Another T5 vs. MH question

[Mikro402]

I 'm having second thoughts about getting T5's an instead getting MH. Do the T5's have an inherently blue cast to them?
I have a Coralfe Lunar Aqualight now. It has 2 10,000 k 65watt and 2 65 watt actinic.
The tank has a 'natural' look which I like. But of course it isnt that bright or shimmer.

TIA

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

The color tone depends on the bulb(s) you use.
MH and LED fixtures give the best shimmer.

[Original Fin]

There is no shimmer at all with T5, and if you're tank is deeper than 28", high powered MH will give you much better PAR at depth.

Those are the only drawbacks to T5 that I can think of. As far as color goes, there are many more bulb temp/color choices for T5 than MH. If you have a 4 or more bulb fixture, you can mix and match all kinds of different bulbs till you get the color you like best. Can't really do that with MH, unless you are supplementing it with fluorescents.

To be honest, I do like the look of MH better than T5, but for me it's because of the shimmer, not the color. LED's have that look too. I stick with T5 for the value. They do grow corals, and they don't cost a lot to run/maintain like MH 's do. LED's aren't quite there yet for me...mostly due to the upfront cost, but they also have some unique limitations where it pertains to usable PAR spread. Each bulb is highly focussed over a small area like a spot light beam pattern, so you need a lot of them to get good coverage. They have come out with some with flood optics, but it's still on the narrow side, and you have to dial in the fixture height just right above the tank, so there's much more of a sweet spot for growth. Kind of limiting on aquascaping, unless you can afford to just cram a ton of them over the tank.