How good is this light im buying it for my reef tank and ive read alot of ups and downs?

Question

You have to scroll down a little. I also want to know if it is going to have the actinic blue is that what 50/50 is?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250170310072&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

Answer 1

Odyssea lights are the best bang for the buck, so to speak. I have one myself. However, if you put it in a canopy, then it overheats pretty easily. Without a canopy though, just sitting on top of the tank, it's fine.

Consider buying it directly from aquatraders.com instead of going through ebay. Here's this particular product: http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=338

Answer 2

I've never used the Odessea fixtures myself, so I can't help you there, but the 50/50 is just a tube that is 50% 10,000K and 50% actinic. You won't get a pure "nighttime" effect for dawn/dusk lighting or a "fluorescent" effect with photosynthetic corals in the tank, but these have less of a blue tint (which some users see as "too blue") if you leave them on during the day.

If you don't care for them, you can always replace those tubes with true actinics anytime you choose, and save the 50/50 for a backup. The compact fluorescents should be changed out once a year regardless, because the output in the wavelengths needed for photosynthesis (if you keep algaes, corals, anemones, clams, etc.) decreases. For fish only, it doesn't matter that you change them as much, but when the wavelengths start to go, you might find that undesirable algae starts to grow better.