Generally, plant enthusiasts go with power compact lighting, as compact bulbs are smaller (thus the name...) per watt and produce more lumens per watt. You can find some relatively inexpensive
PC ballasts on ebay--I got an All-Glass ballast with 110W for my 48" for $70 and recently replaced it with a 220W Coralife fixture which I got for a steal... $150 for the fixture, shipping, and 4 extra bulbs. For a 36" I think you'll prob. find some decent fittings that will provide you with 60-110W of light for under $60. I tried using lots of standard bulb ballasts on 2 of my tanks, but it gets so crowded with multiple ballasts.
As you've got medium-light plants, you'll prob want to shoot for 3 watts per gallon or so. The swords can be difficult if you don't give them enough light. But, if you can't get a really good ballast, you can always bring the swords higher up in the tank (i.e. on a piece of driftwood, as I've done) to maximize the light they receive.
IME and from others' posts, 12 hours is about right for the plants--as these are tropical plants, they're used to long days of light. They need time to respire during the night (as they consume the glucose they produce in the day), so you shouldn't try and compensate for low light by blasting them 24/7 (not that you'd do that...). It's probably more realistic to give them about 10 hours a day on average. I'd gauge this after you've observed how well algae starts growing in the tank, though. If you feel that 8 hours is plenty and keeps algae down (and isn't detrimental to plant growth) then go with it.
Of course.... here's the real catch. With that much light you need
CO2 injection to ensure plant growth (
CO2 gets depleted rather easily with plants around), as the plants will photosynthesize at a faster rate. I've been doing a
DIY setup with yeast, water and sugar, but I'm switching to a
CO2 canister/solenoid system in the next week. This is ultimately the best way to inject the proper level of
CO2 into your tank--you can determine the rate at which the
CO2 comes out of the canister.
HTH