aquarium lights?

could I use a 250 watt MH hood with ballast designed for a fish aquarium to flower some weed?

I know hps would be better cuz the color. I assume this thing would be real good for veg.

I will run it if it will work "OK". But if its gunna be a poor fit for a flowering plant, then I may just make deal with keeping the autoflowers in the same area as my SLH and my GDP and just let them have 12/12 instead of the 20/4 which they should be receiving/are currently receiving.

If it will run "OK" I'm gunna move these bitches to another area and grow somewhere's else.

What I need to know is if it would be worth it to set up these lights and grow these plants to full flower (they are already putting on some bud...

Maybe this is important... I plugged it in and it looked pretty bluish to me. Not like neon, but I'd say stronger blue than what my other 400 watt MH is putting out.

It's not at all ideal for growing, at best it would be good for seedlings and fresh cuttings.

Punk said:

It's not at all ideal for growing, at best it would be good for seedlings and fresh cuttings.

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No shit.. Damn..

U got any details?

TaintMonger said:

No shit.. Damn..

U got any details?

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details on what? Its not enough light =/

CaliSun said:

details on what? Its not enough light =/

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well its a 250. I have another 250 I could add.

If the problem is color temperature, then adding the other one won't help.

If the problem is lumens, then adding the other will certainly help.

If I asked the same question about a standard 250 HPS I hope you wouldn't tell me its not enough light... 250 can be enough for 1 or 2 plants... I just don't know what I'm working with as far as color temperature and what I really need for flowering... really i figured that these 250s were probably great for vegging and so-so for flowering... but perhaps i'm wrong and they would really sucks for flowering... hence the reason why i took my valuable time and asked the helpful folks on this board to give me some input

honestly calisun you can just go fuck yourself dude... your off the cuff let me help none at all and just plug in for the purpose of just saying something/nothing/anything... i don't have fucking time for that

Yes TaintMonger you can flower under an aquarium light.

I have personally seen some great weed flowered under a 300w MH aquarium light, the weed was grown in a closet in a DWC box. It was really good personally set up. Should keep your head stash full.

Plenty of people here are using 250watt - HPS will make your buds denser, but MH will actually increase trichome production at the sacrifice of density. If you could find a ceramic metal halide, or 2 250 CMH, I think you'd be set. They are full spectrum and run cooler than MH or HPS, riddleme has been using them with good results you can check his thread for more info. I know they only light up on magnetic ballasts, and I am unsure as to if they would work with your ballast but my bet is that it would.

These haters just hating for some reason, obviously you realize that you won't be pumping out lbs with your light, but it will grow weed.

a 250 watt mh is nowhere near enough light...... for a 10x10 room. for a 2x2 or smaller closet, it will be fine. as noted above, it will make your buds fluffy but.......
I could be wrong but I believe a ceramic metal halide bulb needs a HPS ballast

rucca said:

Plenty of people here are using 250watt - HPS will make your buds denser, but MH will actually increase trichome production at the sacrifice of density. If you could find a ceramic metal halide, or 2 250 CMH, I think you'd be set. They are full spectrum and run cooler than MH or HPS, riddleme has been using them with good results you can check his thread for more info. I know they only light up on magnetic ballasts, and I am unsure as to if they would work with your ballast but my bet is that it would.

These haters just hating for some reason, obviously you realize that you won't be pumping out lbs with your light, but it will grow weed.

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I beg to differ. If you come to this forum and ask questions, don't you want candid responses, not filler?

Anyway, you will not cultivate marijuana using the originally mentioned lighting. The lower leaves will start falling off as the plant grows higher, so you'll end up with a 5' high plant with only a couple leaves on the top, and it will probably not bud correctly, this isn't hating, it's just stating factual information, sorry if there's no pink ribbon wraped around it.

IMO, to grow bud like you see in the magazines, you need a 400 watt minimum. 250 is great for mother plants and a little vegging. If you're going to have 2-4 plants and want to grow enough to keep you high until your next harvest, you need a 400.

Punk said:

.....Anyway, you will not cultivate marijuana using the originally mentioned lighting. The lower leaves will start falling off as the plant grows higher, so you'll end up with a 5' high plant with only a couple leaves on the top, and it will probably not bud correctly, this isn't hating, it's just stating factual information, sorry if there's no pink ribbon wraped around it.

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perhaps you missed this

TaintMonger said:

..... then I may just make deal with keeping the autoflowers in the same area as my SLH and my GDP and just let them have 12/12 instead of the 20/4 which they should be receiving/are currently receiving....

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or meybe you don't have any experience w/ autoflowering plants? I personnaly have never seen one go to 3 feet alto I am still using the orignal lowrider 2 and NYC diesel x lowrider cross-neither are considered to be tall for autoflowering plants.
since a 250 watt mh wont work very well for a 5 foot tree,its a good thing many other techniques are availible.

mrmadcow said:

perhaps you missed this

or meybe you don't have any experience w/ autoflowering plants? I personnaly have never seen one go to 3 feet alto I am still using the orignal lowrider 2 and NYC diesel x lowrider cross-neither are considered to be tall for autoflowering plants.
since a 250 watt mh wont work very well for a 5 foot tree,its a good thing many other techniques are availible.

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OH shit, I didn't see that you said you have two 250s, that should for sure be enough. sorry.

Thanks guys. I will move the autoflowers (1xdinafem haze auto and 1xdinafem roadrunner) out of my flowering room, into a new room. I will set up 2x250 watt aquarium MH in this new room for these two plants. I plan to put them in a corner and mylar up as much as I can. They are in 5 gallon bubble buckets, btw.

I will leave my flowering room light config the same (I have 5x SLH and 8x GDP) which is 3x400watt HID (currently I have 1xMH and 2xHPS--- very soon I will change to 3xHPS and switch to 12/12). guys, I just needed to get these (potentially crappy) autoflowers out and set up somewhere else.. so that I could switch to 12/12 for my high quality plants..... I am not expecting miracles out of the 250 watt MH lights... but they will serve a purpose--- and I really don't think it would be a good call for me to go buy any lighting for these autoflowers. I have enough money invested in the grow op and honestly if I had to simply kill off these autoflowers to make room for the high quality plants ... well... I fucking would have... however I think I've got good options here with my extra lighting that I will put to use.

I am getting ready to build my grow room and I also have 3-250W MH's(10,000K) and 3-400W MH's(10,000K) from my Saltwater aquarium hobby.
Can I use the 250W for Veg, Mother's and clone's?
And obviously the 400w for flowering?
Or will I need to purchase new bulbs with higher kelvin numbers?
Thanks

nitrofish said:

I am getting ready to build my grow room and I also have 3-250W MH's(10,000K) and 3-400W MH's(10,000K) from my Saltwater aquarium hobby.
Can I use the 250W for Veg, Mother's and clone's?
And obviously the 400w for flowering?
Or will I need to purchase new bulbs with higher kelvin numbers?
Thanks

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Basically for veg we are shooting for 6500k MH and flower 2700K HPS

Will your bulbs work? I imagine they will. How well? I'm not sure...

rucca said:

Basically for veg we are shooting for 6500k MH and flower 2700K HPS

Will your bulbs work? I imagine they will. How well? I'm not sure...

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Thanks rucca. I dont want to take the chance of burning/wilting my future nodger's, so I will purchase the Kelvin spectrum you have mentioned.