I would advise going this route if you can dish out a few extra dollars.400 wat hps is only $119.00
have alook on ebay you can pick up some good stuff on there tho i have never bought anything off it$60 - $80 is my lighting budget -- whats the most effecient way to light up my plant/plants??? dotn just say cfl cause i know its probly cfl but what kind of cfl and how many???? and if there r any HPS sytems for that budget tell me PLEASE
What I would do is get 42 watt soft white CFL's. They are no more than $10 a piece. I am using soft white for Veg, and they are doing pretty good. Plus I think it is better to have soft white for Veg and flower, than Daylight for Veg and flower. I would get as many as you can for what your budget allows. Get 2-3 "Y" sockets ($2-3) so you can have 2 lights in one fixture. Is the budget for JUST lights, or fixtures as well?
You want atleast 3-4 Cool light CFL's.... and then 5+ warm light CFL's for Flowering.... that is all you need... and you can use the cool light's when ur flowering so you have 5 + the 4 u have alrady