Aquacube Plans...sound Ok?

[three-fingers]

eBay luminaire , it has two t5 8 watt 'white' tubes.

Reason i ask is because it has 'white' tubes, and i know that the white cold cathodes i have in my triops tank are useless. Anyone think its worth it? Total of 16 watts, which is better than the 11watt light that comes with the aquacube but only by 5 watts...for an extra £30 . If its no good then is there anywhere i can buy tubes for it that are good?

Also what is everyone else going to use with the aquacube? I've never had a tank based around the plants, so I'm new to this. What would you recommend as an (preferably cheap) upgrade from the 11watt lighting?

EDIT: See my post below with my plans for the tank, i think i've decided to keep the light that comes with it.

 

[voo]

Personally i'd wait till you get the tank to see if a luminaire will fit with the lid on the tank, or find out from someone. It would look good with one on though, however dont think the extra 5 watts is worth £30. I think the money would be better spent on a power compact if you wanted more light, something like what George used for his nano. It would involve some diy work though to get it fitted.

EDIT: Have you decided what plants you want to have in the tank? Maybe decide on these first, then see if you need to upgrade the lighting. If you choose some java fern and mosses you might get away with the light that comes with it.

 

[three-fingers]

Yeah i wasn't too thrilled about the extra price for 5 watts either .

I've been trying to chose low-light plants for the tank, but am finding a relative amount of conflicting information .

So far i have 'Marsilea quadrifolia' four leafed clover, and possibly 'Aponogeton undulatus'(although i think i would rather have something that stays shorter than 12", and it gets to 40cm .) I may have a very small piece of java fern/'Anubias Nana' on bogwood.

And i may have some floating plants(salvinia or water lettuce), moss balls, java moss(not sure where I'd put this) and some regular old elodea. I want the plants to flourish but id rather not have anything high maintenance.

For non-plant stocking I'm going to go for some tiger shrimp and maybe a couple of ottos, and I'm going to be adding an Indian almond leave or two to try and get the shrimp to breed.

I'm going to use ADA aqua soil(not decided on the type), nutrafin co2(using George's guide), Seachem Flourish Excel and Tetra Plantamin. I'm hoping to keep it simple and relatively inexpensive .

How does that sound? Anyone any suggestions? What other plants would be good, or anything im missing out?