Im in need of new lights and was wondering if anyone had good ideas for them. Anything at walmart/target/menards/homedepotect. Thank you!!!
Do you want the best lights, or do you want lights that you can get at a box store? The best lights are HID. (MH and HPS) But, they are tough to find at the box stores. The best you are going to do there is probably some CFLs. You will need a but load of them. Remeber, each plant need at least 50W, preferably 100W. And, don't go by the equivilant wattages on CFLs. Always go by the actual wattage. So, if you can find 26W bulbs, you will need at least 3-4 per plant. If you wanna go for HIDs, reply on this thread and I will give you some good places to look.
Are you going to have one grow area or multiple grow areas? The reason that I ask is this... If you are going to have seperate grow areas, one for veg and one for flowering, I would suggest getting either (one 250W or 400W Metal Halide) and (one 250W or 400W High Pressure Sodium) fixtures. You will shorten your grow cycle if you go this route because you can grow continuously. If you are only going to have one grow room, I would recommend that you buy a switchable 250W or 400W Metal Halide/High Pressure Sodium ballast and reflector. This way you can sitch the bulbs between MH (better for vegging) and HPS (better for flowering). And, you only have to buy one setup. It is a little more expensive, but in my opinion well worth it. As for where to get them, there are loads of places. It really depends on how much you want to spend. You can go to eBay and pick up a cheap light setup (low end usually) or you can go to a hydro shop (either in person or on the web) and pick up a high end unit. On the web you can check out these sites... bghydro.com hydroponics.net hydrofarm.com 4hydroponics.com cooltouchlighting.com (I think they went out of business though) I own one of each. I own a cheap one and a high end one. The quality of manufacturing is drastically different. Both ballasts are nice, but the reflectors are worlds apart. I like them both. No complaints for either. The high end one may direct light a little better, but you can always but a cheap one and get a high end reflector later. These lights aren't cheap, but lighting is so important. And having grown with both CFLs and HIDs, I recommend HIDs hands down. --- You can comfortably grow 2-4 plants under a 250W HID and 4-8 plants under a 400W HID.
im not sure how u wanna grow r how many plants i wouldnt recomend getting anything under 400watt and if u get a flower / veg room i would recomend getting floresents for that so it saves energy in your hydro bill floresents r ok for veg but for flower u really need a hps light