What should I do now?

For Christmas I received a JBJ 24 gallon nano cube dx with 72watts of power compact lighting. I have a few zoos and a mushroom that is doing all right but I have had 2 leathers and a couple different mushrooms fail.

Some people suggest I need to upgrade my lighting in order to keep more light-intensive corals, is this true? Can I upgrade my PC wattage or do I need to drop $200-$300 on a new MH system? I would like to go the cheapest route possible but I do not want to waste any more money on corals that will just die. Suggestions?

 

If your going to spend any money at all on lighting, ditch the PC's completely.
I would say you wouldn't have to go with MH. You could go in the middle and do T5's and still have plenty of light for a wide variety of corals.

 

Can you even upgrade the lights on a nano cube? I thought they have an integrated lid with the lighting built in?

 

Believe it or not but the easiest and least expensive route is to place your more light loving corals higher up in your tank! Remember that lighting isn't all that is needed to maintain corals successfully!!! Your mushroom and leather are probably the result of some other underlying issue rather than the lighting scheme you are maintaining!
You may have to experiment and play around with placement within your tank for each species of coral you add to ensure its health and suitability in the tank. Also many coral species can be acclimated to survive under more or less lighting though the coloration and possible growth form may be significantly different from the same species of coral under another lighting scheme.