Alternative lighting?

Okay so I've done alot of research and came to the conclusion that HPS is the way to go. But until I can afford the equipment for my hydro system and lamps, is there a cheaper alternative.

Right now I'm using a 36" twin bulb fluro fuxture with some plant bulbs. I'm gonna switch and get a warm white and cool white. But any suggestions are welcome and appreciated. What about the flowering stage. Any alternatives for flowering stage? Are there other fluro bulbs that will give me the spectrum of light needed?

If you're using CFL's for vegging, you want the "Daylight" coloured ones. Come flowering time, switch over to the warm/cool white bulbs.

Nothing tops the HPS, many options only one real option. T5 is ok and I have seen decent results, but again, after I bought my first 400w hps set up, I was hooked. Shop around I got a tent and 400w hps set up for under 300$ I got that in return the first week of harvest. Spend some to make some....and have some.

I was wondering if the "daylight" fluro tubes would work. It made sense but I wasn't sure if the "daylight" spectrum was close enough to the real sun. I'll try it. You said I could use warm/cool white bulbs to flower? I thought there was too much blue spectrum in thiose bulbs which is why so many say to vegi grow with them?

you want 6500 k for veg and 2700k for flowering
daylight is 6500k
soft white or cool white is 2700k
i hope this helps
peace