Need help buying a bulb

eazyrider

eazyrider

Member
So im investing in a 1k quantum. I am looking at bulbs at plantlightinghydro.com. They have normal Ho eye mh and digilux mh. I already know which hps I am getting. I noticed the digilux has an enhanced red spectrum. I assume I should avoid this seeing the more blue the better. Is this bulb meant to one color fits all bulb, or is a red spectrum beneficial to veg. growth? Or should What do the experienced growers think? O yea, how about an enhanced hps digilux? Would that be enough to cover veg and flower?
 
Ken3531

Ken3531

Well-Known Member
plantlightinghydroponics doesnt like or sell hortilux because they force them to sell it at a minimum price. BTW i love plantlightinghydro and I buy 99 percent of my shit from there but i would just go on ebay and get a 1000w hortilux super hps for 73 bucks.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
If you have a digital ballast I would avoid a hortilux bulb at all cost.

I have run ushio, lumatek and digilux HPS. I would stay away from the lumatek bulbs. The ushio and digilux are comparable. the ushio is a little more red to the naked eye, but you probably know that that doesn't mean fuck all in terms of what kind of PAR the light is giving off.

You CAN veg with an HPS but a better question is... why? You will get better veg results with a simple, $25 GE MH bulb than you will with the most expensive HPS bulb. Plus, no need to put all that wear and tear on your expensive HPS bulb.

Now prepare for someone to come on and say I VEG WITH HPS AND IT ROCKS!!! However, you will be hard pressed to find anything in print that says that vegging with a HPS is the preferred method.

Cheers.
 
grandaddypurped

grandaddypurped

Active Member
legallyflying said:
If you have a digital ballast I would avoid a hortilux bulb at all cost.

I have run ushio, lumatek and digilux HPS. I would stay away from the lumatek bulbs. The ushio and digilux are comparable. the ushio is a little more red to the naked eye, but you probably know that that doesn't mean fuck all in terms of what kind of PAR the light is giving off.

You CAN veg with an HPS but a better question is... why? You will get better veg results with a simple, $25 GE MH bulb than you will with the most expensive HPS bulb. Plus, no need to put all that wear and tear on your expensive HPS bulb.

Now prepare for someone to come on and say I VEG WITH HPS AND IT ROCKS!!! However, you will be hard pressed to find anything in print that says that vegging with a HPS is the preferred method.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

^Agreed^ Good advice legallyflying.

I did veg this round with my HPS and it did great ^^(lol)^^.

With that being said, though, I will definately stick with my 1000w MH for veg from now on. Ideally, in veg, you want a light that is strong in the blue spectrum (resembling the Spring Sun and long days), and in flower you want a light that is strong in the red/orange spectrum (resembling the Winter Sun and short days). There is only so much we can do to mimic nature, but this is about as close as we can get...

eazyrider, if you can get a MH to use for veg, I think you would be much happier. HPS are ok for veg, but really overkill. They use more energy, cost more than MH, and are much better used in flower.
 
eazyrider

eazyrider

Member
i understand mh for veg hps for flower, my question is about the color spec of the MH, digilux vs HO eye. The digilux has more lumens but I do not know the color temp. I was also wondering if a 4200 is acceptable for veg.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
lumens means fuck all. Do your plants have human eyes? no, they don't.

I'm telling you, just get a cheap ass MH bulb from GE or Slyvania. I've used them side by side with the high dollar "grow bulbs" you are listing... not a damn bit of difference...other than price
 
eazyrider

eazyrider

Member
I just thought I had to have a compatible bulb for the ballast. There are not too many bulbs made soley for digital ballasts. Cheaper bulb might be a great idea as long as they aren't blowing out all the time. Thanks for the intel.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
I have been running digital lumateks for 2 years. The ONLY bulb I ever had a problem with is the overpriced hortilux.

I even run my GE 400 watt MH at 600 watts. Probably not THE best idea, but I haven't had a problem. I do however have one of those automatic fire extinguishers in my grow room.
 
SimonD

SimonD

Well-Known Member
eazyrider said:
So im investing in a 1k quantum. I am looking at bulbs at plantlightinghydro.com. They have normal Ho eye mh and digilux mh. I already know which hps I am getting. I noticed the digilux has an enhanced red spectrum. I assume I should avoid this seeing the more blue the better. Is this bulb meant to one color fits all bulb, or is a red spectrum beneficial to veg. growth? Or should What do the experienced growers think? O yea, how about an enhanced hps digilux? Would that be enough to cover veg and flower?
Click to expand...
I tried working with Digilux 600MH lamps a little while back. They measured well, but promoted extremely slow growth in veg. Took them out after ~3 weeks, replaced them with GE 6000HPS' and got back to normal.

Simon
 
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