Currently using t5 on my nano, I want either a 150 or 90 gallon but I might have to go 90, I think il do led there's so many packages and set ups compared to metal halide

For ULN system I would go with T5HO because the intensity and spread of the light make for some very nice pastel colors.

With a regular system I much prefer MH.

So far all the frags that I either sell or get from people using LED are either coming in very dull or going dull after I sell them.

Ive only used T5HO and MH

MH takes the cake in nearly every aspect from my experiance.

FWIW, in the past i had a sweet sps tank using 400W MH.

and in the future, if i can deal with the heat and power cosumption, i'd use them again.

I'm running a 14 bulb 6' T5 on my 180 and get a good amount of growth and a great mixture of color options with that many bulb. Just costs a lot to do a bulb change lol.
Probably a couple years away from switching to any new technology.

Realistically for best color, growth and over all initial effect (as when you first walk into the room with an SPS tank) a MH and T5 combination is what I believe to be the "best" however "best" is a relative term and the benefits LEDs offer these days are just too large to ignore. I'll sacrifice some colors that don't look quite as good and how the tank doesn't appear as bright as before (might be a benefit to some), growth is debatable but when you're using a fraction of the power before it's hard to really care about a few mm. I could never go back to MH, T5s maybe but doubtful.

Plus LEDs are cool, there's even a special club for losers that don't have them, enough said.

:wave: plus we have popcorn! (Complements of my halides)

I run 6 ATI T5 bulbs and have great growth in my tank with SPS

Never used a halide to pop popcorn. Huh. Probably gets hot enough though

LED's for sure when looking at all features as a whole. MH may still win if you just look at a few of the features, but I am sure we are not to far off from having a LED that wins in all categories.

+1 Radion