Newbie Needing More Plants/Lighting in a 29g Tank

[dxs2104]

At the moment I have 3 small amazon swords and a few lemon bacopa and just added a piece of mopani. My tank looks pretty empty still and I would like to get more live plants. The "standard Plant Pack" from Liveaquaria.com looks interesting, it includes (any other suggestions are gladly welcome)

• Micro Sword or Dwarf Hairgrass (1)
• Anubias Nana or Anubias Barteri Round Leaf (1)
• Java Fern (1)
• Red or Green Crypto (1)
• Anacharis or Hornwort (2)
• Cabomba (2)
• Water Sprite (1)

My lighting right now is a 20W T12. I realize this is not enough for a tank this size and would like to upgrade the lightning for low -> medium plants. Im also not looking to spend alot (<$50) on the lighting. One thing that caught my eye in other threads was the use of a incandescent fixture and popping in 2 6500K CFLs to get the wattage up; how does this compare vs other lighting methods in terms of efficiency and cost?

Thanks for any help!

 

[dxs2104]

So after doing some digging around in some other threads I found some possible fixtures on ebay.

Right now I'm debating between
24" T5HO Dual 48W
30" T5HO Quad 96W
30" PCF 130W (Anyone know what length the actual lights are?)

The T5HO seems more common, and I think with my 29g (29 3/4" wide) i think i would be fine with the 48W for low ---> mid light plants. The Power compact seems to pack a lot of wattage/tube. Any opinions on the T5HO vs Power Compact?

Also has anyone bought from TopDogSellers? Seems much cheaper for fixtures than anywhere else online

 

[Lowryder]

The link for the 30" t5ho 4x96 is wrong.

its 4x24w bulbs not 4x96w.