You need to decide how many watts of light you need and if you want to wire the fixture or plug in cord. Also how long a space you have. It you are considering building a box, go shorter, unless you have plants, the light doesn't need to go to the ends of the tank. T5, T8, T12 are bulb sizes (diameter). The skinnier bulbs generally give more light for less energy and less heat, but cost more. Avoid pull chains, slide switches are best.
cheaper fixtures have no switches, so you have to wire them yourself or plug into a switch. Something like GE's "brite stick" will work about 2 years over a fish tank, more if your are lucky. To affect the look of the tank, you chose the bulb. A plant and aquarium bulb gives a purplish light (good for red fish, but sort of weird-looking), a normal bulb is sort of blue, a "daylight" bulb is a white/gold light.
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