New to corals and need help...

Is it worth it to spend the extra money to get metal halides?

 

In the long run it all depends on the corals you want to keep. My second choice is T5, but I do not know if JBJ offers that mod or if you want to take off the hood and get a T5 fixture.

MH adds heat to the system so that really needs to be considered as well.

 

i love my halides, cant beat them..

 

and to answer your question yes it is worth the money to upgrade power compacts to halides..do you have too, no, your corals will grow, not as fast as halides, and if you get the right kelvin halide bulb, you wont get as much color with power compacts over halides, and you will have a shimmer effect that looks sooooooo coool when your looking at your tank..

having a halide over that tank will allow you to house any coral or nem you want, but you have to make sure you have the right size tank for what you will be housing, anemone wise if you do..and clams

 

Will anything else be better than my power compact that will NOT heat up my tank

 

anyone?

 

T5HO wont heat up your tank as much as a Halide will. But can support anything with the correct amount of bulbs like a halide will. Theres so much going on in the lighting world for fish tanks right now.... LED might be another route to go as well.

 

Easy Low lighting Corals -

Softies -
Green Stare Polyps
Mushrooms,
Ricordeas,
Zoanthids
Palythoas
Leather Corals... (Colt, Kenya Tree, Purple Tree, Devils Hand, Toadstools, Cabbage Leather etc...)
Pulsing Xenia

Long Polyp Corals-
Sun corals (Personally I believe they are easy, dont require much light at all, just a weekly feeding or two of mysis to each polyp)
Fox Coral
Acan Lords, Trachyphyllia's, and Duncans all did well for me when I had PC lighting as well...