Low light versus Metal Halide??

[hthwilson]

Ok, I know the difference don't get me wrong I am not that new to the game. What I am confused by though, and can't find any forum to match what I need, is what can you put in what.

I am a very poor man and only have pc's on my 55 hex, about 3 watts per gallon. Until I can afford metal halides, I am stuck. So what can I put in my tank?????? I know clams I cant, but I want as much color as possible. Can anyone help me? I just lost my entire tank and now am starting to rebuild.

 

[wrightme43]

some of the leather corals are cool with low light, shrooms are usually cool, green star poylops, stuff like that seems to do well. I had 2x65watt and one 96 watt quad on my 44 hex. I kept all kinds of stuff. here are some photos of just pc lighted tank. I tore it down and have my tank with mh now.

 

[Nashon]

Sun Polyps need zero light, but they need to be fed mysis/brine shrimp daily. The mushrooms that Wrightme suggested are nice too, you can get some nice colored ones, from green to red to striped. Xenia should grow great too.

 

[hthwilson]

those are friggin beautiful. How do you feed them with out your other fish getting it????/

 

[Nashon]

Well the downside to the Sun Polyps is that they tend to come out at night. You can train them to come out earlier by feeding them earlier in the day. I don't mind them out at night so I feed after the lights go out and the fish are mostly asleep. I only have to battle with the cleaner shrimp. Some people cut the top off of a 2 liter bottle and use it as a hat over the colony.

 

[hthwilson]

Interesting. I really like them. The only problem is, my tank is at my g/f's house, and I am not sure she is wanna go to the trouble. Untill I convince her to marry me, than it will have to wait

 

[Maxx]

They are a lot less trouble than you think....
Check out this link.....http://www.reefrancher.com/diy/lunarlander/


BTW, can you follow simple instructions from a HD or Lowes person? Cause if you can, you can save a lot on a Metal Halide system. Check out www.hellotlights.com for their DIY MH kits...

Nick

 

[hthwilson]

the link that you put on there doesn't work?????? Did you type the site right?

 

[mungus]

The website should be www.hellolights.com

 

[Maxx]

oops...thanks mungus...late night, much beer, clumsy fingers....thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

Nick

 

[hthwilson]

Max, I love your quote dude, that is just kick ass!!! Thanks for all the advice, I will look into building my own metal halides. My buddy is going to build me a canopy for my tank anyway, so I bet we can tie it in with that.