Regular fluorescent lights

[Humpy]

Can i buy standard fluorescent lights from a place like home depot and use them on my fishtank. My balast blew on my old lihgt. So now i need another 6' fixture and it would be a fraction of the cost if i bought everything from homedepot.

My only concern would be that the lightsd would get too hot. But the tank has glass tops and i could build some kind of stand to hold the lights about a 12' over the glass tops. Would this work?

[emc7]

Yes, it would work. Standard fluorescent fixtures and fish tanks fixtures are very similar. Ideally the fish tank intended ones would be more water resistant, but I don't think thats the case with the cheapest fish lights. But check for a new ballast first, that would be cheaper still. The may have them at lowes or search the internet.

[Humpy]

so is there anything specific i should be looking for when i go get a light fixture?

i dont have any plants in this tank so does the K rating really matter?
Or does each different rating give the tank a bit different look?

[emc7]

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.