Hello, I have a 150 gal tank. I use 6x 80 watt t5s brand JBL (4x 15 000k, 2x actinic) with independent parabolic reflectors, 3 of these bulbs are powered by icecap, the rest by cheap ballast. My cannopy doesn´t have ventilation and I manually dose additives.
grinch monti looked like this:
superman bottom right:
Have always used the JBL t5s, they are german but I can´t compare to anything else because they are the only brand I´ve used.
I wouldn´t say growth is faster than MH, At most it would be equal.
Coloration is not that great, after only 7 months of use on the bulbs, the polyps on the SPS are starting to brown out in some colonies: superman, blue w blue polyp monti cap, monti verrucosa, german blue polyp acro.
Zoos don´t open that big, and the growth and color on them is noticeable low compared to MH tanks where zoos color up nicely and grow like weed.
All of this made me want to change to MH but the setup I wanted was quite expensive.
Many people suggested I needed to change to a better brand and better bulb combination, that´s why I´m getting 3x ATI blue plus, 2x ATI aquablue, 1x KZ fiji purple. And modify the canopy to add vents.
I´ll let you know about the change in coloration and growth, and how many months the new brand lasts with ventilation, as I will be documenting that. I think everything will be better but I don´t think the zoos will improve much.
Under these jbl bulbs, even when new, my green monti cap looks yellowish:
