!#8# Which Types of Hydroponic Grow Lights Do You Need?

!±8± Which Types of Hydroponic Grow Lights Do You Need?

If you are setting a hydroponic plant growing setup inside your home, there are many different pieces to making sure you are successful. One of the most important is picking the proper hydroponic grow lights for the setup. There are some standard ones that every setup should have, as well as specialised lights for certain types of plants. With the money invested in the rest of the equipment, it makes no sense to not do the research and invest in the correct lights for your hydroponic setup.

Fluorescent Lighting

Most hydroponic setups will include these as overhead lighting for the room the hydroponic growing is happening in. On top of this, they are an excellent light choice for starting new plants. They can provide enough light and use a fraction of the electricity of other options when placed within 12 inches of the plant. Long plants will not have enough light near the bottom of the plant for this to be effective. There are many fluorescent options that are able to produce a balanced light similar to that of the sun as well.

HID Lights

There are two different types of HID, or high intensity discharge lights, available today. They work using different technologies, but both are needed for specific parts of the plant growth cycle because of the type of light they produce. The HPS, or high-pressure sodium technology, is often used in streetlights and produces a yellow light. This light is full of orange and red colour light waves that help encourage growth and flowering or budding of the plant. They are excellent to start plants with and also to encourage them to start producing flowers or food. For the phase in between, the MH, or metal halide, technology of hydroponic grow lights is best. The light produced is most similar to the sunlight during the summer and during its most intense time. The blue light waves produced by the MH light encourage the plant to grow outwards and fill in, creating a filled out plant that will produce more flowers or produce when asked to do so.

Incandescent Bulbs

While there are some incandescent bulbs designed to produce proper light for hydroponic setups, they are overall inefficient, even if they produce the right type of light. Their production of light compared to the amount of power used, makes them the last choice for most home gardeners. They do offer advantages; the most notable is not requiring a ballast, so wiring up a set of incandescent bulbs is much simpler than florescent or HID bulbs that require a ballast to convert the wall current into something the bulb can use. They are cheaper as well but require much more frequent bulb changes. The florescent and HID bulbs both will last between ten thousand and eighteen thousand hours before needing to be replaced, whereas the typical incandescent will only last one hundred to one thousand hours before needing to be replaced. The typical hydroponic setup will use a few incandescent bulbs simply to help supplement the lighting without the cost of adding an extra HID bulb.