T5 HO 4x54W Fixture DEAD!

i checked craigslist, nothing but commercial grade halide fixtures for 1000w for sale at the moment. or 50W halides that do me no good for this application.

im going to goto a LFS that i know carries used equipment. went there for the first time a couple weeks ago and was suprised at the small stockpile of useable equipment.

 

looks like an odyssea to me. thats surprising. I have both t5 and pc units. never had a problem with the t5s at all. pc's though ive gone through ballasts. if you have $200 to spend get a new nova 4x54w fixture with SLRs and at least the bulbs will be better than what you got now. also you could sell your broken unit on ebay just state its new just needs 2 new ballast to recoup some money maybe $50-75 bucks, and use that money and buy 2 ati-blue plus t5 bulbs to go into new unit. OR when you get $60 bucks down the road just fix that odyssea t5 fixture and use both fixtures on your tank for a total of 8 bulbs! if you got the room to fit them, which it should be tight but work/fit in a canopy.


I'd go with 8 bulbs IMHO or save up and get your MH and your new monthly power bill increase.

goodluck




Aquarium Lighting for Freshwater and Reef Systems: Nova Extreme Compact SLR T-5 Fixtures

 

@night-rida: thanks for the input. ill check out that unit. T5 feels like the way to go, but 20K halides look great and ive always seen good growth in display tanks from them. im not sure how the power bill would increase monthly. i guess ill have to check electrical draws. i was only considering wattage to wattage. i didnt consider how many amps they draw and actually figure it out. because wattage to wattage 8x54 = 432W, and 2x150MH = 300W (and then actnic supplement 2x54W = 108W total 408W still lower than 8x54T5HO)

 

hrmm if im getting new ballasts i could just goto 80W T5.

oh and i have no canopy. this is an inwall build so i have all the room in the world to play with (well not really but i have a full 8x8 "aquarium utility room" )

 

so many options..... so little time..... not going to buy a new fixture of any kind. i just decided ill build it myself. ill go with 6x80W = 480W and ill just re-use the moonlighting that is still functional from the existing fixture. ill re-engineer it all to a new housing of my own design. RETRO FTW

if im doing SPS corals later on that 6x80W should be fine at my tank depth of 21" and figure the fixtures would be mounted 4.5" - 6" above that. hence why i assumed i needed MH for the exposure.

i appreciate your help

 

21" depth should be fine with t5s.

 

Jebo or Odyssea? Just curious. I'm sorry for your troubles, I had the same problem Feb. '10 except my Odyssea blew a ballast that caught fire. Luckily I was in the same room. Funny thing is I was thinking of nasty stuff falling into my tank and not at all concerned with my house as I literally slapped the whole fixture onto the floor before unplugging it. It'll get better and again I can relate.

 

The odyssea ballasts are wired very ass backwards. I took mine apart to install a workhorse 7 and is was a nightmare. The LEDs are wired to the ballasts and the ballasts are wired together. I couldn't really understand how it was wired because there were no colored wires and no wiring diagram, no name on either ballasts. I just said F it. Too crazy looking compared to a normal ballast that has a wiring diagram.

 

yeah i took it apart to inspect and im pretty disappointed with the quality of electrical work done.

 

anyone familiar with these: 250W EPT MH Retrofit Kit (HQI) - EPT250MH

thats seemingly cheap for a ballast/fixture.... but again i screwed with 'cheap' in the first place. so im either looking for a cost effective t5 retro setup or a cost effective mh setup. im doing research now online and making a list of costs for comparison.