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#1
03-23-2011, 02:25 AM
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Ebay light fixture
I was looking for a light fixture for my 180 gallon. I am always partial to MH and fixture. After a long period of research, my attention was drawn to an EBay seller selling MH lighting fixture real cheap. Some say the light fixture is a Odyssea clone. Odyssea lights receive mixed reviews however most of negative reviews were from many years ago. The negative reviews include ballast not firing at the correct wattage. Overheated fixture/ballast. Sub-par bulbs, etc.
With the ebay light fixture I wanted costs almost 1/3 of some name brand ones, I can gamble... The light came the other day. Despite 3 layers of cardboard and one layer of bubble wrap, one MH bulb was crashed. I emailed the seller and the sellers quickly sent me a replacement bulb and I received it in 3 days. here are the spec's of the light fixture I ordered:
The most important thing I care about is the electronic ballast. Below is a picture of one of 3 ballasts:  After some researches, the ballast looks identical to an icecap ballast, even the model number is the same. Look at the icecap ballast here: http://www.icecapinc.com/ballasts/me...tronic-ballast. If icecap was using the ballast, it can't be that bad, can it?  Here is how it looks when all lights (MH, T5, LED) are on. The MH are bright. How bright? We will find out soon after I compare this bulb with my existing XM bulbs using an apogee light meter  That is another project. Here is how it looks sitting on the tank:  My opinions so far are: Pros: not expensive Ballasts are icecap clones have LED as moon lights cons: It is a pain to replace bulbs. (you have to unscrew a few screws to open the cover and carefully put it back). Being an ebay item, I am not sure how warranty and technical support work. Reflects are not wide enough for my liking. We will have to see what PAR I get in the front and back of my tank. 
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