Lighting Questions.

M

mm2meyer

Reefing newb
Hey guys, another question here. I was at one of the LFS in the city and seen what appears to be a really sweet light fixture.

The fixture is 72" long has 3 x 250watt MH and Either 4 or 6 linear flourescents. I do believe they are T5ho. it has LED moon lights and they want 500 bucks for the whole setup.

Ok 1st. Question, is that going to be enough light for a 180 wich is 72" long, 24" wide, and 24" deep.

2nd. and probably the most important question is, what do I need to be on lookout for as far as :pooh: ballasts and whatnot. I really don't want to start a fire in an apartment complex. If I'm not mistaken I need to make sure this thing has CL and UL labels on it?? Also this place has pretty good prices but some of their inventory looks like foreign knock offs so what brands are ABSOLUTE NO NOs.

I plan on heading back there in a day or so to get more info so whatever else you need to know let me know and I will find out when I go down there.

Thanks again guys!
Matt
 
what brand are they. that is one great deal or should i say steal on those lights. are they remote balasts? or internal
 
K. From what I seen it looks like the ballasts are going to be internal. As far as a brand name I have no clue, the fixture itself was a display zip tied to the wall about 2 feet above my head. So another thing I'm going to have to look at. This place seems to have some pretty decent prices. Considereing they were selling koralia K4s for 50 bucks a pop, and they were selling a BRAND NEW 350 gal sump w/skimmer unknown brand for 150. What brands do I need to stay away from at all costs?????
 
Ok thats the brand I was thinking of. I heard that around here also. But I also heard they fixed the problems that were causing the fires, you know anything about that or where I would be able to look to find out???
 
well from what I have been able to find on odssea lights is it a crap shoot. Some times they are ok some times very bad. However everyone I have read reviews on say the bulbs are :pooh: so look at replacments soon if you do decide to gamble. I just bought a hob fuge with a odssea power head and pc light. So far (2 days) everything is ok with it. I did open the light up seemed pretty well made, very comparable to the satelight pc i have.
 
Odyssea I would stay away... some items lights, filters, etc work okay others have issues and if you need to get something warranteed good luck they are hard to get ahold of and when you do they will call you back. I've been waiting for 2 years... great service.

Remember you get what you pay for, cheepest isn't better. You want to find out about warranties etc. on items that you buy and if your LFS will handle warranty issues for you or if you need to go through the manufacturer.

Get the brand names of the stuff you are looking at and we will let you know if its worth it or not, there is just so many items and brands out there.
 
IMO a 72" complete fixture is going to break the bank. you would be far better off doing a retrofit. even if you did expensive pendants you'd shave hundred off the price of going MH.

plus the quality of bulbs and reflectors in those fixtures leaves much to be desired. if you DID decide to go the way of complete fixtures, i would suggest the maristar fixtures.

a google search ;)
http://www.google.com/products?hl=e...=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=11
 
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sorry for taking so long I figured out the brand name and it is odyssea. After some research and debate I picked up the system. Apparently those ballasts wich are NOT internal need to be kept away from warm and moist/humid areas. The type of enviroment you would find say in the stand under the tank. This along with in earlier models faulty capacitors is what caused all the fires from the MH fixtures. Well I placed the ballasts on 1/4 inch slab of metal (to act as a heat sink) and have a clip on fan blowing directly on the ballasts. I set up the whole system and ran it for 24 hours straight with everything on and the "cooling fan" off. The ballasts did get pretty warm but not to the point where I would be afraid of something catching on fire. I then ran it with the fan blowing on them and I don't really see the need for the metral heat sink, but left it just in case. I am confident that the new light fixtures will not cause a fire if some very simple steps are taken. make sure the ballasts are open to the air. Not in an enclosed area. and make sure they stay relatively cool. I used one of those cheapy dinky clip on fans and it works very well.

As for the fixture itself. It has 6 vents on the top to help with heat, two of those have fans that suck cool air into the fixture. In the area surrounding the fans, they are cool to the touch. The areas away from the fan are warm, but won't burn your hand if left there.

I believe oddyssea has fixed the problems with their MH fixtures as long as you take the above precautions. And as a fail safe I had a buddy rig a smoke detector where when it goes on instead of making a loud noise, it shuts the power to the entire light system. The smoke detector is mounted approximately 13 inches above the ballasts and is there as a fail safe JUST IN CASE.
 
I will get them as soon as I can pry the digital camera away from my wife. She takes that thing with her EVERYWHERE!!! I'm gettin to the point where I'm about to break down and buy my own.
 
hey after reading all the negative hype about the light fixtures, I like to look at all the precaustions as a condom or a gun, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. But so far the system looks and works very well. 3X 250 watt MH and 4X 96 watt true actnic power compacts really looks nice. Still waiting for the friggin digital cam so I can get some pictures on here to share what appears to be a great buy
 
cool keep us updated. I have a 150 mh with t5 fixture coming in friday same company good to hear so far so good load off of my mind. The hob refugium that i got I guess about two weeks ago is running great the pc light runs cool no complaints so far with that one for me. :D
 
YEah there were never really any issues with their PC's. It was with the ballasts for their MH. Make sure you keep them cool and you should be just fine. if you have a table or something next to the tank put the ballast on that. Like I was told keep ballast dry and away from heat. So if you were thinking under the stand next to your sump I wouldn't suggest that. keep it outside the stand and a lil clamp on fan blowing on it should work extremely well. Good luck with that ted
 

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