Finding the right lighting...

Hey fellas I'm trying to start a small operation in my dorm room (nothing too ambitious). Since the whole thing's goin in my closet I'm probably gonna try raising about 8 plants or so at a time. After reading a few guides and some other research, I've got pretty much everything figured out except for the lighting.

Now from what I understand, what's recommended is a metal halide light during the vegetative stage and a high power sodium light during flowering/budding. Additionally, I've seen a bunch of talk about CFLs as well. The only thing is that when I type any of this stuff into google, I get a bunch of random hits-some cheap, some ridiculously expensive- and there's just too much variety for me to be sure of anything. Most of the guides I've read just give a general idea of what to use, no specifics. I'd appreciate it if anyone could sort of point me in the right direction or give me some links to the correct things to buy. Alternatively, I'd be interested in building a fixture myself if that's a cheaper option, if anyone could help me figure out how to do that.

As far as size goes, I'll be growing in a roughly 4x3" area with about 5 feet of space vertically, and like I said, around 8 plants. Thanks for your help guys!

well, i HAVE ONE PLANT AND i USE 2 LIGHTS AND ITS PRETTY SUCCESSFUL..MAKE SURE THE LIGHT U USE IS A DAYLIGHT TYPE AND A WARM WHITE...i USE CFL'S THERE PRETTY GOOD FOR ARTIFICIAL LIGHT. THE DAYLIGHT LIGHT USUALLY GIVE 5500K COLORS AND 1500 LUMENS WICH IS REQUIRED FOR MARIJUANA GROWING. YOU WILL LEARN ALOT ON THIS FORUM. U MAY WANT TO PURCHASE TUBE LIKE LIGHTING...HOM DEPOT IS THE BEST PLACE FOR THAT TYPE OF LIGHT...FOR THE DUAL LIGHTING UNIT AND BULBS WOULD COST U ABOUT 50 DOLLARS..BUT REMEMBER DAYLIGHT TYPE AND A WARM WHITE. YOU WOULD BE SUPRISED HOW FAST THEY WILL GROW