Lighting systems

[jmurr8484]

Whats up everyone? I been into saltwater for 3-4 years now and finally decided to take on a reef tank. My supervisor gave me one of his lighting fixtures. I don't know the model number. I just know that its a Odyssea with the metal halide, led, and t5 all in one unit. He didn't give me the ballast though. Do I have to get a specific ballast for this unit or can i just go and buy an Icecap ballast? The unit has 3 wires coming out from the side with 3 tapped stickers on it. The colors are yellow, blue, and red. I was wondering if anyone out there familiar with lights can help me wire them.

 

[cmor1701d]

First let me Welcome you to AA!

Good luck getting that light to work. There's probably a reason he gave you that fixture. I took my Odyssea fixture and threw it in the garbage. I found their products to be very poorly made, with similar customer support. You can try calling them (they're in California) to get the specs for the ballast. The one that came with it probably died.

 

[jmurr8484]

Thanks for the welcome and advice. He told me that his house almost caught on fire because the orig box that the wires go to started to burn. He's another ques. Do I HAVE to get metal halides to run a reef or will t5 or power compacts do well. I'm not trying to get the more delicate corals. Just plan on staying with the hardy ones like mushrooms and polyps.

 

[cmor1701d]

That brand should not be allowed in this country IMO.

How big is the tank and how tall is it? PC or better yet T5 (with high quality parabolic refelctors) will let you grow most corals. High light sps can even grow if you have enough T5's.

 

[jmurr8484]

I have a standard 55 gallon. Today I was in Home depot and was thinkin about using a flood light or even the work lights the construction company use. One was a metal halide flood light that was 100w and i think 6500K. The other was a halogen light that was 1400w. Am I crazy for these ideas or would they work? Oh yeah and thanks for all the advice. I may sound like a rookie to SW aquariums, but have had 3 successful SW setup (have to move, thats why there were dismantled). I just want to now do a reef setup. Ive always had a FOWLR.

 

[cmor1701d]

6500k is very YELLOW, great for macro alage in a sump or for coral growth in a frag tank, but not very pleasing to the eye for a tank. Most lights are a combination oo 10k (10,000) and 03 Actinic. That allows for the dawn - dusk effect where you start with just the very blue Actinic lights for an hour, tun on the the MH for about 10 hours, turn off the MH, then turn off the Actinic an hour later. Some folks just have 12k, 14k or 20k MH. The higher the temp the bluer the light.

For a 55g depending on what you want to grow you should get a 6 - 8 tube T5 with individual highly polished parbolic reflectors for each tube, or 150w or 250w MH combo wiht T5 or PC. Or, you could break the bank and buy a totally controlable LED unit like the PacificSun units I just bought.