The AgroSun HOR bulbs are metal halides but with the far red part of the spectrum boosted compared to a normal blue/white metal halide bulb. Theoretically should be good for flowering. It will also put out about twice the light of your 4x40W fluorescents. Which fluorescent tubes do you have? If you read some of the threads here and study spectrum graphs you will see that many fluorescents, even some called full spectrum, just don't put out much in the important far red part of the spectrum.

I don't grow orchids but would think that 160W of fluorescent just isn't enough for 12sf even for the low-light types. 250W would be about right. An alternative would be to stick in a couple of incandescent bulbs to boost the red.

That was what I was afraid of after doing a lot of reading on the subject of lights,although I have gotten some results with these lamps (philips natural sunshine) I was reluctant to spend the money on a hid system and have gotten lucky to find this one so cheep, thank you for your response.

A 250W HID is about the absolute minimum for a 3x4 area, but should be OK with the plants you have. Put the dens toward the center and the phals around the edges.

I'd like to ask the experts about Far Red. I happen to have an infrared lamp on the shelf.

It's your average hen-house heater bulb. Is it likely to be the right spectrum for growth?

I think the experts are away, but I'll answer you :)

The infrared lamps that I know of are incandescents, or halogens for the very powerful ones. They run at a colour temperature like 2700K or 3000K, but often come with a deep red filter to remove much of the visible light. So far so good, the light is peaking near the 650nm range that we want, but the lights are not very efficienct and they are very hot. Any incandescent would do as well. Don't confuse the heat, which is also radiation but well into the infrared, with the light which peaks in the far red visible range that is needed for plants.

I think a 2700K deluxe fluorescent would be more efficient to get these wavelengths on a small scale. Check the spectrum to be sure it doesn't cut off at about 620nm, which many basic bulbs do. Sylvania make an "Incandescent Fluorescent" bulb which has exactly the spectrum you want, colour temperature 2750K, but a broad spectrum extending right out past 650nm.