reefnoob- I had 130w PC going on it and i had liek 2 perculas, one 1" blue tang, a flame angel and a watchman goby. Recently upgraded to a 65 g w/ overflow though.
i'd just get like two clip on halides, thats what i did with my 65 AGA and the conter brace makes no difference in the distribution of light throughout the tank.
I got an 8" Green Bubble coral off of e--- and it came with pretty much no water in the bag, a little moisture but not much water in the bag. It looked terrible the first day but in the morning i woke up to a coral that looked more beautiful than in the pictures. 100% recovery.
no, i've always thought that PC's created a much brighter viewing experience, but MH put out a whole different kind of light that is less visible to us, but ultimately brighter.