Dear grasscitiers, On to my second grow, This time I am using a Dr80 secet jardin I am going to grow in two bubble buckets i have made running on their own separate air pumps I have been growing with cfls since Ive started and its time to make the change, no more hassling with my ghetto cfl set up, I want simply one main light. I have been looking and looking ad reading and reading...... This is what i need help with I was thinking a 150w hps would work just fine for this grow. What I have yet to find out is.. all those of you using 150 watt hps to flower...what are you using to veg. Ive found some decently prices 150watt HPS systems but what I want is a HPS/MH system. And im hoping i can get this done for a reasonable price. I dont want to have to buy a complete separate system light and ballast just for a MH light. So im sure there is someone out there who knows of a great 150-250 watt hps/mh system with ballast. That or a cheaper way of obtaining this. Thanks for your help
I am currently in my first couple of grows and am using a 150 watt hps. Couldn't seem to track down one of those MH conversions bulbs (the few places that list them are out) so I went with CFLs and cheap clamp-light hangers from the hardware store. I use two 40-watt (actual watts, not comparable) at 5000k and one 55-watt at 2700k. I'm using a DR40, so I just hang them down from the top tube. I actually have the 150 in there as well, and I leave it in there while the CFLs are hanging... It's just slid to the side and left off during Veg. Flower time I pull the CFLs out. If you/I can find that bulb it would be ideal... Super simple... Super clean... I keep looking, but haven't found one yet. I'm sure as the 150watt hps light grows in popularity, the bulbs will become more readily available. With the CFLs I'm at 9000 lumens, which is a little over 5500 lumens/sq.ft. The HPS is of course 16,000 lumens, So I'm right at the 10,000/lumens/sq.ft. mark recommended for flower. They do make 250 Watt systems that run both HPS/MH. You can find one on ebay with a digital ballast for around $160-$175. Bulbs included. Not sure that the 150 HPS alone is going to be enough for the DR80... So you might want to think about picking up the 250 Watt anyway (this is of course assuming we all have the money to buy the things we "want" and can create the most ideal situations... Hardly ever the case for anyone) and running it alone with the MH while flowering, then both lights with HPS for flower. Just a thought...
Try this Lumatek 250w. You can use different wattages of bulbs and you can use either MH or HPS in it. Plug and Play I guess. You could go with a 150 MH for veg and then to a 250 HPS for flower and all you have to do is change the bulb.
I have used a 150watt hps in 3 different grows now...2 grows with 2 autoflowering plants each time and the other time with just one normal plant. I always start the seeds out under a 40watt CFL from the time they sprout up til about a week and a half....then I just transfer them right under the 150watt HPS and they do just fine. Not hardly any stretching in the veg period, although I have been growing some strong Indicas in all 3 grows, so stretching really isn't in the genetics. If you got some stretching issues or plants that like to grow really bushy and need more side light, just hang 1 or 2 CFL 6500k lights to throw in some blue spectrum.