jwc161
New Member
Let me start by saying I currently have a 72 gallon bowfront with Nova T5 4X54 with a few fish (yellow, kole, hippo tang, 2 clownfish, redlip blenny, and yellowtail damsel) a few shrimp (3 peppermint, 1 cleaner), 2 emerald crabs, a brittle starfish and a serpent star, 2 featherdusters, a bunch of snails, a bunch of scarlit/blue leg hermits, and a leather toadstool, hammer coral, candy cane (2 head) 4 umbrella mushrooms (recently split 3 times) and a tons of different colored zoos that keep popping up everywhere. I should add I have about 150 lbs of live rock and a 4 inch DSB. Everything has been thriving for almost a year. In the process of building this tank I lost a pumping xenia, a couple acropara, condi anenome (dumb move by me), and a certain montipora. The loss was due to my experimentation and inexperience b/c of lack of information on T5's and varied opinions. I don't want to make this mistake again. I have absolutely grown to love coral during this whole process. I have a 20 gallon long tank that has about 30 lbs of live rock and a 3 inch sand bed. This tank has no fish or inverts in it except a bunch of pods. I want to dedicate this tank to growing corals and only corals. I really don't think I want to mess with SPS (although I would love to!) as I would like to avoid MH lights as much as possible. I have read too much on their electric cost as well as the high temperatures they produce in tanks. This being a 20 gallon long, temperature would definitely be a factor and a chiller is out of the question. So, here is my question: If I want to grow some not all species such as xenia, mushrooms, zoos, leathers, hammer, frogspawn, keyna, bubble and maybe a few of the lower lighting hard corals (I know there aren't many) what would your suggestions be? I know xenia's are sometimes tough to keep without MH so MH is not totally out of the question but again the tank temp is key here. I've done hours of research on the internet to try to find this information and it has ranged from PC to VHO to MH. I'm going insane trying to figure it out and since I am spending upwards of $300 I want to make sure I am getting the right lights. Can anyone suggest the proper 30" light setup to go with here? You guys/gals are my last hope! Thanks so much!
