Power Compacts

[alton]

Over the years I have grown Frogspawn, GSP, Xenia, Mushrooms, Ricordia, Candy Cane, and even Slimmer and Montipora under CFL's. If you have CFL's continue to use them until you have a little money and can change. The big difference between CFL's and T5HO's is the individual reflector for each lamp and the fact that most T5HO lamps are made in USA and Germany versus the CFL's which are made in China. Another item to consider in your changing over from CFL's to either T5HO or MH is the cost of replacing lamps and the time they will last without losing too much of there brightness. Normally CFL's cost over $30 to replace where as T5HO cost around $20. And CFL's normally will last 8 to 10 months where as T5HO last 12 months. My first MH setup consisted of 2 -175 watt SE Reeflux lamps running on 2 coral vue ballast. One lamp after 18 months still had 90% brightness with the other at 60%. I have had DE MH lamps go bad after only 8 months. The only way to check is with a meter, your eyes can not tell when lamps go dim. I have had CFL, VHO, T5HO, MH, setups and have settled on MH. Which ever upgrade you change to in the future I would adivise you to go look at others tanks to get the look you want. Most of the time it is an owners preference more than an actual which is better arguement between T5HO and MH.