Yes, you can use the fluo light hood that came with your tank. Try to find a bulb with a colour temp. of 6500-6700K. This is the best for plant growth, and as it is the colour of natural sunlight at noon, it looks very nice (no turning plants funny colours). One light won't put out that much light though, so I'd supplement with a bit of sunlight. Morning sun is best, as it won't heat your tank up too much (more indirect), and you should have a vent in the top of your tank anyways to allow heat to escape. How often you need to mist depends entirely on how humid it is where you live, how open the tank is, and any number of other environmental factors. I'd suggest you buy a little hygrometer to measure the humidity. 70-90% is good for terrarium plants in general. Then mist accordingly. I find I need to mist almost every day.

Dear Fellow C&S Friends, Pls consider going over to the Terrarium Forum to explain this. Or to back me up in my explanations of this over there. I've recently found two posts that encourage Succulents in Terrariums. One's by a Landcscaper showing pix from (I assume) his site. Lovely but doomed to fail as well all know. It's otherwise VERY quiet over there. I tried to explain this to someone over there & was told I was being mean & discouraging. This Landscaper is just the sort who is leading folks astray about this bad practice. TIA, Lena

Hi Lottie, Sorry, I too suggest no Cacti or Succulents in Terrariums, they just don't last due to lack of drainage & circulation, 2 of their needs which aren't negotiable. May I pls. say that we don't mean to be discouraging. It's just that we hate to see folks set up to fail, having been misled about how workable this actually is. I believe some Terrarium folks use layers, tho' I have not. I think for folks who know Terrariums & have experience w/ them, layers COULD be OK. Humidity loving & small or slow-growing are the considerations one would want for Terrariums, which are doable, w/ more appropriate plants. Nerve plants, botanically Fittonia, mentioned above, would be great candidates for Terrarium. They crave humidity, & do well in Terrariums. I've grown 2 different kinds / sizes of this which did great. It's a rain forest plant, so it's perfect for that, also it likes lower light levels; the edge of a window is perfect. I moved into this apmt w/ a large globe full of small, green leafed, white veined Fittonia. The Mover wanted to buy it from me; I resisted. Years later I made a Terrarium for my sister & her new apmt using large leafed, red-veined Fittonia, quite striking. A recent pot of the red-veined. Unfortunately, I lost this when it dried out, was my first attempt OUTSIDE a terrarium & I was inattentive to its watering. I'd mix equal parts of African violet mix & Perlite, throwing in a handful of that charcoal, or what I use, aquarium grade charcoal, small chips. I've also grown the small green & white one in the bathroom window, taking advantage of the humidity & adding pebble trays. I haven't grown ferns & they can be tricky; don't know about their prices. Fittonias are cheap & fairly easily found. That is a smallish jar, I believe 8.5" high x 7" wide, so you should really look for the smaller, green leafed Fittonia, the plant pictured above is too big for your jar. Also, pls leave the terrarium open, the plants will prefer no cover, especially if the container is small-mouthed.

One of the things that I will say about these lights is yes, they will cast shadows, and No, they should not be the primary light source That said, there is not a single ornamental fixture in my house that is the primary light source in any room in the entire house, particularly not in a kitchen or bathroom. The kitchen and bathrooms are (or will be in the case of the upcoming kitchen) primarily lit from the ceiling by recessed lighting and by task lighting at the counters. The ornamental ceiling lights I took out of the bedrooms in my parents' house had been turned on so infrequently that the original 45 year old bulbs (all six) were in two of the fixtures. Those rooms were lit primarily by lamps switched by the door. My assumption regarding these lights by the OP is that the kitchen would primarily be lit by recessed and task lighting and that the pendant lights would be be adding sparkle and some lighting and that the weird shadows they may cast would be obviated by the "real" lighting, recessed or close-to-ceiling and task lighting.