Question on lighting for a 38gallon

[MO3N]

I'm just about to set up my first tank and want to keep a lot of corals and I have two options for lighting. My tank is a 38 gallon: 36.25" long by 12.5" width by 19" deep

1) I have a friend that can give me a few 250 watt MHs, for free I would just have to buy a bulb and reflector. I would supplement with two 36" HO t-5.
-My concern is that I have a middle brace and if I did one MH I don't want it to melt the middle brace. and I am also worried about the spread with just one, I do not know if it will reach the full 36". If I go with two that maybe way to much light and heat my tank up too much

2) I already have one 36" retrofit kit that has two bulbs and I would get a second one so I would have four 36" HO T-5's over my tank.
-My concerns with this one is that it may not be enough light to grow the corals I want. It is my first tank and I will be going slow but I do not want to have to upgrade in two months so I can grow the corals I want.

So would MH's on a 38 gallon be too much? the nice thing is when I upgrade to my 120 or 200 gallon in a few years I can use these MH's for that when it comes time.

Thanks for the help.

[EWC88]

I'm not positive but I have a 37g tall tank and I have a 250w MH fixture.

[Fizz71]

That's a pretty narrow/tall system so one problem you're going to have is that your rockwork will be tough to get the corals near the surface and you don't have a whole lot of room to pack a lot of t5s in there.

Basically everything you said is correct which is why this is really a tough call. I don't think the MH will melt your brace as long as the hood has some venting. I have a 250W over my center acrylic brace and it's fine. It does however get dirty with water on the underside splahing up and drying out causing salt creep!

2 MH will no doubt cause you heat concerns and like I said..I'm not sure if you'll get enough T5s in that narrow of a space. If you keep a VERY cool house you'll be fine with one and MAYBE two, but there is no way to tell.

Personally..if I were you..I'd go the T5 route for now. Maybe even build your OWN retro setup to see how much you can pack in there. If you get the ballasts separate you can then use them to fire actinics later if you get a bigger tank and put MH on that one.

Trust me when I say no matter WHAT you do you'll want more. :) It's the nature of the hobby. You don't have the best tank dimensions to run the heavy light requiring corals so you'll either get heat issues, or low PAR issues.

Anyway..that's my $0.02. Good luck!

[mr.maroonsalty]

This tank may be better lit with long skinny fluorescent bulbs, but two 250s with ordinary reflectors would certainly work; I don't know if you'll be happy with only one 250 because, you don't have the depth needed for one of the higher end style reflectors. If you decide to go the halide route you may find your lighting too intense for a lot of lower light loving corals. and you may seek out lower par producing bulbs. Also evaporation will be much more to keep up with than it will be with fluorescent. I evaporate ~1 gpd with a 250 pfo ballast lighting 3 sf of tank surface.