What I think you could get by with is just 4 3 ft t5 bulbs and 3 pendants. Put two 3 ft t5 bulbs on the front of the tank along the length, and two on the back along the length. Just use a retro fit kit, with three foot reflectors. You could use 8 3ft bulbs and stagger the reflectors to cover the entire seven feet, 4 on front and four on back (2 extending from center and one extending from each outside edge).
As far as the lighting schedule you are spot on...except I use ATI blue plus bulbs instead of actinics so I can get some usable light in my tank by still a nice blue color. You can use different color bulbs to completely customize your dusk dawn effect, I personally like the blue + look. The schedule is like
T5s turn on
Two hours later halides turn on
Four hours later halides turn off
Two hours later t5s turn off
Or
First t5s turn on
Hour later next t5s turn on
Hour later halides turn on
Four hours later halides turn off
Hour later one set t5s off
Hour later last t5s off
Add in whatever moon lighting you want but they are mostly for viewing purposes and if nobody is around when they are on you don't need them. Coral grows mostly when the lights are off, so I don't use moonlights.
I don't think t5s penetrate past 24 inches of water very well, this is where you would need halides to get light all the way to the bottom... either 250 w or 400w, the color spectrum would be up to you but I'd reccomemd one of these three bulbs (radium 400w 20k, xm 250w 15k, or Phoenix 14k 250w). The 400w radium is still hands down the best bulb for sps, you run it on an hqi ballast and it is beyond compare. LEDs are nice but if I was a company building an sps dominated system from the ground up, I personally would not choose any led fixtures on the market yet as I don't think they are fully dialed in to grow a full blown acro tank. In about three more years, they will be tested and redone enough for me personally to trust them. There are exceptions to the rule, but like I said earlier most of the best sps tanks you see are either mh, t5, or a combo of both.
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As far as the lighting schedule you are spot on...except I use ATI blue plus bulbs instead of actinics so I can get some usable light in my tank by still a nice blue color. You can use different color bulbs to completely customize your dusk dawn effect, I personally like the blue + look. The schedule is like
T5s turn on
Two hours later halides turn on
Four hours later halides turn off
Two hours later t5s turn off
Or
First t5s turn on
Hour later next t5s turn on
Hour later halides turn on
Four hours later halides turn off
Hour later one set t5s off
Hour later last t5s off
Add in whatever moon lighting you want but they are mostly for viewing purposes and if nobody is around when they are on you don't need them. Coral grows mostly when the lights are off, so I don't use moonlights.
I don't think t5s penetrate past 24 inches of water very well, this is where you would need halides to get light all the way to the bottom... either 250 w or 400w, the color spectrum would be up to you but I'd reccomemd one of these three bulbs (radium 400w 20k, xm 250w 15k, or Phoenix 14k 250w). The 400w radium is still hands down the best bulb for sps, you run it on an hqi ballast and it is beyond compare. LEDs are nice but if I was a company building an sps dominated system from the ground up, I personally would not choose any led fixtures on the market yet as I don't think they are fully dialed in to grow a full blown acro tank. In about three more years, they will be tested and redone enough for me personally to trust them. There are exceptions to the rule, but like I said earlier most of the best sps tanks you see are either mh, t5, or a combo of both.
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