Ok heres the deal-- I live in an apartment that faces north with only one window that is facing east. My phals seem ok with things for now but I grow other plants, too. So I have decided to figure out a estimate of cost of what it would take to convert an un-used tub in our bathroom into a grow tub-- as opposed to a grow room!
Since some of my plants can be tall (amaryllis), I'd like to go with a light that doesn't have to be 6 inches away from plant as many of the plants are just too tall for that to work.
So where can I get a HID set up? The bulbs, the ballast etc?
You can try a local hydroponics store...an alternative is to go on craigslist, cause people are always selling lights on there. You might also try police auctions, as they typically get all sorts of light setups from grow-op busts
I like the grow tub idea a lot. Sure makes watering a lot easier, especially if you put a hand-held shower nozzle on there. Just spray in place and let them drain!
I suggest you use a GFI outlet for your HID light, just in case some water starts splashing around.
I got my lights from AHL Hydroponics online. Great quality.
I a 600w HPS from cPanel
I have had it about 5 years and love it. When I was looking for a light and trying to decide on a size I was told that a 1000w was to bright unless you have 12' ceilings, the 400w well every body is buying 2 to give you 800w. So I went in the middle at 600w at half the price of 2-400w, and then someone gave me (yes gave me) a 6' light mover. So now I increased my growing area by 6'. Hope this information helps you decide because you will grow better plants and flowers under these lights. You might even want too look at the HPS/MH combination fixtures.
Well I cheat and build mine from parts bought at the electrical supply store or buy a highbay hid and convert it to what I want.
Buy a hps ballast and you can wire it to work as a conversion ballast simply by taking out the ignotor circuit,then you can run either hps or mh.
Plans for this can be found just by googeling it