Interesting. Thanks for the input and ideas. We would love to come by and see your tank again Troy. I bet there are a few differences since around 2008, last time we were over there.

It's not that LEDs are out of the question, but I actually prefer the look of a combination of lighting, using LED as supplemental so there is some of that POP of color, but the overall effect oh MH and T5 is more appealing to me. Also if / when we decide to spend that kind of $ on my tank, it will be to build the dream tank 2-sided DSA 185 that would go in-wall between our dining room and entry hall. It would be our chance to see what we could do with a reef tank knowing a couple more things than we knew 5 years ago when we set this one up.

So in the meantime, I think I'm looking for a fix for the current lighting situation. Thanks for the input and ideas.