I wouldnt know about mixing your own soil mixture but i recommend fox farm..they have some great medium.For the lights im not to sure on this since i havent had to buy cfl's oin awhile so off the top of my head im gonna say 2500k and 5000k...someone please correct me if im wrong on that but i do know the names of the lights lol just get some cool white cfl's and some warm white cfl's.You can get them pretty much anywhere that sells lights like walmart for instance.