MH and HPS lighting

Can anyone tell me if I purchase a metal halide light kit, wen plants are ready to flower can I just swap the metal halide bulb for a HPS bulb even though they will be different watts? Or will I have to purchase a separate kit for each??

The metal halide will be a 250w and the HPS will be 400w.

Anyone plz help me on this so I can get my grow room started, peace.

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Separate kit for different wattages. Some ballasts will do either MH or HPS of the same wattage. You can buy a convertible bulb to fit in the other type of ballast, of the same wattage. Stay away from electronic for your first ballast, magnetic ballasts are more dependable and less expensive.

Two ballasts are best if you can afford them, then you can have a veg and a flower room and run a continuous grow - better yield, work is spread out.

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Hey thnx for advice I'll defiantly be setting up two rooms now that I have to buy two different ballast's,

Um this is the first I've heard of the different types.. I no this is gonna sound like a stupid question but ways the difference between the two? Does the magnetic one not use power or something??

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I advise magnetic ballasts. Everyone is crazy about digital but they are more expensive and not as reliable as magnetic.

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"In order to power your plant grow light, you'll need a ballast to ignite it and to regulate the power supply.

Also, people new to indoor gardening often ask what the differences are between magnetic and digital ballasts.

To begin, magnetic ballasts have been around since the birth of fluorescent lighting. They use copper coils and transformers to power a lamp. If you're just starting out and want to get growing cheaply, magnetic ballasts are the way to go.

However, digital ballasts offer many advantages over their old school, magnetic cousins.

For example, digital ballasts will make your lamps a bit brighter. However, the real advantage doesn't come from this slight increase in brightness. The big benefit is that they cycle at a much faster rate. Have you ever taken a picture of a computer monitor and seen the lines going across the picture? That's because your monitor is constantly refreshing but it does it so quickly you don't notice. Your plant grow lights are also constantly refreshing. Even though you can't see the flickering, your plants can, and they'll grow much better under lights that cycle fast.

Furthermore, digital ballasts are capable of striking lamps at a distance greater than 65 feet. In other words, if you need to run a power cord over 65 feet, you can do it.

Continuing, here are other advantages of digital ballasts:

More efficient and therefore will save you money on electricity
Lighter so mounting them is easy
Capable of using either a metal halide or high pressure sodium bulb
Internal fans are thermostatically activated so they run cool and quiet
Auto input wattage selector
If you have the money, going with a digital ballast offers many benefits. However, if you're just starting out and need to save your cash, go ahead and start with the magnetic type."

Zach Waldman wants to help you grow better, healthier plants, faster than ever. Visit his blog at:
http://plant-grow-lights.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zach_Waldman

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Ok so prety much the only advantage to the magnetic ballast is it's cheaper right? But I have a fairly good income so having the money to buy two seperate ballast kits is no problem for me..

Also if I'm using a 250w MH for vegetation is a 400w HPS for flowering and appropriate size??

It all depends on how big your grow space is. Give us your dimensions and how many plants you want to grow. What kind of space is it?

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"Ok so prety much the only advantage to the magnetic ballast is it's cheaper right?"

The reason I bought magnetic is for reliability, I've had an electronic fail. Magnetic are great, worry free, my yield and potency are fine.



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"But I have a fairly good income so having the money to buy two seperate ballast kits is no problem for me.."

It's important to have a backup ballast for flower incase of failure, which ever way you go. I suggest that your larger flower ballast be magnetic, with the smaller vegetative ballast a switchable electronic and have an HPS flower bulb as well as the MH veg bulb. Smaller wattage ballasts are more reliable in electronic. You might consider a high kelvin LED for veg (less heat) but not for flower (not intense enough to produce good buds).

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Grow box is only 2ft wide but 6ft long and 6ft high, probably gonna grow about 3-4 plants just until I get the hang of indoor growing than gonna grow a bigger crop of around 6-8

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A 400 watt hps and a light mover would be excellent for 2' x 6'. I've got pictures of a light mover set up on page one of the Grow Lab thread linked at the bottom of this post. Mine is a 3' x 8' cage, you could go 6' x 2.5' - it would give you good side intensity and a bit of extra room if needed.

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Go to www.htgsupply.com I just bought #2 400w HPS/MH conversion system from them there a $164.99 a piece. In this system you can use a 400w HPS bulb for flower then when it time to veg bam throw in the 400w MH Conversion bulb no messing around with two different blasts. Plus the systems i purchased above for $164.99 come with both bulbs that you need, the ballast and hood and a heavy duty dual timer. I think there smaller 250w systems start around $119 but dont quote me on that.