I'm thinking of new lighting: halides?

[GaryB]

I have a real problem with this statement. Grab a 100W incandescent light that has been on for a while and then grab a 100W fluorescent. I think you will definitely see that the incandescent is much hotter. A truer statement would be that all light generates heat when striking an opaque object.

I think we are saying the same thing just in different ways. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only converted from one form to another. A 100 Watts is a 100 Watts regardless of the lighting technology and it all eventually becomes heat. The fact the fluorescent is cooler to the touch means that more energy starts out as light, not that the total amount of heat from the fluorescent is less.

 

[NYEric]

Just let her install the metal halides and find out. I had a mini-reef setup w/ a small one and almost fried my hand on the regular!

 

[Irongoat]

I've enjoyed my combo unit for a few years now. It's a total of 500 watts - 250 MH and 250 HPS. Remote ballast box that houses both ballasts. Since HPS yields more fcs than MH, I started with 250 HPS extended spectrum. I still had some stretching from the plants and I wanted brighter light too so almost immediatley I moved up to my current setup. I made a bench, roughly 3x3. And there's enough light on the periphery for lower light 'chids. I keep my catts in the middle.

It is more flexible re: height since the light fall-off isn't so drastic as fluorescent tubes.

The setup is in a small room roughly 8x9. It gets warm but I keep it closed to contain humidity. Wintertime it doesn't get much above 80. Summertime it can get 85-86 with no ac but there's naturally higher humidity in the summer so I can crack the door and keep the fans going. They all did fine last year. I can't possibly guess what your temps would be, but just wanted you to know that even though it generates heat, it's not crippling.

HTH

 

[smartie2000]

How is PL lighting system? I found this on eBay. Considering the quality of the reflector, it doesn't seem too expensive. I'm not sure if I could put the ballast outside of growing area on this one.
PL LIGHT SYSTEMS 400W HIGH PRESSURE SODIUM GROW LIGHT!
I'll think bout it. Getting this light means I can think 3D and hang things, use racks and use wall space, its so tempting

My basement is quite cool in the winter and does not get hot in the summer. The floor is cement and so is one wall. I haven't done any temp readings yet for some reason

 

[rdlsreno]

I use a 600 watt HPS. I does get hot during summer. I do lessen the light duration during summer and open up the windows.

Ramon

 

[Leo Schordje]

Myself I am using the 430 Watt Philips Son Agro HPS bulbs. I like them very much. I can grow tall Phrags and one lone Vanda under the 430 W lamps and I get good blooming every year. One lamp would do well for your 5 x 6 area.

Now is the electric bill is a concern, and you have a little extra capital to get started - in Alaska - where even greenhouses have to supplement light in winter - I would try LED lights. I visited 2 growers who were using LED and the results were pretty good. The color of the lights is disturbing, so I would not use this system in your living room, but 5 Watts of LED puts out a tremendous amount of light. The Alaska growers got their lamps from http://www.ledgrowlights.com/

I think if I were to switch to LED - I would have some compact fluorescents or ordinary cool white fluorescent tubes around to provide a little natural light so you can see what is going on. If the only lights you see your plants in is the red & blue of the LED the effect is tough on the eyes as you get confusing color cues to the eye. A little full spectrum light in the grow area will make the human feel better. I am not expanding my grow area, so it may be a while before I try these, but my electric bill keeps going up, as lamps age, I am thinking about trying something new.

One note of warning from my Alaska people: surge protectors, as in the UPS-CS type units for computers that use a battery to condition and smooth the power from line voltage, are suggested for LED lamps, they have a tendancy to fail after a power company does a brown out or power failure and the associated current spikes when brought back up.

For what ever it is worth, my 2 cents

 

[NYEric]

Wow Leo, those lights are just like "up in the club"! :rollhappy:

 

[smartie2000]

I though about LEDs too. I read of some not so good experiences on some members of Orchid Board b/c the spectrum is too small.

Otherwise they would be the perfect lighting to save energy!

 

[smartie2000]

I decided that i would not get the sodium fixture b/c of the yellow colour it makes and I read they are better for supplimental lighting and not as well as the only source of light.

I might get this illumalights digital ballast setup on ebay. I've read digital has more efficient ballasts and can do both MH and HPS. what do you think? The pictures of the listing bugs me.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/DIGITAL-AIR-COOLED-GROW-LIGHT-400-WATT-HPS-MH-400W_W0QQitemZ380003131085QQihZ025QQcategoryZ42225QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I googled and came about two weed growing forums (why the hell would someone post openly bout growing weed? lol) suggesting digital ballasts were crap and they blow bulbs which concerns me

 

[smartie2000]

weeeee....!
I have my metal halide set up for almost a week. They look very bright! though I assume this is because there is a lot of green light coming out of them, as the eye picks up green the most. I increased the size of my growing area too (more room to walk and to accomodate growing plants). I'm disapointed with the footcandle reading near the edges of the space (approx 300), but the readings directly under the lights is very high (approx 1500). I think I am going to increase photoperiod, so I just changed it from 12hrs to 13hrs.

The light is not that hot. My shop lights might have been hotter if I added up all the heat dispersed over four lights.

I'm waiting for my mylar to come in...that will change my footcandle readings

From http://www.geocities.com/~marylois/archiv70.html

...The one we are most familiar with is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is receptive to the 'blue' (0.44 um) and 'red' (0.66 um) wavelengths of the visual spectrum. However, experimentation by Loomis (1965) found light absorption in four different plant species (not orchids) to be 92% in the blue wavelengths (0.4 - 0.5 um), 71% in the green-yellow wavelengths (0.5 - 0.6 um), and 84% in the orange-red wavelengths (0.6 - 0.7 um).

so according to Loomis some green is absorbed, I always thought none was, which means not all the green the MH is producing is wasted light in my mind

I think I might add the HPS PL lighting if I can get it cheap enough (my bank is hurting...), to turn on for a few hours for the red spectrums (and maybe stimulate sunrise/sunset if possible?). And it could be a spare since who knows when my 'made in china' light will fail

 

[GaryB]

I googled and came about two weed growing forums (why the hell would someone post openly bout growing weed? lol) suggesting digital ballasts were crap and they blow bulbs which concerns me

I found that the groups most knowledgeable of lighting are the salt-water tank / reef people and the pot growers.