I went downtown to the local hydroponic shop for the first time and is a very welcoming place, they told me all about the hydroponic growing culture, but was very dissapointed with the prices of the equipment. I was wandering if its really worth it to spend all the money in a HPS fixure, while the metal halide bulbs are only half the price but they only give half the lumens. i am looking for someone else's opinion for investing hundreds of dollars in a professional grow setup. and if it is worth all the money what is the longest lasting and best setup for a large grow, while conservering cash thnks
i use this http://www.htgsupply.com/productdetail.asp?productID=377 and bought a metal halide conversion bulb to have the best of both worlds for relatively cheap. it more then paid for itself on the first grow.
uhh i could be wrong, but it think that a Mh setup has more lumens than a HPS setup. HPS just work better for flowering because of the light spectrum.
metal halide is just slightly behind the high pressure sodium in lumens. it's the color spectrum of the bulbs that decides on what period they are good for. the MH is more blue and good for vegetative growth and the HPS is more yellow which is good for budding.
Personally, I like the best of both worlds. I bought a dual 400W MH/HPS system. I flood my plants with both types of light from seedling to harvest and so far I am happy with the investment.