I'll be honest with you Dana, and others. I don't understand all the specs of the T5's that you're speaking. With that said, here's my history.
My wife and I started reefing in the 90's and even though most people were using halides, we went with four VHO's with different spectrum's, then later all four of 50\50's. Although we only had five SPS corals, we had great results with LPS and leathers. It was a in-wall 75g mixed reef. Scott Michael's visited us and took photo's of our tank and the fish room backing it up. They were in Aquarium Magazine. I made a 6' tall by 6" diamature PVC counter-current skimmer with a clear 10" reaction chamber and a 12" x 10" collection cup. I used bass-wood air diffuser's I made from 2x10's to be cut down to 2"x 10" in length and width which I'd change it out once per month. I had a large piston air pump (very cool pump) in the garage to supply mass's amounts of air. It put out amazing amounts of crap, I believe more than today's short chambered under cabinet skimmers .
I bought a universal Ice Cap VHO lighting kit with a dimmer, then made a aluminum hood to house it in. I built a pulley system to attach the hood to, making raising it for new corals and to work in the tank since I had no front access. I made my own kalkwasser and calcium chloride to supply the coral and algae. I made a shelf above the tank for my homemade two gallon jug with a hospital IV drip system's for all the additives. Two of our pride corals was a Pagoda Coral that was 4" wide but grew out to 16" and the Elegance that was about the same. With the skimmer working so well, we had 11 fish.
We got out of the hobby to build, race and show a 1966 Ford 427 Shelby Cobra rep. that I built. But, we're back into reefing !
It's been two years now, and finding out just how much has changed ! Especially with regards to lighting, as with LED.
We bought four ''popular'' systems for different tanks, and we are very,...disappointed with them ! We do like the ramp up & down and the moon light, but that's it. I realize we are old school, but the disco ball effect and not showing the true colors of corals and fish. We did not buy into the outrageous price of the most used lighting out there, but never will. That company does have the best light and the best amenities for LED lighting, but the cost is a huge downfall. We also know that with the cost of replacing the T5' tubes every year will catch up with the cost of the LED, but the price is too much at one time, so maybe someday. I think if someone set up two tanks side by side, one having T5 and the other LED, set to proper spectrums, that the colors of the T5 will win.
So, to my point,....lol
The hood we bought (my first post above) is used but in new condition. He went back to halide's. He opted for the LED pucks and the dimming system. I don't recall which spectrum the tubes are, so we want to keep them as spares and buy six new.
What brand and spectrum tubes should work best,....for a mixed reef ?
More LPS, leathers etc. vs SPS, for now anyway.
