Looking for some help with lighting

[TheGreens87]

Hey I had recently purchased 2 40 watt florescent lights, they are specially made for plants and aquarium growth (not sure if that makes a difference). But I was wondering if that was enough light source to grow about 5 plants using a deep water hydroponics system? The lights also are 1200 Luminous total. Also, in the store I saw 400w High Sodium Bulbs, would those be better to use for growth? Is there a certain type of high sodium bulb that needs to be used? Looking forward to hearing from you all! Cant wait to get this process started!

 

[riceweed147]

80w not enough
i don't think there's a wrong type of hps though i could be wrong

 

[ststepen420]

id use those lights for starting seeds or rooting clones. I have a grow tent where i use a metal halide for vegging and then take them out and use the high pressure sodium for flowering. I do not use a hydro system though, i grow with soil. Id say go for HPS with 5 plants, atleast 400 watts

 

[tusseltussel]

yea if your gonna go hydro you should prolly spring for good lighting got 400 bills High Tech Garden Supply

 

[TheGreens87]

Thanks for the advice, so do you think the 400w high pressure sodium bulbs from a hardware store would work? If so also how many should i get, considering this is going in a closet, and the closet will have tin foil around it. This is for 5 plants.

 

[TheFaux]

Thanks for the advice, so do you think the 400w high pressure sodium bulbs from a hardware store would work? If so also how many should i get, considering this is going in a closet, and the closet will have tin foil around it. This is for 5 plants.

You'll need a ballast to run the 400w HPS so don't think you can buy the lamp and screw it in to any ol' socket. 400w is a lot of heat for a closet. No point in blasting the plants with light if the heat is going to fry them.

 

[TheGreens87]

Thats a great point, so what would you suggest would be the cheapest way of getting a solid lighting unit/ what is the minimum amount of watts that could be used. Could I also use cool white florescent lighting?

 

[tusseltussel]

Thanks for the advice, so do you think the 400w high pressure sodium bulbs from a hardware store would work? If so also how many should i get, considering this is going in a closet, and the closet will have tin foil around it. This is for 5 plants.

NO tin foil it will burn your plants get some mylar or paint it flat white

 

[TheFaux]

Thats a great point, so what would you suggest would be the cheapest way of getting a solid lighting unit/ what is the minimum amount of watts that could be used. Could I also use cool white florescent lighting?

How much space do you have to work with and how much weight do you wanna be harvesting?

 

[MrFishy]

You could replace the aquarium bulbs with regular 40W "daytime" tubes and veg quite well with those fixtures IF you keep the plants as close as possible to the tubes. Only the ends should be hot enough to do any damage, and maybe not even those.
Two fixtures would be uhhh, twice as productive.
I use 3 sets per side (6 tubes) regular 40W "cool white" and they are plenty for me.
The 1800 lumen tubes are too dim to be practical, but I used similar type mixed, for flowering under same.

For best results use mh for veg, hps for flowering.