Don't use those unless you plan on growing one plant per bulb. They might be cheaper, but definitely not more efficient. The reason is fluorescent light has little effect on plant growth past 6-8". You cover more surface area with strip lights. Especially when starting seedlings in a 10x20" tray. I would buy 2 sets of 2'- 2 strip T-5 fluorescents for each seed tray. That's a total of 4 tubes. You could get away with one set(2 tubes), it depends how healthy you want your plants to be. The T-5's put off more lumens per watt. They cost $25 for a 2 strip light or $17 for a single strip light and sell at Home Depot. When you compare it to the cheapest 2' 4-light system at $120, this seems pretty reasonable. If you want to get fancy, buy a 2' piece of shiny metal ducting, for a reflector. It also sells at Home Depot for around $3. Hope this helps.

There really isn't any such thing as too old for the worms. Worms eat decomposing organic matter, and you can't have organic matter that is too old to decompose. However, if the food scraps smell like ammonia or sewerage, they have gone anaerobic, which can be harmful to the worms. The older the scraps are, the more likely that they have gone anaerobic. If they have liquefied, there is a good likelihood that they have gone anaerobic. What do they smell like? If you are afraid to find out, don't feed them to the worms.

I have a small galley kitchen (well, modified galley; there's a door in one long wall). I have divided my kitchen into the "baking" side and the "cooking" side. The baking side is AWAY from the stove, where the KitchenAid mixer is. I keep all the flour, sugar, cocoa, etc., there. And I keep a complete set (for me, that's TWO sets) of measuring spoons and dry measuring cups, plus spatulas and a whisk, on that end. On the "cooking" end, I keep another single set of measuring spoons and dry measuring cups; a couple of spatulas, and a whisk, plus the knives, grater, etc. The only things, almost, that go back and forth are the glass measuring cups. I keep two 1-cups and two 2-cups, bcs it's actually not unheard of for me to need to measure two completely different things. I keep them on the cooking end, bcs they're used most there, but not at the FAR end, so it's not so many steps to get one if I need to measure 1/2 cup of milk or something. If I had a big kitchen, I'd have several areas (it would be OK for their counterspace to overlap if they are not typically done at the same time--nobody's making lunch while I'm baking) : baking--away from most of the traffic, and not necessarily near the oven itself, but w/ decent counterspace for rolling out dough and laying the cookie sheets--though I quite happily borrow the "cooking" counter area for that. cooking--or "prep," w/ storage for my good cutting board, the knives, etc. making lunches--near the fridge, and w/ big cabinets nearby to stash the juice boxes, and counterspace under the peanut butter. kids making breakfast--not necessarily near the fridge, but w/ the bowls and spoons and cereal boxes near one another. I'd even be willing to buy 2 bowls per person just for breakfast alone in order to store them separately from the other dishes DH making breakfast--he makes toast, so I'd want an area for that, pref. that's not overlapping w/ the kids making breakfast making coffee--probably put this w/ DH's toaster, since that's almost the only time coffee is made, since I don't drink it, but were I someone else, I'd want this on an edge of the kitchen, so that company could make it, or get themselves a pot, without having to enter the kitchen proper. Gadgets: tray dividers: buy two sets and space these closely--no air gaps between items, or it's too hard to wrestle the cookie sheets out from between. I put mine in the deep cabinet over the fridge; I used to have them under the sink. drawer dividers: buy these clips, and 1/4-inch-thick wood, either plywood from the lumber store tha tyou cut yourself, or perhaps precut strips from a crafting-supply place like Midwest Products.

Most bought driftwood has been cleaned and sterilized versus what you may pick up on the beach. As far as plants be sure that what you buy are true aquatic plants and not just cuttings off houseplants. I would also look for plants that do well in low light levels such as the crypts and some Amazon Swords. These will come closer to doing well in average aquarium lighting conditions. Most of the pond plants that garden centers sell won't do well indoors because light levels. They really need direct sunlight and to replicate that in an aquarium translates to very expensive. Keep in mind too that lots of fish eat live plants so if you want a live planted take choose your fish very carefully. Lisa