Used to have MH for my 2.5ft, running on 2 fans, maintaining temp ard 28deg. Topping up water using tubby. Basically, it's quite maintanence-free. Now using T5, intesity is of course not so strong, worry abt bulb replacement, taking up more space but less heat. T5 can be quite hot too.
IMHO, if possible, I prefer MH to T5 as more maintenance free. But alas, if anyone want to buy my T5,..............PM me.
Malcolm, if possible, you can add a cupboard to shield yourself from the spread of MH when viewing your tank. The higher your mh, the bigger spread will be.
Just my 2 cts.