experience with Aquamedic anyone?

[reefworm]

trying to get input on the quality,etc. of Aquamedic products [ specifically a lighting fixture sold at Premium Aquatics] anyone have +/- to say?

[sharkteef]

i have one of there skimmers and i loved it.

[silverking]

i have the oceanlight 250w pendent i like works great

[iwishtofish]

I just installed a hanging Aqua Medic Ocean Light MH pendant. I can't give you much feedback on performance, as my tank has no livestock yet, but build quality seems good and it is very lightweight due to the external ballast. It also seems to shed its heat well. Cord lengths are great.

[atzak]

I love my light, I wish the ballasts were remote though. With 3 hqi 250 watt electronic ballasts, my fixture is a heavy mother fer

[JokerGirl]

I've got the Aquaspacelight - 2x250w HQI MH and 2x54w T5....

I lucked out that I got it on eBay for a ridiculously cheap price.

I LOVE this fixture. It's been great. The only problem that I've had with it is when it was shipped to me a wire inside came loose, and one of the halides wouldn't turn on. It was a quick 5 minute fix.

It came with new 10k Aqualine bulbs. They are very good so far. Not as yellow as some of the other 10k bulbs I've seen.

My only complaint is that I don't like the blue T5 actinics.... I'll be switching them out to the purple true actinic soon when I change all the bulbs out.

The ballast is very quiet except for when it first switches on in the morning. It takes it about 5-10 minutes to completely warm up, then after that you don't hear a thing.

Awesome lamp, I would recommend it in a heartbeat.

[bureau13]

I second (third? fourth?) the props for AM. I have the 4x250W HQI/4x39W T5H0 fixture and a Kalkwasser stirrer. Both have been great, although I found the AB 10K bulbs a bit yellowish...great PAR though.

The US support is excellent as well. I had a problem with one of the sockets on my ballast, and they sent me everything I needed to fix it (at my request...I didn't want to mail the whole thing back to them).

jds

[reefworm]

thanks everyone. I feel confident enough to order - very good to hear that they support their product. In this case the Ocean Light 24 - 1 250w 10K MH + 2 24w T5s blue - looks like a smaller version of JokerGirl's.

Boy is it great to get this kind of input BEFORE this kind of purchase!

[reefkoi]

The ballasts are heavy and run very hot but do make the bulbs burn very nicely.
I've had 2 ballast fail on 2 different tanks within a year though.
I have now switched to PFO's and so far I love the fact that the PFo 1000w ballast runs much cooler that the Aquamedic 2-250 watt unit did.
Thats my take on them
Chris

[Salamander]

Well I admit I had a bad experience. Had a balast problem and couldn't get them to help me out for three months!

They kept saying they were going to help then never followed through. I called pretty much every week if not more than once a week. The only way I got help was when I posted in the vendor forum,then next time I called (again) I got to talk to the president/owner who yelled and blasted me for slander when all I had done was state the facts. Apparently they read RC. I had kept emails, noted when and whome I had spoken with on the phone etc. Once they looked through their records and my emails, they apologized and got me a new balast. The new balast came with missing screws and non matching wrong screws on the housing and no screws securing what I think was the coil or capacitor. I was told they had just switched to a new manufacturer and blah blah blah. I fixed it myself but thought for over $700 it should've been assembled correctly. After all that they sent me a second set of MH bulbs.

Now that the unit is running, I like it. It just took me a little over three months to get to that point.

But I bought this unit due to all the good reports I read almost a year of research prior to spending the dough. I guess everything can't be perfect all the time.

After writing this I'm waiting for their response....I feel like big brother is watching me......

[bureau13]

Salamander, when did you purchase yours? I know about a year and a half ago they had a fire take out their US warehouse, and you couldn't get anything for quite a while. Maybe you hit them at a bad time?

jds

[osprey77]

their fire was longer than a year and a half.... They are right down the street. They have had some major changes but really seem to be back on track. Ya ever have a problem i can always knock on their door. I just wish they sold seconds or scratch and dents here locally.

[monicaswizzle]

Salamander--

Interesting to hear your story. Maybe you softened them up for me. I had one of their ballasts fail after less than 6 months use. When I called they told me that they had switched manufacturers and no longer could provide me with an exact match, but if I provided poof of purchase they would replace with an equivalent. I faxed in my proof and they called me back to say that the equivalent 450w ballast was out of stock, that they didn't want me to have to wait, so they mailed me a dual 450w unit with no extra charge. I was very impressed with their customer service. Other than the failure of the original, I am very happy with the fixture and scheming to get a second one since I have that second ballast just "going to waste".

[Michelle L]

I have three of the 400 watt Ocean Light pendants over my tank now and I am happy with them. I'm not crazy about the stock AB bulbs, so I swapped them out for XM's and they look fantastic.

Before that I had two of the 250 watt Ocean Light T-5 combos and they were nice too, just not enough ommph for a deep tank. We measured the PAR on the bulbs though and it was pretty good.

The ballasts do run hot, so be sure that they are not up against something that can be harmed by heat. One of my ballasts has a loose screw inside and is noisy, but I never got around to returning it and it performs fine.

I too had some issues with the first lights that I bought because that was in the same time frame as the warehouse fire that they had. Since then though, I haven't had any issues and am happy with the ones that I have over my tank now.

[Salamander]

I got mine in mid-October last year and didn't have it running until February. I was quite let down by the customer service and especially response and attitiude from the owner/president.

What was funny was after I posted on RC about my experiences I called the next day was repeatedly told that who I was trying to reach was busy. Over and over it happened that day. Finally I called just after closing hours and that's when the owner/president answered and got soo ****y with me and accused me of slander and libel when she didn't even know the facts.

She told me that she had instructed her employees not to talk with me! She said she wanted to talk to me personally but she never made an attempt or even told her employees to transfer me to her at least once in the numerous times I called. Most of the employees seemed very polite even if they had a hard time with my problems. But the initial actions, attititude and response from the woman who said she was the new owner/president has turned me off from ever getting another one of their products. I will not support a business where such people benefit. I'd rather support somone who may not have the best prices or product but has a better attitiude and demeanor.

Customer service goes along way and when I relate my story to club members they veer away from aquamedic.

[reefkoi]

I heard from a LFS in Denver that 2 guys run the whole place right now.
I don't know if that meant RUN it or literally 2 guys are the only bodies in the building.
He told me since the company in america started using the china made stuff that it has gone downhill from the german aqua medic.
I dunno, but that's what i heard and thought I'd pass it on.

I had a ocean light ballast go bad and called them directly, got through to a guy right away, he diagnosed the bad part on the phone and i had a new one the next day, I was impressed with the customer service to say the least.

My gripe is why do I have to replace parts just over a year after I buy the ballast? I've had other brands of PC and MH ballasts run trouble free for 10+ years. That's what bugs me.

[bureau13]

You're probably right. I just know it seemed to take forever for them to get back up and running. I actually lucked out, I'll bet I found the last 4x250 Ocean Light in the country until they came back on line.

jds

Originally posted by osprey77
their fire was longer than a year and a half.... They are right down the street. They have had some major changes but really seem to be back on track. Ya ever have a problem i can always knock on their door. I just wish they sold seconds or scratch and dents here locally.