Boom!!!

[doswari]

Long story short: The ballast on my MH light fixture exploded a couple days ago while I was at work. Luckily the fire was contained in the ballast casing. My wife and daughter who were home at the time were a little shaken up, but are alright.

Anyway, I'm looking for a new way to light my tank. I had a tough time finding the light that I was using up til this incident, and after what happened, I won't take the chance of buying the same one. I did some research on the lights and found that others were having the same problem. My tank is a 44 gallon pentagon and the sides of the tank measure 23" on two sides and 12" on the remaining 3 sides. I don't know anything about retrofit kits, so I'm hoping some of you can let me know if building a canopy is a good option or if I should go with a pendant. I'd like to have both MH and PC lights incorporated into the system. Moonlights would be nice as well. Please chime in with your suggestions. Thanks.

 

[junglebase]

That is scary.. what kind of set up did you have? I think you should inform everyone that way if anyone in this forum has the same set up, they can be made aware of it.... I had a friend who had the same incident and he had one of those Odyssey DE MH's

 

[Reefdrumz]

I had a hell of a time finding lighting for my 44g. I ended up getting a glass top and using 2 - 24" 55watt pc bulbs

 

[coralnut99]

I would be interested in the manufacturer of that ballast as well.

Unless you're very good with cutting precise angles on a table saw, I would recommend a pendant.

 

[doswari]

It was an Odyssea fixture. There's already a lot of other threads in RC about them starting fires. I bought this one before I subscribed to RC and had access to the search function. RC ought to have a sticky in the lighting forum warning people about them. If I had known of their record, I wouldn't even have considered buying it and putting my family at risk.

 

[doswari]

Brian,

I have one 55w actinic on there right now, but I need some halides to keep my sticks happy.

Do you guys think that a 250w halide with PCs in a pendant would be overkill?

 

[steve68]

250 would be fine on that tank, if u are making a hood make sure u leave the back open & add some fans, if u are buying a pendant well u just need to figure out how to hang it

 

[blange3]

Sorry about your problems Dan, but I wasn't surprised by the vendor's name.

I gave one of the budget T5's a try and although it didn't explode or burn, it did fail twice.

I posted a lot, but since half of them don't explode right away they have enough supporters because of the price.

I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint, but not much happens.

 

[mott768]

You have to be careful where you buy the Odyssea's from, there is a wholesale/retailer that sells the lighting that they refurbished and customer returns as new. They also sell the same stuff to sellers on ebay which in turn sell to the public. What a shame they really aren't a bad light for the money but because of one company they are getting a bad rap.

 

[RBU1]

This is the one I bought should I get a new one or am I OK???? Thanks for the ehlp. BILL

Light