The costs of T5 are a little lower than that, but point well taken.

And with MH some people like to put VHO actinics with them for color, so that adds some cost.

I might regret going VHO on this little tank, so I will build the hood planning to upgrade to MH in the future.

the costs for the T5's were taken directly off J&L's website.

there is a difference when you use VHO on a MH tank for color, (I do this) I change them out about every two years or when they burn out as they are only to alter the color.

going VHO isn't all a bad thing.. personaly I don't like the color of a VHO lit tank but I do like VHO actinics for MH lit tanks. it all depends on a look. also if you are going with a smaller tank you could very well get away with VHO for a lot of stuff. one thing I would put forth, if you haven't already bought your lights, go VHO for your actinics and PC's for your 10000K. the 10000K of a PC is whiter than VHO, and more intense. I did this at one stage and had several SPS growing under them although I never did get the colors I experenced with MH lighting.

Steve

Well your ballast cost is high, wont an icecap 660 run 4x28" tubes?
But it doesnt matter, T5 is not cheap obviously.

If I stick with VHO, I might do 4x75w, 3 of them 10k, 1 actinic. THis should be able to keep LPS corals, and maybe SPS on the top.

The T5 retrofit kit that I bought can be found for $115 for the 36" kit with waterproof endcaps, reflectors and 2 bulbs. It's the 39w HO kit.

Where abouts?

www.saltwaterconnection.com

Jayson (the owner) pops in here from time to time.

What corals do you keep under those lights?

I've got a tri colour acro, some gsp's, a gbta, a couple of heads of frogspawn and a large fist sized colony of candy cane coral. All are very happy.

My set was $500 for 4x 54w HO T5s.
But I do see your point on the cost breakdown.I found my T5s much better than my 175MH,But maybe thats because they are HO,and the 175 dosn't have a very good reflector.My next tank I plan on useing 150 MH(Shallow tank).All the lights have their uses,so I dont feel Ive wasted money on any of my fixtures.Just need to stay within their limits.

which is almost exactly 1/2 of the 8 bulb set up I used in my comparason.

Also I should note the cost comparsion I did was for buying all the parts and putting it in your self.

Dang your 39 watt kit you quote is for two bulbs but are they both 39 watt bulbs or two 20 watt bulbs? but for clarity I was quoting a 55 watt bulbs also.

Steve