ok i finally decided to switch to 12/12 this morning but i was still half awake and being a dumbass i put my hps bulb into the MH socket. When it didnt turn on i realized something was wrong then i quickly turned it off and removed the bulb set up the appropriate ballast and all that. It seems to be working fine now but my question is could this have messed up my hps bulb or something?
The ballast supplys power to the fixture for the bulb. Chances are you turned it on and nothing happened for that reason. If anything at all you lowered the life expectancy. If the light is working I wouldn't worry.
Your fine man, ive ran an HPS bulb in a MH ballast all throughout flowering just becuase i wanted to see what it would do, needless to say both the ballast and bulb lasted me many many more grows to come. I cant give you in depth details on why there are special ballasts for each bulb since a ballast is basicly amplifying the power and supplying it to the mogul (socket) but if anyone can explain this i would be more then happy to learn.