96 watt fluro grow

nomaninsf

Well-Known Member
i was just taking a look @ your grow, nice looking plants you got there, it must have been frustrating dealing with getting all your males and hermies first eh? lol
thanks for the replies, its my first grow and im a bit 2 edgy....lol, gonna smoke a splif
I cannot tell you how frustrating it was. I had only grown from clones in the past and didn't know that males and hermies show their sex before females. That lack of knowledge led me to think I was having the worst luck ever and would end up with no females.
 

nomaninsf

Well-Known Member
check out the $20 hps 150watt from e-conolight.com there is a great thread here to convert it for growing . Go to that site and look in the vapor tight section . They are 20 bucks with the bulb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just looked at that site. The bulbs are only $5.75. I have always found that if it seems to good to be true that it usually is.

winkdogg420, have you tried this setup?
 

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
the fact is that a 5.75 bulb is probly the equivalent of a dollarama cfl, you can get them for a fukn dollar as opposed to arround 8-12 bux a pice but it wont last as long or come with any guarantee, but it still worx
the main problem is that anything labled to be used for grrowing is automatically marked up, so it makes sense that commercial HID lighting is cheaper by quite a bit
 

nomaninsf

Well-Known Member
the fact is that a 5.75 bulb is probly the equivalent of a dollarama cfl, you can get them for a fukn dollar as opposed to arround 8-12 bux a pice but it wont last as long or come with any guarantee, but it still worx
the main problem is that anything labled to be used for grrowing is automatically marked up, so it makes sense that commercial HID lighting is cheaper by quite a bit
You get what you pay for. There are no specs on the bulb at all. It says "LUMA" on the bulb but I can't find that brand anywhere online.

I use EYE Hortilux HPS bulbs and replace every 6 months. You might not notice it but they will lose a lot of their intensity over time. I can't imagine a bulb under $6 being really consistent.
 

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
you can get brand name hps and mh bulbs from outdoor hid lighting companies and they are arround 30 bux a buld, i know they will never equal up to a sunmaster bulb or any specialty bulb but honestly for a budget personal grow i dont think there is much of a diff between a 30 dollar bulb and a 100 dollar bulb
 

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
the fact is that a 5.75 bulb is probly the equivalent of a dollarama cfl, you can get them for a fukn dollar as opposed to arround 8-12 bux a pice but it wont last as long or come with any guarantee, but it still worx
the main problem is that anything labled to be used for grrowing is automatically marked up, so it makes sense that commercial HID lighting is cheaper by quite a bit
The $20 hps with the "dollerama" bulb puts out 15,000 lumens and tons of people use them here. There's not a CFL on the planet that comes close to it, a 120w equivalent cfl puts out around 2600 lumens and even those big true grow cfl's that are over $100 put out less.

The bulb is under $6 because it's a standard bulb used in millions of task lighting fixtures everywhere so economies of scale come into play. They grow just as well as any other hps bulb of the same wattage. Nothing special about it, but nothing wrong with it either. HPS light is HPS light.

That fixture will last just as long as a sunsystems or any other name brand also, which I agree seems odd, normally you do get what you pay for, but in this case you just get a great deal. There's just not a lot to a magnetic ballast like this that can go wrong.

It's main disadvantages are it's only about 80% efficient or so snd therefore burns closer to 180w + or so when you figure ballast losses in, and clearly it's not set up ideally like a grow light so some tinkering may be in order if you want it to have a hood or something and you do have to wire a cord to it.

If you tried one of these it would be like a 10 fold increase in growth for you over what you have now.
 

homegrwn

Well-Known Member
looks like a great start man keep it up ... i would cut your nute use in half or more your showing some nute burn.. i was reading that your spilt some on it and that could be it but to be sure i would cut it back for a couple waterings.. just imo... I use cfl and flouro... and they work great... i use the 40 watt 2300k for flowering and the 27 watt daylight for veg.. I actually found out from my local hydro shop that they recommend regular t12 shop lights for supplimental cheap lights.. 12k lums and shit it was 11 bucks total for one... so i got four for 40 bucks... thats alot of lums for a little cash.. its true you get what you pay for but my bro bought that diy light from econo grow for 20 bucks and almost burnt his house down... SO be careful! granted we call him the tard of the family but still is alitte risky unless your tim the tool man taylor... back to the point... ive seen a low watt hps and flouro used in flowering and the results were double the first grow... so im happy to say thats what ill be using next 250 watt hps and t12 shop lights standing vertically.. check out my grow its alittle shab in the beggining but i was just testing out different environments.. you can really see the change as i figured out the best set up... she is on her 2nd week of flowering and already showed female! woohoo also i can suggest www.insidesun.com ive used em and they have great prices for great lights...
 

ganjaboii024

Well-Known Member
thanks for the response guys
i agree with OregonMeds, hps light is hps light, i have worked with these ballasts before and besides efficiency there isnt much difference in ballast quality, some really high priced ones have heavy duty windings but they take more power
and homegrwn to tell the truth there are so many things that can go wrong, even cfls can be dangerouse, they can overheat and just combust outa nowhere. i have experience wiring these ballast and bending a few pices of sheetmetal, drilling a few holes and poppin off some rivets i think i can make a pretty dandy reflector that gives me more light at the plants and gives a good way to hang

edit,

homegrwn about the nute burn, are you talking about the bown patches on th 2 bottom leaves of my 2nd plant?? that was from me spilling nute water on them a long time ago, if not then what are you talking about??
 
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