What is the best lighting to use for a planted aquarium?

What fixtures and bulbs should I purchase? Any online resources are welcome.

The best wattage is 2-3w per gallon. So if you have a 20 gallon freshwater planted tank, you need 60-65 watts of light for moderate light requiring plants. I use compact florescent bulbs. They put out more light than incandescent. You can expect to pay about $100 for that. The best online resource actually, is to search ebay! Decide on the length of bulb you need (by tank size) and search that way for compact florescent IE: 24" compacts.. Don't forget the CO2 also!

I use a standard 6500K or 8000K PL light from Philips or Osram, it cheaper compare to specialize aquarium light, and it just as good. 3~4 watts per gal is recommended for tank height < 2 feet. As for online resource try : http://www.thekrib.com/

FLORA-GLO Fluorescent Bulbs by Hagen are ideal for planted aquariums, freshwater aquariums, and terrariums. Standard intensity bulb promotes plant growth, intensifies plant colors, and features a warm photosynthetic spectrum. Service life of 5000 hours.

i'm going to try out some halogen floodlights i bought at home depot... they're 23w/90 W bulbs with daylight spectrum.only deal is i'd have to build light fixtures above the tank...ps.. i got 4 bulbs.. and they cost $20.

Well there are many different types lighting but the only kind I would recommend for tanks under 75 gallons are flourescent bulbs, either compact or regular. These are the cheapest and have the widest variety of bulbs available. You can get all the bulbs you need from your local DIY store such as Home Depot. Which ones you say though? Well there are many different things to consider:Kelvin: This denotes the color of the bulb. The higher the Kelvin the more bluish it is and the lower it is the more reddish it is. Most aquarists use bulbs between 5000K and 7000K.CRI: or color rendering index. This denotes how close to natural light the bulb is. The sun has a CRI of 100. Any bulb above 85 will be fine.Lumens: This is the amount of light the bulb produces. Most flourescents are in the 2000 range. This doesn't matter too much though. As long as it is in this range it will be fine.T-12, T-8, or Compacts? Good question. Really depends on your space available in your hood. T-12 and T-8 bulbs are basically the same only T-8's are more efficient but with a lower output. T-12 are the best choice in my opinion. Compacts are easily the best choice however they are more expensive in the short run. You can get a 55 watt, 22 in. compact flourescent bulb while you can only get a 40 watt, 48 in. regular T-12 bulb.How much? The most common question asked. On average most plants will do just fine under 2 watts per gallon however plants such as java moss and java fern will do fine in 1-1.5 watts/gallon. For a really succesful tank 3-4 watts/gallon is needed. However with this high lighting CO2 will need to be injected.