Hi all. Could someone help me out with a
couple of questions please,. I have a lumatek 400w ballast . My first question is, are dual spectrum bulbs as good as using seperate MH and HPS, and 2nd question, can different makes of bulbs be used in the lumatek ballast. I have 2 lumatek bulbs, one vivosun bulb and one osram (I think) bulb.
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@dbrn32 who does MH/HPS?
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@Laurap. I know she currently using digilux bulbs. @peachfuzz, but he may use hps all the way through, don’t remember.
I would have to look at specific bulb. Maybe?
Some bulbs run better in magnetic ballasts, and some run better in digital ballasts. We’re going back quite a ways, but hortilux bulbs use to run way better in magnetic ballast. When I ran into issues with digital I eventually switched to digilux and they did good. For security reasons I switched back to magnetic and hortilux bulbs before ditching them all for led.
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I threw my mh bulb to the side, I never got it out of the box probably will never use it. Because I didn’t use I can pull my light all the way up and never have to raise or lower height.
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@Hellraiser Uses a 600 watt HPS.
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That’s the lumatek 400 w bulb full spectrum . My grow space is 4×2 ×6 with three autoflower plants. Would you say that is sufficient for veg and flower stages?
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Do think I’d just be better off using the 400w full spectrum from start to finish?
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I don’t think I would flower with that light unless you had to.
No, dual spectrums are not as good as using MH for veg and HPS for flowering, they’re a compromise. Yes, different brands of bulbs can be used in your ballast. If I had to use one bulb for both both veg and flowering, it would be the eye hortilux HPS which does a fine job of veg and a great job at flowering, but for the price of the bulb and how fast the bulbs degrade, should save it for flowering.
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OK thanks. Because I have them bulbs there, I’m going to start with the full spectrum bulb, and order one of the hps lights you recommended, hopefully it won’t take to long to get here, before my autos start flowering…
So I have put my plants under the light, approx 2 foot under the light, and the light metre is reading 20000 lux, this may be a stupid question but is that to much light for seedlings that are nearly 2 weeks sprouted
2 feet should be ok as long as temps are in check, and have some air blowing between the light and your plants.
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The temp is reading 26.5 C°,with the fan going. It’s summer here but come the winter I won’t have any problem keeping the temps down. I’ll be fighting to keep them up 
I’m going to transplant them today. Wish me luck
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Good luck! Happy growing.
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Transplant went OK. But I did one thing wrong, wasn’t thinking. I watered the soil with the hose outside, never fixed the PH level. But I Watered them this morning a little with the proper PH water. Hopefully won’t cause any stunting, as they are autoflower.