Aqua Traders
 

Has anybody bought from Aqua Traders before? I am considering buying the Odyssea 48" 216W (4x54W) T5 HO Light for $109. It even comes with the bulbs, Moon lights and a timer. Are these good lights? The price seems good, but I am not sure about the quality. Does anybody want to combine orders and split the shipping?

http://shop.aquatraders.com

i always hear Odyssea ballasts are notoriously cheap and prone to failure whenever aqua traders gets brought up in a post for buying cheap lighting. i have also heard they are rather dim for their wattage even when they are working fine. IMO i would stay away, for me it falls into the "too good to be true category" :mrgreen: but then again i do remember they were always talking about the odyssea MH ballasts, maybe their t-5 systems are better.

There were reports of some of these units even catching fire a few years back.

I have heard the same thing.

Ouch.

I have been running the 4 bulb HO T5's on 4 of my softy tanks for going on 16 months without a bit of problem. The bulbs that come with them are cheap and I replaced them out with a kz coral 10k, kz new gen 15k, kz fiji purple, and a D+D aticnic +. My corals are doing excellent.
Kevin

Yeah, I've heard that you basically buy it for the unit (at least the MH models). Replace the ballasts & bulbs. Doesn't seem like such a good deal after all, IMO.

These T5s though are not in the same crappy category as the old "fire hazard" mh units.

Anthony

Ya, I almost went the Aquatraders direction as well recently to start my second tank (you know, being a poor PhD student and all...). I was looking at the MH mostly and those seem to be not of the best quality. The t5's on the other hand I have heard some decent things about and, like they said above, switch to better bulbs. The one thing about the t5 units, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, is that they don't have reflectors, thus your output is not as stellar as it could be.

For the same price point but maybe a little better try the Fishneedit units (http://www.fishneedit.com/t5ho-ligh.html). I've heard good things about them. They've got reflectors and everything.

If you have a friend in the states or access to a PO box, try Amazon of all places. They have retardly cheap deals on good lights from time to time... they don't ship to Canada though.

Finally, ask around this site. I got a wicked MH system from someone here for a good price and I could not be happier (It's a little overkill... but hey, go big or go home, right?). I'm sure there is someone with some lights for sale... right guys and gals?

The T5 units do indeed have reflectors....not individual like a tek, though....the only issue with ordering them from the states is, if there is a problem with the light, you will have to send the unit back at your expense....

Just received before Christmas a few things from aquatraders. Couldn't help myself! A great experience with the LED light, they're submersible and they bring out the florescence in my zoas and blastos! The 4 x 54W T5HO Pro fixture was bumped or otherwise during shipping. The timer wasn't working. So they sent a new ballast and timer, with a deposit, when the originals were returned, the deposit was refunded. Not bad... Quite happy with the service, but it may take a few phone calls. The reflector is one that wraps all four bulbs together.