38 gallon reef

[joejoe]

Hey everyone I am planning on starting up a 38 gallon long pretty soon and wondered a couple of things. I plan on having corals, inverts, and 2 or 3 fish in it (2 clown and a goby, along with a crew). Would it be important to have a protein skimmer on this size of a tank or would the filtration from the rock, sand and a HOB be good enough? I'm gonna go with 2 ph's and will do water changes weekly (I think 10% should be fine, correct?). Besides the ph's, HOB, and heater, what else should I get? Also, I was told that PC lights would be ok but MH's would be the way to go. What bulbs would be fine in this tank? Thanks in advance for any feedback!!

 

[cprdnick]

If you could afford it I would go with MH's the corals will love you for it. As far as the protein skimmer goes, it's up to you. Better safe then sorry. If your LR, LS and equiptment remove 98% of the bad stuff, that 2% may make you cry and u'll wish you took every available measure.