I'm putting some pretty big coin into my tank, pressurized CO2 and some sort of high intensity lighting. I just did a total substrate change from gravel to sand over litter. I don't like spending a lot of money when I don't have to, and to further that end I do a fair amount of research. In looking at lighting I was initially going to go with ODNO 6500K, but wanted to keep an open mind. I looked a PC, and honestly I think it is too much money for the payoff. I looked at VHO, and buying an IceCap ballast is kind of a big investment. MH/Mercury vapor are out because I don't trust hanging lights from my ceiling (fine fore other people, I have a million year old apartment building made of termites holding hands). Just when I thought ODNO was my only cost-effective option, I saw that Home Depot sells a couple varieties of t5 bulbs. I came home and started digging, and found t5 lighting just a smidge too good to be true. A pair of $11 bulbs strapped to a $35 ballast and I can put out over 10,000 lumens over my 55 gallon tank (the bulbs and ballast are from www.fullspectrumsolutions.com, a commercial lighting distibuter). If anyone has horror stories of t5s, or want to rave about them, please let me know.
