halide or t5 for 26 bowfront

[reefarmer]

i am new here and it sure looks great! been doing the reef thing for 11 years now and things have sure changed. i started with the regular flor lights to power compacts and halides and now there are these t5 things!! i am setting up a new 26 gallon bowfront and wanted to know what you all think. i will be doing clams and sps and would like to try a t5. found one by current that has 4 24 watt bulbs would this be enough or should i use a 150 MH? or is there something better (there always is!) tank is 24 long by 21 high thanks !!!

[gobind]

Hi I my self would use Metal Hailade lamps. Reason why you get a better efect and better colouration from the corals.

[reefarmer]

thanks!! but would the t5 work ok, would like to keep the electric bill down a bit if possible and i have heard many good things about them

[kwirky]

I would go with the T5's. I just got a T5 teklight fixture for my 120 gallon, 24" deep tank, and I'm completely blown away. It's so intense you can't even look at it! and it's only 420 watts of light too. But the only things is they need the individual reflectors. If they're sharing reflectors, then there's no point, since T5's insane light output relies on it's reflector efficiency. They'll run way cooler over your small tank.

I posted a review of my teklight fixture here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=26819