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And the winner is:

[link=hellolights.com]http://hellolights.com/72coluaqdese.html" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link]

To all, thank you so much for your input. In the end, I chickened out of the original deal as your responses were rather mixed and I could not convince myself to feel comfortable with the vendor.

Heidi (and indirectly Nate), thanks for the link to this site. I called them up this morning and a very helpful person answered the phone (Scott). The light had initially 2 prices listed, one was $ 10 more. He removed that price right away while talking to me.

And not only that – I asked if I could replace the actinic with 6,700K lights, but this was not possible as the unit comes with the manufacturer lights. But, on the spot, he added the option to the website to pick up to 4 additional lights for half of their normal selling price. I added 2 6,700K and 2 5,000K bulbs; this will give me enough bulbs to play with to achieve the best looking and best plant growing options. That will be fun

As to the price, it is actually cheaper than the equivalent light from the original vendor. As for anything else, I guess the reflectors are not as good on my pick.

Again, thanks to all of you,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hello,

Yes, there are good vendor I hear. Alittle less than bigals and drsfostersmith.com Are you going to use the lunar lights for a while at nite. On a hood that size their is probably at least 2 on each side. I have a current USA fixture that came with a lunar light right in the middle, but I can't use it because the tank support blocks it.



Last edited by tetratech at 07-Sep-2005 16:06

My Scapes

longhairedgit,

Got it

I have to say that you got me a little confused as I am always unsure about the deal when I buy stuff online from a vendor that I haven’t dealt with before.

Now that you clarified this I am feeling much better …

… or am I



Thanks for the info,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It was just a pretty obvious statement about the length of bulb and striplight life for our less experienced members, this goes for buying secondhand uv sterilisers too. I was saying its ok to buy secondhand fixtures but buying secondhand lighting tubes etc can be a mugs game.

Plus a warning that a lot of stuff sold as new on ebay isnt new- its reconditioned,often by people with no professional qualifications at all, hence the cheap prices etc.Some stuff is only for use in certain contries and is procured cheap as imports and then "modified" to suit the electricity supply of its intended country of sale. Worrying.

The mix of electricity and water isnt a good one so people should be careful.


Not to mention the nicked stuff , which obviously ebay probably dont know about, have no powers to investigate anyway , and cant protect you against.(shuts eyes, closes ears and says nothing.lol)

You see eheims canisters and chambered filters on there advertised as new for about £50 etc- wonder where they came from eh? (scratches chin)Do people really want to give you a bargain, selling you a £150 -£350 filter for £50 out of the goodness of their hearts? I think eheim probably charges even bulk sellers way more than that per item. Legal? Possibly not.Obviously your guarantee wouldnt be worth anything, and eheim would send it back to you saying hard luck mate, this was nicked off a shipping importers yard or possible even inform the authorities.

Obviously this doesnt apply if theyre buying new stuff like you are, with people who have good buyer and seller ratings....

or does it...

( This was a public information service announcement for the young and broke wishing to buy cheap stuff on ebay.lol.)

Nah, good luck on ya for getting a bargain.



ps on the lighting front- often for plant growth its not the brightness but the frequency that counts- and this can change radically as the neodymium coating on the striplights interior wears out- so even though it looks bright to your eye it might not have the correct frequency to enhance plant growth. This coating usually wears out in 6 to 12 months depending on the manufacturer.A lot of lights will run for 5 years or more, looking perfectly bright, but that doesnt mean they will be good for your plants.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 04-Sep-2005 00:41

longhairedgit – I have no idea what you mean. Where does your second-hand bulb thing come from? There is no sale on bulbs at this company, each bulb is $ 30 (and as such almost standard price of even Drs. Foster and Smith) and there is an offer to buy up to 4 of them with the fixture (and only if you buy the fixture) for half the price. Can you explain what you mean (for dummies like me)?

Janna – Thanks for this link, it is really a super price. Nevertheless, ODYSSEA is, in my opinion, a low quality product and even if the light is of good quality I would constantly worry that it breaks any second. In addition, I don’t need a 36” unit, I got a 72” (which they have also for $ 149.90). Also, the mounting legs displayed for the unit are absolutely not feasible. You cannot have a standard glass top on the tank and use them at the same time as the holder would be in the glass’s way.

sham – Thanks for this tip, but even fixtures can go bad, like falling down, reflector goes blind, or ballast breaks.

Overall, it is too late anyway as my new fixture (mentioned above) is on the way

But I certainly do appreciate the input, the more opinions we get the better picture we have.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Often times you can get the light fixtures on ebay for less than even just the bulbs are worth. The pc fixture doesn't go bad and compact bulbs are good till they go out. They don't dim over time so it would only depend on how much more time they have till they go out.

You can get a 36" 192 watt fixture with 2 free bulbs for $65.90 [link=here.]http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=10" style="COLOR: #FFFF80[/link] Yoou have to pay extra for mounting legs and LED moonlights, but it still comes out to only about $85.

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They shade the glow of it with their mossy-misty costumes,
They wear masks of silk, porcelain, brass, and silver,
So as not to mislead with their own, ordinary faces.

Just a word of caution on secondhand lighting- buy the units and transformers power converters etc- but dont buy second hand bulbs- theyre usually worn out, hence the sale- the light quality will be diminished to useless.

Unless like a lot of stuff on ebay, it has doubtless "fallen off the back of a lorry" lol.
It might actually work then

can't believe i was any help in selecting lighting glad i could be of help and glad you got a good deal...eventually i'll be doing lighting, but don't anybody hold your breathgot too much other stuffes to do before have fun and enjoyheidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Gang,

In my search for a new aquarium light I came across the following item:

[link=Catalina Aquarium Power Compact Hood]http://www.aquauniverse.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,858/category_id,50/option,com_phpshop/Itemid,31/" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link]

Now, I have never heard of this company but I see that it is listed as a seller on EBay for over 4 years and
also sells on AquaBid. It has a satisfactory rating of over 97% on EBay, but the seller also keeps the feedback
private (although EBay explicitly states that they encourage sellers to make it public) so I cannot see what was
wrong with the 3% of buyers.

There are a few things that make me NOT feel good about this deal:

- I never heard either of this company or of the Catalina brand
- The 36” unit sells for about $140. It is basically the same than the 72” unit that they sell (which has double the
lights, but only 8 moonlights), but costs way less then it (72” is $ 370 while 2 x $ 140 = $ 280)
- I have a tendency to associate cost with quality, ergo cheaper means less good (but this is my problem)

What is your opinion?

Thanks for the input,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

It lists the reflectors. Most of my lights are cheap ones off ebay. They work fine but could use seperate cords and the fans aren't the greatest.

Looks like a nice fixture. I've got a cheapy Taiwan fixture- forget the brand, Matrix or Dynamax. Works fine.

This one looks better. The seperate cords is a handy feature. The built in fans are good, wish I had them, the fixture can get very hot.

I didn't notice but maybe I missed it - reflectors ? Very important. PC lights are great for intensity but getting a good spread of light throughout the tank is vital, good reflectors will do that.

Don't worry too much about WPG with a fixture like this. 96 watt PC bulbs are powerful. If a fixture like this works out at even 2 wpg you are into high light IMO.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

LITTLE_FISH

If they are cheap there must be a reason and it is usually poor quality.

In Aust at the moment there has been some drastic safety rule changes regarding all lights sold in Aquariums. The reason being there has been some rather not so good a quality being sold which could lead to people being killed.

One very important thing to remember water and electricity do not mix at all.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Dunno anything about the lights, but personally I wouldn't buy from an Ebay seller who puts his/her feedback private (or less than 100% feedback for that matter). If they have nothing to hide, then you should be able to see all the feedback. Not worth the risk IMO.

-P

I am having to replace the bulbs for the light fixtures for the new 75 gallon and here is the two sites Nate recommended to me...maybe they can be of help, that or the worklights from home depot

[link=hellolights.com]http://hellolights.com/index.html" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link]

[link=marine depot]http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighting__index.asp?CartId=" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link]

hopefully that is some help, and there is always:

[link=big als online]http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/parent_category.xml?category_id=1843;pcid1=" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link]

hope some of that helps...heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

hey sounds like a great deal maybe to great if you do buy make sure to use paypal i got beat before paypal had all my money back in 24 hrs i dont buy without them/:'

I've never heard of them either but it looks like a great light. Most lights that size only have around 3 moonlights. I love the seperate cords that allow you to put all the different lights on different timers. I really wish mine was that way because to use the moonlights I have to turn off the timer and then flip them on or turn the other lights off myself without using a timer. Has a good number of fans if they aren't extra tiny. From what is listed there it looks like the parts are high quality.