This article is from the Aquaria: Plants FAQ, by multiple authors.
First and foremost, don't use incandescent lights; they generate far
too much heat and not enough light. Full-spectrum fluorescent bulbs
are ideal, since they duplicate the spectrum of the sun. These tubes
("Vitalite", "Spectralite") can be costly, at $8 to $20. An
inexpensive but effective alternative are tri-phosphor daylight tubes
such as the Chroma-50 or Design-50, which retail at $4-8; these tubes
do a reasonable approximation of sunlight. Cheaper "plant lights"
are also good, and may actually bring out your fish's color better.
Tri-phosphor bulbs (Triton, Tri-lux) are slightly more powerful, but
also more expensive than full-spectrum bulbs, and high-end bulbs with
internal reflectors (BioLume) are overpriced and unnecessary. Other
bulbs to avoid are standard cool-white tubes, and "aquarilux" tubes,
designed to show off the fish and retard plant growth, though some
folks have had success with a mixture of cool white and plant bulbs.
 
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