Planning Ahead?

[cavipower1]

So heres the deal, while my 20l tank is going good or is gonna go good once i transfer everything back in there in my old room in my hometown lol i look at everyone elses tanks and wanna keep clams and all these other kinds of coral i drool over at eds shop haha. so while building this new tank will take a while i want to plan ahead so everything goes right. the tank is a 36g flat back hex. ill be using a sump with an overflow box and an in sump skimmer, i still dont know wat i will be using in the sump right now its sitting here with some bio balls and thats it. any suggestions on wat to put in there? live rock? i dont really want a refugium, and id like to keep it simple too. and secondly wat type of lighting will i need? i kinda have some fixtures in mindhttp://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=414 like this one its a mh light. and i know i would just be wasting my time with this one http://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=338. i really like the price on that mh light. does any one know were i can get a good light capable of keeping some corals for 200 or under? or wat other type of light is capable of keeping corals?
lastly i see t5ho and t5vho and all that wat does this all mean? ive been using pc bulbs with alright success i guess but everyone keeps telling me to change the type of light i use. any info would be REALLY helpful lol thanks!

[MissT]

replace the bio balls with liverock

decide what types of coral you want to keep, there's a big difference in what you can keep with metal halide lighting and what you can keep with PC's.

T5HO- High output T5's
T5VHO- very high output T5's
HO use a little less electricity, bulbs last longer, VHO's are brighter and more intense

[cavipower1]

okay theres a start thank you misst, okay ill replace the balls with LR, everyone keeps telling me how great the balls are though, is there any truth to this? i know they must work but im sure keeping the LR in there is much better. does anyone think that MH light fixture is good for the price? is there any drawbacks to using MH bulbs? adn lastly sorry for all the questions lol is there any were i can go and kind of see wat i can keep with wat type of lighting?

[cavipower1]

well lps it is then! lol i found i like most lps better than sps right now this is on my list of wat i want to keep Anchor Coral - Euphyllia ancora (http://www.marinedepotlive.com/anchor-coral--ridge---colored----euphyllia-ancora-corals--large-polyp-stony.html), Long Tentacle) - Heliofungia actiniformis, Open Brain Coral (Green) - Trachyphyllia geoffroyi (http://www.marinedepotlive.com/open-brain-coral--green----trachyphyllia-geoffroyi-corals--large-polyp-stony.html), Bali Metallic Green Candy Coral - Caulestrea echinulata (http://www.marinedepotlive.com/bali-metallic-green-candy-coral---caulestrea-echinulata-corals--large-polyp-stony.html), Candy Coral - Caulestrea furcata (http://www.marinedepotlive.com/cacocafu.html) lol all names stolen off of the marine depot live page if u wanna match names with pics here is the site http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--large-polyp-stony.html most have intermediate to low lighting needs, will a mh or ho bulbs be neccesary? this is all i really want to keep as these are the ones i really dream about lol, will a pc do these well?

[MissT]

heliofungia hates having things crawl on it or clownfish host in it... something to think about depending or what your eventual livestock list will look like.

[cavipower1]

oh ok will it eat it? i dont wanna have another fish eater in my tnak lol

[MissT]

the coral would usually be the one that didn't make it. It definately can work in a tank, but like I said, see what you are hoping to have, as far as livestock goes, in the end. If you figure out "the one thing" that you just have to have in the tank, you can build the rest of your livestock list (corals and fish) around your one goal. It's a much easier way than seeing a random coral or fish, and buying it only to find out that it isn't compatible with something you'd been waiting patiently for...

[cavipower1]

that is so true lol, im glad i didnt rush into this like i had originally planned to lol