I use a t-5 to veg & then a 250w. Blue enhanced hps starting the day of the flip I had an old 400w. Bulb I had laying around from my very first grow light I bought from htg supply I'm sure someone will argue the point about the blue spectrum but the bulb I finished with has a red tint to it I've used hortilux,sylvania ,sun supply& probably a few others in the mix the only advantage I see in the hortilux might be the lifespan there are so many hydro shops nearby bulbs are cheap & plentiful for hps led lighting however is still expensive & im interested but have no knowledge or experience with them since my last grow I've sold my home & bought another one putting together another room & it's not coming together near as fast as I want probably gonna set up a temporary grow area for now as its been awhile since I've generated any stash or had much to contribute around here but look for me to start a thread soon with a diy e&f coco/smart pot set up what you said about marketing hogwash in the beginning of this thread might have some truth to it I usually feed at about 5.6 in my res. Which is on a timer in about 3 days ph creeps upward when it reaches about 6.2 I top off my res& lower the ph. Again I use lemon juice to lower my ph. Here in cen- cal lemon juice is cheap,natural& plentiful
I find your lack of punctuation disturbing
nah, just kidding mate. I'm pretty sure the red tint of the HPS indicates it's a little too past it's mid life. TBH I have noticed that the "green" or "agro" or "agrolux" bulb is a tiny bit whiter than the older, cheaper HPS bulb I ran (on the same brand of magnetic ballast)... so I'm pretty sure they fettled with the chemistry of the arc tube. It's worth checking out the Philips CDO-TT; in 70W, 100W, 150W and 250W. They make them in 830 and 828 colours meaning 80 CRI and CCT 3000K/2800K which is what dudes in the LED growing section of the forum deem the "sweet spot". They say it's gonna run with any old magnetic ballast (retrofit) but I think it's safe to stick to the Philips BSN ballast and striker and capacitor. The higher price of them is the reason why I didn't go for that lighting source... also the time it had to take to ship (I once waited a month and a half for some LEDs before I decided call it quits and never order anything that's out stock). Maybe next time
If not see the Philips CDM lamps... those are 90 CRI and A LOT MORE EXPENSIVE.
EDIT: let me rectify... there's cheaper 150 watt Philips CDM-T lamps on 942 and 830 colours and they run off digital ballast only. They are G12 sockets and they run in Universal position. The ballasts are the expensive parts though... but I KNOW I read somewhere they make a square wave current and that makes it better somehow... anyway if someone could fathom a reflector/vertical setup with those and put a little more money into the ballasts the light spectrum would just wreck it. ok I gotta edit again cause I found these:
http://dexingyuan.gmc.globalmarket.com/products/details/e40-to-g12-adapter-1452585.html
now you'd need one of those large adjust-a-wings with double sockets... yet more money lol