[Twan013]

hey guys, ok, the good news is, i've pretty much decided on what corals i want.. the good news is, from my personal reasoning, i won't necessarily need MH! i found either a 150 or 250 watt T5 HO/CF/LED setup, for only $200.... and from what i understand, t5's are only a step down from MH... please, correct me if i'm wrong so far... ok, here's what i want, and probably won't go much further than these :

Frogspawn (LPS) - probably one of my favorite corals, from the pics i've seen..
Candy Cane Coral (LPS) - i really like the bright and vivid colors...
Green Starburst Polyp - the LFS guy said he'd give me a pretty good sized frag when my tank's ready
Colony Polyp - just another subtle one that looks good to me
Green Fluorescent Mushroom - what can i say? i like the word "fluorescent" lol
Blue Mushroom - from what i've read, they look really good under actinic lights (same as the GF mushroom)
Ricordia Mushroom - i just like the way they look...

i haven't really seen any SPS that is a "must have"... frogspawn, however, is definitaly one that i want!

there are 2 reasons i want to stay away from MH as much as possible... number one is the money, number 2 is the heat transfer... and i don't want to hang my lights, because hanging lights only look good in 2 situations, chandeliers, and pool table lights...

ok, since i said i don't want to hang the lights, my only other option is to mount them on top of my aquarium using legs

in case it matters (which i don't think it does, just thought i'd add this bit of info), the fish i want to have are 2 clowns, 3 reef chromis, and possibly one other fish, somewhat of a "big fish"... i was planning on either a snowflake eel or a dwarf lionfish, but read that they're not reef safe, plus, would eat the other, smaller fish, so now i'm on the lookout for soemthing else... any suggestions? oh yeah, i've got a 55 gallon... so that may limit me to the clowns and chromis....

[glampka]

Some people will say that T5 are AS good as MH. The important thing to be sure of is that you get individual reflectors on each bulb rather than 1 huge reflector. T5 should be fine for what you want to keep. I've kept frogspawn for a good number of years with PC with no problems.

[Twan013]

thank you thank you thank you! you have no idea how relieved i am to know that i can get away with not having MH... i mean, i just saved 400+ dollars right there... spending 200 instead of at least 600!

[Twan013]

ok, i've done a bit of studying and comparing, and have come up with..... not much..lol

i've got 4 light setups that i'm considering.. marinedepot (the place where i'll most likely be getting my lights from) says that for mushrooms, polyps, LPS, and corals of the such, t5's or PC's would do great... so going through each kind of lights, i've found 1 t5, and 3 PC's...
Current USA Nova Extreme (t5) 216w
Current USA Orbit (pc) 260w
Current USA Satellite (pc) 260w
Coralife Lunar Aqualight Deluxe Linear Fixture (pc) 260w

even though the nova extreme has fewer watts, will it be stronger than all of the pc's? i've heard a lot about the Orbit (or i may be thinking about the outer orbit MH system)..
better yet, from these 4 systems, which would be best for LPS in general? and how can you tell if the lights have individual reflectors? i know that one setup said soemthing about "parabolic" reflectors, is that what it means?

[Fishhead Junkie]

i have a question, if i am doing weekly water changes, how many small fish can i fit into my 29gallon bio-cube? 1 place says 3, 1 place says 10, another says 6, i know everyone has their own opinion, figured i would just get another. who else out there has a similar sized tank, and how many fish do you have? thanks.

steve

[Twan013]

wow, way offtopic there, fishhead... you should have started a new thread asking this... instead of putting it in a thread talking about lights.. but i'll forgive ya... there's a lot more to consider than just water changes, that would determine how many fish you can have.. what do you consider "small fish", what kind of filtration, do you want to "fit" fish in there or have fish to live and survive comfortably? you can "fit" several hundred fish about the size of a clown in a 29 gallon, but in order for them to survive, i'd say no more than 3.... that's just my opinion... as for me, when i'm up and running, my 55 gallon (roughly twice the size of yours) will have 2 clowns, 3 reef chromis, and MAYBE one other fish...

[Fishhead Junkie]

man, that seems like such a waste of a 55 gallon...6 fish, live rock, and assorted corals?? you wont have very movement in there, but hey, thats what you like, thats what you do is what i say. unless you are putting in some large size fish, my fish are around the 1-1.5 inch size, pretty small. i do understand saltwater fish along with their tanks are much more violatile than freshwater..but dang. keep the tips coming

steve

[Twan013]

the only reason i'm sticking with such a few fish, is because i want to have as much of a natural aquarium as i can have... i mean, besides the heater, powerheads, skimmer, and light, i don't want anything else added in there... and i feel like if i added very many more fish, i'd end up having to get a massive filter... i know to have the best possible outcome, technically, i'd have to get a sump, bigger skimmer, mechanical filter, more powerheads, MH lighting, refugiium, possibly 2 heaters, yadeyada, and this that, and some of those, etc. etc.... but i want a bare essentials kind of aquarium... in reality, there is no exactly perfect way to determine how many fish you can have... i mean, you could conduct an experiment, buy 500 fish that are in your size range, pile them up in the aquarium, whichever dies first, take them out, and whatever doesn't die within the set time limit (say, a month), is how many you can have in there... and if i start sounding like a jerk, i'm sorry, but you asked and i told... i'm just ticked because things in forums should be kept on topic, not going from light setups to "how many fish can i have?"