Compact Florescent Bulbs

[Fishnut]

I want to light up my 180 enough to keep some basic plants like an amazon sword, some vals and crypts.  I'm trying to get an idea of how to get some decent light penetration at a 24" dept and not sucking up lots of hydro.  Would a couple of stronger CF spotlights work for the "easy" plants?

[Brent Shaver]

I had live plants in my 50 when I first set it up and only used one 30" flouresent and my plants grew like weeds.  They were the easy type, I did have one med difficulty plant and it ended up dying.

Not sure if this helps but it is what I experienced.

[dan2x38]

Compacts are not that good especially for peneration. There is a lot of collision with the light so much is lost before it even reaches the water. the design of the tubes creates the striking. Your best bet and cheapest are T5s. The cost of fixtures has really dropped. They are also cheaper for hydro. Best bang for your buck hands down!

[fischkopp]

I would go with 2x 54W T5HO; these are 4ft bulbs that can be staggered to be brighter in the middle. Yes, you can do it with compact fluorescent as well, lets say 5x 23W, but I do prefer the cleaner setup with T5HO. That said, I have seen aquariums with pendant lamp that looked quite nice as well. So in the end its really up to you.