Need a bit of help choosing lights!!!

Running a dwc, i plan on growing a few autos, and a few regulars to put into a sog . My question is what lights are best to use, I know i need MH lights for veg and MPS for flowering , but can these bulbs be interchangable to coincide with the veg/flower transition or do i need to get dif ballasts /reflectors for both kinds of bulbs?

also can anyone throw in some info about t-5 lights and cfl?

thanks alot!

What is ur budget?

a grow that small just get one HPS light for both veg and flower

I dont really wanna spend much over 200 -250 on lighting, ive heard cfl is great and cheap but if i can use an HPS througout the whole grow id rather invest in that. I wasnt sure whether or not HPS and MH could be interchangable between ballasts and reflectors though

For a cheap and effective grow just get a standard HPS light kitset (lamp, ballast, shade, lamp holder). For vegging use an HPS "agro" bulb (a more mid spectrum HPS lamp that provides enoguh blue light for vegging, therefore an MH bulb is not needed) and switch bulbs to the standard HPS bulb (full red/orange spectrum) for when you flower...

For a seedlings and cuttings area just get some fluro tube lights e.g. a 2 foot, 20W x2 bulb fluro fixture over a tray of seedlings/clones can be kept around 5cm off the tops of the plants without burning them and gives them the full spectrum of "cool" white light until they can be transplanted under the larger lights as seedlings or cuttings will just burn/get stressed under HID lights...

Once you get a few harvests going you can upgrade to much better/advanced lighting equipment e.g. a whole room dedicated to only mother plants/clones and vegetative plants, and another room(s) for flowering plants.

Hope this helps, peace

get a HPS, it will do veg and flower much better than cfls can

if you must go CFL, get a proper grow cfl no less than 130 watts

dont just get a few random household cfls

a heap of low watt bulbs dosnt add up to one high watt bulb

Plebscrubber said:

get a HPS, it will do veg and flower much better than cfls can

if you must go CFL, get a proper grow cfl no less than 130 watts

dont just get a few random household cfls

a heap of low watt bulbs dosnt add up to one high watt bulb

Click to expand...

Yeah get a 400 watt for 119 from htg supply..That will be enough to take you from veg to flower to harvest no problem.If you want a veg and a flower set up you can veg with cfls or t12 shop lights which are also cheap and flower with the hps

Thanks alot guys, that helped alot ! I should be able to setup shop in no time