question about lighting

[willieG]

I have twelve 400watt hps ballast and lights these are regular shop lights, and ballasts. the lights are vertical unlike the fixtures Ive seen here that are horizontal. i only plan to use one light for now because of room and energy. anyway the question is are these lights sufficient for growing. how far apart from each ballast and how far from plant tops. i am a rookie at indoor growing any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thank you

[StonerGrower]

You can use them to grow yes. Rule of thumb....Hold you hand over your plants...If the light burns your hand its too close. However you should invest in MH or CFLs for vegging because HPS does not have the right spectrum.

[Racefan]

HPS will work just fine for vegging. There is no need to spend money on other equipment just to veg with. I used to run exclusively MH bulbs throughout my entire grow and everyone used to say I needed HPS to flower with. Just like your hearing that you need MH to veg with. All BS.
My lights started out as parking lot or shop lights and I converted them to remote ballast grow set ups. Basically you just run a extension cord between the ballast and light socket. I make my own air cooled reflectors for my 1k HPS bulb from sheet metal and average 3 to 6 ounces per plant. See my gallery for the RF2004 reflector I made mid 2004. lol

[Boss]

Thanks for that clarification RF :-0 My new HIDs are 400w MH's that were low bay lights :-)

I accidentally won 2 at auction, which screwed up my ability to but a switchable electronic ballast. I ened up cutting holes in the reflector and running a "Cool Tube" type setup for it :-0

hey, for 50 bucks, I couldn't go wrong.

I completely agree with RF on this one.

[Jimbo]

Welcome to 420 Magazine!

I run 4 different HPS security lights in a home made reflector, made out of aluminum corner paneling that you find on semi trailers.
I have 2=150w and 2=100w HPS's, and I also supplement them with 4 22" tube style grow lamps that I found at Lowes for about $12 each, and that seems to be perfect for both, vegging and flowering without switching back and forth.

This is what those 22" grow lights look like (I have since removed the CFL's);

[CharlieMopps]

Do those grow lights work better than normal tube style short fluros? Do they have a diff light spectrum or what?

[Jimbo]

They have both, blue and red spectrum's, all in one light.

They are great for side lighting, cloning and vegging seedlings...I don't know about using them to grow full plants, but I suspect they would be great in a compact grow space...like a comp tower, or even for making a homemade phototron style grow box.