My husband and I have been debating about this for a week and haven't come to a solution, so I've decided to ask for help (I'm new to the fish keeping hobby and he doesn't want me to spend more money at the moment then I already have!)
My hubby set me a limit too
.
Anyway, on to the rest. First I don't have a ton of experience on this but I have done a ton of research in the last few weeks for my 75gal and I feel I am not even scratching the surface. I focused on fluorescents since that is what I decided to use. This is a website I found that I really liked:
Welcome to Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks
Also check out this stickie if you haven't already:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/read-this-first-resources-and-references-83826.html
At this point, IMO the best thing for you to do is decide the kind of plants you want keep. If you are just trying to add some "real green" to your tank I would personally go with low or low-medium lighting. The low light will limit your choices but you can get away with cheaper lights.
Again this is JMO, but the cheapest thing for you right now would be to
a) If you have a canopy, retrofit with regular shoplights fixtures (T8 are better than T12's if you can get them). One difference between the shoplights and the expensive aquarium lights is the reflector, meaning that the aquarium light fixtures reflect most of the light downwards into your tank while the shoplights spread it). Of the fluorescent, T5's are best but they are more expensive.
b)If you don't have a canopy, try getting used lighting off of craigslist (if youre doing this don't even bother with T12, go for T8) (hanging the shop lights will work too like suggested)
The WPG Rule (watts per galon rule):
You will see this rule quoted often and on average people will say that
Low light = 1-2wpg
Medium light = 2-3wpg
High light = >3wpg
This is a
guideline and many factors affect this (I can tell you some more about this but this is getting awfully long so tell me whether you want know), so take this rule with a grain of salt.
Things to consider:
-Light + Not enough CO2 for your plants = ALGAE!
-Depending on your plants, you might need to fertilize, that is a whooole other discussion (so research your plants before you get them, are they high or low maintenance?). For low light set-up you can most likely get away with just something like seachem fluorish. Not sure about medium lights.
If you decide to keep low light plants, here's a website on some
Low Light Plants - Aquaria Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
I would add the Vallisneria (or vals) plants to this list.
Try Sweetaquatics for ordering (I have no affiliation to them, that's just where I order my plants)
One cool thing about plants is that they consume nitrogenous compounds (like nitrates) and will help keep your levels down. In my 20gal planted I never see nitrates above 0ppm (this means I need to add fertilizer which I am looking into, like I said we can talk about ferts later)
Another novel again, sorry but I hope it helps, I tried to be concise without misleading. Other ppl feel free to correct me if I said anything wrong.
Cheers,
