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Originally Posted by albert_dao
Here's a bit of a comparrision of some popular metal halide bulbs (all bulbs are SE 250 watts - Source Sanjay's website/Advanced Aquarist):
Iwasaki 6500K - 705 PAR
Ushio 10000K - 495 PAR
AB 13000K 250 - 577 PAR
XM 10000K 250 - 612 PAR
Here's a breakdown of the ATI brand T5's (all bulbs are 3' 39 watts - Source Grim_Reefer/RC):
Sun Pro - 357
Aquablue - 336
Blue Plus - 311
Actinic - 137
I think those numbers are pretty convincing...
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A more fair comparison would be 250W MH versus 54w T5 HO (the 4-footers) as most 250W MH bulbs are employed over 4' and longer tanks. I do recall Grim Reefer (who is a strong t5 HO proponent) doing a PAR comparison of certain 250W MH bulbs head to head with Ice Cap overdriven 54" T5 HO using his own equipment (not Joshi's results). Although the MH bulbs weren't the highest PAR bulbs around (i.e. the Iwasaki 6500K), the T5s did come out on top.
For the record, I'm running a 3x39W T5-HO teklight over a 46 gallon bow over mainly LPS. I've been completely satisfied with their performance thus far. It's been 13 months since the current bulbs have been in and I have not noticed any drop-off at least with the naked eye or coral growth/behaviour.