Are MH's really necessary?

Last May i purchased my friends used lighting set-up. The set up consists of 3- retrofit 250w MH's, along with 4 actinics. The MH's are 1- 14k, and 2-10k. The actinics have no markings, but one is more blue vs the other being white. The MH's have reflectors. Along with the lights i also got his chiller. PCI CL600.

The person I purchased these lights from switched from that set-up to T5-HO's with the fans moonlites, and timers included in one complete unit.

This person is more of a coral lover then a fish lover and has a spectacular reef aquarium. He says he loves this set-up much more then the MH's.

I currently have very minimal corals in my tank. I've got some Frogspawn, some zoo's, and a leather. I will be adding more but want to find out a few things first.
Some of the corals i am interested in are Carnations(which i hear like lower light) Galaxia, maybe a clam, Elegance and some birds nest.

My questions are:
Can i keep these corals with the T5's, and get rid of the MH's?
I am thinking of this from a $ savings standpoint, as my electric bill is through the roof!! I figure i can get rid of the chiller if i do this, also.

Do you think i can really reduce my energy costs by doing this?
I would ask him if he's noticed a savings, but we've since had a falling out.

My tank is 210gallons and is 29.5 inches deep.

 

i use t5s mhs moonlites andactenics all in on hood XD

 

got it 4 only a small fee og 550$ ^^

 

It really depends on WHERE you want to keep things. T5's will only be good down to about 20" or so. MH will give you much better penetration

 

I think you will have problems keeping corals on the bottom with the tank being 36".

 

Agreed. With MH you won't have to worry about coral placement (as far as not having enough light) and your clam will probably be much happier. That tank is deeper than 99% of the people's tanks on here, with that much depth it is a whole new ballpark.

 

My mistake, my tank is 29.5 inches.

i figure i can keep the corals that prefer higher light intensity up higher, and the others obviously lower.
I want to make sure i am spending this money wisely, and not throwing it away. i plan on selling the lights and chiller i've got to help with the cost.

 

I didn't really think about depth. You can pretty much scratch my last post (in fact I think I will). Halides would be better.

 

Even at 29.5, the sand bed would still be a bit lacking in light.

 

With that big of a tank I would stick with the halides IMO... you will be much happier in the long run..