My buddy has a 180 lit totally by t-5 and he has awesome sps growth along with a couple of clams. Im not a clam expert but I know that some are less light demenading than others and there are a couple that will do best with halides but there are plenty that can be kept just fine under t-5s. Im sure there are a few sps that will do best under halides but most(with excellent water and flow)will present wonderful growth and thrive under t-5. Now Im not saying Im the final word and others will come in and preach halides and shimmer but sledom will they mention heat and/or power bills,or that you will most likely need a chiller or a basement sump. Admittedly back in the day I was a halide man and a part of me still yearns for them but today Im a t-5 man. The variety of bulbs and looks you can get from them boggles the mind. One very small fan in the hood keep these things almost as cool as the bulb in my wifes reading lamp and the impact on the powerbill simply cannot be argued. My buddy didnt want to side-by-side 2-48" units above his 180 which is 72"across. And apparently the longest t-5 bulbs available are 60". His solution was to custom order a light from Catalina lights,it has 8 bulbs 60" long in a 72"hood. The lights are stair stepped across the hood providing light across the entire tank. My angle is that I got a great deal on his old Catalina fixture((1 year old)8 bulb t-5 with individual reflectors,so I was all for the new fixture,he was debating between buying another 48" to go with his old one or getting the new one. A week ago he bought another fixture from them for his new frag tank,he shopped all the different brands and decided to call Catalina up,they made him a fixture to his door cheaper than any other he found. There are however some other good t-5 brands namely Sunlight TEK lights or the one I was thinking of getting,before I got his old light are Aquatinics. I also own 2 different Current fixures and I know the Pro have the ind.reflectors so that may be your best bet,my only complaint with current is the cheap plastic legs that I have been unable to find replacements for. Ive opted for hanging them for now and plan to make some on a CNC mill at work out of aluminum if the hanging thing doesnt work out. Good luck in your quest for optimun lighting conditions.
. Hard to trust an lfs because they are usually there to make money. I want to make the right choice before draining my wallet and skyrocketing my electric bill for something I did not need, hey if there is a T-5 set up that is better than the nova extreme that would be great to know also.
