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I end up walking out lio. btw, go there to just see the handsome giant moray eel! Also spotted a few nautiluses, queensland groupers, Bowmouth Guitarfish(?), the common emperor angels, freshwater(?) platinum gars etc. that place is a oddballs heaven!

Here's my take based on my personal opinions. Cost: LED has high startup cost. T5 need to change tube frequently. I think LED is slightly more expensive in the long run (you still need to replace LED every 4 - 5 yrs to maintain its PAR output) . (T5) Colour and Effect : Easier to match colour combination on T5. Many claims T5 has wider spectrum that makes corals looks nicer but the light is more "flat" visually. LED has more shimmering. The higher end LED lightset can adjust light intensity of the blue and white LEDs independently. Imagine you can set any range from 0 - 100% more blue intensity to show the luminosity of the coral and yet at the same time do not distort the colour of the fishes. The Royal Blue LEDs are wicked. LED also has dawn to dusk mode so you do not switch on/off and startle the fishes. Will leave this as a tie (T5/ LED) Heat: Everyone says LED lightset produces less heat. This is not true. LED generates a lot of heat. The only difference is that T5 radiates head towards the surface of the water but LED lightset has heatsink mounted away from the water surface and usually has a blower fan attached to assist with the heat dissipation. Hence the tank water is not heated up by LED (unlike T5, and worst MH) and the air surrounding the LED lightset is less warm as compared to T5. Using T5, with more heat directly towards the water will cause more evaporation, especially with small tanks. => need more frequent water top up. Will this cause higher parameter fluctuations in Nano tanks?? (LED) Electrical Cost: Definitely LED lower and if you factor in the chiller kick in savings, the difference is even more substantial (LED) Aesthetic : Most LED fixture are smaller, less bulky and looks more sleek and modern comparing to T5. Especially on open tanks. (LED) Optics : Most LED has optics option. So you can change to different optics degree to give you different spread coverage and also intense focal point. T5 is well uniform spread across the length of the tube. For T5, you have to change the colour by tube. If you have a 4 tube set, the colour combination is in terms of 25% for each tube. For LED, you can change to from 1 to all of the LEDs to a different colour. add 5 royal blue LED, 3 UV LED etc.... more micro changes. Again LED has higher level of customization (LED) Length: T5 has standard length. If you have a 2.5 ft tank, you choose a 2 ft length and it is a little under. you choose 3 feet and it looks weird on a 2. ft tank. Most LED has more flexible length. Example, AI or the new Mazarra comes in modular form. you choose the units required for your tank length. Eco-lamp has lightset in incremental of 6 inches. (LED) Effectiveness: Personally I think both are on par in terms of effectiveness. LPS are definitely not an issue for either. For SPS, there are some reefers who are using higher end LED to good effect. The RC folks who uses AI LED claims wonders but I think no one can really comment on this until they have switch from T5 to LED or vice versa to make a good judgement call which is better. For now, I would still leave it that T5 is more effectiveness for SPS shallow tanks (T5) Technology & future state : I am a techie guy. More keen in hip technologies. T5 can hardly offer anything worth exploring but LED... oh man.... so many features - thunderstorm, passing cloud, lunar cycle, built in timer, dusk/dawn mode, colours/optic customization, wireless control, modular expansionability...... there is and will be more research put into LED lightset R&D overf the next few years. (LED) My Preference : Definitely LED