DarkAnviL
Aquarium Advice Regular
If your temp is still 74 degrees, I would up that to around 80-82 degrees, but since you have fish and coral, you would need to do that very slowly. I agree with InfernoST, a sump is the best way to go as it adds water volume which makes for better stability with the parameters. If the light you are getting is the one I'm thinking of, it may not be T5 HO, but standard T5. Even if it is T5 HO, you wouldn't be able to keep much more than softies with it (your shrooms would be fine). Make sure you get an HOB skimmer since you don't have a skimmer unless you get a stand-alone model otherwise you won't be able to use it until/if you get a sump. Watch the brand of the skimmer too as there are many cheap models out there such as the SeaClone and Coralife Super Skimmers (CSS) that are terrible. HTH, and welcome to AA!
The light they have comming in for me they had on a smaller tank in the store growing a bunch of plant life maybe softies like you mentioned not sure though. Other than that is there a light you would reccomend for a 36 gallon bow front? Like I said before I would like no boundaries as far as growing things but after the things I read about metal halide(the cost and the height they need above the water and the need of chiller) I'm willing to accept some boundry lol.