# Odyssea 4x54 T5HO w/ Moon LED(s) Review



## rlswaney73 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi All, I bought this fixture a few months ago thinking I would only need to use 2x54 at any given time because that was going to way to much light for a 55 gallon tank. I raised the fixture about 6 inches above my tank... thought I was golden but boy was I wrong.

Check out this review of the same fixture only a smaller bulb size.

http://evilslightingreview.blogspot.com/2011/04/odyssea-20-t5ho-fixture-review.html

They tested it @ 18 inches from the source and got a 50 PAR with all 4 bulbs burning... and that was with 2 Actinics and 2 day bulbs 

I've been working with Hoppy for a couple of weeks now trying to isolate my issue and there it is... Thanks go out to Hoppy for all the help.

tonight I droped the light to the top of the tank and within a few minutes a world wind of pearling everywhere.

I'll be shopping for a new fixture with a quickness.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Because of the type of ballasts this uses it appears that the HO bulbs are only driven at NO or a bit more power. Of course you can't assume that other sizes of this fixture will be equally bad, but it isn't likely that they will be a great deal better either. Still, if you want 40-50 micromols of PAR you can get it with this fixture for tanks 18 inches high or less. But, how long it will last is a good question.


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## aaronbrown (Apr 13, 2010)

i used the same fixture on my 75 and had good plant growth bulbs arent great still havent changed them out after 12-18 months now on a saltwater tank but only used for actinics still gat decent color


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

I blew both ballasts trying to run 1 bulb(NOTE: not stock bulb!)per ballast.. I replaced both ballasts with a single workhorse 7. Needless to say I'm only running 1 bulb at 25" from the substrate and HAVE to keep adequete co2 and ferts or algea hell!


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

All the moonlight LEDs blew within a year though, I still don't have a replacement for them yet.

Also, these use magnetic ballasts, you have to rewire the entire fixture in order to wire it for an electronic ballast. The fixture is pretty solid though and even with buying the ballast and rewiring it, it was still less then half the cost of a Catalina or tek fixture..


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## koldsoup (Feb 21, 2011)

I'm a complete newbie at this stuff. Can someone simplify to me what the problems are? I bought the 4' one and have been using it for a month or so and it doesn't seem like there are any problems so far...


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

1) The ballasts are not made to run 1 bulb each.
2) need 4 bulbs at 18" to equal 50 par, roughly low-medium lighting.
3) bulbs are not actually being run at HO wattage, more like NO.
4) moonlights blow within/around a year.


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## TactusMortus (Jun 28, 2011)

I don't see what the issue is I mean you said you get 50 par with a light that cost 1/10 of the cost of the big boys. Why would you be telling people not to purchase this light? I use one on my 120 gallon tank with only two bulbs and my tank is 24" deep. Great growth on all my low/medium light plants. Before I went low light though I was running 4 bulbs and the light was 8" above the tank. I still had stellar growth on all high light stems and plants. I even had to much light in my opinion because even running co2 at about 20 bps I still grew an algae farm.

As far as durability goes I have two of the 24" long versions as well and they have been running for 18 months and 23 months. Only thing I have done is switch bulbs.


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## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

its a great fixture for 100.00. i have one on my 120 for a year and zero problems.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

Oh it's worth the money in my opinion, especially if you swap the ballasts for electronic ones and rewire the fixture properly for them. Doing that made me have to cut down to 1 bulb 25" from the substrate instead of two-four bulbs like I needed originally.


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## koldsoup (Feb 21, 2011)

So basically the output isn't as high as, say, other fixtures? Is that perhaps why I don't have any algae (or don't think I do) with 2x54 over a 55 gallon (roughly 20" tall?) and no CO2? How do the ballasts affect this?

Sorry for the noob questions, I'm still a newbie at this


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I wouldn't say "don't buy this". I do say that you should be aware of what you are getting before you buy it. You will have a light that will very likely give you adequate light on tanks around 18-20 inches high, not high light, but good low medium light. And, that light level makes taking care of the tank much, much easier than with high light. How long it will keep working is an unknown, but it may well last as long as you want it to.

All I ask is that you not claim to have 4 T5HO bulbs on a 20 inch high tank with this one. That just leads people to believe that 4 Tek T5HO bulbs will work fine too.


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## Mr_Bubbles (May 10, 2011)

After having looked at this I have to wonder. I run a 2 x 54 watt odyssea light on my 75 gallon tank about 5 inches from the top of the tank (so about 22 inches from the substrate) and assumed based off the Lighting chart in this sub-forum that I was running high light. Should I assume my model is really not giving me this amount of light? I have been dosing EI but use no test kits, so now I wonder if I've been dosing way too much and possibly pushing my CO2 too hard for the amount of light I have. Anyone know of any other in depth reviews for these fixtures?


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

Mr Bubbles, base your opinion on what you see as results in you're tank not on internet reviews. I have two Odyssea light fixtures and a filter. Working out fine for me so far.


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## Mr_Bubbles (May 10, 2011)

Well being new to hobby (only a year), I have never had the joy of seeing anyone's successful planted tank in person, or well, at least not for what I'm wanting to achieve, only pictures. and I've had 0 luck with carpeting plants and wondered maybe if it's a lack of light. Though I must say my tank seems plenty bright but again, with nothing to compare to it's a hard call. I haven't been able to decide if I have too much light, and now wonder if not enough.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Holy, do you have a little write up or is there one out there to change the ballasts over to electronic? I just ordered a 72" one for the 125 I picked up, and I am fully aware with these things you get what you pay for. However for my purposes this should be more then enough lighting even if not running the wattage it really should. But in the long run changing over to electronic ballasts doesnt sound like a terrible idea considering the 72" with 4 bulbs was only 150 bucks...



Sorry for the thread hijack!!


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

eh, i never made one when I did it to my fixture and i haven't found one online.. I could probably try and explain it with pics, but its not difficult. The tricky part is taking apart the fixture to get access to everything. Then its just cutting/removing the wires, putting in nice new bulb ends and wiring, and connecting them to the ballast like it shows in the diagram on the ballast or at the manufacturer's website. I used a workhorse 7, in which case you wire 1 red/Positive lead per bulb, and then wire all the bulb ends to connect to the single yellow/negative wire. Its really best to solder all your connections both for stability of the connection and to ensure its getting the best possible power.. but wire nuts will suffice.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

I know the Odyssea light bulbs are crap, but have you tried to get the PAR readings with, lets say giesemans, or other tec bulbs? 

Where do they sell PAR readers? I would go buy one and test it on my fixture.


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## TactusMortus (Jun 28, 2011)

Very good point nalu86 the review was done with odyssea stock bulbs. Which at the price they sell them at I always assumed were garbage bulbs compared to the better brands. I wonder if there would be a noticeable difference.


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## GitMoe (Aug 30, 2010)

There are always so many unanswered questions with these Odyssea fixture reviews. That being said I love the 36" version I run over my 40B and I just ordered a 24" for my 20g today.


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## rlswaney73 (Jun 11, 2011)

I've changed the placement of the fixture... moved it from 6 inches above the rim to sitting on the tank, it's made a dramatic difference. The fixture is pretty sleek, I like the moon lights. I should have included that in the original post. 

I struggled for weeks, watching my plants do close to nothing... double checking my CO2, EI dosing, Flow, and on and on... 

It's hard to be 100% sure when you're purchasing equipment, I've got a closet full to prove it. I guess it depends on your goals for a planted tank. I do not believe this is going to get me where I want to be long term. 

On the flip side, Pogostemon Erectus is looking much better. (pearling)


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## TactusMortus (Jun 28, 2011)

Are you still using the stock bulbs?


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## rlswaney73 (Jun 11, 2011)

no stock bulbs, I ordered new bulbs at the same time I ordered the fixture. I read a lot of reviews before the purchase which suggested swapping them out right away.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Where did you order new bulbs from? Also the reflectors in them could have a huge influence.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

These fixtures are great for the money in my opinion. My experience with them has been wonderful. I tend to question the reported PAR values given for this fixture. How many readings were taken in the results that are given? Was this only measured once and is now being passed on as truth?

I am running the 4 bulb fixture on my 75 gallon tank with a mixture of coralife and sunwave bulbs and I have to have the CO2 cranked way up to avoid getting an algae farm. I feel like this would not be the case if I was only at 50 PAR (I could be wrong though, and someone correct me if I am). I don't have the readings but this is from my personal experience. 

You do have to run 4 bulbs with this fixture which will be less efficient in terms of energy consumption, but it does give you added flexibility in picking various bulb combinations. You can add in different colored bulbs to give you the right look you want. 

I have never had any issues with this fixture. My planted tank is going gangbusters, my 10 gallon reef (20" 4 bulb fixture with stock bulbs) is growing great. I do not have any SPS, but I am growing LPS and softies really well with this fixture. I am in the process of setting up a 20 long reef tank with the 24" 4 bulb fixture and I switched out the stock bulbs for sunwaves. 

Even with the new bulbs you are coming out way ahead in terms of cost. I feel like overall this fixture gives a great amount of flexibility in terms of controlling the light output form low to high, and it can grow a vast majority of plants from low light to high.


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## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

I personally think the fixture is great for people who dont want to spend a lot of cash. but I think it would be a better idea to save up some money and get a decent fixture before buying this one. I had an odyssa 4 bulb on a 120G and everything grew but nothing spectacular. Now I have a 6 bulb current ( one step above anyway) and its a huge difference. everything pearls now... so much brighter and after a few days I see much better growth.


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## greenfish4 (Oct 13, 2007)

I have an old odysea power compact fixture from many years ago, it just kind of bounces around as back up. The light itself is kind of so so but the heat generated is SCARY. If cheap is were its at (lets face it cheap is awesome) how about a AH supply retrofit kit and make your own enclosure. I am gonna pull apart my odysea fixture and use it in a DIY light with individual reflectors from AH supply. Not sure what the ballast on the PC lights is like.


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## shd17 (Sep 5, 2010)

The review is for the newer model which seems to use an external ballast. Does anyone know if the older model with internal ballast (ones with actual stands/legs, not just extension bars) is an electronic ballast and is able to output proper HO?


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## evilc66 (Feb 28, 2008)

Glad you guys found my review interesting, if not useful.

Just to clear up a few points of confusion, these fixtures use electronic ballasts, albeit crappy ones. It seemed to me that someone was eluding to them using mag ballasts, which Odyssea hasn't used in a very, very long time. Honestly, the mag ballasts probably would have worked better.

Someone else asked if these were reviewed with other bulbs. I did end up putting a set of comparable UVL 18" bulbs in there. Sadly, the ballasts are so pathetic that it could drive them to their full potential, and only eeked out a little more performance.

Let me know if you have any more questions about this fixture, and I'll try and answer as best I can.

If anyone is looking for a fixture on a budget that will perform better than this one, then look at the Fish Need It products. Better ballasts, and higher output. Well worth the money. I have a 24" 4 bulb fixture that I need to finish documenting for another review on the site.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

If the new ones use electronic ballasts would it be as easy to just replace witha better one? wouldn't have to repute anything?


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## evilc66 (Feb 28, 2008)

Sure. Even changing them out to something like a Workhorse3 would be a vast improvement. Pretty much any Fulham T5HO compatible ballast would work great, except the Workhorse7, which overdrives the bulbs. While it's an option, the fixture isn't actively cooled, and will mangle the bulbs in short order if not cooled correctly. Obviously, there are many other ballast choices from other manufacturers, but Fulhams can be found at most lighting supply houses pretty cheap.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Awesome! Make it easy to upgrade my 72" once it comes in. how canI make sure they are high output ballasts?


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

You need the workhorse 7 if you want to drive 4x54 watt bulbs or anything less or 2 larger than 54w bulbs as it'll drive up to 220w. You can do the workhorse 5 to do 2x54w/4x24w(in a series) as it does 110w. Check fulham's site and it'll tell ya what can do what


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Woot, yea the 72" runs 4x80 Watt bulbs. going to need two of them LOL


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## MCHRKiller (Jul 25, 2008)

I have 2 of the 2x54watt fixtures on my 100G, opted for this due to the width of the tank over the 4x45watt. Visually I am a bit higher than the previous 2 2x65watt Coralifes I was using. I still would not say it is a high light tank, it is in the medium spectrum...the less than great quality of the ballast and reflector are working in my favor as I do not have time to do a full high tech tank. Tank is 24"(20-21" to substrate) tall and the fixtures are sitting perched on the rim.


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## evilc66 (Feb 28, 2008)

HolyAngel said:


> You need the workhorse 7 if you want to drive 4x54 watt bulbs or anything less or 2 larger than 54w bulbs as it'll drive up to 220w. You can do the workhorse 5 to do 2x54w/4x24w(in a series) as it does 110w. Check fulham's site and it'll tell ya what can do what


I don't know if I would recommend the WH7 unless you are actively cooling the bulbs. Again, the WH7 overdrives the bulbs by about 30%, and as a result, will shorten the life of the bulb. How short of a life they have will depend on how cool they are kept. Plus, the WH7 is a HUGE ballast (the standard version is 18" long). I'd be willing to be the WH5 is a lot easier to find too. That's kind of the "I do everything" ballast. The WH7 is the only real choice for bulbs longer than 48" though.


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## NWA-Planted (Aug 27, 2011)

Looks like the WH7 is the one for me, though with the lighting its going to provide for the start, may be perfect


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

Yeah the ballast is LARGE on the 7, but it will run anything. I have one on my 4x24w fixture driving 3x24w bulbs right now and am totally satisfied with it. I just bent the legs of the fixture so it sits up on top of the tank rim by about 5" and then removed the acrylic splash shield, the bulbs are warm but not flaming hot or anything..


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## Dragonfish (Apr 28, 2011)

I know that Evil is not the kind of person to blow his own horn, so I'll blow it for him. He is actually really well known as being an authority on all types of lighting, but primarily on LED design. He has his own line of reef capable par 38 bulbs that pretty much put par 38 on the map for nano reef tanks. The man knows his stuff in a serious way. Here's a link to his work. http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=73 and another must read http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=257668&hl= Just saying, he's not just another "internet review".


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## evilc66 (Feb 28, 2008)

HolyAngel said:


> Yeah the ballast is LARGE on the 7, but it will run anything. I have one on my 4x24w fixture driving 3x24w bulbs right now and am totally satisfied with it. I just bent the legs of the fixture so it sits up on top of the tank rim by about 5" and then removed the acrylic splash shield, the bulbs are warm but not flaming hot or anything..


Provided the bulbs aren't too hot (you need to check the ends, not the middle, as that's where the electrode is, and the part you need to keep cool), then keep on rocking.

Now, it is possible that the amount of overdrive, or lack thereof may be determined by bulb length/size. Seeing as the ballast is pretty universal, it may be the case. I haven't put anything higher than 39W (36" T5HO) on them, so the amount of overdrive may be less. On anything 36" or smaller, you can expect to see 15-30% overdrive. The smaller bulbs (12" and 18" T5HO) we were getting from UVL were seeing 25-30% overdrive all the time.



Dragonfish said:


> I know that Evil is not the kind of person to blow his own horn, so I'll blow it for him. He is actually really well known as being an authority on all types of lighting, but primarily on LED design. He has his own line of reef capable par 38 bulbs that pretty much put par 38 on the map for nano reef tanks. The man knows his stuff in a serious way. Here's a link to his work. http://www.nanotuners.com/index.php?cPath=73 and another must read http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=257668&hl= Just saying, he's not just another "internet review".


Thanks for the kind words Dragonfish


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## rlswaney73 (Jun 11, 2011)

RIP - Odyssea 4x54 T5HO, both ballasts went this past week, had this fixture for less than 6 months, ordered AHS Linear T5 54W kit to replace it. Replacement arrives tomorrow :bounce:


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Bump. I knew I remember seeing a thread on this company.

Anything new to report? They are cheap, not perfect, but functional...that is what I have gathered...


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