Personally, I'd use it as a terrarium for houseplants (after repairing the crack(s) first) rather than a greenhouse for vegetables. As loribee2 said, veggies need a high amount of light. When people use flourescent lights they keep the bulbs only 1-2 inches away from the top of the plants. If the bulbs are any higher it leads to "leggy" plants. Good air circulation is a must to prevent damping off (fungus) problems. And it seems like watering the plants would be a bit of a pain. Plus, it just doesn't seem big enough to start many plants to me. Rodney

Long ago I started many seed in a 55 gallon show tank that had a crack in the bottom. I just used plain, cheap fluorescent tubes. It was my understanding back then that "grow lights" had a short half life at the extreme ends of the spectrum and had to be replaced frequently and this was expensive then. Grow lights may be better now or they may be cheaper. If you fixture is made for screw in bulbs you may want to try 6500K compact fluorescent bulbs.

Daylight Deluxe by Phillips are rated at 6500* Kelvin. Kelvin Degree's or K rating is the color temperature. From what I've read laboratory studies determined that freshwater aquatic plants (thats lumping all genus/species in one pile) do best between 5500K - 8000K (considered full spectrum lighting). They also determined that 6700K is optimum for steady and rapid growth. What it comes down to is bulbs with the 5500K-8000K have more of the blue/violet and red/orange colors of the spectrum which is what plants use. The green/yellow (mid-spectrum) are almost usless to plants, but that is the color temp. that is widely used in "standard" house hold lighting. These would be the soft white and cool white colors (3500K-4100K). These are used because to the human eye it is a comfortable range. It brings out more detail and color to objects for our veiwing and reading. The bulbs that are labeled Plant&Aquarium / GroLights usually have lower spectrum, arround 1600K-2500K, they have more the blue/violet and minimal red/orange. This is good for most low light plants like Java Fern, some Anubias and house plants (a big one would be african violets) It also helps enhance the colors of the plants and fish, almost like a blacklight. I have compared the aquarium/grolights to the daylight deluxe side by side and found that even with low light demanding plants the daylight deluxe will make the plants grow quicker and they seem somewhat healthier. This is good for aquariums that have herbivore fish like goldies and Mbuna's. My gourami's even would destroy a small plant over night, leaving nothing but a stem, maybe.----BUT---- As far as your particular problem. 1) The water may have an algae bloom (green water) that wasn't noticed with regular aquarium bulbs. Since the Daylight Deluxe are a more "natural" sunlight it may have brought it to your attention. Take a sample of aquarium water in a clear glass and hold it to the light to see. Also, did the water turn green as soon as you turned on the lights with the new bulbs? Or, did it take a few days to notice this? 2) Sometimes the tanks can throw a green hue when brightly lit, especially older ones. Do you have a "background" on the aquarium? A background (like the poster type at the fish store) will reduce this reflection greatly. 3) What I do (sometimes) is use a combo of the 6500K and "color enhancing" aquarium bulbs to bring out the fish and plants more. I have never had these bulbs make my water appear a spooky green, exception is an empty tank with no background and minimal decor (rocks, plants and gravel). 4) To answer your ? about cheaper aquarium bulbs, use the ones that say "Plant&Aquarium", I think thats what Skygee uses. Most plants will do better with the "Full Spectrum" lighting (5500K-8000K), some require the reds and oranges to stay healthy (especially any red/purple plants). For a descent article comparing lighting go to www.drsfostersmith.com search "fish articles lighting" and they have good color charts with the differences also www.ahsupply.com has a brilliant explanation, aside from reasonable retrofit kits that are superior to some of the top name brands. To add, Wal-Mart has 6500K spotlights that measure 6"X12" with 65W screw in type compact fluorescents for only $12. I just noticed them the other day. These are the same ones Home Depot sells for about$40. This comes with the Bulb and fixture, by "Lights of America" called "FluoreX". Replacement bulbs are only about $7 at Homo Depot. These are not "regular" incandescent replacement types. They need the ballasted fixture. I have used the screw-in compacts by this company before (incadescent replacement) and have also had great success.

I have used (saltwater/reef) aquarium bulbs... 50/50 works good, but you'll want to mix with something that gives more red light like grolux widespectrum. Be careful with 100% blue actinic bulbs as you can 'sunburn' (or is that 'lightburn'?) plants if you just change out an existing bulb ... But that being said, since those bulbs put out a good amount of deep blue/uv light, a single actinic in a 4-bulb light seems to help harden off starting seeds that will be moved outside (this is my experience only - not an official thing but for this reason sorts i recommend an actinic or 50/50 or even blacklight ) I've never tried 10,000k ... but there's no reason it shouldn't work