Lights

Light is the only plant food.

All the other things we give a plant are just to help it digest and use the light. The more light a plant gets the bigger and fatter it will become, provided all other needs are met. If there is not enough light, nothing else will make the plant bigger or produce more.

Depending upon the location of your hydroponic system and whether there is any natural day light available you will most often start off with artificial lighting.

To calculate your lighting requirements click here.

HID Grow Lights

To propagate and grow short light plants, fluorescents are a good choice, but High Intensity Discharge Lamps out-perform fluorescents with lumen-per-watt efficiency, spectral balance and brilliance. HID lighting allows you to control the plant"s growing conditions. extend and reduce the growing times and gives you the capacity to forcibly bloom your favourite species all year round.

If you want to grow any large or high-light plants, you need the brightness of HID's. HID's consist of a reflector, which protects the lamp and directs the light to where we want it; the ballast box containing the components necessary to ignite the lamp and regulate the current when the lamp is running; and finally the lamp itself.

All our units are High Pressure Sodium lamps and are supplied pre wired, ready to install. Simply plug into a 240v power supply and switch on. Our units are surprisingly cheap to run, a 400w unit on for 12 hours a day will cost just over 2 pounds per week. They will of course also support the use of Metal Halide bulbs.

Contactors

HID lamps have a very high initial power surge when first switched on and store charge when switched off. The small contacts on an ordinary timer cannot cope with this and are likely to weld together or burn out with disastrous consequences. We strongly recommend using a contactor to combat this for safety and peace of mind.

Light Rails

The most efficient way to use HID grow lighting is to have them moving within the growroom. Using a light mover increases light coverage, allows you to keep the light closer to the plants ensuring more even growth and reduced electricity costs.

Accessories

There are many accessories for your hydroponic lighting system including peripherals such as heatshields and easy rolls and the essential items ballasts and bulbs. Ballasts provides the necessary electrical current to run the grow-lamp, and to ignite the lamp when it is initially switched on. Once the lamp is started, it limits the flow of electric current. We recommend that bulbs are replaced every 12 months, as after one year there is an appreciable drop in lumen output leading to a corresponding loss in crop yield.

CFL Grow Lights

CFL Grow Lights are perfect for use in small growing areas without the heat build-up normally associated with using HID lighting in confined spaces. No separate ballast is required for these lights, they simply screw into a standard E40 fitting (normal grow light lampholder) and are run directly through a mains plug.

Propagation lighting give out blue spectrums of light and are best suited to germination, cloning (taking cuttings from other plants) and early seedling growth. Also ideal for keeping mother plants stocky for maximum clone production.