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MH Ballast and Hood help needed

LGHT

LGHT

Ok I have decided to go with MH setup mainly because I was able to find a source that sells used equipment for pennies on the dollar. Is it possible to use any hood with any ballast or do they have to be from the same company? Also should I consider paying more for a switchable ballast or just get separate ones?
Also if I see a 600w for around the same price of a 450w should I just get the 600w?
 
Gonna try to see if I can answer some questions for ya. As far as the hood and ballast being compatible some of the manufacturers use different plugs on their hoods so you may run into that, however there are adapters or you could just hardwire it or change the cable to match. As far as the switchable ballast goes I would probably make that decision with what you are growing. Example, I am growing your basic variety of garden vegetables and I kind of became concerned with how well the plants would do if some were vegging and some were flowering at the same time. I cant tell you how much it would effect the plant if your were to veg it under hps or flower it under mh so I bought a hps ballast and a ceramic metal halide lamp which is supposed to be good across the spectrum for vegging and flowering, alot of debate exists over these lamps and its too early for me to tell any results yet especially since I started with the cmh lamp but I can tell you that you lose some light with the retro bulb. I guess what I am saying in a really long winded way is if you bought seperate ones you could have some plants vegging and some flowering and not have to worry about it. As far as which wattage to buy, more is gonna be better but just remeber that it will cost you from here on out, initial price,cost to run, replacement lamps. But you will have more lumens if u need them or if you want to throw a couple more plants under them. I went with 2 400 watt lights and my grow area is probably 4x8 feet so I may be pushing the 400 watt lamps to the limit but I have the entire area lined with 2 mil mylar so I figure I am good. I hope I gave you some halfway useful thoughts in regards to your purchase. Also, flushed little bhuts last night gonna do it again tonight, one of them is starting to perk up.
 
Thanks for the help. I was starting to wonder if anyone here uses MH/HPS setups.

I'm only growing out a batch of 100 or so seeds and maybe I'll keep 2-4 plants under the lights possibly in some type of hydro setup so I picked up the 400 switchable after finding a chart online. I did some research and the everyone says the best light is not MH/HPS, but a combination of both. What I want to do is get the small ones ready for the garden and then switch over to a HPS bulb and try and get the few I keep inside to fruit with the HPS light. I also picked up some weird grow container that is a 3' tall octagon thing that has mirrors completely on the inside and already has a built in hood for the light fixture and fans. I figure once the seeds are done that will be where I keep my plants I grow out. The whole setup was less than a $100 with bulbs and I should have everything running this weekend! Good luck on the Bhuts mine are doing a lot better and I have a lot of new leaves growing in.
 
Sounds like you got it figured out, not that my opinion matters but I think you made a wise decision on your purchase for your needs. On a side not if the grow box does actually contain mirrors as opposed to say mylar be careful of hotspots comming off of the mirrors burning the leaves :mouthonfire:.
 
Well I actually wanted to get a seperate MH/HPS setup, but I don't have a ton of room and didn't think I would need both running as I don't have a lot of plants (yet) anyway. I checked out that blog and wow that's a nice setup and the jungle is pretty dense. Hopefully I can get my plants going that good before I put them outside. I picked up the equpiment today and the Hood and ballast looked brand new! I was really surprised as in the pics it looked pretty used, but it was just very dusty from sitting. Tested out both bulbs and wow it's amazing how much light that thing puts out. I can't imagine the 1000 watters. The greenhouse actually doesn't have mirrors on the inside, but some type of mylar coated plastic. I kinda of don't like it as you can see through it into the inside from the outside. I think it's made for looks so I may end up putting mylar all over the inside or at least the sliding panels on the side. I was surprised to find the unit was fully equipped with 3 40 watt U shaped bulbs and a small CFL on top. Althoug 1 bulb was burnt I think I got a good deal for $30 out the door!! It's a pretty slick box, but I did notice it got a little hot after having it on for a few minutes so once the 3rd bulb is installed and working I don't know if it will breath enough. I think i'm gonna work on cutting the top open a little or maybe cut a hole in the side for a convection push pull top bottom fan system using PC fans. I'm gonna dedicate it to one of my Bhuts and deem it the Bhut box! Here are a few picks.


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Hopefully i'll get the MH light setup up and running soon so the sprouts will have a lot more light to help them grow.
 
Ok I got my 400 watt MH/HPS switchable ballast up and running in small closet that was not being used. The bulb is a Eye Hortilux MY 400 watt. I put a couple of the car windshield deflectors on the walls because that's all I had. Is that ok or do I need to get Mylar? The ballast is about 16-18" away from the plants and they have grown a lot in the few days the lights have been on. So far I run them between 16-18 hours a day. I also put a small fan in front of the closet and left one door open. It keeps the closet pretty cool and gives a nice light breeze at the same time.

I'm starting to think I should have gotten the 1000 watt system as I can't run the MH and HPS at the same time anyway and hanging the ballast only took 5 minutes so switching them wouldn't have been a problem. Should I go ahead and upgrade to a 1000 ballast and bulb? I figure I could use the same hood and the 1000 watt ballast and bulb would run me another $50.00 and I could just ebay the switchable one. The close is about 8' tall and 3' wide.

Any tips or suggestions on what I could be doing better? I think once the seeds are ready to go outside I'll dedicate the closet to a couple of plants and just grow them inside.

Here are a couple of pics.

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Are you talking about getting a switchable 1000 watt ballast or getting a ballast and using one of the combo bulbs which contain a mh/hps in one bulb? It sure didn't take long for you to decide to upgrade :). The biggest problem I see with running a 1000 watt fixture in your closet is gonna be heat, you will probably have to vent the hood. I would probably just wait until I felt the NEED to purchase the 1000 watt ballast. If you plan on growing some big bushy plants in there you will probably have to upgrade over time but if its only a couple of plants you probably wont need it unless they are pretty good sized. As far as reflective surfaces I would imagine that since the car reflectors are made to reflect light away from the car I would think they will suffice, if you do some poking around on the internet you would be suprised how much light a flat white painted surface reflects. Also remeber electrical requirements, that 1000watt ballast is gonna use up alot of your available current on the branch circuit that you plug it into and make sure your wiring is up to snuff as its not a good idea running a 1000 watt light on 60 year old knob and tube wiring for 16 hours a day. Keep us updated.
 
Actually I was thinking about the1000 watt initially because they had 10+ of those and they where about half the cost of the 400 watt units, but the switchable part is what pushed me toward the 400. I figured 2 for the price of one without taking in account that if I got a 1000 watt MH AND a 1000 watt HPS ballast I would be able to just switch the ballast and bulb as needed and just use the same cords and hood that's already setup. Upgrading to 2 1000 watt ballast is only gonna be say $50 for both units and the bulbs are around $15-$20 for the eye hortilux ones. So as long as I can get $100 for the switchable ballast with 2 bulbs i'll break even. I just figured why limit myself to 400 watts if I can get 1000 watts for the same price? If I did upgrade to 2 1000 watt units would this be TOO much light for the small seedlings or is there no such thing as too much??

I should be fine on the electric side because I had 4 large CFL setups on a big fish tank that I no longer have and it didn't have a problem at all. Plus my spot was built in the late 80's and is pretty new. I didn't however think about the heat issue. The fan in front of the closet keeps the area cool now because it's blowing directly on the light from 1 side. Wouldn't that be enough to cool the closet if I did upgrade? If not the closet actually sits right next to an outside heater that has a door. Worse case scenario I guess I could vent the door that has the heater in it outside and just whole in the closet to the outside area that has a heater. I guess I could suck cool air in from outside onto the fan or would it be better to blow the hot air out?

Thanks for all the tips!!
 
First off I need to head out by you to pick up some cheap equipment. Ok lets run through the list, if you are comfortable with the electrical requirements,cool beans. As far as that light being too big, I would just raise it further away from the seedlings if you are worried, you could lower it a little bit at a time to give them a chance to acclimate to the light. I think you will have a hard time giving a plant too much light indoors with growlights, but I could be wrong. For heat I would leave the fan so you got strong plants and vent the hood (if possible with your hood). Just get a blower and vent it outside if possible. Imagine putting a small heater in the closet, you could turn the heater on and put a fan on you to cool down or you could direct the heat outside before it disipates into the room so you don't need the fan to stay cool:cool:.
 
Ok got a 1000 watt MH and a 1000 HPS. They had a lot for sale so I got them both for $43.00. I also got 2 HPS bulbs and 1 MH bulb for around $30 for all 3 so I'm still under budget of $100.00 They had a fan yesterday, but I didn't know I would need one so I missed that one. I'll keep an eye out for a fan. I think the last one was $30 so even with the fan I should be right on budget! Hopefully I can get my brother in law to setup the vents for the fan in trade few a few pepper plants!
 
With regard to your question on mylar...

I was looking on a pothead forum and they recommend something which is as good as mylar from one of your dollar shops. Its that plasticy wrapping paper (for gifts) with the highly reflective mirror backing.

Chris
 
Toleman said:
With regard to your question on mylar...

I was looking on a pothead forum and they recommend something which is as good as mylar from one of your dollar shops. Its that plasticy wrapping paper (for gifts) with the highly reflective mirror backing.

Chris
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Thanks for the tip. I actually almost got some of that stuff, but passed because it was very thin and crackled really easily. Not sure if it's the same as Mylar, but I recall mylar being something thicker and more sturdy. You could lay it out and it would still show a clean image like a mirror where this stuff looked like a broken cracked mirror. It was cheap, but I went with a couple of those reflective shields for your car windshield mainly because it seemed to have some type of then cardboard in between the paper and was a lot easier to handle. It seems to be working fine for now, but I don't think I'll need anything after I install the 1000 watt ballast and bulb and fan!
 
Waste heat in your grow room will be on the order of 6-7000 btu/hr.

If you are using a fan to cool, you will need 200-400 cfm depending on temperature difference. If you bring cool air in, there must be a place to get hot air out.
 
Willard your saying because i'm not using mylar i'm wasting heat? I do have a fan to circulate the air, but I don't have the 1000 watt installed yet. I'm going to wait until I get a blow so I can vent the air to the outside first. Right now I only have the 400 watt setup and it's not hot at all.
 
Ok I upgraded to the 1000 watt setup and heat is a pain. The plants are doing ok, but they did start to wilt the 3rd day. I guess becuase there is just so much light and heat I will have to water every other day instead of every 3-4 days. After watering they came right back up and are doing fine. I did however had to put in a very powerful floor fan I had laying around in front of the closet to keep the hot air out. Basically it sit at an angle and forces the air up and out. The top of the closet is slanted so it makes a nice scoop for the hot air to exit. It seems to be working so far, but Willard is right I still need a way to get the hot air out. I may be able to pickup a bigger enclosed hood with a glass bottom and 2 8" openings on each side for around $20.00. If I do I will try and get a fan to suck the hot air out, but that's the costly item as they don't seem to go on sale often and when they do they are at least $60-$80 bucks!!
 
hydrojunkie said:
check your pm
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PM sent.

Does anyone know if it's ok to run a sealed enclosure WITHOUT a fan? I'm having troubles finding a fan and might not be able to get one the same time I replace the hood. I will probably go with the cool tube, but not sure if it will be ok to run it without a fan or not. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
LGHT said:
PM sent.

Does anyone know if it's ok to run a sealed enclosure WITHOUT a fan? I'm having troubles finding a fan and might not be able to get one the same time I replace the hood. I will probably go with the cool tube, but not sure if it will be ok to run it without a fan or not. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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yeah you can run the cool tube without a fan, but things will get hot fast. Heres a picture of my 1000 watt cool tube with hood, it came built this way.

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