Quote Originally Posted by allan View Post
I have 10 under my hood, and not having any experience with any other form of lighting I like them fine.

I've burned coral and I've starved it for light so it's dependant on what I want to grow.

The only issue I have with mine is that I've got 48" bulbs running from left to right, because of that I'm focussed in certain sections of the tank from back to front. I recently burned a coral because the point where I placed it was directly under my Fiji Coral Stim and Coral Enhance bulbs. I think. I don't really know as the bulbs aren't labled. But only a few corals can live very high in that location.
Wow, I thought 8 bulbs would be too much. 10 bulbs?!?! I need to check out your setup on the tank tour.

Quote Originally Posted by txav8r View Post
The color combinations are endless but the bulb life is short. I ran T5's for a year or so on my reef tank and loved them but the color spectrum seem to drift pretty soon after they were installed.
The bulbs I replaced were 2 years old, so I completely see your point, Jack. It was like night and day, literally, between the old bulbs and new ones. I still use VHO's, so I'm used to color shifts after 6-8 months. I don't agree with the retailers recommendations of replacing t5's between 12-18 months.

I'm still a halide fan, but if I had to setup a completely new tank and had the funds to start completely over, I might be tempted to go with a 8 bulb ATI fixture.