I personally dont like the general tank look of a pure t5ho tank. But the corals coloration are great! I was going to go with the power module and add 2 reef brights for the shimmer and pop which I like the look of. After the cost of a power module and 2 reef brights you are up there already.
At the end of the day i paid a little premium to get the ati hybrid to have a nice complete package hanging on top of my tank.
From my experience with leds, watt for watt they grow my sps great, dare I say better than t5ho alone. But colouration is lacking in the sps. So the white led on my hybrids can provide the muscle to grow my corals so i can pack the lights with blue plus and purple plus bulbs to obtain the colours in the coral.
Cost to run T5ho is negligible to me because when i purchase specific coral for top $ it frustrates me that i cannot obtain the colouration that i bought it for.
So to sum it up the hybrids to me... Offer a compact neat package that offers leds growth advantage, with the t5ho colouration advantage and the shimmer and pop the blue/ royal blues offer.
I think this thread is awesome, one of the main reasons we keep a reef tank is due to the crazy colours we get to see in our tanks. So picking a fixture that works for YOU in your own unique SITUATION (tank size, what corals you own, cost running, cost for initial purchase etc) is very important.
IMO theres no perfect fixture out there, you just gatta weigh the pros and cons for each one and see which one offers more pros to you.
__________________
|