So this is probably why I lost my acro sps. Stupid lfs knew i Was a newb,with a really young tank but they sold it to me anyways. Suppose i Could have done my research before buying it too...

What is a cheap solution for lighting that will help bring out my hammer? The budget for this tank is really low...

I would highly recommend you to change your lights to LED'S. Yes I understand they are very expensive but you can find some for around $200 on ebay or something. These will forsure bring the color out in your torch. LED'S are also good in the long run, less energy, less heat and some can give you at least years of light before changing them. Also keep up with your water changes! If your water is good your torch will go crazy. I bought mine 7 years ago as a 2 headed frag and now it has 21 heads.

Is there any cheap interm leds i can get away with for now until the purse strings can be opened more? Something from Here?

Going to try for a 10% water change every 3 days...hope that will bring down the levels

Sell the hammer and go with a fish only tank. Sorry for being so blunt but budget lighting and having corals never ends well.

Used T5 fixtures are usually pretty easy to find, like this one:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...threadid=98752

Running four bulbs would make a huge difference over one and allow you to use a mix of spectrum including blue/actinic which is what you need.

For cheap LEDs the cheapest option is probably the D120
http://www.reefsupplycanada.com/d120...ight-16-light/
I assume one will cover your tank. Anything cheaper will likely not produce good results.

10% water changes won't be effective for nitrate reduction, better to do as close to 100% as you can.

You can also look into Sunblaster T5HO. For like $30 each light fixture (without the light), its possibly the cheapest option for decent lighting. MH goes for cheap too now-a-days (keep an eye on sell thread).

Sorry for being blunt too but it does end well as long as you get the "right" lighting ;)

Just find another couple T5 lights and add them, you'll be fine. Bulbs will need replacing every 6 to 8 months, likely.

The "right" equipment is rarely delivered on a budget, and just when you think it might have happened time tells you different.

So looks like having corals there isn't really a cheaping out, specially on lights. Found some more Taotronic stuff, wondering if these are the same. They look the same and not too expensive. I'm sorry for my ignorance but I want to try to grow corals but don't have the money to do the mega high end lighting stuff, trying to find the correct medium. :(

Thanks all for all the great info.

So with the water changes, should I be doing 30% biweekly to try to correct the nitrates?