Lights for plants?

[GingaNinja]

Hey all

I have been giving a set of 5 metal halide lights that were from a shop front that was to be destroyed. Now i know nothing about what lights are needed for growing plants indoors.

I can't find any brand name on the light itself. the ballast (if thats what is called) Is a ATCO MH150TH570-10.

So i presume there 150W systems. The lights have no bulbs

So anyway with correct bulbs would they be useful for growing anything?

Thanks for any help

[PD.]

MH150TH570-10.

by the looks of those letters and numbers i would say they are 150W metal halide lights. Hook up two of them above whatever ya wanna grow and they should go fine. The only downfall of the old style metal halide lights(the ones with the ballast connected to the shade) IME is the amount of heat the little bastards produce, and they never seemed that efficient.

[Dirty Old Man]

Exactly what Passive said.

What you have are known as shop lights.

They are fine for growing plants providing you put the right bulb in them and have a way of controlling the heat.

Most 150w double ended metal halide lmaps will work in them.

[SirLSD]

some come with seperate ballasts. doubt you will get globes for these at a hydro store. will need to go to a lamp place. get white/blue spectrum bulbs. they also make some where they have added more yellow to them (whilst still being Metal halide) but these didnt work very well for some reason. though you would think that they would have might be good if you have 4 white/blue and 1 of the others.

also did they come with the glass cover? these have a UV filter in them to cut back the amount of UV produced. leave these on initially but carefully introduce the unfiltered to the plants to see how they react if you want.

[GingaNinja]

thanks for the help.

How many plants will 1 150W light support? not sure what plants yet, maybe even some cacti.

the lights and power box are seperated. incase that makes a difference

Heres some pics

[gerbil]

if you do 50w per square foot you've got 3 square foot to grow in; number of plants will primarily be determined by the actual plant species you want to grow and the extent you want them to grow (i.e. fully mature / Just established etc) For example you could pack in foliage plants as seedlings pot to pot, but as they get older the area will not have the capacity to carry such a population.

You could deck the entire 3 sf out with pot to pot cactus or if going for more foliage plants you might only want one plant per square foot; lots of variations you could undertake.

[Auxin]

 

MH150TH570 clues

[indigo264nm]

You're quite lucky - Metal Halides are perfect for vegetative growth whilst HPS lights are good for heat and flowering. So you'll be set for next winter to get cuttings and cold sensitive plants booming in the quieter season

[SirLSD]

you say the lights have no bulbs but there is a bulb in the pic. ?

[GingaNinja]

you say the lights have no bulbs but there is a bulb in the pic. ?

yeah this was the only one with a bulb but it doesnt work anyway.

Thanks for the help guys

[PD.]

they look like the lights they use on saltwater aquarium setups, try an aquarium store for globes dude

[Dirty Old Man]

There are plenty of MH lamps available in the marine aquarium hobby but they are all the wrong spectrum and color temperature. i.e. mostly blue and between 10,000k and 20,000k. They are pretty damn expensive too.

Checkout Prolamps at Albion, they pretty much have every MH lamp made. They are on Abbotsford Rd and their pricing is pretty good too.

[PD.]

There are plenty of MH lamps available in the marine aquarium hobby but they are all the wrong spectrum and color temperature. i.e. mostly blue and between 10,000k and 20,000k. They are pretty damn expensive too.

Thought as much, i never looked into those lamps before. The fluoro does fine for my amazon tank and the 600w hps does fine for my, .......um, yep.