Grow Light????

[pilot_bell777]

Has anyone ever used or heard of someone using like a 400W MH grow light and putting a Reef Bulb in it (like a coralife buld).

The reflectors and the power output looks the same, I would think that switching to a reef bulb for the correct color spectrum would take care of this wouldn't it? I mean the balast is going to put out 400W no matter what and the power doesn't care about the light spectrum, that is handled by the bulb; correct? The reflectors look the same.

What do you all think?

They are way cheaper than marine MH lights and they have remote ballast and retro fit kits just like Marine ones........

Ideas???? ;)

[Jenn]

My husband buys grow lights off a police seizure site in LA and has always told me to try this out, but I never have. He says it will work. If someone has an old bulb that still illuminates, before throwing it out, you ought to give it to me and I can try this out.

[pilot_bell777]

I was talking to Mike Peterson and he was saying that I would have to check and make sure that it could push the 10K bulb because they are made to push the sodioum bulbs and he was not sure if it would push the reef bulbs or not. He said that it might push the 6500 but then everything would be real yellow, don't want that.

Can you check on yours and see if it will push a 10 or 15K bulb?

[Jenn]

Dunno what type this is....UGLY 7000k?????? Its not red at all, just tried to grab a quick pic. I will ask him what type this is when he gets home.

[pilot_bell777]

Ya....I was thinking taking out the grow bulb and putting in a 10 or 15K Reef Bulb, just not sure if it will work or not.....

[Jenn]

Here are the lights. They didn't come with reflectors, but were pretty cheap...heavy too. The ballasts are in the pendants. I would try this if someone has old bulbs, but these only take 175s or 250s.

[alexwolf]

Jenn??? Grow lights, little baggies with green substance??? :scold:

[Jenn]

Heh, just wait till' I host a meeting!!!!!! :confused: :lol3: :moon: :police:

[Jenn]

Seriously, seeds have to sit in darkness a while before they hatch. PALM TREE seeds that is.

[lax]

nope a good growlight has both mh and hps to get a full spectrum mh- blue end & hps- red end of spectrum. together they give the most complete spectrum. some people use the mh's for early growth and hps for the later. there are even switchable ballasts b/w mh and sps. most hps are going to use the same mogule socket sizes as for mh's. most noticable difference is how ugly the **** things are, and the crappy reflectors that they have. most have a junky hammerstone or painted white reflector. if i were to use them over my tank i would replace the reflector. o and most of the ballasts that they run are magnetic and are huge since they usually run 1000w systems.

[Jenn]

He says they are just the basic MH lights you can get at home depot. They are not sodium. They are magnetic ballasts and yes, they would be covered up with a hood as they are not too attractive.

[pilot_bell777]

So had anyone tried this with sucess?

[RobertG]

I have a 400W ballast that i have been told will run any bulb. There is something you have to do to the ignitor. Take it out of the loop. This will make it run the MH bulbs no problem I have been told. I was also told to put in a switch this way both bulbs could be run if you needed to change the bulb type. Typical grow setup. Needing to change spectrums for growth & flowering stages.

[astrong]

Stick to a lower Kelvin rated lamp and you will be fine, like a 10K. Ushio's sometimes work on tar ballasts and sometimes don't. The cheap lamps like Venture and XM fire on most anything. Home Depot lamps will work too but they are about 5K and really yellow.

Its the same technology and hardware though.

[reefer]

i got an hps ballast with a s51 magnetic ballast inside of it, and removed the ignitor. i ran a 400w 10k xm without issue. it fired up rather quickly, faster than a pfo ballast. i also ran a 250w ushio 10k on it, which was very bright!
8)

[pilot_bell777]

With a name like Reefer you should know about grow lights! JJ :-)

Do you have any instructions to remove the ignitor?

[RobertG]

Its easy, Guess you have to know a bit about them. Bring it over & I will show you.

HTH

[beagleton]

i use a ballast and fixture that i got at an austin store called bright ideas. it is deffinatly intended for agricultural use. i had to special order my 10k off the net but it seems to be working fine. i,ve had it up for about 6 months now.