Steve,
I wasn't commenting so much on the PAR differences between T5 and MH in my previous post. I was commenting on the statements you made: "MH is best" which is a pretty vague and subjective statement, and T5s produce "50% more output than a PC". The relatively low values with only 144W of 24W lamps in my tank show that you can readily get values throughout the tank that will happily keep SPS. There's no need to have PAR in excess of 700 μmol m-2 s-1 based on most of the recent publications on PAR and SPS. And with the ability to readily change out a lamp to change viewing color with T5s I'd have to say "T5 is best"
When you're talking about getting 600 and 720 μmol m-2 s-1 you aren't comparing a 250W MH to 144W of 24W T5s are you? That's not a very reasonable comparison.
The light spread with T5s is pretty uniform throughout the tank. This has its pros and cons. Most of the good reflectors for MH are now doing nothing to increase the intensity but are trying to improve spread. I believe Sanjay's PAR values are measured "hot spots" 18" directly under the lamp so, while the absence of a reflector will impact the numbers, it's probably not near the presumed significance. And I don't even look at Sanjay's reported PAR values. I prefer to look at real world measurements in a typical application including reflectors in someone's tank. So I wouldn't say I'm one of the "T5 people" to whom you're referring.
As I said above, my measured values are on the low end of the spectrum based on the fact that I'm using 24W lamps and only 6 of them. So I'd like to see some tank measured PAR values with PC lit tanks that support the contention that T5s produce 50% more output than PC on fairly compared tanks. From what I've seen about 18" away from two 36W PCs produces somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 μmol m-2 s-1. Obviously, T5s benefit from the design improvement whereby they can be easily fitted into a high quality single light reflector and I'm not comparing equal wattages.
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how are you liking your new meter and which one did you end up getting?
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I didn't end up buying one because Progressive Reef brought in a few Apogee Quantum MQ-200 meters and decided to use one as a "rental" unit. They also have a Hanna phosphate photometer so now I don't have to buy one
And congrats on the new puppy. It's a cutie!