Baby plant

So this is a picture of my plant. Just have a few queries.
I have had it sitting under a CFL globe for about 2 weeks just to get the first set of leaves established before going under the MH.
It's been under the MH for about a week, during the transplant to this new pot, I noticed it had quite a decent root system. (Is there a safer way to put the seedlings straight under the MH?)

I've only just started it on nutes, only using the recommended amount for seedling.
I'm curious why the lowest leaves are starting to brown off yet the others seem fine (this started before the transplant so i thought it was lack of light?)

Also how much growth should I expect and will the plant start to branch out on it's own or does it need to be trained?
it's on a 16/8 light cycle, i still need to invest in a pump and res to finalise the set up. Also is it worth purchasing the proper Halo drip ring? or just make one from local hardware store irrigation piping?

The yellow leaves may be from over heat, or you started the nutes too soon/strong, or both. I would suggest lifting the light and go back to straight water, at about 5.8 pH
Dr. Jekyll

Looks rather pathetic, you might as well kill it and start again...and what's up with this 16/8 light cycle?
My Hyde

what a novel concept hahaha

The yellowing occured before the nutes were added. Its been a few days with nutes now and it seems to be quite vibrant and really getting a kick from it.
The light is probably at least 2 feet from the top of the plant and is only a 250w MH so over heating I wasn't too sure about.
Is 16/8 not the correct light cycle for vegitation and then down to 12/12 for flowering using a Hps?
This Is my first grow, other attempts have been very lacking in effort. The seedling is from bush seed so I'm not suprised if it appears weak. Out of 8 seeds only 1 popped as the seeds were reasonably old but i cannot just ssource more as its not readily available to me where i am. I just want to get a successful grow And then ill be inspired to invest in decent seeds.

xLitton

Ok, I'm not really sure why the yellow leaves, buy likely was over heat as 250 watt can impact a seedling. I have found that using CFL's or tubes is less stressful on youngsters, and it's all they need for the first few weeks.
Dr. Jekyll

Shall we say that 16/8 would not be considered conventional, as most educated growers would run 18/6 or 20/4 for veg.
There are a few idiots that run 24/0 during the entire veg stage, this is not advantageous, in fact is counter productive to run 24/0 beyond the first 2 weeks, and a waste of electricity.
Mr. Hyde

...

did you PH test your water?

The Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde is f'ing awesome I love reading them. Keep doing what your doing man. As far as the plant goes its tiny for 3 weeks and something is wrong. PH/Nutes/Drainage/ etc. And beginners going with straight perlite and hydro is tough Soil/dirt is what god made for them to grow in. As a beginner start with dirt, straight up fukin dirt from Wal-Mart and some added perlite for drainage and you will do quite well. Then as you progress in your growing capabilities switch over to hydro where you can micro manage all that shit where you can grow the cream of the crop. Good Luck