what the hell is hps lighting, vs. flo lights?
i got the kind of light that reptiles use and my plant seems to be doing fine...could someone clue in the new girl?

high preasure sodium 100 x beter than floros but i do use aqua glow floros that are used for fish tanks , they cost a bit more but put out coloured spectrums

a clue hmmmmmmmmmmmm, i say Colonel Mustard in the study with the candlestick. lol

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Spreading Happiness One Bud at a Time

as i found out the hard way, the red spectrum lighting is for flowering.(hps) or you will have little buds.

I think there are 3 primary lights that we use in this current age. The first would be fliourescents.

Flourescents are good and bad, they're good because they can be put at an inch away from your plants without burning them, but they "suck " because they don't put out as much light (lumens)...so it's an on and off battle (closer light & no burn or brighter light and ventilation). They are mostly used for seedlings/cloning and many use for vegging because they output the whitish/bluish spectrum (the sunrise kinda light I think).

Then ya got Metal Halides, these bad boys put out hella light! The thing is that they get really hot...if you don't have a hood with that glass that has a ventilation tube suckin n blowin the hot heat that it creates, then it can greatly burn your plants! I have a 400W and the thing made my closet 92F Degrees x_X so I have to keep my Air Conditioner on only the same times as my lights. These lights are awesome for vegging because of their spectrum (hellla white). I havta put em almost 2 feet away from my plants, unlike flourescents that can go below 2 inches.

High Pressure Sodium lights (haven't tried yet, but soon...another 2-3 weeks ) I hear aren't as hot as the Metal Halides. So I hope I can drop this and change teh AC. They output the orange spectrum and have a great effect on the flowering buds! These are like MH, but different bulbs and sometimes you can find a ballast (electricity box for the high wattage HPS/MH lights 250W+) that will support both MH and HPS bulbs!

So from what I see, people mostly use flourescents for seeds/clones, then MH for the vegging and HPS for flowering. Many just use flourescents and HPS tho and they do fine!

Aquarium fluoros usually put out a high kelvin values and these aren´t good for plant development...use regular household tubes or cfl´s...u can use a mix of spectrums..check out my sig to have a look at the light color temp chart anything between 3500k and 6400k bulbs will do the work...now to answer ur question, the main dif in HID lights (hps, Mh) and fluoros are:
Yield - bigger yield with HID
Cost - Fluoros are a lot cheapper (the bulbs and the electricity bill and the end of each month)
Heat - HID bulbs produce much more heat then fluoros so u need to have propper ventilation (this is fundamental if u plan to have an HPS or a MH bulb in the future)

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Trichome - http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=445
Hydro and Soil Water ph Range - http://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-pics/index.php?n=444
Light Colour Temperature Chart - http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting...mperature.html
Plant Abuse Chart and Photos - http://www.drugs-forum.com/growfaq/97.htm

“When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.”

stick with flouresent there way way cheaper you won't et busted as easy with them becauseyour electricity bill won't chang much and you can clone,veg and flower all with same bud get the same yeil same high same quality as the super exspensive hid bulbs hope this changesyour mind

remember what u were taught when u were a kid "dont trust strangers!"....you will not get the same yeild!....and hid lights are not "SUPER EXPENSIVE"....unless u ride a bike and collect bottles for a living....lol

This may not be exactly what you're looking for, but if you're new, it will certainly help you out!
Glossary of Terms

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GreenX ~ Glossary of Terms:
http://www.rollitup.org/general-mari...ary-terms.html

youll get caught fast with hps or hid but whatever you like