The best 1000 w bulb

[stealth96]

I have Quantum 1000W electronic ballast. What's the best HPS and MH Lights to get? I plan on cutting the power down to 50% in veg stage, good idea? Also I want to get the Magnum xxxl reflector, get the 6'' or the 8''?

 

[sparkjumper]

I would use standard MH lamps to veg my plants but horticultural lamps to flower,I prefer the hortilux

 

[stealth96]

I thought hortilux bulbs wont work for digi ballast. But then there are people that swear by them. I don't know what to do

 

[sparkjumper]

If thats true I guess I'll use magnetic ballasts forever.

 

[Lazyman]

If thats true I guess I'll use magnetic ballasts forever.

It's true, Ushio bulbs for any digital ballast, never Hortilux.

The best reason to switch? I average 10% more light out of my digis over analog ballasts (I did a careful measurement, side-by-side) but it's basically free light. Get a good hood and pick up an extra 10-15% more free light. With careful gear purchases, you can throw more light down than the next guy, using the same amount of watts.

 

[medasunman]

wow....i have been using digitals for years with hortilux bulbs....never a problem.....why can't they be used ??

 

[Pinball Wizard]

it seems the 220 volt digital ballasts with the lower(st) Hz freguency works best for longer life bulbs?

 

[Lazyman]

wow....i have been using digitals for years with hortilux bulbs....never a problem.....why can't they be used ??

Eye Hortilux tech says their bulbs should never be used in a digital ballast, I blew 7 bulbs in 4 months with digital ballasts (Quantum) Switched to Ushios and haven't had a blown bulb since.

 

[Lazyman]

it seems the 220 volt digital ballasts with the lower(st) Hz freguency works best for longer life bulbs?

No, 240v and 120v electricity both run at 60hz in the US, no difference there. More people report blowing bulbs on 120v, but mine were all 240v and I blew them up like bottle rockets.

 

[Lord Doobie]

I'm not aware of any grow bulb that doesn't need to be replaced every few grows or so...except for maybe LED's

 

[sparkjumper]

I use my hortilux for 4-6 grows after messing around a long time with it,More light cant be beat especially with co2 enrichment,I have 3 1K in an 8 by 8 room which works really well.Why dont these horticultural lamp manufacturers give the amount of PAR watts the lamp produces,lumens are great for lighting an underground garage lol.Anywhere I can fit a plant in that 8 by 8 room I'll get 50 watts a sq ft,a minimum for grows IMO

 

[dongle69]

wow....i have been using digitals for years with hortilux bulbs....never a problem.....why can't they be used ??

Most electronic ballasts do not comply with ANSI ratings.
Maybe yours work because they do comply?
This is from Hortilux:

Do HORTILUX lamps work on electronic/digital ballasts?
A: HORTILUX lamps work equally well as any competitive brand on electronic ballasts.
Performance really depends on the quality of the electronic ballast and the ability of the ballast manufacture to produce consistently good products.
Magnetic, core and coil ballasts are made to conform to ANSI Standards.
ANSI is the American National Standards Institute that establishes specifications on how specific HID lamps are to perform electrically.
This designation ensures that all lamp brands work interchangeably on the ANSI compatible ballasts.
For example, all major brand LU1000 lamps comply with ANSI S52, and when matched with a ballast designated ANSI S52, the consumer is assured the lamp and ballast are matched correctly.
All major lamp brands currently comply with these ANSI standards, and have for decades.
Most electronic ballasts do not comply with ANSI ratings.
This means that each e.ballast brand can be different.
Compound this with actual variations in the production runs from the same manufacturer/brand and you can see why system dependability is easily compromised.
These are clearly NOT lamp issues but ballast challenges to be improved upon.
If you chose to operate our lamp on a ballast that does not meet these ANSI specifications,lamp life and performance MAY be dramatically reduced.
Since the quality of artificial light is paramount to successful plant photosynthesis and optimum growth,it would seem ill-advised to compromise lamp performance in favor of unproven ballast technology.

 

[dongle69]

Why dont these horticultural lamp manufacturers give the amount of PAR watts the lamp produces...

Sunmaster puts PAR info on their boxes.
I don't know if anyone else does.
http://www.sunmastergrowlamps.com/SunmLamps.html

 

[sparkjumper]

Thats nice Dongle thanks.There was a good chart on overgrow that gave all the different manufacturers PAR specs.I remember a 1K hortilux I believe was 385 par watts and the highest 1K PAR watt lamp was the fancy schmancy 1K MH lamps,I used to use them but cant think of it right now.I've learned since then that any ole commercial MH will veg plants just fine,the flowering phase is when you want to use a horticultural lamp IMO.Man those 1K MH lamps were like 150 bucks each.Forget it