crocea lighting

[Drewpy]

I have had a three inch crocea for four months under 260 watts of pc's and 108 watts of 6500K T5 HO's... It has done fine from what i can tell as he is only 4 or 5 inches below and directly under the lights. (very responsive to shadows and it may have grown a little- that is hard to tell though- certainly not smaller)
My tank is 55 gallon.
I have found a nice deal on some metal halides but is it really worth it? The lights i have i got for a great deal, so that is why i did not do MH in the first place.
I do not really want to deal with heat issues, as of now i have none. Also I cannot hang any lights-- with my current tank placement-- they must stand on top of the aquarium. The pc's and HO's are very sleak and do not call any attention to them-- i would prefer keeping them, however, if they are not sufficient it's not a huge deal to change depending on heat.

The crocea is the most light demanding critter i have and it would really be just for him...

Opinions/Experience?

 

[Surfzone]

what wattage MH? to be honest i would upgrade to the MH b/c later down the line you may want to pu tin a few sps corals, or a maxima clam, and wiht a higher light you can keep more andyour clam may grow faster. i'm running a 250 watt MH on a 30 gal tank and my water temp is a nice 82 - 83 degrees, i find that if i keep the lid on the tank the water temp doesn't get as high and if you have a sump refugium that helps cool the water as well. but as far as upgrading to the MH... i'd go for it just because i am the kind of person who doesn't want to be restricted in what i can and cannot keep in terms of light.

 

[Drewpy]

the lighting is two 150W double ended HQI 20000K... I figure i can change the HO's to a ctinic blue and balance them out--- But wow, the more i think about that would mean making a canopy...grr... I don't know, do you think the light i have is sufficient?
I doubt i will ever keep SPS as i am not partial to them(they do not move and honestly except for the colors they are boring to me). They would require more attention as well.

 

[Snprhed]

I think they would look sharp over that tank.

 

[Surfzone]

i say go with the MH just because it's alittle more light and better penetration through the water. you clams will love you for it. although you don't like SPS corals some leathers to my understanding such as yellow leather and toad stool love higher lighting, but that's just my 2 cents.

 

[Ti]

Def MH.
Much better penetration.
Sides the power you are using already might as well go MH.