What does everyone think of T5's for reefs

[Doug]

Originally Posted by kaboom

Don't waste your money on T5"s. Get the real thing, metal halides. I don't know why people think it's cheaper to run t5's, the wattage of 8 x 54w is 440w, that's not much less than 2x250w MH, and you get the penetration that is essential for deep tanks and sps corals. The only time I would consider t5's is if I want going to keep LPS and soft corals only. Most people eventually migrate to harder to keep corals, and MH upgrade becomes the end result. Why not just start with MH and safe yourself a bunch of money and headache. I am speaking from personal experience and I've read too many of these "upgrading thread help". Hope this helps.

Thats a pretty bold statement. Are you saying my T-5 bulbs wont grow sps in my 16in. tall 30g? Not to mention the oodles of T-5 lit tanks I have seen elsewhere.

Now I agree with your view on costs & power and I have been a metal halide user since the 80,s but there are many ways of keeping corals.