Make sure if you do try to go with T5's that they are the High Output kind, cause there are NO's out there that are sold as HO, so you could get robbed in that regard. Sorry, I don't know if I missed it or not, but how deep is your tank. If it is about 12" or so then NO would be allright for softies, pretty well regardless. If it is between 12 and 20 then you'd want PC's, VHO's. Anything deeper and light won't penetrate as well.
Stircrazy, the brand is actually irrelevant. 20,000 lux (lumens per square meter) is more than 10,000 lux regardless of wether the first is Corallife and the latter Hamilton. All this says is that the first is more intense than the second. You are right though in that PAR is an even better reading. However, even better than PAR is PUR (photosynthetically usable radiation). But, to really get PUR we have to know PSR (photo. stored radiation), but I don't know of anyone that has the tools to find these out, as you have to scope out the pigments in the corals to see what is stored, subtract that from PAR and then you have your PUR. But, we shouldn't aim to provide just enough PAR to equal PSR, cause there could be factors that hinder PUR, such as water clarity, corals overgrowing corals, surface agitation, etc. So, for sake of simplicity and reliability, lumens are an appropriate means of measurement. And, the meters are readily available and fairly easy to read. Sure, I'd love to know my corals PSR and my bulbs PAR at the surface, but it's just not really feasible for me.
Kuatto, I can't really remember the bulbs name. I know it is in a white box with blue on it and it says "DAYLIGHT" on it. I used them on my fuge and they were really sweet. The only problem is they are a little yellow (too bad they are 6500K and not 10000K
). But if you add actinic to them they look good. If I remember right they aren't where the florescents are kept, but towards the front with the halogens spotlights at the store I go to. HTH
