Yes, swords are tolerant of lower light levels. My husband used to grow them in his planted discus tank, and they did very well. I have no experience with bacopa, so i can't comment on that, other than that I thought i read once they needed med-high light levels. I can't say for sure though. You need to replace the bulbs every 6 months because you will have them on for about 12-14 hours every day. That is way beyond what most people use them for (just as bulbs in lamps), and after about 6 months, they will loose most of their effective light output. Of course it still looks just fine to the human eye, but your plants will really suffer. Plants need a LOT of light, much more than we need just to see normally, so you really can't go by how bright a light 'looks' to you. Another factor is that the bulbs tend to burn out the blue end of the spectrum first, and blue light is very important to plants. The human eye, however, can't see blue light very well (we're best suited to seeing yellow light, which is not that helpful to plants), so again, you can't tell how good a bulb is for your plants just by looking at it. As for buying on eBay, I have no idea. I've never really looked at bulbs there. I have bought some things on eBay, and I've learned to be very, very careful. Ask the seller lots of specific questions. You can get great deals, but you can also get ripped off big time. Compact fluo's are a little confusing, because a seller could say that they are selling 75 watt bulbs. Now does this mean they use 75 watts, or that they output light equivalent to a 75 watt incandescent bulb? If the former, then they would be putting out way more light, and would be great for your terrarium. If the latter, then they are probably more like a 20 W bulb (energy usage), and you would need more of them to light your terr. sufficiently. To give you a general idea of how much light you'll need, I have an 85 gallon tank. It is 48"w x 18"d x 22"h. I have three bulbs (with an excellent reflector, I might add. Makes a big difference) that total about 80 W in their energy usage. They output the equivalent (as compared to incandescent bulbs) of 240 W (I think). The important thing is the lumens though. That is the actual light output. And I can't remember how many lumens they put out right now. I know I saved a box, but I can't find it right now, so I'll try to find it later and tell you. You really need to get a good reflector though, because otherwise you are going to loose half of your light (the topside of the bulbs, that faces away from your terrarium). Since your tank is about twice the size of mine, I would double the amount of light I have, and then add some extra, because of your increased depth. You will be able to tell if you have enough light by the way your plants grow. If they grow nice and compact, retain good leaf colour in variegated and coloured plants, and if some green-leaved plants get a nice reddish tinge to them, then you have plenty of light, and that's great! If colours fade and plants appear to be stretching towards the light, you need to add more. Also, if you grow nepenthes, the pitchers will get better colour in higher light. Don't really worry about having too much light, because it is very hard to burn plants with fluo's. They would have to actually touch the bulb, or be suddenly put directly under one after having been growing in very shady conditions for a long time. Oh yeah, I will be adding another bulb to my light hood this weekend. So based on the number of bulbs alone, you will need about 10 (of the average HD kind). If you can find higher watt bulbs on eBay, then you'll need fewer of them. And make sure you don't replace all the bulbs at once, because that can also shock and burn some of your plants. Stagger them. Since you'd have about 10 bulbs, you'll be replacing about 1 bulb a month. I always write at the base of a bulb when it needs replacing. Otherwise you just can't keep track of them all, and some could be a year old before you get around to replacing them.

I think you have to look at it as a one time investment, yes you may spend more this year than it would cost you to purchase the corn at a farmer's market, but year after year it will pay for itself...

I don't find that house to be ugly. It says small town craftsman's special to me. It's certainly not cookie cutter design, which IMO is ugly. My father grew up in the house his grandfather had built: small, poor layout, but still going strong over a hundred years later. There is more character in that kind of house than in any McMansion with superficial bling. Just be aware that the price is low for a reason. Money will need to be spent on other things before you can pretty it up on the inside or out. Looks like it needs a new roof and definitely gutters, so there's a chunk of change right there. Can you afford a paint job after getting the house waterproofed? Here it is in gray, a blue door, & the awkward shrub cut back:

My house is 8 months old. I have a list of projects I am planning to DIY like we are going to be changing out the builder installed mulch and shrubs with red cedar mulch and new plants. That is something I can do and not mess up. After living here for 8 months the houses personality is starting to take shape. I know it sounds funny to say it has personality but my master bath and bedroom tell me it is not happy being agreeable grey and would prefer to be Iced Blue Silver so my son told me as his Christmas present to me he would get me paint and paint my bathroom and bedroom. When I placed the furniture in my bedroom I thought I had the perfect set up but after being here awhile and once the room is painted I have in visioned my bedroom furniture in a different configuration and can see the whole design layout with new paint color and drapes in my head. I hope it all looks as I think it will or my son will have to move my furniture back to the original spots. I am going to finally tackle drapes/rods and decoration my living room and dining room. When I moved here I wanted to live here a bit before decorating rather than rush out and do it right away. My house looks bare right now because I have nothing on the walls and only wood blinds on the windows. I know I have my furniture placed where it will stay so ready to hit the stores for some color and pretty things to put out. Projects I feel better left to the professionals and heck someone has to keep them in business so it might as well be me. :) I know my limits. Granite in my kitchen and bathrooms. I bought the house without it because I knew I'd want to change things as I got more comfortable in the house. My livingroom, kitchen and dining room are all open to each other and I want to match the granite to the decor I am going to use in all 3 rooms to tie them together. I have a 5'x4' tiled entry way at my front door that leads down to the kitchen dining room area. They carpeted all the way from where the tile ends. My garage door entry is right across from the kitchen and that area is carpeted but the kitchen is tiled. It looks silly and dirt is starting to build up near the garage door entry even though I have a rug there. So I want to have the carpet ripped up in that hall area and have tile installed from the kitchen all the way to the front door entry so it is easier to keep clean. I want to have a 15'x20' sun room put on the back of my house. If I tried to do this myself it would probably lean and leak.