Re: florecents
I find it difficult to believe that it's totally the same. Aquarium grow bulbs come in many different spectrums, and serve different purposes. I noticed a big difference in my aquarium plants, especially with a combination of different bulbs. Mind you, the difference between aquariums and hydroponics vs starting tobacco, is that we are only aiming at a small portion of the plants life span. Maybe the difference shows with aquarium plants because they are going through much more of their life cycle, including flowering , sending out rhizomes, and so on.
I also noticed a difference with my tomatoes. I was using 65W of compact fluorescent grow bulbs and they were doing fine, then I switched to 93W of non - grow light CFLS, and the tomatoes began to stretch badly. Now, others have said that you just need to keep the lights close, which is true, but CFLS get much hotter than tubes because the ballast is right there, so that's a problem.
I would get t5 grow lights at a hydroponics store, rather than an aquarium store. They cost much less. You can get a 4' t5ho grow bulb for 6 to 9 bucks, so how much are you saving with the generic bulbs?
However, given the choice of t8 or t12 grow lights and t5 non grow lights, I would go with t5 because the intensity is much better, and that also matters.