Odyssea 48" 716W Metal Halide System with T5 HO

[nemoSan]

I've been thinking of purchasing this light fixture but i'm worried about the old post i've read about it. Post like fire, burning wires, smell of burning plastics and stuff. I also don't want to spend too much money on a light fixture to support my future corals and fishes. Can anyone tell me what to do, should i simply purchase the fixture and upgrade the ballast or DIY it or suggest any other light that has the same features but also under 400 dollars in cost (with shipping).. thank you so much for any information/idea you can provide or share..

additional info:
Tank: 72 gallons (bow front)
100 lbs of rocks and 80bls of live sand.
Tenants: 2 damsels (for now) and 3 blue thumb hermit crab.
Bio filter installed and a protein skimmer and a media reactor, also have a fuval 204 running on it.. thank you again.. :bluenod:

 

[fivel]

I just did a search on ebay and found: T5 Lighting Fixture

It is a 8 bulb T5 fixture, no MH or moon lights, but it only $299 with free shipping. T5s have the ability to produce the same amount of light without the heat or energy usage that MH's produce. It says it's brand new - although all the bulbs currently are 6700k, which you'd probably want to replace with 4 10k and maybe 4 20k so you could imitate the dusk to daylight effect.

I know nothing about the light you actually posted, so I can't help you there, but found the ebay fixture so I thought I'd mention it

 

[nemoSan]

thank you but the metal halide lights are much more suitable in maintaining corals. (please correct me if i'm wrong). i'm not really sure of this but most tanks i've seen has been using metal halide for their reef tanks.

 

[fivel]

A lot of members on these forums use T5 only fixtures for their reef tanks and have done fine. The two are pretty much the same in regards to the amount of light that they can potentially penetrate into the tank. The advantages of T5s is that the bulbs are cheaper, it uses a fraction of the electricity and they don't produce the heat that MHs do. This makes T5s a good solution for tanks that don't have chillers hooked up to their tank. You could sustain any type of SPS, LPS or clam in your tank with a fixture of 8 T5s'...

Hopefully some others will chime in to give their input on this as well...

 

[lcstorc]

I wouldn't go so far as to say they are the same, but in many cases T5 lighting will be just fine and is often a good choice.
The real question is what do you want to keep in the tank? If you want softies and/or LPS you are fine with T5. If you want SPS, Clam, Anemones you will need to evaluate more closely. The right number and wattage T5s may be perfectly appropriate but may not be enough for those high light animals.
As far as brand, I have no personal experience. There are many stories of large problems such as the ones mentioned but those seem less frequent now. What you hear lately is that you pretty much get what you pay for and are sacrificing quality for price.

 

[Flowmaster]

I just did a search on ebay and found: T5 Lighting Fixture

It is a 8 bulb T5 fixture, no MH or moon lights, but it only $299 with free shipping. T5s have the ability to produce the same amount of light without the heat or energy usage that MH's produce. It says it's brand new - although all the bulbs currently are 6700k, which you'd probably want to replace with 4 10k and maybe 4 20k so you could imitate the dusk to daylight effect.

I know nothing about the light you actually posted, so I can't help you there, but found the ebay fixture so I thought I'd mention it

I think energy consumption and heat issues are a misconception. MH and T5HOs actually put off the same amount of heat. If they are the same wattage and the halides are being burned on an electronic ballast. It just seems there is less heat coming from the t5 bulbs because they are much larger and the heat is spread out over a much larger distance. As far as electricity goes a watt is a watt and so a T5 fixture with more wattage will use more electricity unless the halides are being burned on a magnetic ballast which will reduce the efficiency of the light. I think both types of lighting are excellent choices but MH lighting would probably do better on deeper tanks imo.

 

[Varga]

they fixed the fire problem with those fixtures but the ballasts are very much worthless.

 

[Clownfish518]

People have just as much success with either technology. Short of specific species and their needs can't recommend one over the other.

I can recommend that how your lighting and skimmer go so goes your reef. Don't cut corners on either. Buy the absolute best you can afford, and if you have to wait to afford a good fixture, in the long run is cheaper to do so.

the 8 or 10 bulb Odyssea T5 fixture may seem like a good deal for example, but bulbs cost to replace and burn electricity every month. Cheaper to save and by the ATI or Aquactinics fixture and burn (and replace) half the bulbs and get the same or more light

 

[Basile]

Welcom to RS.

 

[bhelne01]

if you want to do a REALLY nice fixture ATI or TEK

 

[BigAl07]

I've ran my tank on MH only and on T5 only. It wasn't an exact match (MH are 150w x 2 or 300W total and T5's are 54w x 4 or 216w total) and I can tell you there is a HUGE heat difference in the TANK itself. with T5 only the tank stays a stead 78 with ambient room temps around 74. With MH's only the tank temp goes to 79.5 - 80.5 with the same ambient room temp.

T5 with Individual Reflectors are so much more efficient that it's almost a no brainer for my tanks. YMMV but I've bought my last MH fixture period. T5's all the way baby!

With any part of Reefing equipment you usually get what you pay for. You can search and find some good deals but be careful you're not wasting your hard earned money on JUNK! I did this with my first tank. I literally bought FOUR different light fixtures trying to cut corners and save a buck. Save up and get something good and you wont regret it.

For the record I'm growing softies, LPS, and SPS under my T5's with VERY good coral growth and amazing coral coloration.