lighting dilemma 2x400 or 2x250 + t5

[exoticaquatix]

im in the planning stages of setting up my 120 and im a little on the fence about lighting.
right now i have a SLS 400 watt pulse start ballast (radiums? :D ) being used on my 65 and i can either buy one more and have 800 watts of 14 or 20K lighting on a 24" deep tank or trade in my ballast for 2 x 250 watt 6500 or 10k setup and use t5's for actinic supplementation.
i can either save money now and pay out the a$$ for electricity or get more efficient lighting and spend all my dough on all new equipment.

i guess my question is if the 2 x 400's will be more than enough and will i be spending more than i have to for all the watts and lower par or should i bite the bullet and trade out my current system for the 2 x 250 plus T5 set up?

i plan on moving all my current corals (mostly acro's, some montis, stylo, poci, a crocea clam some euphyllias, some echinos a few rics and a bunch of zoo's) and focusing on more SPS and a few clams in the future.

[NewSchool04]

I would switch it out to the 250 w/ T5's. I think 250's are more than enough for a tank that deep and it's really nice to have the blues on when the MH is off. Extends viewing time and the actinic + T5 bulb has a nice bit of PAR added to the set up.

[exoticaquatix]

how do you guyd feel about the ice cap e-ballasts? am i better off PAR and color wise with M59 or M80?

[Yinger]

i use icecap 250s with my 120 with phoenix 14ks. more than enough lighting. 400 in a tank our size is a little overkill.

[prodman]

I use 250s on my 120 and its plenty.

[want2reef]

I run phoenix and e=ballasts on my 120g, great color and good growth.

If you want some great growth go XM10K's with a couple T5 blue pluses.

[exoticaquatix]

i heard the PAR on the XM 10ks was pretty low compared to other brands? is that hear-say, does it all depend on the ballast?

i have heard good things about the coralvue 12ks, good par and a nice blue tint. anyone running these bulbs on an icecap?

thanks for the input so far guys.
-nick