Hi. Thanks for all the advice so far. The t5 glo does not come with lights, their extra. I was looking at the 10000 and the actinics, which were like $30 ech if i bought the glo brand, but the lady at the pet store said the no name ones were the exact same and were $15 ech. ??? Dont know if i would get the same lighting with the no name ones, but like the price, :O). I have been scrolling through the mh adds. What the difference between the magnetic and non magnetic? And would i have to get a chiller, or is that only if i go with more then one mh? The pet stores out here are fairly limited for space and stock, so i never know if their advising me on whats best for me, or just telling me to buy whats on their shelf, which typicaly isnt much, lol. Also if i bought lets say a 150w or 250 w, would one be enough to cover my 24" wide aquarium, or would i need 2? That would be to expencive i think.

My experience with T5 is too limited so I probably shouldnt say anymore.

This should answer all of your questions about how MH work (plus it saves me valuable typing time).
Part V: Everything You Need to Know About
Metal Halide Lamps and Ballasts: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/sj/index.php

What temperature does the room your tank is in get to during the summer? If its in a cool basement you may not need anything. If its in a hot apartment with no air conditioning you might have a big problem with heat.

A single MH of either wattage should be able to light a 2'x2' area well with a decent reflector.

magnetic/electronic/pulse start/probe are all different types of ballasts. magnetic type ballasts tend to "over drive" some bulbs while electronic seem to "underdrive" some bulbs.. this is of course has expections as they dont always over drive or under drive bulbs as every bulb has different specs that they need to run at.

in my experience a single 150W will cover a normal size 20gallon just fine as for heat if you went with the 250W you can always lift it higher thus end up with less heat inside the tank itself, however as whatcaneyedo it also depends on where the tank is setup and the ambient temp.

In my experience to get a good cover when using MH to main factors to be considered:
Length of the tank and height (if it is a very wide tank then you should re-consider)

I would recommend a MH bulb for every 24 in! If you have 50inch tank you should use 2 bulbs, one for every 24inch and so on.

To select the power of the bulb I would recommend:

For a tank up to 24inch heights a 150 will do the job.
For a tank up to 30inch heights a 250 will do the job.
For a tank above 30inch height a 400 in needed.

Well i didnt want to wait any longer so i bought a t5 glo from aquatic addictions. Reason being i didnt want to have to buy a mh plus chiller, and most of the used mh needed new bulbs, was out of my buget for the time.
Im liking the glo t5 so far, only downside is it doesnt have seperate plug ins or switches for the lights. But its a huge improvment from before. I also put in my first fish, a clown fish picked by my boys of course, and am getting a second one today. I figure ill eventualy go for a bigger tank, and will try to find a package deal with mh seeing as that seems to be what most recomend. I think ill get a bigger tank in the very near future as this seems to be addicting, and will use my current tank as a quarintine tank since i dont currently have one. Thanks again for all the advice, i saved the link to the "facts of light". Which is very informative and should help me know what to look for.

What bulbs did you go with?

if ur looking for a good starter tank i have a 75 gallon, stand, canopy and dual 175w halides with ballasts and a heater, power head, overflow box.
$500 obo if ur interested.

Dont let people scare you about the hagen lights...here is what I did with two hagen units over a 20g http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...fishytimes+20g

Wow fishy time, your tank looks great, Im hoping one day to get mine like that, still a little bare, but ill get their. You had 4 bulbs going then ay, .

Right now i have one 10000k bulb and the other actinic. It looks way better. I wasnt sure if i should have 2 10000k, or the mix.

My next buy will be something for my clown fish to hide in. :O) I just put in two clown fish and two turbo snail and my other hald just supprised be with a brittle star. I figure i should hold off anymore living creatures for a few weeks since its only been going for a couple months. Does something like a bubble tip or a anemone add to a bio load? I figure they must since their living. Funny iv had my freshwater tank going for a few years and nobody has taken an interest but since i started my little saltwater tanki notice everyone looking in, and my husband seems as excited as i do when i add something :O)

My tank with T5 (7*54w)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_uxCgBLJKy-Q/Si...w/15.09.09.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_uxCgBLJKy-Q/Si...2/24.01.09.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_uxCgBLJKy-Q/Si...A/18.02.09.jpg