if yor any good at diy or at least have some basic soldering skills you can build a diy led light for probably under $100 that will be good enuf for now and be expandable later simply by adding more strings of leds
i just did a quick list of parts
48 inch aluminum c-chanell from home depot $5-10
700ma non dimable driver $16 or
1050ma non dimable driver $26 or
1300ma dimable driver $36
9 royal blue cree xte leds w/80* lenses $38.25
5 neautral white xpg led w/80* lenses $30
thermal adhesive $7
remove the guts from the flouresent hood you have and mount this strip inside, it will provide more light and lees heat and use less electricty plus you can upgrade later by adding more strips along with a controler for sunrise/sunset efects.
for the best economy you could start with the 700ma driver and later upgrade to the 1300 dimable and use the 700 to add some uv or other colors that only go up to 700ma (the whites and blues can go to 1500)
this is what i would do the best part about led's is never having to buy new bulbs and never wondering if they need replacing
instead of buying a new set of t5 bulbs in 8-12 months you could add another string of leds or a diming controler
i just did a quick list of parts
48 inch aluminum c-chanell from home depot $5-10
700ma non dimable driver $16 or
1050ma non dimable driver $26 or
1300ma dimable driver $36
9 royal blue cree xte leds w/80* lenses $38.25
5 neautral white xpg led w/80* lenses $30
thermal adhesive $7
remove the guts from the flouresent hood you have and mount this strip inside, it will provide more light and lees heat and use less electricty plus you can upgrade later by adding more strips along with a controler for sunrise/sunset efects.
for the best economy you could start with the 700ma driver and later upgrade to the 1300 dimable and use the 700 to add some uv or other colors that only go up to 700ma (the whites and blues can go to 1500)
this is what i would do the best part about led's is never having to buy new bulbs and never wondering if they need replacing
instead of buying a new set of t5 bulbs in 8-12 months you could add another string of leds or a diming controler