How about those 500W halogen shop spotlights
 

How about those 500W halogen shop spotlights you can get from a hardware store for $7. Would that work any better than fluorescents yet be cheaper than MH?

Halogen lights like incandescents are very expensive to operate. Their lumen-per-watt output is very low.
Their color spectrum is in the far red end. Only 10 to 15 percent is in the visible spectrum.