I would go the T5 Route if i were buying new lights, I love my Halides but i think T5's allow more fine tuning of color especialy with a 6 or 8 light feature.

i had t5's at first, and i gotta admit, for they're wattage they're relatively bright, but they didn't give me that ''crisp''water look that i'd always see in frag tanks at lfs'. as for cost if you're ready to do some decent DIY work, MH fixtures can be made to look great.

I ran T5's for a year, I don't know why but any high light corals (SPS) did horrible for me under T5's and the growth rate of my corals was extremely slow under the T5 lighting. Switched to MH and the sps corals that were dying made a come back and started to grow, I also noticed an increase in growth rate with all my other corals. I know the are other people who have had no problems with T5's but for some reason T5's did not work well for me.

To answer the simple question, yes, you NEED MH :)

That's a rather bold.. incorrect statement. :p

bold? Ya. I just like to see people start out right though :)

Would adding a MH, something like this be an option to supplement my present PC lights?

a lumen max would be a better reflector

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...-3---150-Watt/

i remember someone posting a thread a couple of months ago about how there growth literally doubled when he switched from T5 to MH, whether this is true or not, i don't have the slightest, but the pictures he posted of his sps under MH illumination were great, go MH:mrgreen:

Our growth rate did.