Hello Fishtank TV, my name is Brett. Short time lurker on the site, and long time watcher of Dustin's videos on Youtube. Figured I could introduce myself a little bit before I get onto some questions that have been bugging me recently. While currently I have no aquariums set up, I have been keeping fish since I was about 16, so about 5-6 years total. The largest tank I have ever had was a 10 gallon (which I still have), because for the moment I am stuck living at home with my parents and my mother has issues with anything larger than a 20 gallon tank. I've pretty much mostly only kept betta fish of various colors and varieties, for a while I was running 3 tanks in my room 2 5 gallons and 1 10 gallon with nothing but one betta in each of them. Unfortunately the last winter was kind of devastating for me when one by one I began losing my bettas, 2 to what I figure was old age as one was nearing 4 years old and the other was just over 2. The worst was a very beautiful golden colored half moon that I was just lucky to find at a petco, but then only 3 months of having him I came home from class one day and he wasn't in his tank anymore and found him stuck behind the stand on the floor dried up and dead. I'm not really certain what happened other than he somehow got out through one of the tiny holes the hood had for the filter and well, that was the end of that chapter. He was the one living in the 10 gallon which is where I first tried and fell in love with live aquarium plants. But I heeded some advice from my mom and tried to take a break from fish keeping for a while and tore all of it down and sold my 2 5 gallons to my cousin who now uses them for fry from some of his livebearers. But I've missed having an aquarium around, I have a terrarium up with a crested gecko in it, but it's just not the same to look at him when I used to look at fish swimming gracefully around in water. It was relaxing and I loved it. 

So I'm getting back into it. I've already purchased a lot of things to get me back into the hobby but I haven't started setting anything up just yet because i will be building a brand new stand for the aquarium rather than keeping it on my dresser like I used to (or my desk with the 5 gallons). I bought a brand new Aquaclear 20 power filter to replace an old marineland one I had for years. I still have several different heaters from the old days of keeping aquariums (2 100 watt, one I think is 150 or 200, I can't remember need to double check), air pump, lining and some other essentials and not so essentials. Now I'm planning on trying dirt with this tank so I don't have to spend a lot of money on ferts and other stuff that I just had trouble keeping up with when I first tried live plants (a lot of it I eventually realized I did not entirely have to do, but I was new to it). I have old gravel I saved from the 10 gallon, and bought a small little 5lb bag to maybe mix into it to add a little more variety to the gravel for the cap on the dirt, haven't opened that yet so if I decide not to use it I can just return it. I also bought some red clay for additional iron to the soil. Also the dirt I got is Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting mix, it's what I see getting used a lot. 

Now the major issue has come to me when i went to test the lights to make sure they work. I was using my old 10 gallon hood (one of those cheap plastic ones that you get with those starter kits, I've had it for years), the lights I was using were 2 10 watt Zoo Med 5" 6005K UltraSun flourescent bulbs. I used these on this hood months ago when I still had the tank set up and was first trying live plants. They worked then, but when i went to try them now, nothing came on. I thought it might be the bulbs, but I tried those in my desk lamp and both came on. So I took some testing equipment my dad had (hooray for training as an electrician) and the hood is basically junk now as it somehow got damaged during the time it was in storage in our basement. I don't know what happened, but I'm out a hood/lights and I figured I would just go to the petstore, and buy one of the replacement hoods for the 20 or 30 dollars they sell them for (kind of a rip off but I didn't know what to do).

It is when I went to Petco (I have no close by LFS anymore) to get the new hood and noticed they have a sale going on until the middle-end of October on all of their aquariums, a dollar per gallon. So I start wondering if maybe I would be better off getting a 20 gallon like I've always wanted. So I held off on making a purchase on anything to try and figure out what I want to do. Which is where I come to you all for some help, since I'm not sure what might be the better use of time, money and potential for an aquarium and wanted some advice from people who have been in the hobby long or just simply have more experience than I with it. 

Do I just stick with the 10 gallon and get a new hood and use the lights I have?

Make the investment and get a 20 gallon (long or high, not sure which would be better for me just yet) and just return the lights I have and get some T5's for it?

If I went with a 20 gallon, which would be better the high (24" x 12" x 16") or long (30" x 12" x 12")? I can build a stand to fit either. I know a lot of people talk about a long being better for a gas exchange and giving fish more horizontal room to swim, but then the 20 gallon high is higher and gives more height for plants to grow (or so I would think since some plants get incredibly large). I've seen a lot of debate around different places about both. 

If I went with the 20 gallon what lighting should I go for (I don't want to spend a huge amount of money). I've been looking at these 3 set ups, but if you have something better to reccomend I'm open to suggestions: 

http://www.petco.com/product/111939/Zoo-Med-AquaSun-T-5-HO-Double-L...

http://www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-2x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-...

http://www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-4x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-... (I know this one is on the higher side of watts and price, but I also am thinking about potential for the future for when I move out or my family just moves. Going to try and swing to get a larger tank when that happens and this would fit a 29 gallon I believe)

Additional what bulbs would you recommend for these lighting fixtures?

Some additional information on what I'm planning on doing. As of right now, I'm looking at stocking pretty much nothing but either Neon Tetras or Cardinal Tetras, and possibly cherry shrimp (I would have to order these online, no where near by stocks them), or maybe some Cory's plus the tetras. I have not decided on what plants I'm stocking the tank with, but Petco and Petsmart near me have both really expanded their stock on these since I was last into fish, so I'll probably go with stuff they have there. 

Sorry for the long post, just figure I would knock out a lot of information in one go. Also sorry if this is not the right area for this, I just wasn't sure. The site seems awesome and a lot of you have amazing tanks. Hope to someday put some pictures of mine, but first I need to figure this stuff out. Thanks for any and all help!

- Brett