T5 or mh for reef tank?

i will always run halides..my tank stays at 78degrees..and the shimmer effect is the whole reason i have them..if you have the exact same tanks next to each other with one t5s and one halides..99.9% of the people are gonna say the halides look better..and running halides for 6 hours a day and running t5s for 12hours, the cost kinda balances itself..it only costs me 15$ a month to run my tank with halides on for 8 hours a day..

also halides have been proven to work long run..leds still are being tested for long long term growth..and t5s is cool that you can do a bunch of different color combos..

but i agree that with all three lighting options if you have enough lighting, then your gonna have a great reef tank, its just hard to pull me away from the shimmer..

 

this is a good idea, just do a combo fixture of halides and pc's or halides and t5's

 

I use to say the same thing....until I gave in and switched to T5s about 3 yrs ago

I did miss the shimmer of my MH, but got use to not having it fairly quickly. With the vast range of T5 bulbs to choose from, the coral colors were amazing under T5s compared to my MH lighting. I also thought I would have to run my T5s longer to achieve the same results as MH, I actually end up running them less, I currently only run my lights 8 hrs and 4 of the 8 hrs I only run 4 of the 6 bulbs. It also depends on the corals you plan to keep but I do believe with good ballasts, reflectors and T5 bulbs, you could achieve the same or even better results than MH....the shimmer could easily be achieved by supplementing a few low watt spot LEDs. I'm actually thinking of adding a few BoostLEDs to my main tank.

 

yeah i 100% agree, i have seen great tanks with both..i dont know what it is about halides, its just hard to switch..And i do like the idea of having the multiple bulb choices, i have a 2x39 t5 on my tank and i have the fiji purple and blue+ and i like that i can run the purple or blue or both when the halides are off and the different colors make the colors go crazy..but i also have seen tanks with people running 20k halides and they have even brighter colors, but i guess that boils down to water quality and feedings..idk either way t5s or halides if you have the right amount of light it = a great tank..im not too sure on leds, i know its cheaper energy wise and less heat but have read numerous threads of people switching to $1000 led fixtures with tons of watts and had great growth and colors for a few years and then their sps just started browning out..

 

MH's.....great power. Yes there's extra heat but it's manageable.....just get a cheap fan. I live in Texas and when it's 100 degrees out and my inside temp is 80+ which is out indoors, my tank runs at 79-80 with no chiller.

 

yeah same here, im in louisiana and trust it gets hot as balls,,and my tank i dont think has ever gotten over 80..