Low cost lighting

[mark.fisher at tpwd_state.tx.us]

     >Due to a tight budget, I'm trying to set up lighting as cost 
     >effective as possible.  Rather than investing in PennPlax,or 
     >PowerGlos, or Tritons, I'd like to do this with GE, etc.  Does anyone 
     >have a tank set up with something like this that still yields a fair 
     >amount of success?  What are you using(cool white, full spectrum, 
     >daylight, etc)?  I have room for up to eight 30watt bulbs for a 125G 
     >tank.
     
     I never respond to lighting questions, but I will happily answer this 
     one.  I have a heavily planted 90 gallon with 4 40-watt T-12 
     flourescents.  I use 2 phillips colortone 50's and 2 phillips 
     colortone 75's.  Total cost for 4 replacement bulbs last month--$13, 
     at Home Depot.  The overall color rendition is pretty good--a little 
     yellow, but acceptable.
     
     My plants start to bubble about an hour after the lights come on, and 
     I get excellent plant growth--sometimes too much (thinning and pruning 
     is a regular chore).  So far, I haven't found any plant species I 
     cannot grow, and I've had about 30 species over the past few years.  
     The ones that get too large are traded/sold for something else, and I 
     recently sold about 2 pounds of chain swords (Echinodorus tenellus) to 
     my LFS.  A recently uprooted ruffled sword (Echinodorus major) was 
     over 36", including the bloom stalk.
     
     Regards,
     
     Mark

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