Where do you people buy your HPS/MH kits?

[Click_It]

I'm getting tired of the shitty range and availability of options we have in Australia. Especially in 250W range. We essentially have just 2 guys on eBay selling stuff, one promotes the wrong color spectrum bulbs for the intended task and the other aquarium guy doesn't provide any technical information about his bulbs. And our shops charge hundreds more than things are worth and 2 shops I visited they gave me a blank look when I asked about lighting specs. Annoys me when people don't know what they are even selling.

 

I want to run a 250W MH system on my plants through vege and switch to HPS for flowering (possibly in 400W). If I'm investing in lighting I may as well do it right. But the bulb options here suck. The ideal 6500K MH bulb is only available from USA / UK at a horrendous cost. HPS is easier. I don't want to use HPS for the whole job because the 2700K bulb I'd be using won't be great for vege growth (too much red, barely any blue)

 

These guys in USA are the best I've found: http://www.htgsupply.com/ - I'm still finding out if they ship to Australia though.

 

I can't use CFL either, I'm growing Sativas. Maybe I can but I'd rather not, not until I have some Indicas.

 

If I can't get everything I need soon I'll just have to grow all my plants outdoors. 3 Sativas would have been fine, 5 will be harder to conceal

[Click_It]

Sorry about my whinge. I think I've found what I need now. I'm going to buy the 6500K MH Bulb from a UK seller his prices are really good even after the exchange rate & postage costs. And the HPS kits sold locally on eBay are fine so no extra costs there. Overseas its easy to get switchable Ballasts or conversion bulbs to save buying 2 kits but out here availability is a lot harder/more expensive so for what I want to do its actually cheaper just to buy 2 kits and the replacement bulb... Oh well can't complain, the buds should be worth the invested hassle

 

This is the reflector housing that comes in the MH/HPS kits, I don't know if its crap or not I'll find out and will mod if necessary. My grow room is 150cm * 80cm * 200cm tall. http://www.growlush.com/images/reflector-1.jpg

Edited November 11, 2007 by Click_It

[jimbojones5678]

If you are going to try eBay then I suggest talking with Aussieponics or the other stores on eBay - they seem to have some technical merit and can provide what you need when asked.

 

Any good hydro shop could help you - and sometimes you just have to pay for what you want...

 

Jimbo

[Click_It]

Yeah I'm buying the 2 kits from AussiePonics, but I can improve on the MH bulb they include in the MH kit so I'm buying that seperately. If I'm gonna be running it 18hrs a day I'd rather have the best possible lamp on the job. Call me fussy but I reckon the yeild will be worth it at the end. The grow room is perfect with adequate ventilation, whilst i wait for my Paypal money to transfer-in I'll decide if I want the 250W HPS or the 400W instead I'll be growing some outdoors at the same time so it'll be interesting to see the end results

[Gazza2001au]

what exatcly bulb are u upgrading to? just because the aussieponics brand "grow lush" bulbs arnt a comon bulb to buy doesnt mean buying a high quality sylvania globe will solve the problem your still running a cheap control box so IMO either u go a complete cheap unit or fork out the price for for a well know brand bulb and atco control gear either way you will still get the same harvest

[Click_It]

6500K bulb is what I'm after. But it looks like AussiePonics can fix me up with one so I won't have to order seperately it seems.

 

What you say makes sense about either sticking with a cheap system or going all out on a quality one. I am happy to start cheap so see how my first yield turns out.

 

The theory behind using 2 spectrums (6500K vege, 2700K flowering) I've been reading into comes down to this: Naturally (under the sun) the morning sun has more blue spectrum in it, this promotes the plant metabolise those , the evening sun has less blue and more red in it. When the light that a plant recieves is mostly red, the plant uses the light energy to begin to metabolize the sugars that it produced during the light cycle. But as people know a single light (eg: HPS) will do the job from start to end just fine because it still has SOME blue in the spectrum and the plant can still use that through vege. It comes down to whether giving the plant more of that blue spectrum from a MH bulb makes a difference or not. A lot of comparisons from overseas growers suggests it does, but we're not talking massively larger yields. The difference probably isn't worth the hassle. But for an extra $100 I'm gonna try it out.

 

I'm doing a grow journal form start to end which will cover the outdoors & indoor plants so I can share my results at the end if anyones interested.

[Gazza2001au]

these days you only need one control box there are special retro and conversion bulbs avaliable u can run a metal halide on high pressure sodium gear and vise versa it saves buying two control boxes or the switchable types and give best of both worlds by providing your plants the MH and HPS light

[Click_It]

Well whilst I wait for my money to transfer to paypal I just have to decide if its 250W or 400W I want to run. 400W is tempting and is probably better suited for my grow room than a 250W but we'll see... I may end up flipping a coin

[Gazza2001au]

what size is your grow room and what type of exhaust fan will you be using?

[grok]

you seem to know what you want...and be dammed with the prices!!..if its what you really want...the emotional satisfaction will be worth the extra $$$....

 

g'luck with your coming ganja garden.