I had no choice here. A 5.5 is a very small tank and it needs a very small strip light with a 14 inch Fluor. I have had the T-8 light on this tank since I set-up the tank about 15 or more years ago. The bulb was the second or third.
I am not sure what fried- the bulb, the starter or the balast. But the white reflector part was disintegrating, So it was a new ight for me. The only thing i could find was an LED and it was a lot cheaper than a strip. The blue is useless, but the rest is fine.
I still have T-8, T-5 (regular) and even some power compacts from the now defunct AH Supply. All my T-12s are finally gone. But I now special in the lower light plants= anubias, crypts, hygro, Java ferns one lone dwarf sword I have had for about 16 years. I have many anubias hitting the surface in tanks.
One of the lessons I learned early on came from something written by Karen Randall. Basically, the most important factor in light is to get some over the plants and do not worry hugely about all the spectrum, wpg etc. unless you are going high tech. She also wrote that if one had 3 wpg (over most tanks) and cannot grow pretty much anything under it, look elsewhere for the reason why. Of course wpg is no longer relevant.
I only run lower intensities on all of my planted tanks. They are all jungles and only one has an algae issue I have never been able to control in over 17 years. I upgraded the contents of a 75 to a 150 and the algae moved right along with the contents and the inhabitants. I think it relates to stocking. I am now experimenting with only using the Tropica Premium Fert. plus a small amount of SeaChem Potassium added. I have cut out the nitrogen and phosphorus. The tank only has a pair of 3 ft. T-8 full spectrum bulbs. (ZooMed Ultra Sun 25w, CRI 98, 10,000 hour useful life.) I have a bunch on the shelf I got in anticipation they would be discontinued eventually. I also have a few power compact bulbs for the same reason.
One more thing I noticed. The directions for the LED fixture were quite explicit about not getting the fixture wet and if it fell into the tank to unplug it before retrieving it. Over the past 20+ years I have had strip lights turned on go into tanks. none has ever become fully submerged as I usually grab them before they are 1/3 that way. I have never been shocked nor, to my knowledge, were any of the fish or plants. I guess it has been a lot of luck to date.