Eye Hortilux for HPS and Agrosun Gold for MH.

These are special MH and HPS with extra far red light and I only have experience with regular MH and HPS but I know a lot of theory. Both of the above special bulbs have extra far red light and that may be a waste of money. Far red deficient regular bulbs are much cheaper and you may only need one far red enhanced bulb. You should look at either the Eye Blue MH in combination with regular HPS or Hortilux HPS in combination with regular MH. Or, just use a far red enhanced bulb of either type. The special HPS also have extra blue.
Also, I think you should use popular sizes which are 400 and 1000 watt instead of odd ball 800 watt.

I'm a newbie to HPS, just having started with them. But I prefer mo-re, smaller systems, such as 400 watts or even 200 (cost per watt per system counts too, though) as I can then raise or lower lights depending on plant growth. Currently, I have a 400-watt from htgsupply that seems to be doing a great job covering tomato plant-s in a 12 sq. ft. area. At the edges, I'm getting about 28,000 lux reading which should be mo-re than enough for most succulents.

If you want to visit this site and view pages 24-26 then tell post what plant(s) you are growing, I can tell you how many lux you need to grow the plant(s).

HTH,

Mike

Hyphens added to avoid links I may not condone added to MY message.

I've also just started using an htg supply MH and have been likewise pleased. The price can't be beat.

BTW, Wordwiz, is there a conversion for lux and moles/day? In addition to tomatoes, I'm growing lobelia and soon starting impatiens 2' under your same light setup (~71 deg. during light hours). Are they in any danger of frying? Should they be put on the fringe?

Does etiquette dictate this should be pm'd to avoid hijacking? If so, my apologies succulentlover.

veryzer,

Yes, indeed, there are conversion factors to convert lux to mols/day, at least for a lot of lights.

First, divide the lux by 10.76, which will give you Footcandles.

Sunlight: .000718 x FC x hours per day of lighting
MH: .000546 x FC x hours per day
HPS: .000473x FC x hours per day
Cool-light fluros: .000524 x FC x hours per day

HTH,

Mike

Terrific info. Wordwiz.

If you get a chance, I'd love a lux reading for the area directly under your MH vs. the fringe of a 4x4 area. I'm curious to know the differences. Of course, I realize you're not my research assistant; it's just that I don't have the cash to put into a lux meter at this point.

Do you keep yours at 2' above as well?

All info regarding your hid experience is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

veryzer,

I'm using HPS, not MH. 20" below the light in the center, I am getting 50,000 lux. On the fringe of a 3.5' area, same height, I am getting 15,000 lux.

Mike

Thank you all for your replies and help!

Wordwiz:
The only plant listed on that link that I have various species of is Kalanchoes. I have a lot of euphorbia's, most of which will take more light then the Kalanchoes. So if you can give me a lux amount for the Kalanchoes then I will know the least amount that I will want.

I really need to get myself a light meter for when I get these new lights. I am going to look over the possible combo's on HTG's site and will post any other questions I have.

Thank you all again for the help! I really appreciate it. I am going to be spending a lot between running new electric lines in the house and equipment and I want to try and do it right the first time :)

Ross

Ross,

I don't have a clue about the other plant-s, but they should be in the same neighborhood, give or take two moles a day.

Doing a search for light meters might turn up much better deals than HTG. I like the company, but I bought mine via e-bay.

Yep, good idea to do wiring right from the get-go. Electricity is not very forgiving. I live in a very old house and replaced a four-circuit fuse box with a 20-circuit breaker box. I was nervous the entire time - I removed the meter but I still had to wire it up. Wore thick fireman's boot-s and stood on a wooden board. Then, the wire that ran from the first box to the second one (it was a two-family with separate meters) was too short to fit, and I had to splice a piece to it. Thankfully, my brother-in-law was a TVA employee who worked with high voltage (power lines) and he gave me good advice.

I did have a major headache afterward, probably from the stress!

Mike

I hate the hyphens but detest links I may not condone being added to my post way worse!

So I've been checking out all the different systems at HTG. From what I have read on the forums, digital ballasts are the better choice, correct?

I am looking at this setup here:
http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=48969

I didn't see any convertible ballasts on HTG, but I know that Hydrofarm makes a convertible one, but I don't think that is digital, and it is a lot more expensive.

How bad are conversion MH comared to regular MH? I am going to want to run MH more than the HPS, but would still like to be able to switch between them. I am unsure what would be the better buy.

Thanks for all the help!
Ross

Also, if I do go with the setup in the link above, or a similar one, has anyone had experience with these different bulbs and what have you found to be best?

GrowBright 600 watt HPS Bulb
SunMaster 600w HPS Bulb
AgroMax 600 watt HPS Bulb
Hortilux Super HPS Lamp 600W

GrowBright 600w MH Conversion Lamp
AgroMax 600 watt MH Conversion Bulb
SunMaster 600w MH Conversion Cool Deluxe

Thanks again
Ross

Ross,

I found the Kalanchoes and it appears they grow extremely well getting 10 mols/day. That equates to about 15,000 lux over a 16 hour period. Before buying any ligh-ts, I would ask the company to give you the lux readings at different coverage areas. You may find it is better to go with 400 watt systems than 600.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I sent HTG an email so I will see what they have to say.

I have yet another question, this time about the reflectors. I really like HTG because I can customize the light setup. Would I be better off getting a reflector that has the option to put a glass lens in as well as air vent? They also have "umbrella" type reflectors which looks like it would spread the light out more.

http://www.htgsupply.com/products.asp?categoryID=5

Thanks ^^
Ross

Ross,

I like out-of-the-box set-ups. My 400-watt HPS had everything I needed, I just needed to attach a few screws.

But just to throw a monkey wrench into your plans, have you thought about LED lights? They are mo-re expensive to buy, but they have lots of benefits, especially if you count bulb replacement, the cost of electricity and AC costs in summer. There are even some models that allow you to control the amount of Red and Blue light, depending on the growing stage.

I just bought a 125 watt panel (list price, $209) that covers the same area as a 400 watt HPS from this store but I don't think they sell the adjustable ones. But from another site it tells you how many panels you need. For your plants, it looks like 2-4 panels since you need medium to high mols/day. The cost of the fixtures may end up being the same but you would be looking at using 250-500 watts per hour instead of 1200-1800.

Of cou-rse, you can always buy one HPS/MH lamp and a LED panel and see which works the best!

Mike

Forum owners: will you PLEASE quit adding links to my messages.

Hi Mike,
I am still learning about the HPS and MH that I am not quite ready to start researching the LED's yet. I may grab one of the blue 13 watt 168 LED bulbs at HTG when I get my other light system just to try it out on a couple of my smaller plants.

I pretty much know what I am going to go with, but the only thing I am still deciding is the reflector. Once I know the complete setup I'll post it on here to see what you and others think before I actually buy it.

Thanks again for all the help and advice! I really appreciate it!
Ross

Hey Ross. About the reflectors. If your want to air cool your light to cut down on the heat, I recommend the Magnum XXXL reflector by sunlight supply. They are the biggest air cooled reflectors I know of and come with an air tight glass enclosure. If heat build up isn't an issue, I have heard great things about the adjust-a-wing reflector. It expands to over 40". Hope this helps.