# Odyssea T5 HO Quad pics



## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

I just purchased an Odyssea 48" 216W (4x 54W) T5 HO Quad Deluxe Light Fixture w/Built-in Digital Timer...thought pictures might help when making lighting decisions..I like it so far. It was easy to program the timer and the best part is I don't have to turn lights on and off. I'm liking that...  Great price too.

10000K only









Actinic only









Both 10000k & Actinic on









LED's only (blurred but they look good when on)









Some reviews mention problems with the LED's after time. I haven't had it long enough to comment on whether that is a problem or not.


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## cich2it (Jul 23, 2012)

Very nice tank! :thumb: If tank is live planted, would be anxious to see how it goes after a month or so.. The price is right, even with some issues on LED..
wonder if can work on 20gallon long? I'm going to get a WC Betta and put in 20L, but don't want to blind him with strong lighting..


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

It's bright really...brighter than my double bright LED's. I'll be interested to see how it goes too but I only have low light plants in the tank so not sure if that will be an indicator or not.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

cichlid-gal said:


> It's bright really...brighter than my double bright LED's. I'll be interested to see how it goes too but I only have low light plants in the tank so not sure if that will be an indicator or not.


Oh yeah....much much brighter. I had this same fixture and sold it for a beamswork reef bright which is more than twice as bright as the double bright and the quad t5HO was still much brighter. It is a good light though. I had it for over a year and had no issues. I needed to replace the bulbs and the cost was $88 for all 4 versus spending $115 for a new LED reef bright. So I went with the LED.

Your tank looks nice BTW.


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

Heya Lady thanks for the pics and the info. Very nice looking tank. I have to start thinking about lights. I have one dual T5 setup and it works good- but the other tanks with plants could do better, for sure. Also gotta start thinking about it for my SW tank 

Thanks again for sharing. I always like seeing your setups! :drooling:


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Thanks gents in regards to tank setup  Still not as nice as yours .. and I still have another light to buy yet for my 90G which is deep. I'm thinking this light could do it but I don't know about the LED's...was wondering about the Beamswork ReefBright


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

cichlid-gal said:


> Thanks gents in regards to tank setup  Still not as nice as yours .. and I still have another light to buy yet for my 90G which is deep. I'm thinking this light could do it but I don't know about the LED's...was wondering about the Beamswork ReefBright


I have the reef bright on two tanks right now and love them. Here is a video of my new 40g I just finished setting up with the reefbright from beamswork. I too have roughly the same color sand/rocks with a black background.

Make sure to change the resolution to 720p to get a better idea.


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

I'm curious if the 10,000k is better for the plants than the 6,400k. Looks like you can get either. Other than my one SW tank, I'm more after something to make plants grow. Ugh... so many things to weigh.

The cost of one set of T5 bulbs makes me really think about LED's too. They seem to all be 10,000k - at least that's what my vast one hour or so of searching has revealed lol... so not sure how they'd do with plants.

Sorry thinking out loud on the forum again...


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Dawg2012 said:


> I'm curious if the 10,000k is better for the plants than the 6,400k. Looks like you can get either. Other than my one SW tank, I'm more after something to make plants grow. Ugh... so many things to weigh.
> 
> The cost of one set of T5 bulbs makes me really think about LED's too. They seem to all be 10,000k - at least that's what my vast one hour or so of searching has revealed lol... so not sure how they'd do with plants.
> 
> Sorry thinking out loud on the forum again...


And no problem with that Dawg...that's what makes all of us get involved and thinking too :thumb:

You've probably read tons on the subject but this article is short and sweet...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=414

the key comment being "Depending on the specific species of plants you plan to acquire, and the depth of your tank, you will need a standard fluorescent lighting system between 2 and 5 watts per gallon. Purchase only plants which your lighting system will support." The Odyssea T5 HO Quad is 216W ... my tank is 75G so that's 2.88W per gallon ... brighter would be better for more light needy plants but this is fine for the plants I'm growing (all low light needy)


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Dawg2012 said:


> I'm curious if the 10,000k is better for the plants than the 6,400k. Looks like you can get either. Other than my one SW tank, I'm more after something to make plants grow. Ugh... so many things to weigh.
> 
> The cost of one set of T5 bulbs makes me really think about LED's too. They seem to all be 10,000k - at least that's what my vast one hour or so of searching has revealed lol... so not sure how they'd do with plants.
> 
> Sorry thinking out loud on the forum again...


The 6500k is better for plants than 10000k. Most of the quad fixtures I see on ebay and such come with 4 of the 6500k bulbs. Personally....I like the 6500k matched with actinic unless it is a heavily planted tank. I can hardly tell much difference between the 6500k with actinic and the 10000k with actinic. They both look the same to my eyes when paired together. If you have a planted tank where the plants require a bit of light then I would go with the t5HO and skip the lower end LED's. Some of the nicer LED's would work fine but are more expensive.


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## mudbug79 (Sep 18, 2012)

I just got the Odyssea T5 HO 60" for my 100 gallon tank. It looks great. It really makes everything pop. really bright.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

mudbug79 said:


> I just got the Odyssea T5 HO 60" for my 100 gallon tank. It looks great. It really makes everything pop. really bright.


 :thumb:


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## littleolme (Nov 1, 2011)

Cichlid-gal, any updates on your fixture? Are the LEDs still working?


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Ask and yea shall receive...LOL...a couple of update pics taken just a few minutes ago...










that is with just the blue LED's on...this next one is the tank with full lights (I did make some changes...1 changed the 10K's for 6700's and I switched out one actinic for a grow light)...getting green algae finally...probably need to adjust my lighting some to eliminate the dark green spot algae and a little cyno algae on my anubias...going to dip the anubia today to see if that will clean it and maybe a different location with more flow...still new to plants so learning what works and what doesn't...my big ferns have lost most of their original growth but I think that was to be expected and now all of them have babies coming in. I have the artificials in the tank because I have a couple of holding females and had just introduced some new fish about a month ago...like to give em lots of hiding places.










So far so good on this light...I really like it and I'm considering getting another for my 90G deep tank as I think the light on it would be awesome on the deeper tank too.


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## metricliman (Sep 3, 2012)

Looks good! Those are some nice OBs as well.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

metricliman said:


> Looks good! Those are some nice OBs as well.


Thanks Metricliman...right now tank is now totally M. zebra golds ... will become a 125G (once stands are built :roll: ... think I need to take up woodworking as I have more time than my husband)...and once they move to the 125G the polits will come back with them. The polits are in a 55G for right now. They seem happy enough but I sure liked the combo of these two fish. And I'm really excited about the holding females as its the 1st time I've had any of my zebras holding. =D>


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## Ronstopable (Dec 29, 2009)

I'm thinking of buying this same fixture for my 90 gallon tang tank. The only negatives I've heard with this brand is that they dont last long and will break down in a year or less. I thought I'd check in since it's been a while since you've gotten them and see how they are holding up. I just can't see paying 4X as much for another fixture. Thanks in advance.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Well, almost a year and still going strong. These lights have been transferred to my husbands 75G saltwater tank as I've opted to use mostly LED's on my tanks. I do still have a few tanks with the old T8's but I'm replacing them as I can. The Odyssea light is still great and its growing wonderful Coralline algae.


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## austings (May 12, 2012)

cichlid-gal said:


> Well, almost a year and still going strong. These lights have been transferred to my husbands 75G saltwater tank as I've opted to use mostly LED's on my tanks. I do still have a few tanks with the old T8's but I'm replacing them as I can. The Odyssea light is still great and its growing wonderful Coralline algae.


+1

I dont have the quad version, but I do have the dual bulb version, *** had mine for 8-9 months now, and I havent had any problems with it.


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## TCool774 (Jul 23, 2013)

Anyone know any clean trick to protect the moonlight LEDs? I was thinking putting a piece of tape over them but I don't know if that'll be effective.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

My moonlights are still working. Not doing anything special with them and they are over an open top saltwater tank.


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## TCool774 (Jul 23, 2013)

Anyone running another brand for the T5 lights? I feel that the odyssea T5's aren't bright enough...


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