Any lights don't work, a fluorescent light is generally most practical and is what most tanks have.
Is your lightbulb a long tube? If so then it is suitable for plants, but I would only recommend low-light easy plants.
The most important thing you should note is not to buy plants from your LFS. I've found that most people never have much success with live plants because their lfs sells non-aquatic or difficult/high light plants (the lfs I work at is guilty of this too, but we have some good plants and i always steer people away from the unsuitable plants).
You should buy quality rooted plants, and you need to know what they are and their needs - just like fish.
Once again, as I usually do, I will recommend only high-quality tropica plants from
http
/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...=20a&page=1 .
They may seem expensive, but are WELL worth it. And you only need 1-2 pots to start off, since you get a lot in the pots and the plants are so healthy.
Don't be tempted by cheap plants, you want to start off with easy low light establish rooted plants - not cuttings that most cheap places give you
.
