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[miked78231]

are there any frags, corals, zynths, or polys that i can keep in my tank with a 40w light? sorry if the spelling on any of these are wrong or if there the same or whatever, im still learning. im sure you all have the general idea in what im asking.

[Shark_Bait]

How big is your tank? A 2.5 gal nano yes alot of stuff, a 125 probably not so much.

[cpreefguy]

Tank size is needed to determine what you can keep. Your lower light corals would be zooanthids and mushrooms, but you need at leats 3 watts per gallon for those to survive.

[miked78231]

my tank is a 55g. right now i have a snowflake eel, a clown, a yellow tang, a dragon goby and 4 damsels. is there any sites out there that can show me some pretty cool looking shrooms or zoos?

[carlinsa]

you dont have enough light.....on a 55 you need like 200watts at least to make anything survive. shroom would probably make it and some sponges but i dont know of many things that will live in a 55 with a 40 watt light....

[miked78231]

how much would a nice 200w cost me? would i want to go with a higher wattage? whats the diff between compacts, halids, and the other stuff. sorry its early and i dont feel like looking through post to find the correct spellings. :zzz

[Reef69]

I'd recommend you getting the lights you are gonna end up buying anyways, get Halides. You can find good deals here, maybe $200-$300 (each) for full MH set ups, maybe cheaper. Dont buy powercompacts if you are gonna upgrade later on.

[Darth-Tater]

I agree with Reef69. I bought Powercompacts for my 55. Then my wife decided that corals were pretty. HAd to scrap it and bought MH alomg with VHO's. Save your money look for good deals on MH here in the for sale section. It is worth the wait. Now we have a 100 gal and I am glad I bought more light than I needed.

DT

[miked78231]

ok, well i just scored an awesome job so money wont matter here in the next month, so im just trying to fig out what all im gonna need. if you have any suggestion let me know.

[Reef69]

Since money is no object, go with a Giesemann System 400 Twin 2x400w ($1,139.05) , an IceCap 2 bulb 48in VHO Retro Kit ($218.80) and maybe a Pacific Coast 1HP inline chiller ($1,349.95)..you are set to go..lol

[miked78231]

hmmmm.... yea ok money is a problem. i can spend maybe 400-500 on lights. can i get good lights for this amount?

[blueboy]

you should be able to get some nice lights in that range, but the most important part is to do some research to figure out what you need/want. there is an awful lot to know about lighting, and the options are endless.