kushking42
Well-Known Member
nugs their is a graph that shows all the bulbs manufacturers with lumen comparatives, maybe on sunlights website. ill try to find
Shopping for new bulbs...for my lumatex...advice?
- Thread starter nugbuckets
- Start date
montanachadly
Active Member
Kushking i just bought one of the new 600 switchable phantoms I like it so far there pretty nice Right now for my bulb im using a Lucalonx from GE the guy at the hydro store told me it was similar to the 400 Grolux bulbs but better. In my 400 i had better results with the grolux belgian bulbs than the 400 hortilux. These Lucalox are made in Hungary so we will see how they are. The thing i really like also about the Phantom ballasts is that theres no changin anything like a switch or something the ballast has a computer thing that can tell the difference between each bulb. Im happy with the slim design and little heat output from the little ballast. Next ballast or anything i buy tho i wanna try the hortilux 1000 ballasts probably the same as all the other ballast half the price i bet but i can get one for like 350 to 400 bucks. Im set tho for now wont be buying anything for awhile but since everyone is hyping up the ushio bulbs might have to try one next time.
kushking42
Well-Known Member
ya your right nugs you too. i didnt articulate myself here well at all!! damn dr walker daze got me silly!!. first i have one of these ballasts and i know how it works lol. i just meant that if you want to dim a bulb everyday for an entire cycle its better to just buy the lower wattage bulb. unless you plan to make that switch everyday manually. these digital hid bulbs are supposed to go to 100% so the gasses can mix properly before they are dimmed. if this is true which i believe it is. that makes for either a major design flaw in the lumatek or the dimming feature isnt meant for everyday use. more for spot dimming when its hot.
with the phantom. the main advantage is the auto dim feature. they take the warm up period into account every time they turn on. so if you set it to 60% your 1k bulb goes to a full 1k for 15 minutes before automatically dimming. way more advanced technology. only really matters if dimming is something that is important to you. 1k phantoms only take 1 k bulbs.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
old stock and common too they will be more likely to have problemsi know my stuff man and im telling you digilux or usio for 600w and up hortilux is good for 400w and down(digital ballast). straight up tons of research and time devoted to picking the right bulbs.
Redoctober
Well-Known Member
Boy am I glad I found this thread, very informative and just at the time I'm trying to pick out a new light too. Thought I'd ask for some input as well. I also run open reflectors, because as I learned from Gavita, putting a piece of glass between the lamp and plants diminishes the output by up to about 5%, and air cooling the lamps also makes them about 5-10% less efficient. Apparently they need to heat up all the way to run at their full potential. I currently have a Gavita 600W that I like very much. It has a Philips bulb in it. It's very bright. But I like to experiment and try different things out, so what do you guys think of the following setup:
Ballast: Solis Tek 600W ballast (I've heard positive things about them)
Lamp: Ushio HiLux Opti Red HPS and/or Digilux HPS
Reflector: ?????? not sure what the best open reflector for a 600W HPS is? Any ideas? The Verizontal looked interesting, seems to combine the features of a horizontal lamp with the benefits of a vertical reflector. Link: http://www.growlightexpress.com/grow-light-reflectors-4/vertizontal-reflector-498.html
Ballast: Solis Tek 600W ballast (I've heard positive things about them)
Lamp: Ushio HiLux Opti Red HPS and/or Digilux HPS
Reflector: ?????? not sure what the best open reflector for a 600W HPS is? Any ideas? The Verizontal looked interesting, seems to combine the features of a horizontal lamp with the benefits of a vertical reflector. Link: http://www.growlightexpress.com/grow-light-reflectors-4/vertizontal-reflector-498.html
thehole
New Member
Adjust-a-Wing Medium for 100-130.
Xtrasunwing for 40. I have three of these for my two 600s and one 400. Works great if you don't need cooled hoods.
Check out this chart-
http://www.greners.com/reflector-test.html
Redoctober
Well-Known Member
Great chart! I would get the Luxor but I don't intend to air cool the hood so it seems like kind of a waste of $$. I've heard nothing but terrific things about the new Growlite OG vertical hood as well. Some say it even outperforms the Luxor. But again, I don't intend to air cool. Question is: is it worth it to pay for that extra efficiency and not utilize the air cooling? Maybe in fact it is...I'm not sure. I kind of wish that the Growlite OG and the Silver Sun were on that comparison list because I'd like to see how they stack up.
Redoctober
Well-Known Member
I'm also curious if anyone has tried the Ushio full spectrum hybrid? IT says it has both super HPS and super MH burner cores in a single body bulb. Would that be good for flowering? Or would you be sacrificing yield because you are only getting 300W output of HPS, and the other 300W is MH (blue). I do think that you need both red and blue. Blue would keep the nodes tighter and increase trichome production.
trichmasta
Active Member
Digilux! Wide spectrum, good prices, high lumens, long lasting!!
nugbuckets
Well-Known Member
I got 2 ushio digi reds for $103....thought that was fair enough, and then pretty much gave away my Horti's to a fellow nerd......nerds unite!
grownbykane
Active Member
I know that fellow nerd and that nerd thanks you again.
Redoctober
Well-Known Member
Good deal! Just out of curiosity, have you ever flowered with a CMH Nugs?
I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the Ushio red, but I think I'm going to try the Digilux first and see how it goes. No one seems to have much experience with the SolisTek ballast but I'll give it a whirl.
btw Nugs, I just started your main-lining thread and loving it! As Judge Smails would say: "Top Notch, TOP NOTCH!"