Odyssea Equipment

M

mginster

Membership Expired
Ive read a bit on Odyssea and it seems their lighting and balasts are or were terrible. Have they improved quality yet?

Mainly though, has anyone used their other equipment including overflows, pumps, protein skimmers, etc? Seems hella cheap, but if its decent it would be worth it.
 
I dont have a ton of experience yet, but I just got a 48" t5 unit from them and I think its great. Stock bulbs have good lighting and it was $130 shipped to my door. Shipped out of Texas so I got it the next day.

The bad ballast thing from what I have read was a long time ago and they have since changed. I believe the old ones were magnetic vs electric now.
 
I had a 4 bulb t5 and the fixture itself was fantastic. It came with little moolights and that was awesome to have (I still miss them since I don't have any more :(

Anyway the bulbs that come with them SUCK. like royally suck. I replaced them with ATI and I could have never asked for anything else.
 
I bought a MH/PC combo from a member on here. He replaced the ballast on it. I've been really happy with it. The only thing is that some of the wattage on the bulbs are off. For example mine has a 175W double ended. There are a lot of theories that this bulb is really only a 150W DE bulb and it is a marketing gimmick. As I said before the previous owner replaced the ballast with 175W ballast, and I put a 150W bulb in it. when I did this the bulb burnt out within a week, so I went back to the 175W bulb it had and it works fine. I recently came across another odyssea 175W DE bulb, and bought it to have a spare one.
 
I bought one from a member on here and I agree the bulbs suck mine was a 30 inch 4 bulb t-5 fixture . I had a ballast go out after 3 weeks so I figured I would diy it and pulled out the no name ballast with no markings on it and remote mount a ice cap 660 then the next prob was the splash shield was to thin and bowed from the bulb heat . I made a brace to support it and all was good for about two weeks when I was topping of the tank and could smell something burning . After further inspection I found the end caps were melting . So if you are ok with replacement of the bulbs,ballast,splash shield ,fans and endcaps they are fine . Hope it helps
 
@Reefer Rae wrote:
I bought one from a member on here and I agree the bulbs suck mine was a 30 inch 4 bulb t-5 fixture . I had a ballast go out after 3 weeks so I figured I would diy it and pulled out the no name ballast with no markings on it and remote mount a ice cap 660 then the next prob was the splash shield was to thin and bowed from the bulb heat . I made a brace to support it and all was good for about two weeks when I was topping of the tank and could smell something burning . After further inspection I found the end caps were melting . So if you are ok with replacement of the bulbs said:
I haven't had any problems with the splash, shield, fans or endcaps. Only the bulb. Overall I'm happy with the fixture.
Click to expand...
 
Just so I'm clear most of my problems came about after I installed a ic660 ballast so that may have been a large part of the problem. I guess for the money they aren't to bad but if you figure the cost of new lamps you get close to the price of a higher end fixture that will have better reflectors and hardware.
 
I helped another reefer go through a 48" 250w MH/T5 fixture nightmare! The ballasts were GARBAGE and I replaced them with a dual galaxy ballst, the t5 ballasts broke after 3 weeks of use (warranty covered them).

All and all you need a new ballast and new bulbs MH and T5. Just get a used fixture that has a good name or go retro.

Sometimes you can buy them used with upgraded stuff....

but otherwise GARBAGE.
and horrible customer service, often they tell you to eat it.

HTH
Jason
 
I have personal experience with them also. I would not recommend them unless going over a fish only system but a lot of people start out just going FO before getting bitten with the coral bug. [smilie=lol.gif] Buy a quality product either used or new and do yourself a favor.

Cheers,
 
Ok I wont be getting any lights from them, what about their skimmers, pumps, etc?

Ive watched some youtube videos on their skimmers and people seem pretty happy with them.
 
ive delt with alot of there stuff!! ... lighting , filtration wize.... everyting is good quality , to a point ... the material and equipment is cheap , but if your carefull with not banging anything around , or not moving stuff all the time , then your good , just place it and empty out skimmer cup when nessesary ! ... i will always buy there product , cuz its super cheap , compared to 200 dollar skimmers you can get em for like 45 on ebay
 
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