[Fish]

Steve,
I should have been more clear - I never said that that Icecap claimed 'so and so' about their reflectors - I said that Icecap reflectors are better. That is the result of par readings comparing their output to that of the Sunlight Supply/Tek reflectors and the Aquatinics reflectors. This information is from the RC thread, and it has had over 4,600 posts so far. Allegedly, T5 bulbs are a complete waste of time without high quality reflectors. All I was wondering is what was going on with some of our members here.
I pride myself on keeping an open mind in this hobby and it has helped me overcome some misconceptions that people have. For example, I chose to ignore the "canister filters are not for saltwater" doctrine and a lot of nano hobbyists have benefited from my nano design.

I still remember when all the stubborn old PC users would get in 'lighting fights' and post pics of how they could keep anemones just as well as the halide guys and gals. I was/am a strong proponent of halide and watched as each one of them eventually made the switch as well. I believed that halide was, hands down, the best way to go and I wouldn't recommend anything else. However, at the same time, I never assumed that mankind had reached the pinnacle of aquarium lighting and that halide is as good as we are going to get.
It sounds like that's how you feel about it:

"I would have to say way over hype.. that would be saying that T5's are brighter than the sun."

No one is saying T5ho is brighter than the sun. No one is saying (I hope) that halide is as bright as the sun. What I am suggesting is that T5ho, with the proper reflectors, is brighter than halide. Of course I would love to see some canreefers do the testing, that way I wouldn't have to blindly accept the findings of our American counterparts. However, from seeing Nate and Paul's Tek fixtures, I don't see how a 175w halide bulb could ever possibly put as much light/PAR into the tank as 175w of T5ho. And the very fact that the readings on a halide need to be taken directly under the bulb is another point for T5 in my books - I would really like my whole tank to be well-lit; left to right, front to back, and not just in a certain spot.

I don't mean to be argumentative, I was just hoping that some of the people who were disappointed with T5 could qualify their results. If they were using good gear like the Tek or Aquatinic fixtures, than I've got a real problem because all that info on RC was baloney (and I wasted multiple hours of my life reading it). If however, they were using ebay or catalina specials with cheap reflectors, than I'm not too worried, because the T5 experts themselves have said that their performance would suck.
Hopefully together we can figure it out.

Peace,

- Chad