Does the MH go in the floresent light, no.
You would need a ballest, and reflector and a mogel socket, ( the mogel socket is what actually holds the buld, unless it is a DE double ended bulb, then that has its own socket.
I love the look of the MH bulb, there is nothing else that gives the tank that shimmer, ok well the LED set up does, but who has 3 grand for lights.
On a 29, 30 gal tank, do you plan on using a canopy? If so, plan a reflector, a mogel socket, and one or two VHO (those are the floresent bulbs (you could also use T-5's) you would use this for your actinic. But be warned, if you use a canopy, and have MH in it you will need to drill holes on the side of the canopy for fans. Otherwise the heat from the MH will heat up your tank. Sounds complicated, but it really isn't.
Second choice is, if you don't have to have a canopy, you could find a light strip. They have some nice ones now, that would include Mh and an actinic buld, and some even have the moon light in them so all your bases are covered. The problem with a lot of those are they are designed to sit right on top of your tank,(the legs they give you only puts the light about 3 or 4 inches off the top, and you should run your tank without glass over it, for the evaporation. so these units don't handle the splash or moisture well.
Third choice is something like a JBJ cyber light ( I believe that is what it is called) This looks alot like a desk lamp. It clips the the back of the tank, so you would have that opened look.
Not all clutted. Problem with this is you don't get to use an actinic bulb with it, unless you make something up to hold an actinic bulb. Just your little 10K MH.you don't get a choice as far as type of light you like.
Now for the bulbs, You have choices in bulbs, you will see 10K, 15K 20K. The 10 is more whiter light and 20 is a lot bluer light, and inbetween is just working your way up the the other. Everyone has different taste in what they like, so that would be up to you.
And lastly the watts, there are 150, 175, 250 and 400. The way I understood it to be, is use the watts based on how deep your tank is. If your tank is only 15 inches deep, the light doesn't have to penatrate thru a lot of water to reach the bottom of the tank so a 150 would work well. Where as if your tank is 30 inches deep the light has a long way to go to hit the bottom of the tank, say like for clams and such so you would what to use a 400watt bulb. And the others are inbetween. That is the way it was explained to me. Hope this helps.
Personnaly on a 29, 30 gal, If I didn't have a nice looking canopy, I would go with a nice light fixture. It has it all there, one price takes care of it, easier to set up, and change bulbs. I would just figure a way to hang it from the ceiling, so it would be about 6 to 8 inches off the top of the tank. I would still use a fan to blow across the top of the tank to keep the tank cool. It also help with evaporation, which is a good thing.
