Well that would be OK but my budget is about $450 total....

So for $450 I'm looking for the best bankg for the buck, I know there are better alternatives, but I simply don't have the cash for those alternatives.....

So once again out of the two choices what is my best bet....
Especially if anyone has experience with either....

With $450 you could almost get into a Tek T5 unit with bulbs. Don't go with those silly MH thingies :p

For that price you could only get a single MH pendant and ballast.

Almost but not quite and the Noca Pro unit is very close......

So that's what I originally planned on ordering but I see a few of the Coralife 150Watt MH with PC lights on sale used for the same price range (Which seems like a fair price since they were $800 ish new) But I'm not really sold on the PC bulbs.....

If they were MH with T5's for the same price I'd jump on those to get the best of all worlds but the only ones I'm seeing used are the PC ones.

That's where my hesitation is.

Wife wants one hood that looks nice....

I just figure the coralife had more wattage so it may be a better choice but from the reading I have done a 96 watt PC doesn't actually put out the equivalent to a 54 watt T5 so I may just stick with the T5's and add moons in a few months....

Thanks for the info....
If anyone else has anything further to add please do....

PC bulbs are pricey compared to T5 bulbs, to replace. and that nova extreme's reflectors seem iffy on the website's pictures. what about lumen max 2 reflectors with DIY ballasts and aquaconnect bulbs?

i just finished upgrading from a 150W aqualight pro fixture to a single 250W lumen max 3 with galaxy ballast. i'm very happy with the decision. you would need 2 on ur tank though and that'll run like $800

any way you look at it, a half decent light on a 48" tank won't be cheap I think. what if you were to go with teklight retrofits? can't get any cheaper nor better than that? you'd have to slap together your own hood or pendant for them but you'd have good lighting at a very good price then.