Thanks for your comments guys, I really appreciate it. The light is currently resting on the box (the metal case hangs down about an inch past the bulb so it isn't touching the cardboard.) I believe it was about 23 dollars at home depot, but I just had it in the basement from a blacklight rave that we through last year. As far as the aluminum foil is concerned, I guess I will remove it tonight. I'm not sure what mylar is or where you get it, but i'll search the forums and find out. Lastly, the reason I'm doing this is for my own curiousity. I haven't really told anyone in fear of getting in trouble so its not for the praise. I definitely will not sell it, although I'm not what I'll do with the end product. But in all honestly, that's the last thing on my mind... I don't even know if this will work.

As far as future plans are concerned, I think I'm going to buy an old chest freezer that I found on craigslist and install two 100 watt light bulbs for heat, those HID lights that i've been reading about (I still need to do more research obviously haha), and a self watering system. Does that sound like a good way to go one the plants get bigger?