HPS Lighting question

Hey guys, I am new to the whole growing thing, and started my grow using some low wattage CFLs. After watching them grow, I decided that a HPS would make the time spent growing them worth it. I can only afford to build the system from scratch. How does the whole HPS system work? From what I can tell, the ballast connects to the wall socket and then to the bulb, then the bulb is just hooked up to a reflector? How hard is it to set up the ballast? How heavy duty does the reflector need to be?

just plug it in man ..what u order

Has anyone built one from scratch?

build one? you just plug it in, screw a bulb in make sure its the same wattage as your ballast

I take it you mean you want to purchase the ballast/bulb/reflector separately. eBay has great deals on 250/400w hps combos that include everything you need. It would be smarter (and cheaper) to order it packaged with everything. But yeah, like they said, all you have to do is screw the bulb in the base, plug the ballast into your timer, and watch massive buds appear before your eyes!

Yes, buying the parts alone is what I plan to do, I just dont have the cash to drop on it all at once. So putting them all together is just that easy?