T5 lighting

[Chin_Lee]

Has any aquarist ever been able to successfully debate the pros of having multiple T5's that are equivalent in wattages comparable to that of metal halides?
I just cannot see the logic of having to buy 8 T5 bulbs to get 800 watts of lighting when you can achieve the same or better lighting with 3x250W or 3x150 MH bulbs?

Originally Posted by Tom R

In the tank info posted it says that the tank is approx 225G (72x30x24) he is using 10 T5's 6 @ 80 watt and 4 @ 54 watt half of them are Actinic. He replaces them every 8 months. Excluding the heat problems with MH the cost of replacing these lights over say 3 250w MH would be substantial (approx $800 over $400)

It also says he is using a number of additives that sound a lot like the Polyp Lab's Reef-Resh system.

Tom R