Which light would you buy?

[Oohitsae]

So I've been looking for a new light for my 28 gallon bowfront for quite a while, and I've finally got a little bit of extra cash to spend on the purchase....now if I could only decide which one is a better option...

I have been recommended the odyssea 24" t5HO freshwater a few times, but aquatraders is out of stock and when I looked on ebay, I found this light: 24" 48W T5 HO Aquarium Light 2X24W Lamp German Reflector Hood Fixture Coral Reef | eBay
that looks like it might work better for my tank.. and it's only around a dollar more/less than the odyssea light would be.. which is this one: T5 Dual 24" 6500K Aquarium Light Strip Freshwater Plant Discus 48W Odyssea 20g | eBay

which would you guys go with?

If anyone has any other suggestions in the $40 range (including shipping) please send me a link!
I definitely want T5HO, it has to be 24" and the bulbs must be in the right spectrum to grow plants... other than that i'm pretty flexible on the fixture itself...

 

[Florio]

I defiantly would not do eBay on your lights. It's less about your bulbs and more about having quality ballast.

Good light are not cheap.

I have aquatic life which have some of the best ballast for 140 on Craig's list. Retail 340.

Don't cheap out on them it will not be fun when they don't look like you thought they would and if the ballast wreck after a few months.

 

[parrottbay]

After a few people told me this, I would have not bought cheap, but a few people def recommended the cheaper the better and Oddysea was what they were talking about and I bought two and havent had any problems for a year now...

 

[Florio]

After a few people told me this, I would have not bought cheap, but a few people def recommended the cheaper the better and Oddysea was what they were talking about and I bought two and havent had any problems for a year now...

You may not experience any problems but if you a to b'd compared the lighting quality and color spectrum that something like aquaticlife gave off compared to a Hong Kong manufacturer you would see a huge difference.

 

[Oohitsae]

This is all my budget allows at the moment. I'm a full time student with only a part time job. I have to split bills with my boyfriend so I don't have a lot of spare cash right now. This isn't a permanent thing, I will be upgrading when I graduate and can work more hours at my job till I get a better one, but I need a quick fix. The lighting I currently have on that tank just isn't cutting it anymore and I don't have room to move all those plants over to any other tank as they are all already fully stocked with plants as well.

Anyways,
I've heard great reviews about odyssea's lights, so I will probably go that route, but the other light looked intriguing. I couldn't find a manufacturer name on it so I don't know much about it, but the description looked like it may be a bit better quality regarding reflectors than the odyssea fixture's might be...was hoping someone could give me some input on it.

I figure these two options are probably better than just heading to lowes and buying a shop light and bulbs.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

This is all my budget allows at the moment. I'm a full time student with only a part time job. I have to split bills with my boyfriend so I don't have a lot of spare cash right now. This isn't a permanent thing, I will be upgrading when I graduate and can work more hours at my job till I get a better one, but I need a quick fix. The lighting I currently have on that tank just isn't cutting it anymore and I don't have room to move all those plants over to any other tank as they are all already fully stocked with plants as well.

Anyways,
I've heard great reviews about odyssea's lights, so I will probably go that route, but the other light looked intriguing. I couldn't find a manufacturer name on it so I don't know much about it, but the description looked like it may be a bit better quality regarding reflectors than the odyssea fixture's might be...was hoping someone could give me some input on it.

I figure these two options are probably better than just heading to lowes and buying a shop light and bulbs.

Just as an option, I know many may not like this idea but its working for me (I'm a mom of two and have little to spend on my tank like you) and it works just fine for me and I've spent around $30 but I also have a 55g, so I would imagine it would be cheaper for you since you have a smaller tank. What I've done is buy 6500k daylight cfl's and clip on lamps, all came from walmart. and added lamps as needed. I also have an open top tank so this Is why this setup works for me. If you would like to see how my plants are doing I have photos of my 55g on my profile. So far it has worked just fine for me. If you would like more info on my setup, you can either PM me or just ask here!

 

[aqua_chem]

There are good lights, and there are cheap lights, but there aren't any any good cheap lights. If you look at the entire spectrum of T5 lights, planted tank keepers tend to be concerned with the bottom third of the spectrum of lights simply because most of use don't need any more than medium light, more so on this forum than some others. In the end it comes down to what you want for your tank, and if you don't want to sink money into CO2 and more advanced hardware, a low-end T5 fixture will get the job done just fine.

 

[Cardex]

I used one of the odyssey lights on my 55 for about 6 months it was a good light and the plants did well but it put out heat like you would not believe, I don't think the room it was in ever got under 80 in the winter when my furnace was set to 62 if you live in a cold area it's a great space heater but when it got hot in the summer the tank was running at 84+ and drove my AC bill up like crazy

 

[Florio]

I used one of the odyssey lights on my 55 for about 6 months it was a good light and the plants did well but it put out heat like you would not believe, I don't think the room it was in ever got under 80 in the winter when my furnace was set to 62 if you live in a cold area it's a great space heater but when it got hot in the summer the tank was running at 84+ and drove my AC bill up like crazy

Ya my aquatic life has very minimal ac bill and close to no heat.

 

[Oohitsae]

What some of you seem to not understand is that I have to do something low end right now. It's not permanent.

Thank you to the few that had actual input. I just purchased the "German" one

 

[aqua_chem]

This one? I've seen them popping up in advertisements but I haven't heard how well they work yet. Make sure you post some pictures and a review when you get the chance.

 

[Cardex]

This one? I've seen them popping up in advertisements but I haven't heard how well they work yet. Make sure you post some pictures and a review when you get the chance.

The switch and mounting bracket are identical to the odyssey I got from aquatrader

 

[Oohitsae]

I went with the Finnex Ray 2 instead. I won a scratch of lotto ticket for $500 so I figured I'd go with a more permanenet solution while I had the cash! lol

 

[Fresh2o]

I went with the Finnex Ray 2 instead. I won a scratch of lotto ticket for $500 so I figured I'd go with a more permanenet solution while I had the cash! lol

Nice. Maybe you could post some before and after pics? Hello CO2 (I think you have another thread on that)

 

[Oohitsae]

I will post some pics when I get home tomorrow, the difference is amazing.
And yeah I have another thread on the Co2. Been starting a lot these past few days trying to figure out what upgrades I should do and what the best options/ways to go about it are
Sorry for blowing up news feeds! Lol