Hey gcity, Currently growing some northern lights and some good commercial bagseeds im a week into vegging nice growth more pics to come on my thread but anyways A friend of mine gave me some bulbs that he thought were hps lights they are Phillips 400w ALTO - C400S51 Philips 400W, Mogul Base, ED-18 (24,000 HRS) ALTO® High Pressure Sodium Lamp-TCLP Compliant (dia. 2 1/4", length 9 3/4"), ALTO-Low Mercury, Sold Individually C400S51/ALTO - 368811 ^^ Link to bulb specs HPS 50,000 lumens - Color temp: 2100K so any ways my question is these are good for flowering correct, i know most ppl use 2700-3500k for flowering so is 2100 good enuff TWO of them 400w bulbs for 5 plants My next question is Im not sure what type of fixture i would have to get for the hps bulb Will i be able to find this at my local home depot or lowes and what would it be called? Sorry for a nooby question and underline, Thanks grasscity for the advice/help.
You need a 400 watt high pressure sodium ballast. neither home depot nor lowes with have this, however. check your local hydroponics store, they will probably have what you need. or go on craigslist, thats what i did. i got a 250w for $35.
Ah so a ballast is just what i put the lights in?? ima have to research ballasts but yea thanks i wanna use these but gota figure more out about hps lighting
kind of. its the device that monitors the voltage sent to the arc in the lamp. it also ignites the lamp. you can either get one as a seperate unit, or built into a light fixture.