My christmas prsesent from my hubby is going to be my new lighting system and he told me to pick it out.
It was told I could only get a 400 watt but it then moved to a 600 watt and is now at 800 watt

Sooooo. I've been researching this for so long now and the more info I read the more confused I am getting.

I have looked into MH lights because of the vegetative growth and hps for the flowering stage and the ones that combine both. I have assumed that the more lumens the better the light BUT I've recently read that THIS isn't necessarily the case.

There are some dual spectrum lights out there that take both MH and hps combined.

Does anybody have one like this and what do you think about it?

I am taking into consideration...hydro costs etc and would prefer a ballast that is air cooled.

I even read today about some type of lights that are light incadescent but give off the same wattage as a 500 watt but are only 65 watts and are used for growing.

Then there is another type of bulb that mixes the two together.

Sooooooooo I am getting confused.

I bought a 100 watt Sun System unit last night off eBay along with 4 small bottles of DNF for $50 and now I have been keen on the Sun Systems units.

It seems the more I read the more confused I become but seriously I know diddly skwatt about lighting sooooooo if anyone can understand what I am talking about here please fill me in because this is getting very confusing

Thanks

I'd say go for an hps system for flowering, cause that's where it counts anyway. if you can get a unit that houses both, go for that!!!

depending on how much space you have to devote to your grow, you would have to think about heat and wait for someone with some experience with those lights to tell you.

I'm pretty sure that hps mh Hid's are the most successful lights for growing at the moment.

if you look in my threads you will find alot of into on dual arch tubes. i still use a few of them but would not purchase them again.

i used the hortilux brand. GREAT results just no worth the investment.

in the usa the cheapest bulbs i have found are out of florida. Gulfcoast hydro , or goldcoast check it out. let me dig up a few shots of the bulbs and light spectrum

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here is a picture of a 1000 watt hortilux in use

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the lumen output is only 110 k lumens about 30% less that a standard bulb! but the color is ideal...

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here is a standard 1k high output 155,000 lumens

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you can see how much extra blue they create but hardly woth the loss of lumens IMO

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here is a side by side so you can see the arch tubes

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so you got to figure out what your hubby really wants healthy plants or monster fruit.

i veg 600WATT mh by sunmaster this has proven fine for the comercial grower

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