Hi all, I am looking for a couple bulbs to start my experiment and there are so many options out there with expensive and inexpensive choices. I am at a loss as to what will be best for me. I am running a 400 watt magnetic ballast to (when I get it) a Daystar AC 6 inch hood. I need a HPS bulb and a MH conversion bulb. The MH will be for vegging and HPS for flowering. Any opinions? I am not really wanting to spend 100 bucks per bulb. My space is only 2.5 feet wide, 4 feet long, and 7 feet tall. I think a 400 watt is perfect for that space. I would like to order something soon... I have looked on HTG.com but any other advice is wanted and appreciated.
I used an AGROSUN 400w combo bulb for a few grows and it worked well. Then I went to a 600w (bloom) with a switchable ballast so I could stay with a 400w 24/7 for grow. Now I am getting ready to try LED for a bloom cycle. Works for the grow cycle.
if you are using both bulbs you wont have to spend much... the conversion bulb will be the pricey one but pretty much any 6500k bulb will be killer for veg and most HPS bulbs sold as grow bulbs are awesome too. http://www.ebay.com/itm/400w-MH-Con...tDomain_0&hash=item5d3478610a#ht_10076wt_1344 They sell this Ultra Sun at my LHS and it has an awesome spectral distribution. ULTRA SUN 400 HPS | eBay
Hey there. I have been reading for weeks about the different bulbs available. In fact, I was about to post a thread about this bulb, the Eye Specialux. It boasts a ridonculous 85CRI (how is this even possible for a HPS bulb?) at 21600 mean lumens and a 9000-hour life-span on the NHT400DX/PN model. A nice image of the spectrum can be found here. Beautiful, isn't it? I'm wondering if it might be too good to be true - can anyone tell me if there is a reason this wouldn't be practical or useful to flower plants with? I should also mention, I am in no way affiliated with Eye, their data sheets and spectrums are just easy to find and thorough, so I have been focusing on them lately. Not a lot of other bulb manufacturers provide such detailed info on all their products.
Its good, its just not as good as switching bulbs... still not as much blue light as a 6500k MH bulb. And its more money than both bulbs together, so if you have a ballast made in the last, say, 5 years+ then there is no reason to spend twice as much for something that doesnt perform quite as well.