide, 1 for the power compacts, 1 for the moonlights, and one for the fan, but its good that the fan gets its own outlet. it looks like a good light

i would take a picture but i lost my camera, and i have to download a program to get pictures from my blackberry, tomorrow i can probably get some

 

[lcstorc]

Be sure to use GFCI outlets for all aquarium equipment.

 

[chrome91]

electricman,

lights been going for 6 hours, and i can still put my hand on top of the pendent and it feels cool. the ballast gets a tad warm but thats expected. if youre looking for a cheaper light this is the way to go.