Light experts?? I could use a little push in the right direction.

Im a hardcore impulse buyer, if I find something I think is a good deal im all over it. When I first started out i sprung $160 for a Hydrofarm 400watt HPS. Well the other day I was at a garage sale and picked up a 400watt HPS, 250watt HPS, and a 400 watt MH all with fixtures, ballasts, and cords, they are "bay" lights but they should still put out the same light, right?

Heres what I gather from what Ive Read, plz correct me if im wrong.
The HPS lights put out mostly red/orange light which is great for Veg and flowering, and MH puts out mainly blue light which is also great for Vegging.
I have all this lighting and I want my girls to grow their best, so If you were working with 8 auto's in a 4ft (wide) x 2.5ft (deep) x 8ft (tall). Its fully lined with mylar and I have a pretty good ventalation system. It would be awesome if someone who knows there lighting really well to tell me what they would use and explain a little if its not too much to ask.

I appreicate any guidance.

i would put the 400W MH and 250W HPS for vegging. then the 250W HPS and the 400W HPS for flowering. the side with the 250W will probably not be quite as good as the 400W side. slight difference, really

also spread the lights apart a little bit for good coverage

Shit i dont know i would prob try to make another space to use one of those lights separate.But i would see iff i can get away with the mh 400 and hps 400 in flower if temps dont get crazy or just go with both hps.But me being me i would the 400 mh and 250 hps for flowering and compare to all hps next time.

bay lights are usually not going to be as efficient as lights made for growing. Often they are base up, which sends more light out the sides and less out the bottom (you see these hung even with canopies without reflectors a lot of the time). They also tend to use lower end ballasts (at least compared to grow ballasts where to a point price is less important than light output). The bulb choices can sometimes be more restrictive, since they are used less often for applications requiring our specific spectrum. That said, no reason you can't use it, and they are still going to pump out the light, just have to set it up to take advantage of their peculiarities.

that is true if it has a position oriented socket but if u have or buy universal position bulbs u can use them anyway u want to

gobbly said:

bay lights are usually not going to be as efficient as lights made for growing. Often they are base up, which sends more light out the sides and less out the bottom (you see these hung even with canopies without reflectors a lot of the time). They also tend to use lower end ballasts (at least compared to grow ballasts where to a point price is less important than light output). The bulb choices can sometimes be more restrictive, since they are used less often for applications requiring our specific spectrum. That said, no reason you can't use it, and they are still going to pump out the light, just have to set it up to take advantage of their peculiarities.

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if you are putting all this effort into lighting and your grow room why not grow with something other then auto's?

Bud with the two 400w hps's. Put the rest in your veg room.

I took the round hoods off the bay lights and hung them horizonally, since i have my fans and ventalation cooling my bulbs(now ballasts too) its actually running cooler with the 250-HPS and the 400-MH than it was was with the Hydrofarm 400-HPS. But whats this going to do to my electric bill?

Jesus of Cannabis- I just moved to a new area, so needless to say i had NO outdoor crops what so ever this year. So not really knowing anyone and tired of paying outrageous prices for a gram of "2 toke smoke", i need something fairly quick or before i go broke. Im currently Germing Acapulco Gold, Bubba Kush, Super Lemon Haze, and Red Diesel (all femm'd) so I plan on growing them as mothers through the colder months and clone off them for outdoor grows around Febuary. That leaves my basically growing for no reason if im not harvesting something to smoke, autos fill that gap.

I dont have that much experience with autos so I tried a little of everything, ive got 3x Himalaya Blue Diesel, 3x Afghan Kush Ryder, Santa, Speedy Gonzalez going now

Since you've turned them sideways, I'd make sure that you're bulbs DO NOT have a "BU" (base up) anywhere in their part number (should be printed on the bulb
) If they DO have a "BU" in the number and you leave them horizontal it will greatly lessen the life of the bulb and the bulb may actually explode on the inside. I'm not bullshitting about that either. I sell tons of HID bulbs to electrician's and school systems and have seen first hand what can happen when they're not used properly.

When the plants get taller, you could think about dropping one of the fixtures base up into the middle of them to help get more light penetration.

and that shit is thousands of degrees and when explode can start a fire good post Mr Jones +rep

fabfun said:

and that shit is thousands of degrees and when explode can start a fire good post Mr Jones +rep

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Ha. Thousands is a little ridiculous dont you think?