Light Bulb?

That appears to be a Metal Halide bulb which would need a ballast to operate. If you want to go that route, look for a complete package for either a Metal Halide setup, or a good all around HPS set up.

If you want to use regular lights and keep it cheap, easy, and effective use T5 lighting or other fluorescent lights, I believe..

 

The only thing that will plug into "normal" or medium based sockets are CFLs. You can get plenty of wattages in both cool blue/daylight 6500K and warm 3000K spectrums.

With CFL look at actual wattage not incandescent equivalent. For instance, 6 26w (100w equiv) Daylight bulbs is 156 actual watts (600w incandescent) and would light 1 plant decently.

There are 100+ W Fluoros that use a large or mogul base that need a larger socket but still use normal 110v since the "ballast" is enclosed in the ceramic butt the tubes come out of.

Another note: Mount all fluoros sideways to the plant. If they are overhead, make sure they are horizontal. If using for side lighting, mount vertical. The most light is emanated from the sides. Use reflectors if at all possible.

If you are going with HID (High Intensity Discharge) lighting, Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium, you will need an external ballast. They come in bulb specific and switchable.

Next question is, whats your budget and how many plants and what kind of space are we looking at?

 

Thats more than enough room to make a veg and flower area seperately. Split it in half somehow with black plastic, wood, drywall, whatever. A 400W HPS will cover the flowering side well, about 4'x4'. The other side can be lit with 6500K T8 fluoro tubes, CFLs, T5s, etc.

Line both sides with Reflectix or Mylar if possble or you can paint everything flat white if on a tighter budget. Couple of circulation fans and some ventilation/odor control and you are off and running.

Edit: I dont know much about Son Agro so I can speak for thier quality but I do want to clear something up. Lumens arent the only factor when looking for a bulb. Metal Halide normally come in the blue spectrum, 6500 Kelvin, of light and are best for vegetative growth but there are "enhanced" or "full" spectrum bulbs that cover some red and yellows needed for best flowering. High Pressure Sodium are usually in the red spectrum, 3000 Kelvin. As with MH, you can get broad spectrum bulbs. Conversion bulbs allow for running of the opposite bulb on a ballast, ie MH conversion on HPS ballast and HPS conv on MH ballast but you do lose light intensity to use the conversion.

Best bet if going HID is to get an electronic ballast that can run both if you need to. They are cooler, quieter, extend bulb life, and even enhance intensity (lumens). Check Ebay out. I have seen very reasonably priced ballast, bulb, and cheap wing reflectors for as low as $140 for a 250W system and around $180 for 400W if I remember correctly. That will get you started and you can upgrade the reflector and bulb later after you get your growing routine figured out.

 

bump bump bump bump

 

You would most likely need at least 2 250W CFL 2700K lamps and maybe some small spirals around the lower areas. Only issue there is you can buy a starter 400W HPS system for about the same cost as 2 monster CFLs and get better light penetration. The CFLs will produce less heat but will pull more electricity than a 400W HPS.

Due to the lack of penetration power the CFLs will produce less bud than the exact same setup with HPS. I am not trying to steer you one way or another, just want to put all the info out there so you can make an informed decision.

 

Personally, I would run the 400W HPS on the flowering side and use 2 Walmart 4' 2 tube hangers with cool blue bulbs. I am currently growing 3 plants under these lights and at 4.5 weeks they are close to a foot tall and look great. I have a 125W CFL under a wing and I dont like it as much as the 4ft tubes. I will probably use it for my tomatoes and okra I plan on starting soon.

You can cool the HPS, scrub the air, and ventilate with a 4 or 6" inline fan and use an oscillating fan for circulation on the flower side and just a small fan on the grow side for cooling, circulation, and stem strengthening.

 

Not too hard actually. If you have a 400W lamp running 12 hrs a day thats 4800w or 4.8Kw/hrs. 128W of fluoro at 18hrs a day is 2.3Kw/hrs. 4.8+2.3=7.1, round up to 8Kw (lamps actually pull a bit more than the bulb rating for ballast) a day total X 30 days is 240Kw/hrs for the month. Multiply this by your local rate per Kwh and you will get your monthly cost. .05 is $12 a month, .10 is $24 a month.

Fans will add some but will be a couple dollars at most. If you wanna figure it out just multiply the current rating of the fan, ie 0.7a, by 110V and you get 77W. 77Wx24hrs a day is 1.848Kw/h a day or 55.44Kw/h a month and so on. My guess would be around a $30 a month bump if you are in the .10Kw/h rate. Nothing to sweat at all!