good ole RC.
have you doubters used a nova, let alone even seen one in real life?
T5's without individual reflectors are still very effective and efficient for lighting, much more so than PC's. Even without individual reflectors there design allows more light to get to the tank than PCs. They run cooler than PC's. They have a much better bulb selection than PC's.
Do individual reflectors help, heck yeah they do. But since when is everyone keeping SPS, and since when does everyone have a large tank where there are plenty of options? As was mentioned, not everyone has $400+ to drop on lighting.
How's going to point out that nova's actually have a fan in them...do tek's? nope, and there have been output tests showing that active cooling can increase output by 50%. The nova's may not have the fan power necesary to increase output by that much, but it's something to think about.
Nova's are great cheap little lights... Current is as cheap as you can get when it comes to lighting. I run them on my 20g SPS nano and have coloration that rivals the best. If I had tek retros, maybe the coloration on my acros would be better, maybe not...but the nova gets the job done no question....If I went with the tek's I'd have a butt ugly canopy on my tank as well.
People that know me know I am not cheap, in fact I am what many consider a reef snob. Only the best for me, but at the time and currently there arent many good 24in t5 only complete systems... I didnt purchase my nova for the price, or the quality lol.
eric
