Light Option Suggestions?

Newbie grower here. Last week I started my current seedling with some very basic plant grow lights from home depot. They seem to be doing great under it so far but im hoping to upgrade soon. I havent yet invested in a main light source. For my future mother and seedling i plan on getting a 4 ft fluorescent. But for vegatative and flowering state I'm lost among all the options. Does anyone have some favorites? Luckily I'm not limited space wise and willing to put down $400 on lights if worth it. Id also love some imput on the differnce in light I will need between vegatative and flowering.

mango kush pics soon to come
thanks for any imput

a big hps like a 600 or 1000 watt is what i would go with. they will be perfect to grow a plant right through.

metal halide buld for veg. High pressure sodium for flower.

ya pretty much all of us use a 600 or 1000 watt hps cuz they work ok for veg and there great for flower. if you want a light to keep your mother plants an clones doing great t-5 lamps work well but i dont really care for them for flower.

^^^^^^do as said above.... or u can use cfls for veg they also very good but your plants will appreciate the lumens from the hps when u flower....the bigger the better if u not limited space wise so a 1000w hps will be good and even better with a ballast that supports both mh/hps. U will love the dense and rock hard buds from a hps

How many plants do you think one could grow with a 400W HPS? 600W seems a bit too expensive for me right now

I have six at the moment but planning on ridding of the males when they flower. U can fit about up to 9 depending how long they going to veg for....just take into account the growth in flower phase. I read when doing research for my grow that 400w will flower 4 biggish girls quite well

Heh, thanks for the input.
I'm thinking about growing 6 plants at a time, I guess I just can't let them get too big or I'll have to upgrade my lighting during flowering

Hmm well they can veg for a good 4 weeks and those six should be just fine under the 400w

Thanks for the advice guys. I've decided on this basic 1000watt hps light http://www.specialty-lights.com/901212.html. Decided to skip on the hood for now, hey I still gotta pay rent and I wouldnt have vent tubes yet anyways, its a large room which deffinately will not over heat. Just wanted to know if you think its worth upgrading the bulb option. I havent done my homework on bulbs yet but if it means signifigantly larger buds, I'm all for it.