T5 aquarium fixture for small veg cab

I have a nice recycled kitchen cabinet which I intend to use to start/veg plants in my small closet setup. It is too narrow (23"x11" footprint) to handle 24" fixtures, but the 18-20" would be perfect. I know that the cheapest solution would be just to buy 2-4 regular light fixtures and stick the appropriate spiral cfls in them, but I ran across Compact Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: SunPaq Retrofit Kits

I am looking at the 20" 40 watt x 2 setup. It comes with two different bulbs, one is a dual 6000k/10000k daylight bulb, and the other is a dual "actinic" bulb with 420nm and 460nm peaks. Would this make sense for my intended purpose? Any links to cheaper/better set-ups appreciated.

Sounds a bit expensive for what it is.

Keep in mind that fluro's are like lumber, the sizes they are called seem to have little to do with real world measurements.

In your case you can fit two of these in there.

Hydrofarm - Hydrofarm FLT52 Single T5 Fluorescent Fixture with Tube, 24 inches

If you do it like this: 23X11 CAB Light Squeeze

I love those little T5's. You can put em all over the place. You did not say how tall your cab is so you may be able to add one to each side too.

Use reflective lining and you are good to go.

HTH

I assumed that when they said that the unit had two 40 watt bulbs that they were "real" watts and not "incandescent equivalent" watts. I can't find this explicitly stated however. Interestingly the aquarium guys don't seem to care about lumens.

Anyway, if it really does have 80 watts, it would be the equivalent of four of the 2' 20 watt fixtures, AND it comes with reflectors, making it quite reasonable in comparison. Still dunno about the various wavelengths tho.

You are correct about the 40w being real watts.

I am confused with the 6000k/10000k are these numbers both Kalvin? the 6000k is good but 10000k I think that puts it in the ultravilolet range which is to high IMO. Then you are going to have to think about flowering it is best to use around a 2100k bulbs for this.

Another way you may want to consider is getting a few of those under cabinet florecent lights at Lowes or HD, I think they come in 18 and maybe up to 24 inch sizes. I don't know how hard it would be to get the correct bulbs for them though, but I think I have seen them in the light bulb area at HD.

Hope this helps and Happy Growing