Hey everyone I'm new to the board but I do have a few grows under my belt.. I am new to HID's however .. I Picked up this hood from a friend and purchased the Hortilux bulb on eBay.. I just can't decide on what ballast to get. My first choice is the phantom 2 but wondering what if an old school mag ballast would be just as good.. Current rig is 840 watts of cfl under a custom hood that works great, I'm almost a week into flower and this will be the upgrade for the next grow. Any help is appreciated, oh and it's going into my box that's 3x3 and 7' high due to the sharp angles this hood has.. 3x3 is supposed to work best although I would like to go 4x4 if possible too.
I prefer a magnetic ballast. Much cheaper and rock solid performance. Also, that hood will do great in a 4 x 4 area.
I ended up buying a phantom 2, was going to go with a magnetic ballast but the features and more light output sold me on a digital,. Grabbed a digilux mh bulb and the babies I bought yesterday are in the new box I had to rebuild, but she's now 4x4x7 to fit the hood and plumbing - working great ~ light is at 60%. .