I agree with lorenz0 here and my answer would also be yes to your question. But in my opinion a combination of the two is the perfect choice giving you punch and color. One other observation I have noticed that when customers have T5 lighting and they are looking at large clams or acros I am constantly asked if their lighting will sustain these. Now on the other hand customers running MH 250 + that question never comes to mind.
Kevin

T5 is becoming the dominate choice in SPS reef systems. One glance at any tank on the zeovit website (which is dominated by T5 reefs) will prove my comment.

The main thing that every agree's on, it's all dependent on your fixture. Some people figure they can save money by going T5 and still get the same results. This can be very untrue when you can spend just as much on a proper fixture to support SPS under T5's. This includes High output and overdriven fixtures with INDIVIDUAL reflectors.

Another big choice for people going T5 over MH is the color selections you can get from the variety of bulbs. The right selection of bulbs can make SPS look gorgeous.

I've noticed a few comments now that most people using T5s and keeping SPS seem to limit keeping their higher light corals within the top few inches of the tank. I'd just like to mention that I keep acros all the way from the top of the tank down to the sandbed and they all seem to do just fine. Growth rate may be slightly slower for the corals lower down but I'm finding that the corals lower down in the tank are often the ones to achieve better colouration than the corals located at a higher level in the tank. As previously posted too, most of the people on the zeovit forums run all T5s and you would be hard pressed to find a tank that kept all their SPS in the top portion of the tank.

Hi,
Interesting thread..I have a chance to obtain 36" T5 housing and was curious bout t5's myself . So if you get T5 housing with individual relfectors and good quality bulbs they are as efficient as Halide? or am I misunderstanding something?
My tank is 36"X18"X18" and am running Coralife 36" 2X96W bulbs the T5 fixture would be better?
Jim

is this totally wrong lighting?
 

I have a 155gallon that is 72x28x18 and I am running 4 VHO and one actinic all 48" long . I have some soft corals. I am headed for disaster? Do i have to have MH? Please advise as I am a newbie. Thanks:redface:

I went to visit a reefer in Surrey a few years ago, he had the most amazing tanks, SPS and all and it was beautiful. He kept it all with NO tubes, yep, home depot stuff plus some actinics. Now the thing is, his corals probably grew slower but it did grow. If I remember right, his Acros were close to the top.

Yes I agree with everyone else you can keep sps under T5, spend the money on a good fixture though, I used cheap fixtures and they ended up wet on the inside and only lasting about 6 months. They had open eneds etc... Someone said individual refelctors, I think it's a great idea. When my tank was new I had a 400 watt SE bulb over it (for a few days) but when I went to a good reflector and 250 watt DE HQI I beleive I noticed a big difference, the 250 was brighter, granted there was a different reflector, electronic ballast vs mag ballast and the new one being HQI it may be like comparing a kia to a maserati, I guess what I'm trying to say is, the more you try to improve the overall quality the better, not just the tubes themselves.

Douglas

Basically what it comes down to is whether or not T5s would be best suited to your aquarium system. There are many threads on RC with actual data comparing metal halide setups to T5 setups and most of the time PAR readings are fairly similar with metal halides typically producing slightly more PAR than T5s. Depending on the bulbs, ballasts, and reflectors used, either metal halide or T5s can produce more PAR so it really depends on the equipment used as well. With T5s, you do have a more customizable light spectrum though as there are many different bulbs you can choose from.

I'm sure that you would be more than happy after making the switch from PC to T5's. Just make sure the T5s are High Output (HO) and not normal output (NO). As you said, individual reflectors as well as high quality bulbs such as aquascience, ATI, KZ, giesmann, etc will make a huge difference in performance.

I go tT5 Tek 6 lamps fixture SPS color and growth is good
i got pink and green SPS growing.
The key thing is the reflectors though.

I am actually planning on purchasing a par meter just to measure everything. Another big thing with t5's is what you are using to cool them. The cooler the bulbs are, the higher output your going to get.

What some people have to remember is there are fixtures out there that do amazing jobs. For instance, Nova extreme pro's. If you change the bulbs with a better bulb you would be suprised with what they can grow. Tek's are great but the down fall to them is that they don't have fan's. If they came with fan's they would be competing with the ATI fixture imo.

For me, i am running aqua science bulbs right now but would like to try out KZ next.

Bulb selection is a huge factor. some people go for looks but will get minium growth and than curse that their sps is not growing when in reality if they changed out a few of your bulbs things can change dramatically.

I have a submersible light meter at the shop if anyone wants to borrow it.
Kevin