Anyone running this light?

The Odyssea lights are a good deal for the money, but they are cheap Chinese knock offs of the better brands, so there are common complaints about shoddy workmanship, things breaking easily, etc. Over a 90 gallon tank, you want at least 6 T5 bulbs. And fixtures that have individual reflectors (IR) are even better than ones that don't, because more light reaches the tank. If they are in your budget, and one of the nicer units is not (check out the 6-bulb Nova Extreme Pro, that's what I used over my 90), then this light is definitely better than the Coralife light you have, but it would look nicer to just have one fixture over your tank instead of multiple.
 
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Looks are not a concern. I have giant wood top. My budget is beyond tight. $200 max and I will still have to use some of the lights I still use. Any suggestions for good, cheap lighting?
 
48 inch 324 W T5 Aquarium light for Reef and Coral | eBay

So how about this? Cheap, 6 bulb, built in timer, looks like it has decent reflectors, moon light LEDs. Before it is again stated as "Chinese knock off" I have to ask, where are the good ones made? Germany? USA? Everything I see these days is from China. I'll leave it at that though.

So what about that light? I'm currently running 2 ATI actinic and 2 ATI 10,000k bulbs so I could swap them over into that light, buy two more ATI bulbs a little later and it would be a decent set up, right? What am I missing?
 
Be careful of the Odysea fixture I've seen a post on this site that the light was not exactly as shown. On the link you included the page says:
Note: the picture above is a 36" fixture shown as a reference only; the actual product may look slightly different
 
Retrofit? Are you saying I can buy the pieces to build my own t5 setup at HD/Lowes? I never thought of that, buy that would be killer! I could build an 8 bulb setup and put them where I want them. I could build in the LED's and moonlights and everything! Never thought of that! Do they sell those parts?
 
Oops, posted in the wrong thead!

Really a retrofit kit is not cheaper than a prebuilt unit. I was hoping that I could buy the parts and build my own for the cheap. Oh well, wishfull thinking I guess.
 
You didn't post in wrong place. But I was thinking the same thing about the retrofits. I was going to buy the current fixture for $80 and then $100 in new bulbs and I would have a nice fixture like biff on the site and hopefully be able to grow half the stuff she did. But starting to think about all my options and replacing t5 every year would get rather expensive($150 a year) and i'm not looking to get out of the hobby that soon started looking at rapid LEDs. They have retrofits for around $300 for everything you would need. And they run cheaper and last for 10 years. I've decided to start saving money and buy some LEDs. Here's a link I believe a lot of ppl use. 48 Ultra Premium LED DIY Kit with Dimmable Drivers - Rapid LED You may need this one or a smaller one not sure. Maybe some1 will chime in on that. Sorry for the long post.
 
There's another guy selling one like that for a $100 he's switching to LEDs. Here's a number for a lfs down in vero beach fl that had a bunch of t-5 fixtures for sale cheap. 4-8 bulb fixtures and he said $100-$300. It's treasure coast coral 772-770-2782. See if he'll ship and how much.
 
I'm going to be building my own 48"x6 T-5 fixture for my 90 and it'll only be about $360 for everything, including bulbs. And the reflectors are 100x better than many prebuilt current or suntek fixtures. Here's the site I plan on ordering from; T5 Lamps Metal Halide Bulbs Ballasts Reflectors Aquarium Lighting Bulbs & Parts - AquaBuys.com

I'm comtemplating ordering a DIY LED kit from StevesLeds. It'll be around $700 for 94/3w LEDS, with drivers, heatsinks, fans, etc. A LFS owner has that setup over his 90G DT and he's growing SPS at the bottom of his tank lol. Also that $700 includes them assembling everything for me. So it'll be an easy plug and play.
 
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That's funny. There is a guy on my local(close to you also adept)forum that will build you a custom DIY LEDs setup for around $700. That's also includes the drivers, heatsink, dimmers(10 oclock blues come on with a fan, 12 whites on with another fan and it'll raise up to a peak point not than back down and go off at 8 then your blues go off at 10. that's probably what I'm going to be doing here at the end of the year. On a side note you going to be going to WWC 5 year anniversary this weekend?
 
Didn't know it was their anniversary. I'd like to go cuz they have some nice stuff but the drive there sucks. It's gotta suck even more for you lol. Plus, the last time I was there was when I was buying my 90g tank and they were gonna let me walk out the door with a scratched tank. That's just not cool in my book. All the employees are like robots, absolutely no enthusiasm or emotion.
 
Wow good thing you caught that. I'm still debating on whether or not I'm going. I'm looking for a nIce pair of clown fish and they had plenty and with everything being on sale. I guess it depends if that treasure coast coral has any nIce pairs. I know he sell platinum, blacker ice, ice, and some onyx I believe. I'm also afraid I'll go spend all my bonus money.
 
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