Metalarc Bulbs

[first mate]

got some metalarc bulbs from a factory that switched thier lighting over to a more effecient system....the bulbs are fairly new (5 yrs.) and effecient to run...has anyone heard of these bulbs,you can't hardly look at these bulbs when they're on the light is so intense and very low heat ,I can put my hand within a half inch and no discomfort...the maintenence man at this factory who installed,and took down all these metalarc bulbs,told me there is no better bulb for growing cannibus,he swears veg. right throuh flowering there is no better...sounds too good to be true ,the good thing is they were free!!!!!,so nothing ventured nothing lost...any input on this would be greatly appreciated....let's all try are best to make it to the protest!!!!

[THC-Farmer]

MetalArc is just Sylvanias product name for that line of bulb. All they are is cheap Metal Halides.

 

You can indeed use them for both phases of growth. Considering they were free it definitely wouldn't hurt to give it a shot and see how they do.

 

However, I highly recommend FULL SPECTRUM lighting throughout all phases of growth.

 

You want to put HPS and Metal Halide together. Both of them lack the spectral output of the other.

 

It's more efficient to run something like a 4ft High Output T5 for vegetative phase with mixed spectrum bulbs to create full spectrum. (3000K bulbs and 6000K bulbs)

 

Then use your HID bulbs for bloom phase. You can add HPS and MH together to create a very nice, almost full spectrum light coverage. However, this method poses some problems. First and foremost, to do this correctly you would require a special air-cooled reflector called "GrowZilla". It allows you to mount two HID bulbs in ONE reflector and air cool the entire thing. Tis very cool.

 

However, standard HPS and MH bulbs just don't cut it sometimes. While they will indeed grow some very nice plants, to get the highest quality possible sometimes you have to supply your plants with the best spectrum possible. Remember, you're trying to supplement the Sun. That is one hell of a task... lol. I always recommend to stay away from standardized HPS and MH bulbs that you can just go buy from the hardware store because of this. Those bulbs aren't designed with plants in mind, they are desigend with maximum visibility for the Human eye. No good...

 

I recommend Hortilux SuperHPS for your HPS bulb if you want to use HPS. Horilux produces the absolute best HPS bulbs out there IMO...

 

And look into a company called SunPulse. They produce Pulse Start Metal Halides. They emitt full spectrum light or as close to it as you can get in one bulb. The bulb is absolutely awesome. You can use these bulbs all by themselves without the added HPS lighting. These bulbs are NOT your standard Metal Halides and they are far better than even the best standard Horticultural Metal Halides, produced by companies like Hortilux.

 

I did a little write up on these, here's a link to that - http://michiganmedic...rmers-secret-1/

 

What I run is a GrowZilla with a 1000w 6400K SunPulse PSMH and a 600w 3000K SunPulse PSMH mounted in it. The results are far beyond anything you can achieve with a single HPS, single MH and even HPS+MH.