I am in the process of upgrading to a 75 gallon rimless tank. Which T5 light's are good for my reef tank? Some are real expensive like Tek,which don't include bulbs, and some reasonable like Nova Extreme 6x54 watt.
When I was doing research for my T5 fixture purchase the two that were most recommended were ATI and Tek.
You want a fixure that has individual reflecters for each bulb. The tek and ATI both use high quality reflectors. The Nova Extreme series has 1 reflector that is contoured around each bulb.
No matter what fixute you get the bulb quality is very important. Many of the bulbs that come with lesser expensive fixture aren't very good. The benifit of the fixtures that dont include bulbs is you are able to get any color combo you want right from the start. Also you can start with quality bulbs.
I bought a 48" Nova Extreme Pro 6 bulb fixture from a member on here about a year and a half ago and I couldnt be happier. I got it for $150 I'd go used if your on a budget
i have a tek elite 6 bulb 48" on my 75 rimless. great fixture with built in cooling. i got a great deal from ed at saltycritter.com when i ordered it with bulbs. i have a combo of ati and kz bulbs. I think that both ATI AND Aquatinics overdrive their bulbs- great for light output not good for bulb life. Whatever you do shop around. These things are very expensive and you can save alot of money.
ati does not over drive bulbs, Aquactinics is out of business if i remember correctly, the tek elite is the best bang for the buck t5 fixture. i have a thread some where on here in reguards to t5's