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.

Check out these images of cocoons for easier spotting: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/99512510iGLKKJ They are a lemon yellow color at first and darken to the color of the compost just before they hatch.

Thank you Toddimn and EcoStarRemodel. Toddimn, thanks for the warning about the need to install a header if we combine the windows. We'll definitely look into what is involved before deciding if we want to go that route. I went to another window store that had a better variety of display windows. They carry only Milgard. Milgard seems to have the corner on the market in this area. After seeing the both the Style Line and Tuscany windows, I would definitely choose Tuscany. The Style line have thin, unimpressive frames and look very similar to our aluminum windows. The Tuscany frames are much beefier, more like a wood window. The uneven sight lines in the Style Line windows doesn't look good to me. The operable windows have glass that is at least 2" smaller, whereas the Tuscany windows have matching glass sizes. The Tuscany locks are nicer and the weepholes are covered. Montecito is the same frame as the Tuscany. The Montecito lacks a few of the nicer features of the Tuscany and doesn't have the glass breakage warranty. The saleslady told me that the price of the two lines is almost the same ( usually within $2 to $5) so she doesn't ever sell the Montecito. Home Depot gave me a quote for Montecito windows. That might be one good reason to buy from a window supplier rather than Home Depot. Neither window store that I visited had any double hung window displays. I would be interested to see one. I was told that the double hung windows have thicker frames than the single hung. I don't think I would want an even thicker frame for our narrow kitchen windows so the double hung might not work for our home. I guess the single hung could look mismatched since the screen is only on the bottom but I wonder if it would be annoying to have to look out a screen at the top? I will do the contoured grids just in the top of the windows. They don't come in a smaller size. EcoStarRemodel, the window salesperson said that they can order picture windows with frames to match casement windows. She suggested making the two center windows into one picture window and putting casements on the sides. That way the view in the middle wouldn't be obstructed by the center bar of a double casement. However, she said that the picture window in a casement frame would cost almost as much as a casement window. I didn't realize that all of the windows in the house should be of the same type If that's the case, then I wouldn't want to go with casements. We would need 13 of them which would be way too much $$$. Would it also look weird if we combined the two center kitchen windows into a picture window with single hungs on all the other windows?

Hi Nick, So that is the thing about water filters... they aren't something you want to set and forget. I've talked to people on here who are obsessed with water softener / carbon filter / iron filter / RO... and they forget that there aren't elves that come with each system. With virtually every system, not maintaining it is worse than not having it. The contaminants build up and then can be released in greater concentrations than what's going into the system. In general, carbon cartridge filters should be replaced after no more than a year. That's a general rule and there are exceptions. The reason is that they remove the residual disinfectant in the water and bacteria can build up in them. So I did a quick google search on Everpure H-100 and immediately came up with filters for $40 each. Honestly though, I'd look at paying someone to do something different there. You could do 1 filter to service both and a cheaper filter system (10" big blue). The big blue filter housing allows you to put in standard filters (or no filter at all). A carbon block filter that could service both (and probably then some) would cost you $30 a year. Just an FYI for others reading this: there's also a 20" big blue housing along with multiple stage housings. There are standard size filters that fit these larger housings. I have no connection to the website. I have just been a satisfied customer.