Basic Indoor hydroponics Gardening Guide – Indoor Grow Lights Fluorescent tubes, Hps and MH

Fluorescent Grow Light

Inexpensive and readily available in hardware stores and be utilized with regular light sockets. Producing less heat or none at all compared to full-size fluorescent grow lights.

Not just because of its small size and low heat output; compact fluorescent lights also produce the widest range of color spectrums to any type of lighting. It is ideal for shelf gardening due to their low heat output making the use of multiple shelves on top of each other possible. Compact fluorescent lights can be used with seedlings and small plants in a well designed hydroponic system indoor garden.

Common Problems with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Problems with compact fluorescent light bulbs like inefficiency and poor light penetration are common.  Several compact fluorescent bulbs maybe used and consume energy as that of one HPS bulb, but do not produce the same usable light for the hydroponic indoor garden.

Optimizing Fluorescent Grow Lights

With the disadvantages of comparative inefficiency compared to HID lights, several things maybe done to counteract this.

Properly matching lights to the corresponding growth cycle.

Increasing Watt ratings increases light penetration

One cheap and easy way to maximize energy consumption is by the use of reflectors. Compact fluorescent lights have a 360 degree of distribution but only 90 degrees of it can be practically used. Reflectors direct the light to corners in order to maximize the light produced.

High Intensity Discharge Lighting

HID light bulbs are the most after lighting system by both hobbyist and professional growers. It has made possible all-year, all-season planting for thousands of indoor gardeners and industrial nursery growers. Due to their efficiency ( 10x more light produced than conventional incandescent bulbs) and color spectrums ideal for plants have resulted to better yields and plant quality all year round. Metal Halide (MH) light bulbs mainly produce blue lights, making them ideal for plants undergoing the vegetative phase of development.

Industrial cultivators the world over are the main users of HID grow lights. HID lamps provide numerous advantages that conventional Fluorescent and incandescent lights lack. Monetary benefits abound, it boosts overall plant production giving better harvests, and environmental factors are eliminated allowing all year-round production. HID lights operate stock 110 to 220 volts AC home currents and have a standard three prong adapter to link up. HID grow lights mostly come with a ballast resistor and reflective hood.

Photosynshesis in plants allows plants them to produce their own energy. Chlorophyll in plants enables plants to convert CO2, water and energy from light to nutrients and sugars. When all this elements like CO2 and nutrients are readily and plenty in a desired surrounding, the potential for growth is bound only to the amount and quality of light available.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) light bulbs produce reddish light, it is ideal during the fruit phase of the plant cycle. Cooler (blue) and Warmer (orange) color spectrums raise chlorophyll production and fruit energy. The sun produces cooler lights when it is higher in the skyline, seen in the summer calendar months. It is essential for plant growth shape and keep it tight. Warmer light, experienced when the sun is lower in relative position to the skyline is important for blooming plants and during the fruit phase.

Choice of lights can also depend on the type of plants grown. Metal Halide growth lights are ideal for bushy harvests such as cabbage and vegetating herbaceous plants. Blossoming plants on the other hand is better suited by high pressure sodium growth lights. Conversion light bulbs are also available for different organizations. More expensive than other lights, conversion lamps give that extra advantage of starting your plants with a metal halide growth light giving taut, small development and being replaced by high pressure sodium light bulbs when the fruit stage of the plant is reached. Recent developments have introduced convertible ballast resistors for regular metal halide growth lights and high pressure sodium light bulbs.

HID grow lights main advantage is that it eliminates such factors as climate, temperature and time of day. Season dependent plants can be grown throughout the year; they provide an alternative to solar light. For those who are garden and flower hobbyists, this would be a plus.

Hydroponic growth lights also gives you control over light exposure. Allowing us to hasten a plants growth or that flower to bloom. Ideal light color, duration and concentration are the key factors in growing those choice plants.

High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

A clear ceramic arc tube suspended inside a glass bulb characterizes High Pressure Sodium Bulbs. Xenon gas is the main component inside the inner tube which is then ignited to produce an arc of light. Sizes range fro 35 watts up to 1000 watts. The most popular of which are the 250 watts, 400 watts and 1000 watts.

Advantages of High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

Efficiency is one of its advantages; they provide the best light penetration and have strong light spectrums necessary for plant growth. Mainly producing red and yellow lights or little or no blue lights, they mimic the autumn sun. Popularity for HPS lights are mainly attributed to their low energy to light ratio and is the most economical and efficient than any other type of lighting system. HPS lights work best during the flowering or fruit stage of the plant growth cycle.

Disadvantages of HPS High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

High Pressure Sodium Bulbs produce great amounts of heat. Proper ventilation and good garden construction and planning help to offset this negative effect. Like all HID growth light systems price is the main drawback compared to fluorescent lights. HPS lights are currently more cost effective compared to other HID growth light systems.

High Pressure Sodium Light bulbs are replaced after 24 months to ensure their and your gardens efficiency.

Metal Halide Bulbs

Metal Halide bulbs are constructed by placing an inner arc tube inside vacuum-sealed glass tubing. Electric currents passed through the inner arc which in turn ignites mercury and iodide materials in the tube.

Advantages of Metal Halide Bulbs

Metal Halide Bulbs mimic sunlight during summertime. Producing a blue spectrum of light most ideal for plants in their vegetative growth phase. They are also a good choice for indoor because of their efficiency in producing light.

Other Metal Halide Bulb Information

Available from 70 to 1500 watts, Metal Halide bulbs present a wide variety of choices. Most popular and commonly used are the 250, 400 and 1000 watts metal halide bulbs. Ballast specifically tailored for each bulb is also essential. Mounting positions depend on its specific bulb type (marks or guides are usually provided). HOR bulbs are mounted horizontally, BU/BD is vertically mounted and U (universal) bulbs could be mounted either way. The vertical position is the most ideal and provides utmost efficiency.

 

Basic Indoor hydroponics Gardening Guide – Indoor Grow Lights Fluorescent tubes, Hps and MH

Fluorescent Grow Light

Inexpensive and readily available in hardware stores and be utilized with regular light sockets. Producing less heat or none at all compared to full-size fluorescent grow lights.

Not just because of its small size and low heat output; compact fluorescent lights also produce the widest range of color spectrums to any type of lighting. It is ideal for shelf gardening due to their low heat output making the use of multiple shelves on top of each other possible. Compact fluorescent lights can be used with seedlings and small plants in a well designed hydroponic system indoor garden.

Common Problems with Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

Problems with compact fluorescent light bulbs like inefficiency and poor light penetration are common.  Several compact fluorescent bulbs maybe used and consume energy as that of one HPS bulb, but do not produce the same usable light for the hydroponic indoor garden.

Optimizing Fluorescent Grow Lights

With the disadvantages of comparative inefficiency compared to HID lights, several things maybe done to counteract this.

Properly matching lights to the corresponding growth cycle.

Increasing Watt ratings increases light penetration

One cheap and easy way to maximize energy consumption is by the use of reflectors. Compact fluorescent lights have a 360 degree of distribution but only 90 degrees of it can be practically used. Reflectors direct the light to corners in order to maximize the light produced.

High Intensity Discharge Lighting

HID light bulbs are the most after lighting system by both hobbyist and professional growers. It has made possible all-year, all-season planting for thousands of indoor gardeners and industrial nursery growers. Due to their efficiency ( 10x more light produced than conventional incandescent bulbs) and color spectrums ideal for plants have resulted to better yields and plant quality all year round. Metal Halide (MH) light bulbs mainly produce blue lights, making them ideal for plants undergoing the vegetative phase of development.

Industrial cultivators the world over are the main users of HID grow lights. HID lamps provide numerous advantages that conventional Fluorescent and incandescent lights lack. Monetary benefits abound, it boosts overall plant production giving better harvests, and environmental factors are eliminated allowing all year-round production. HID lights operate stock 110 to 220 volts AC home currents and have a standard three prong adapter to link up. HID grow lights mostly come with a ballast resistor and reflective hood.

Photosynshesis in plants allows plants them to produce their own energy. Chlorophyll in plants enables plants to convert CO2, water and energy from light to nutrients and sugars. When all this elements like CO2 and nutrients are readily and plenty in a desired surrounding, the potential for growth is bound only to the amount and quality of light available.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) light bulbs produce reddish light, it is ideal during the fruit phase of the plant cycle. Cooler (blue) and Warmer (orange) color spectrums raise chlorophyll production and fruit energy. The sun produces cooler lights when it is higher in the skyline, seen in the summer calendar months. It is essential for plant growth shape and keep it tight. Warmer light, experienced when the sun is lower in relative position to the skyline is important for blooming plants and during the fruit phase.

Choice of lights can also depend on the type of plants grown. Metal Halide growth lights are ideal for bushy harvests such as cabbage and vegetating herbaceous plants. Blossoming plants on the other hand is better suited by high pressure sodium growth lights. Conversion light bulbs are also available for different organizations. More expensive than other lights, conversion lamps give that extra advantage of starting your plants with a metal halide growth light giving taut, small development and being replaced by high pressure sodium light bulbs when the fruit stage of the plant is reached. Recent developments have introduced convertible ballast resistors for regular metal halide growth lights and high pressure sodium light bulbs.

HID grow lights main advantage is that it eliminates such factors as climate, temperature and time of day. Season dependent plants can be grown throughout the year; they provide an alternative to solar light. For those who are garden and flower hobbyists, this would be a plus.

Hydroponic growth lights also gives you control over light exposure. Allowing us to hasten a plants growth or that flower to bloom. Ideal light color, duration and concentration are the key factors in growing those choice plants.

High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

A clear ceramic arc tube suspended inside a glass bulb characterizes High Pressure Sodium Bulbs. Xenon gas is the main component inside the inner tube which is then ignited to produce an arc of light. Sizes range fro 35 watts up to 1000 watts. The most popular of which are the 250 watts, 400 watts and 1000 watts.

Advantages of High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

Efficiency is one of its advantages; they provide the best light penetration and have strong light spectrums necessary for plant growth. Mainly producing red and yellow lights or little or no blue lights, they mimic the autumn sun. Popularity for HPS lights are mainly attributed to their low energy to light ratio and is the most economical and efficient than any other type of lighting system. HPS lights work best during the flowering or fruit stage of the plant growth cycle.

Disadvantages of HPS High Pressure Sodium Bulbs

High Pressure Sodium Bulbs produce great amounts of heat. Proper ventilation and good garden construction and planning help to offset this negative effect. Like all HID growth light systems price is the main drawback compared to fluorescent lights. HPS lights are currently more cost effective compared to other HID growth light systems.

High Pressure Sodium Light bulbs are replaced after 24 months to ensure their and your gardens efficiency.

Metal Halide Bulbs

Metal Halide bulbs are constructed by placing an inner arc tube inside vacuum-sealed glass tubing. Electric currents passed through the inner arc which in turn ignites mercury and iodide materials in the tube.

Advantages of Metal Halide Bulbs

Metal Halide Bulbs mimic sunlight during summertime. Producing a blue spectrum of light most ideal for plants in their vegetative growth phase. They are also a good choice for indoor because of their efficiency in producing light.

Other Metal Halide Bulb Information

Available from 70 to 1500 watts, Metal Halide bulbs present a wide variety of choices. Most popular and commonly used are the 250, 400 and 1000 watts metal halide bulbs. Ballast specifically tailored for each bulb is also essential. Mounting positions depend on its specific bulb type (marks or guides are usually provided). HOR bulbs are mounted horizontally, BU/BD is vertically mounted and U (universal) bulbs could be mounted either way. The vertical position is the most ideal and provides utmost efficiency.

 

The High Performance of the UFO LED Grow Light

People who enjoy indoor gardening are looking for good, bright light for their plants. In addition, they want light fixtures that are light in weight, yet offer excellent light coverage. All of these great features are available in the UFO LED. Although it looks small and round, rather like an unidentified flying object, this grow light provides amazing light at a cost-effective price.

Roughly the same size as a bread plate, the UFO LED light runs on only eighty watts of electricity yet puts out more bright light than a four-hundred watt high pressure sodium or metal halide lamp. HID, or high intensity discharge, lights, on the other hand, require seventy to eighty percent more electricity to run them at the same light capacity as the UFO LED.

Not only does it use a fraction of the energy that other grow lamps use, but it also runs very cool. This is because the UFO LED comes with three fans built in, so you will not need to purchase air-cooled ducting or reflectors and will dramatically reduce your air conditioning costs as well. A cooler running UFO LED light also ensures that you will not burn your tender plant foliage, a common problem with other types of grow lights.

Your plants will flourish under these small but very powerful lights. A UFO LED provides your indoor garden with eight times the light output that you would normally receive with an HPS or MH grow light. It does this through the use of several one-watt LEDs focused toward your plants, the light spectrums of the UFO LED grow light are in color temperatures and tones that your plants can actually use for photosynthesis. The light specrtrums output by the UFO LED is suitable for all phases of plant growth

With all of this remarkable lighting capacity, it is also encouraging to learn that the UFO LED light will last for eighty thousand and more hours, or the equivalent of seven to ten years of exceptional performance. The coverage area of this light is three feet by three feet, allowing you to grow a wide array of plants in that large growing space.

The UFO LED light is lightweight and very easy to use. It does not require any extra wiring or complicated setup, but can be used in the normal light sockets found in your home or greenhouse. So for high performance for low cost, the UFO LED grow light is a perfect choice. The UFO LED light is the indoor gardener’s best friend!

The Power of LED Grow Lights

With the release of hard-hitting documentaries such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour energy consumption and its relationship to global climate change has become a prominent issue. What people often fail to understand is that the best solutions are not great actions on the part of a few, but rather small actions taken by the many. For example, if everyone in the U.S. were to replace incandescent lights with fluorescent ones, it could eliminate the need for Middle East oil.

LED Grow lights are another example of a small thing that can make a great difference. If you are growing your own food in a hydroponics garden, you’re already taking a step toward saving the planet. The use of LED Grow Lights allows you to take the next step in reducing your footprint on the planet. Not only to they operate at a fraction of the voltage of conventional bulbs (less than 20 VAC as opposed to 120), but they are free of mercury – a highly toxic metal used in metallic vapor and fluorescent lights.

LED Grow Lights are efficient and economical in other ways as well. Unlike the more general purpose fluorescent bulbs, LED Grow Lights require no electric or digital ballast,that can eventually burn out. They also emit “targeted light;” whereas most standard grow lights emit a broad spectrum of light that includes light wavelength that is useless to plant life, LED Grow Lights emit only that part of the spectrum actually used for photosynthesis. This also means far less waste heat, which requires extra ventilation to carry away. It also means less glare; while this useful light is very bright to plants, humans perceive such light as relatively dim. This also eliminates the need for troublesome shades and reflectors.

Although they can represent a greater upfront investment, LED Grow Lights cost substantially less in the long run. In the first place, they are not nearly as fragile as conventional bulbs and fluorescents. Best of all, they are extremely durable – the average lifespan of an LED Grow Light is 100,000 hours – which is as much as fifty times as long as that of conventional bulbs. This adds up to nearly twelve years under normal conditions.

Because LED Grow Lights are environmentally friendly, they will result in healthier, more productive plants. Because they emit very little in the way of heat, LED Grow Lights allow your plants to keep cooler. Plants thrive at room temperature, receiving all the light they require without growth-stunting excess heat. In addition, your plants will suffer less from heat-related root damage that can occur when hot conventional grow lights heat the soil.

With LED Grow Lights, your plants will also require less watering.

Across the board, LED Grow Lights allow you to grow more economically and in a more environmentally-friendly way.

Basic Indoor hydroponics Gardening Guide – Indoor Grow Lights for Hydroponics Systems

A great indoor garden requires a good grow light. It could mean the difference between success and failure. Having the right is the single-most important and costly decision in setting up your garden.

Hydroponic grow lights come in three main types:

Incandescent lights

These are the usual lights found in homes. They are generally a poor choice for garden grown lights because of their limited light spectrum and inefficiency.

HID (High Intensity Discharge) grow lights

Producing more light (up to 10x more lumens/watt than an incandescent light),are more efficient. Drawbacks would be, they produce more heat, generally more expensive than incandescent lights and requires the additional expense and maintenance with ballast. It takes around 100 hours before hydroponic HID grow lights reach their optimum working conditions, or until they reach light intensity and color stability.

Natural Sunlight

Expense for acquiring artificial lights can be skipped by using sunlight. This is done with the use of solar room, greenhouse or large windows which allows plenty of sunlight. Or you can do this outdoors; hydroponics does not necessarily mean the cultivation of plants indoors but it growing plants without the use of soil.

Basic setup for an indoor garden is 1000w of lighting for and area of 16-25 square feet of plant area. Reflectors and/or light movers should also be considered as they improve efficiency of the indoor. Ballast may also be needed as numerous hydroponic grow lighting require igniting.

Some Basic Facts

Before plugging in your grow light

Different plants require different levels or types of lighting, this paragraph would deal on some simple know-how on how to make an effective lighting setup. In setting up your garden, it is essential that you determine your growing area in order to determine the best lighting setup for you. Light is an essential factor in the growth of plants, it is important that the lighting solution you chose for your garden is adequate for its size. A poor or ill advised decision would certainly reflect on the quality of plants you produced. Inappropriate budgeting like cost cutting specially on lighting would just prove to be uneconomical and inefficient in the long run.

A general rule for lighting that area coverage is determined by a light wattage output. Reflectors might be used to increase the light area and reach corners but effectiveness is still determined by this formula.

Day and Night Cycles

The type of plant and its stage of growth generally determine the amount of light needed. A common cycle is that with 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness which is recommended for its vegetative growth phase.

For seedlings, a continuous light source is needed until the first real leaves appear. When the leaves appear, the regular 18/6 light cycle is used. Fluorescent or incandescent lights are best for seedling because of the low heat and soft light they generate. Automated timers maybe used to ensure consistent light cycles. Inexpensive timers are also available; this can be found any hardware or Home Depot/ Lowe’s type store.

Light and Photosynthesis

The plants exposure to light intensity, duration and light color directly affects the amount of energy needed for photosynthesis. The color of the light, Blue simulates the summer sun, Orange for autumn seem to stimulate photosynthesis best. The light spectrum produced by metal halide bulbs (Blue lights) and high pressure sodium bulbs (red/ orange lights) produce this effects. HID grow lights produce these effects owing to their popularity to hobbyist and professionals. Combination of metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs provides the complete spectrum of light produced by the sun.

Use Caution When Working with Lights

The combination of water, electricity and chemicals in such a closed-in space makes the grow room one of the most dangerous places in your house. Keep in mind to separate your ballast by elevating it from the water-containing areas of your hydroponic growing system.

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