depends on the types of plants you have and plan on growing, what kind of setup you have and such. If you only have a few plants and they are low demand plants you can probably go with a less expensive lighting setup.
I have always liked this light setup, but it is fairly expensive. Also the bulbs might have to be changed out, check with the seller to see if this is an option. More than likely they'll have a 10,000K (which is OK) but they throw in the Anentic (sp) which is NOT ok.
i am going 2 do several/ many plants with low to mid lvl lighting. anything compadibale with the high temp an low ph of discus water.
-changeing out the bulbs is a option, i was thinking 2grow lights an 2 daytime sunlights in each... why is Anentic (sp) not good???
Actinic bulbs are great for marine tanks but look terrible on freshwater tanks, and plants don't like them but bacteria and algae do. 6700K bulbs are best for planted aquariums, 10,000 is ok but not ideal.
It encourages the wrong type of growth. Most people want thick leafy growth and actinic bulbs tends to promote long/tall leafless growth.
From what I remember the theory goes that the actinic light (possibly anything outside of their optimal spectrums) makes the plant think it is being blocked so it tries to grow up and out of the shade.