You will get a million opinions on lights. My suggestion, BRS has some videos on you tube, 4 of them comparing t5, led, and mh. I think that the general consensus is they all work, have pros and cons, and that the best solutions are hybrids. Either way they are a lot of money especially hybrids. The cost makes it very clear to me that this is a niche hobby and demand is not enough to help drive down cost. I would research, find LFS that have the lights you are interested in over their tanks so you can see how they really look. Seriously consider chinese because 1k+ lighting a tank is a bit ridiculous. And search craigslist, your local marine society, and this sites for sales and consider buying used.
All that being said, people have used t5 and mh for years and had great results. leds are relatively new, have a much higher learning curve to not kill your coral, and for all the $ and ability they have pretty much make it dumb to not have a par meter which is even more $.
I personally am using mh that i picked up used off craigslist along with a bunch of other gear. Eventually I want to move to something different but for all of the places to spend $ in this hobby I have much more pressing needs like an ATO, and maintaining Ca and Alk right now.
