LEDS is the way. Everything else is on its way out. The light output is amazing now and the cost of the leds is way down. I have been building stuff with leds for several years now. I mostly build bike lights now but i have gotten into building reef lights after someone saw one of my ads and asked if i could build him a aquarium light. I have built a few now for several people and everyone loves them. They love how everything grows and the reduction in the electricity bill is not a bad thing either. There are tons of how to's out there that show you how to built a massive led light step by step. The parts are easily purchased and the only real skill needed is soldering and patience. People dont understand it usually takes ten to fifteen hours of labor to put one of these together but the reward is worth it. The designs you can come up with are endless.

This is the very first tank light i built for Dave. Its a six led 3blue/3white light using the cree xre-r2 leds. each color is adjustable.
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Here is another light i just built for Dave as well. This one has 18 leds 12blue/6white and man is this thing bright. He used it on a 2' cubed tank.
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This is the light on the tank at full blast. He says he keeps it on at half power since it was bleaching some corals.
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I can send you some links that will show you how to do the whole thing from start to finish. Contact me if you need advice since i already know what works well with reef lights. Good luck.