Artificial Emotion
Bluelighter
^ different strains, even different phenotypes of the same strain, can have very different nutrient requirements. This is why people only grow clones of the same plant in recirculating systems using the same nutrient res, such as in NFT and other systems.
Leading on from the earlier discussion about lights, I want to say that even reputable manufacturers such as Phillips etc. have been known to overstate their lights' specifications. Colour temps, PAR values (parts of the spectrum the plants use, it stands for photosynthetically active radiation), lumen output and so on are often wrong. It's so bad I'm surprised Trading Standards haven't gotten involved. So, the moral of the story is that quite often you can't rely of manufacturers to give you accurate data for their lamps.
I am very interested in ceramic metal halide lamps. They apparently have a better output than normal MH lamps and last for longer. An engineer friend of mine has investigated the technology (whatever that involved!) and uses them himself. He has them shipped over from the US. I think they can be used with normal magnetic ballasts and they've been around for a number of years, so the technology is established. I think Phillips or Sylvannia make them, I'm not sure. I'd love to try them though.
edit:
Here's a post from 2008 so things might have moved on a bit:
Leading on from the earlier discussion about lights, I want to say that even reputable manufacturers such as Phillips etc. have been known to overstate their lights' specifications. Colour temps, PAR values (parts of the spectrum the plants use, it stands for photosynthetically active radiation), lumen output and so on are often wrong. It's so bad I'm surprised Trading Standards haven't gotten involved. So, the moral of the story is that quite often you can't rely of manufacturers to give you accurate data for their lamps.
I am very interested in ceramic metal halide lamps. They apparently have a better output than normal MH lamps and last for longer. An engineer friend of mine has investigated the technology (whatever that involved!) and uses them himself. He has them shipped over from the US. I think they can be used with normal magnetic ballasts and they've been around for a number of years, so the technology is established. I think Phillips or Sylvannia make them, I'm not sure. I'd love to try them though.
edit:
Here's a post from 2008 so things might have moved on a bit:
Ceramic Metal Halide lamps are currently not available in sizes over 400 watts. Philips is working on it, however there is no ETA.
The CMH lamps 150w and lower should work with digital ballasts.
250w and 400w CMH lamps will NOT work with ANY digital ballast EXCEPT the ones SPECIFICALLY made to fire CMH lamps.
250w and 400w CMH lamps will work with most good quality 250w (ANSI S50) and 400w (ANSI S51) HPS ballasts.
How was CMH Invented.
its the Arc tube of HPS and the Gases of Metal halide Basically.. and it created something totally new..
theres a few reasons it hasn't come to our Market faster but thats great all the bugs are out..
Ceramic Metal Halide ( CMH ) competes and Whomps the EYE Hortilux Blue (MT400D/HOR/HTL - BLUE)
comparing the 400 horizontals.. as the vertical 400 and both vertical and horizontal 250 cmh has 20K hours 5k longer than 400 WOW!
.................................EYE-BLUE..........CMH
Ballast........................MH-Probe..........HPS (easy conversion for hps users)
Price .........................$90-100............50-70
Life............................12,000Hrs.........15,000Hrs
Initial Lumens...............29,000.............34,800
Mean Lumens ..............22,000.............29,600
Lumen maintenance.......64%................85%
Now when you take the last 4 lines and really look at that your actually getting Twice the lamp for half the cost..
not only do you get more initial and Mean lumen's a longer life and more usable life (IE 85%)
the CMH has higher Red to Blue ratio and thats what we WANT to promote better Flowering
CMH doesn't Throw Heat like MH or HPS especially MH
it just so happens the arc tube (from the HPS side of the lamp) Blocks and absorbs allot of that energy and instead of radiating it it holds it and releases almost all up.. * Ya cmh does still throw some heat but Nothing compared to Equal Wattage in MH or HPS..
The Philips Retro white is also open Fixture Rated the EYE Blue IS NOT>>
you need to follow those ratings on your lamps if it states Enclosed fixture you better use a fixture rated Enclosed.
now you say but neither have High lumen's like my HPS Extreme.
ya thats because if you notice the SPD on the HPS you will see they increse the Lumen rating by creating more Yellow Light But thats not what we want..
in short hps dumps about IMPHO 50% of its Total outputted energy where the plant cant absorb it. where as cmh when you compare its Whole output about 25% about wasted like HPS (that 50% and 25% is not fully wasted just 95% of it.. in that range
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