Ok so im going to get a new light so I can start a new garden. I have done a few cfl grows but its just not cutting it. I was looking at a 600w hps mh digital ballast light for around $179. Does anyone have any suggestions on a light? My budget is 200-250 im looking for a good quality light.
In that price range your probably looking at getting a eBay combo..which will do the job. At 179.00 you probably are getting a non air cooled reflector. And you'll find out at 600 watts you will need one. Or a ton of a/c... I would get the combo and look for a used air cooled hood and inline fan. If heat is not a issue, you could get the 600 combo, ditch the hps bulb they give you, and get a ushio 600 watt deep red bulb. And still be at 250.00. The hps bulbs that come in those Chinese combos don't have good spectrum and are nothing more than cheap street lighting IMO.. So I guess the question would be how do you plan on cooling basically a 600 watt heater(light) cause they get hottttttt....... Sent from my Nexus 4 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
http://www.virtualsunhydroponics.com/virtual-sun-600-watt-hps-mh-digital-ballast-grow-light-kit. This is the light I was looking at. And you said something about a air cooled hood? I guess I still have more research to do.
An air cooled hood is (I think) those reflectors, some of them have a fan in them designed to cool the bulb. Also heat rises so having a fan blowing upwards somehow might help. I've seen video's and pictures online of people using USB fans and bigger to do these things, so I think you'll have a lot of options, you might even combine multiple methods to cool it. Hope you get the help you need.