WTB: Odyssey/Coralife Light

[FrontosaurusRex]

I need either 2x36" lights
or one 72" light

i dont wanna spend a butt load of money, but i know these lights arent cheap.

[TaTeR ToT]

troung at extreme has the oddysea 36" twim tube vho t6 fixtures for like $80 each, and he has the 36" 4x tube vho t6 lights for like $150 each.
both fixtures come with bulbs.
i love my 48" 2x tube vho t6 fixture i got there.

i am getting 2x of the twin tube 36" fixtures soon.

[CichlidFan]

same thing here for me....looking for a nice 72 inch lamp....

JimR has a real nice one for sale here on the FM, but much more light than I'm looking for.

CF

[mahoro]

eww, stay away from oddysea, it almost burnt down 2 of my friend's place...

[JandJ]

I once spoke to a firefighter that told me the horror story of coming home to find that the light he had so preciously haggled over price for had melted, and I mean completely melted the whole fixture onto the top of his tank. The pile of oddyssea junk was still on fire when he, luckily arrived home. Needless to say, the power breaker had tripped and silly he, had put too much water in the wet/dry...Murphy's law in action.
Moral of the story, unless you plan to re-wire the fixture it really isn't worth it and if you are going to re-wire new ballasts in then you probably know enough to wire up your own lighting system with quality components from a lighting supplier or Home De(s)pot or Lowe(enbrau)s.
At a time when the American economy is in need of support, must we continue to send our hard earned dollars to China?
There are several quality manufacturers that produce American products and they stand behind those products with warranties, as well as amazing customer service and phone support. I am avoiding copyright words here, so PM me with questions.

Oh, that firefighter went back to the store he purchased the light from and the owner laughed him out the front, saying you get what you pay for.
I apologize if this seems unnecessarily critical and harsh of aforementioned products , or anyone that has success using them but I like the peace of mind that my family and pets are safe in the home and environment I provide for them.

[FrontosaurusRex]

thats scary as hell. i was told from the owner of Extreme Pets that the Odyssea lights are basically the exact same thing as a coralife, but with a different name on it. he basically laid it out like its the "Squier" version of a "Fender" guitar.

[eklikewhoa]

You have been told wrong.

Odyssea is a knock-off brand of coralife as well as many other brands.

[FrontosaurusRex]

so is everyone against Odyssea? I thought i was getting a quality light that was gonna do the job but if i have to worry about my freakin house burning down....

Or is this another one of those opinions that developed on the Box but without good reason. Kinda like the one i was told not too long ago about using HOB filters on my 125. I dont use canisters and my tank is crystal clear and i didnt spend even a fraction of the money a freakin canister costs. Oh, and i have like 30 fish in this tank.

[CichlidFan]

I have a few smaller Oddessea lights, and they have worked fine for me, but there has been alot of talk here on the box, and I have overheard and or been told, that Oddessea lights have caused fires...

I also understand or have heard, that Oddessea is going out of business or has gone out....yet, their inventory still sits on LFS shelves... I don't know, but if you do buy an Oddessea light, be sure to keep an eye on it and use a timer ....restrict the amount of time the light is on if at all possible.

Maybe you would not want to use Oddessea for growing plants????

As far as the HOB vs Cannisters go....I use them both, I feel they go hand in hand and overfiltration is a good thing....Fluval, Eheim, Rena, they're all good, same as Emperor, Whisper, and others....whatever it takes to kee the fish happy and healthy.

CF

[naps]

I had an Odyssea hood on my tank and it was a piece of crap! The light ballasts burt out 5 times from all the evaporated water trapped in the hood and then it started sparking every time the light switch was flipped. Glad it did not burn down my place!!

I now have a Coralife 4x 65w CF light and I have not had 1 problem with it, one of the best purchases I have made for my tank!!!
You get what you pay for!! I will NEVER buy anything Odyssea again!

[TaTeR ToT]

i have had an older oddysea light, and it was a 4 foot twin tube t5 fixture, the ballast burnt out twice, and the second time i fixed it i was F it, and threw it out.

BUT i bought a newer oddysea t6 light, and have been very very satisfied. i love this light, i have had it for 9 months, and it rocks.
i have it running over a 6ft 125g and it works great.
i even bought 2x 36" twin tube t6 oddysea lights for the 125g and will soon put the 4' fixture over my 75g.

i think it would be a good idea to put any powerful light on a timer.
my oddysea is on a 12 hour timer, and i have never had a problem.
however, if you asked me which i thought was better and which if i had the money would i buy, it would be CORALIFE, they are the best!, but the new t6 from oddysea aint bad.
infact, i bought them from extreme.
and just for the record, the t6 light is the only light i would buy from oddysea.
i would not buy anything more powerful than that, ie; a compact flourescent.
cause i really dont trust them that much.

[jeebus]

Edited to match my situation:

BUT i bought a newer oddysea t6 light, and have been very very satisfied. i love this light, i have had it for 9 months, and it rocks.

i think it would be a good idea to put any powerful light on a timer.
my oddysea is on a 12 hour timer, and i have never had a problem.

however, if you asked me which i thought was better and which if i had the money would i buy, it would be CORALIFE, they are the best!, but the new t6 from oddysea aint bad.

infact, i bought them from extreme.

This is a carbon copy of what I would have posted. The difference is that mine is on a 8 hour timer, and I think that helps with the life of the fixture/bulb.

[jeebus]

I once spoke to a firefighter that told me the horror story of coming home to find that the light he had so preciously haggled over price for had melted, and I mean completely melted the whole fixture onto the top of his tank. The pile of oddyssea junk was still on fire when he, luckily arrived home. Needless to say, the power breaker had tripped and silly he, had put too much water in the wet/dry...M

Oh, that firefighter went back to the store he purchased the light from and the owner laughed him out the front, saying you get what you pay for.

So the light caught on fire because the tank overfilled and got the light wet?

What store was did he buy the light from?

[eklikewhoa]

There has been numerous complaints very similar all over the reef forums.

[JandJ]

NO, the light overheated and MELTED the whole entire plastic housing and all wiring, into a puddle on top of the tank.

As a result of the wiring becoming a messy puddle of plastic, the power breaker tripped which cut the power to his whole tank, including the return pump from his wet dry.
With the return pump off water, some water siphons back down into the wet dry, this individual had his wet dry level TOO high and as a result the wet dry overflowed.

Store in North Houston, I do not want to be negative on the Box, will refrain from saying.

Let's just say there are only a handful of stores that carry the low end brands and this particular store does not carry them any longer. Especially after a display tank lost a whole pane of glass and 100+ gallons of water onto the floor and adjacent stores!
Anyone realize how much it costs to repair water damaged floors?
In the ballpark of $4,000!

High end equipment comes with a guarantee, warranty and often, although not always, is made here in America.
Support the American Economy, we are in debt to China enough...seriously.
The multiple American stimulus packages are funded by our Government selling U.S treasury bonds and securities to other countries, China holds the majority, we are talking 22% of all bonds and securities issued by America.
Of the 3,085.90 bonds and securities we have issued, China holds 681.90, they are the majority holder, with Japan in second place.
If you look, no other country holds anywhere near that, debt is spread evenly except in those cases.

http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt

Think of it like this, if we are a Company on the stock market, China is getting very close to being able to make a hostile takeover bid and OWN us!

Buy American!