oops

This is the exact fixture that I have, only I paid about a hundred more for it 2 years ago and mine came with Odyssea ballasts. After shipping and duty the whole thing was about 700. The Odyssea ballasts sucked, and they came with '1500K' bulbs that were way more yellow than my phoenix 14K bulbs. I upgraded to Vertex ballasts and the Phoenix bulbs at the same time and my tank went through major light shock.

For the price I think it's an awesome fixture. It's sleek looking, the moonlights are actually a really beautiful colour at night and really make the red and greens glow, and I've never had any issues.

My only complaint is that it's a little hard to get apart to change the bulbs as you can only take one of the side covers off and you need to slide two LED panels to get at the farthest MH bulb. This requires disconnecting the LED wiring, which requires long, skinny fingers. Putting it all back together was a little frustrating too.

However, for something I do once a year, the price is definitely worth it.

Yes they Do have 30" fixtuers.

http://www.aquatraders.com/30in-Meta...ht-p/54262.htm
.
Fixture Configuration:

1x External Quick Connect 250W Electronic HQI Metal Halide Ballast
2x Internal Twin Output T5 Electronic Ballast
4x Power Switch on Fixture (2 for T5, 1 for LED, and 1 for Cooling Fan)
1x Power Switch on HQI Ballast
2x Power Cord (1 for HQI and 1 for T5)
Non-Corrosive Powder Coated Aluminum Housing
1x Built In Heavy Duty Cooling Fan
Glass Cover for HQI
Acrylic Lens for T5
Highly Polished Reflector
Set of Mounting Leg
FREE ITEMS w/ Metal Halide System Purchase

1x Odyssea 250W DE HQI Bulb 15000K

4x Odyssea 24W T5 High Output Bulb Actinic Blue

4x Dual Bluemoon LED

My Apologizes, I must be going blind.


http://www.aquatraders.com/30in-Meta...ht-p/54262.htm
.
Fixture Configuration:

1x External Quick Connect 250W Electronic HQI Metal Halide Ballast
2x Internal Twin Output T5 Electronic Ballast
4x Power Switch on Fixture (2 for T5, 1 for LED, and 1 for Cooling Fan)
1x Power Switch on HQI Ballast
2x Power Cord (1 for HQI and 1 for T5)
Non-Corrosive Powder Coated Aluminum Housing
1x Built In Heavy Duty Cooling Fan
Glass Cover for HQI
Acrylic Lens for T5
Highly Polished Reflector
Set of Mounting Leg
FREE ITEMS w/ Metal Halide System Purchase

1x Odyssea 250W DE HQI Bulb 15000K

4x Odyssea 24W T5 High Output Bulb Actinic Blue

4x Dual Bluemoon LED[/quote]

man, looking at these prices and comparing them to what I paid for this fixture is causing me to cringe a little.

Just ordered a new Odyssea 36" 656W Metal Halide System Advance Plus 36" 2x250w 15k DE +4 T5 actinics+ 6(!) dual LED+ 2 cooling fans, all external ballasts (HQI & T5's) fixture.
Will post a review when it arrives.
$269 is a good deal on brand new light with HQI ballasts from the same OEM as the Icecaps.

That is a good deal. I am happy with my fixture and will be looking at a new one for my next tank.
What is in your tank?
I'm thinking of the 36" fixture with the single MH fixture for a mostly softie tank.
Will be waiting for your review.

Keep in mind that extendable fixture will sag down slightly especially when extended, that is the reason why (i think) they are changing to a regular legs.

My tank is 36" long SPS dominated 65 Gal, atm my lighting is 6xT5 TEK unit. they have 2x150w Odyssea 36" 456W Metal Halide System Advance Plus as well it will have better spread compare to a single light, however single light will generate less heat.

What i like about these fixtures is that they all have external ballasts HQI & T5 = somewhat less heat, also 2 cooling fans. 4xT5actinics + 6 x dual blue LED's a definite plus. It looks very atractive from the all angles (bulbs and ballasts included, free shipping within USA) however time will tel how this light will perform. For the sake of the learning and to satisfy curiosity i will run 15K bulbs and actinics that come with the fixture to see how my SPS will like it. I can always get Phoenix 14k later.

Im running mine Odyssea-24in-Metal-Halide-with-T5-Extendable-Serie-p/54244.htm as it came from the store. The only thing that I would change would be to put individual reflectors for the lights. Guess that could be a mod, LOL Very happy with it so far
I'll follow along and watch your progress.

I changed out all my bulb in both the 48" fixtures I got because the color was crappy. Also had an issue with one of my T5 ballast's, it went up in smoke. I contacted Aquatraders and they are sending me a replacement, hope it gets here soon as it been almost a month since I sent them the fried ballast.

Hey Greg
What bulbs did you change to ? For my T5s I have a Icecap Actinic and a 14k Deepwater ready to go in and I bought a 10 k, 14k and a 20k DE but just the cheap ones from Ebay. will start playing with them when I decide whats moving where when my tank is ready,

Double

I put in some 15k MH & 12k T5's. Still have to put in my dimmable T5's yet.

They have a new model line now that comes with individual reflectors.
I will post my opinion when fixture arrives.

http://www.aquatraders.com/PhotoGall...&PhotoNumber=3

I hope they have updated the T5 ballast as both of mine fried. First on over a month ago, sent it back to them on May 5 & just received the replacement yesterday. As my tank is 8' long there was no sence running just ons fixture with T5 so I shut it down, when I got the new one yesterday I plugged them both back in and with in a few hours the second ballast fried up. I am not happy about this at all but I think I will either build my own ballast or order 2 of the newer style ballasts.

I say new style because the replacement I received is much smaller & is built different internally. I will post some pics shortly.

You know that they say...."you get what you pay for"

Hard to expect top quality when paying next to nothing for this kind of lighting.

I don't know about you but $500+ is not cheap, I don't have jars of money hidden around the house.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anybody. These 36" 2x150HQI + 4x39w T5s and LED's or 48" 2x250HQI + 4x54w T5's and LED's go for for $240 dlls and that's practically giving them away for free. When one pays $239 for one of these fixtures it's hard to have high expectations. A similar good quality fixture would cost you at least 3 times that amount but you know that you are getting a reliable product and not a cheap Chinese fixture.

No offense taken, I just think that manufactures of most SW equipment are pricing things way more then they are really worth. Take Vortec mp40s for example, as a retailer you could probably buy them in the area of $350 but Vortec demand resellers to sell them $499.99. It obvious to me they are making money off what they sell them to the store for so why do they set the MSRP so much higher.

Yo do make a good point here but we usually pay a huge mark up on most items and am not just talking about reef stuff. This a bit off topic but it's just like naming corals with stu*&%id names and charging a premium for them when the store owner most likely didn't pay that much for them.

Ecotech has the patent on the design so they don't have to worry about some chineese factory banging out copies. A lot of the manufacturers out there rely on their brand and the old "made in Germany" which is overplayed IMO. Not a whole bunch of innovation coming out of Germany these days. There's no disputing European craftsmanship, but with all the CNC technology today, pretty much anyone in the world can rival them.

No offense here either.

Well, lets see.. what is NOT made in China? A similar good quality fixture? Lets take a closer look at the sticker on back side LOL...

if we look at anything we use in this hobby... where is it made...hm?
I bet you cant name more then 10 items that are not Chinese.
Like for example SWC skimmers Canadian owned but still made in China.

So who cares if T5 ballast fries up? its cheap ($27.89) to replace locally. Who wants to pay $900+ for an empty light fixture and then buy bulbs and ballasts on top of that price?

My 200.00 fixture is doing exactly what I want it to do with not one problem in the 2 months I have had it. As stated earlier my one issue is the single reflector, and as RuGlu6 stated, that has been remedied in their new fixtures. I will be buying a new one when my other tank is ready.
I have been trying to justify spending big bucks on a Reef Republic LED, but for the price difference I can buy most of my equipment and stock it with fish. (Just fish not corals, holy crap see some of those prices?)

Just one question, where would you get a ballast local, I am I need of one ASAP.

I just got one for work T8 electronic UPS compatible from Home Depot for $27.95.
They are also available from Wesco but all this in Vancouver though.

Woops sorry, my bad it was T8 not T5.

J&L sells T5 ballast 2x54W for $39.95
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s..._ID=sl-zt5b254
Here is one from Ocean Aquatics will run 1 or two 54W t5's for $46.99
http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...-5-T5-Ballast/

From Roger over on the Tunze Forums:

"The power supply is also made in China, to be technically exact it is made in Hong Kong which is now a Chinese territory. We took over a year to source the power supply and tested just about every manufacturers power supply, these were the coolest running with no fan and that is why they were chosen. Power Supplies, like magnets are something that is almost exclusively made in China. The pump is still made in Germany at the Tunze factory in Penzberg. "

So yeah even the German stuff is Chinese.

look here if you want to see the fixture and ballasts pics.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...183#post618183

What are the differences between the Extendable Series and Adv Plus Series?

24" 298W Metal Halide System Extendable Series
24" 346W Metal Halide System Advance Plus


Better, extendible legs? Does one have a better/newer ballast design? Individual reflectors?

The Adv + have 4 T5 instead of 2, 4 LED moon lights instead of 2,individual reflectors and better legs but they don't extend past the fixture

Thanks Grizz!

Quick question :

I want to order 24" 346W Metal Halide System Advance Plus for my RedSea MAX 34Gallon is it over kill ?

1x Odyssea 250W DE HQI Bulb 15000K

4x Odyssea 24W T5 High Output Bulb Actinic Blue

4x Dual Bluemoon LED


Thanks

RSM lights....
 

I think that's an overkill... look at reefsanctuary.com and nano-reef.com to see what lights people are using on their RSM 34. There's dedicated sub forms on the redsea max's! I have one myself and am looking into a better lighting solution which likely will be LED.

msjboy

Definitely overkill, I would go LED for sure, I am switching all my tanks over to LED one at a time.

I know LEDs are perfect but I am planing to switch my tank to RSM250 and I really don't want to spend 1000$ for lighting on this one!
My question is 360W over 34 gallon will it cause damage to corals ?

you might have to raise the light a couple feet above the tank. I would check out the link previously suggested, I don't have a nano so i am no expert but I would think that you should be ok if you acclimate the coral to the light slowly and watch for signs of bleaching.

Nah dude, I think you're fine. I have 380W (250W HQI + actinics) over my 40G and everything is happy as... well... a clam (or whatever you could consider the general level of happiness of SPS). And my light is only 4" or so from the water... whatever the stock legs give you. Take 'er easy when upgrading and be very sure to light acclimate slowly. Do it over the course of several weeks until you find that sweet spot.

Thanks :) I will order it today , could you tell me how should I acclimate the new lighting system ?
and you dont have chiller do you?

Had a brain fart on this one, I have a DUAL 250w MH with PC's over a temp 30 gal, it is a couple feet above the tank but all the frags in the tank are looking great. I would say go for it.

Ordered :) , I would appreciate if someone could refer me to an article or thread about new lighting system acclimation .

Thanks

I just went through new light acclimatisation on my 36" long 65 Gal. I have SPS dominated tank. The fixture is 2x250W HQI+4x39W t5+night led's.
Some one recommended and i followed this and it worked.
However it took more then few weeks to get top sitting corals get used to the new light.
At any rate the schedule was as follows:

15 min ON 45 Min OFF for week 1
30 min ON 30 Min OFF for week 2
same for week 3
45 ON 15 OFF week 4
same for week 5
Full time on after that.

Right now i have it 4hrs on 2hrs off and another 4hrs on just to keep water temp down. I used to have 6xT5 TEK light and now with 2x250W water temp is 2-3 degrees C higher. When Temp is up it is important to keep an eye on the ORP. Its OK to have elevated water temp as long as ORP is up. This could be a challenge if you don't have a sump with a bubble tower and/or a second skimmer.