First timer here. Using what i have!

I reside in a hate-mongering, right wing, red state, but Im fed up with your normal acquisitions of illicit substances. :wtf: I know that what I am doing is not completely proper. But here is a breakdown. :thumbsup:

I used a 20 gallon plastic tote. I placed about two inches of natural creek pebbles at the bottom, I then dug up some fine dark corn growing soil at my disposal, mixed it heartily with carbon of my own making, ( I love camp fires), then I topped it off with some miracle grow for flowers (its all I had laying around). I planted 15 seeds I had saved from previous methods of the aforementioned. Germ time was approx. 5 days. All 15 came up. I lost three so far due to unknown reasons. The stalks got really thinned out then doubled over. The roots were good but I disposed of them anyways. So I'm down to 12. Two have holes from bugs. I plan on getting some Diatomaceous Earth (science rocks). I was misting but found that it was causing the plants to bend over due to the weight so have stopped this and have been watering the soil only around the bases of the newborns with fish-tank water (heavy in nitrates). My lighting is my real worry, as I have used what I had laying around, and don't know when I can afford to adjust it. At the moment I have 250w metal halide with a 10k bulb. My only other bulb choice is a 14k bulb (I used to have salt water fish tanks with live coral). I have another 250w setup for flowering, but my only bulb choice is either 10k or 14k which I know is not right due to the flowering process needing warmer color bans. Im going to be looking for a much lower K bulb as soon as I can. This is what I have done in a nutshell. Will see how it all turns out. :pimp:

Hit me with feedback, and constructive criticism, its all welcome. :D

your lights are fine. those will work just fine, I would say, let them get about 8-10 inches before you even try to load them up with nutes. just feed it regular water let the soil airate/dry out between waterings. If you like you can lower your lighting into cfl's for sprouts. then when they get taller throw the HID light on them. 1-6 inches of growth can be done with just store bought 24w $3.00 cfl bulbs. use 2-4 bulbs with some make shift sockets.
you could also, take plastic solo cups, cut them around the sides/pop the bottom off. and wrappp them around the base of the plant & push it into the dirt 3-4 inches down. this will help the watering stay near the root area. Especially if your in a big pot with lots of plants. once they get taller and build up roots you can yank the cup/root border away.

Great advice! Thanks for the reply! So you don't think that 10000k bulbs will adversely affect the flowering process? I read that it called for much warmer light around 2500k?