I am wondering what light systems many of us indoor growers are using. What system, light type, wattage, etc.. I grow using 4 40 watt fluoro' per shelf. I use regular warm and cool bulbs. They are the cheapest and easily replaced.

I know many outdoor growers also might use some supplementary light also.

Any reccomendations?(until I get a greenhouse):)

Why am I curious? I have a 500 watt work light for projects, and I was wondering if I could use this, not in my grow area, but in the basement to grow some higher light genera? Thanks!

I'm using a 430W HPS with SonAgro bulb on a light mover with no natural light. Right now the plants are outside and in the sunroom for the summer.

I'm using four 40 watt, 48" gro-lux supplemented by a southern exposure window within four feet and plan on increasing it to eight of the gro-lux. Everything is kept within 18 inches of the bulbs with constant fan and humidifier running over them. Exposure is 16 hours in the summer and 14 hours in the winter. It seems to work extremely well for the slippers, the few phals, the bulbos/odd stuff and the pleuros I have. The catts and cymbs hate it though and get really deep green which isn't good. My Schom tibicens totally pouts all winter long under those lights but it needs the rest anyway.

If I had the coins, I would certainly augment what I'm using with a combo 400w HPS and 400w MH set up.

wow everyones lights are great i have 2x regular shop lights with walmart plant and aquarium bulbs in them dont know the wattage?

1000w HPS and 1000w MH...generic HPS bulb....MH bulb is from a hydroponics shop, but it is an off brand.

I am using 2 - will be 3 by the end of this week - 300watt "Wonder"lites.

The jury is still out on exactly how "wonder"ful they are. :roll:
They are a full spectrum mercury vapor lamp.

wow everyones lights are great i have 2x regular shop lights with walmart plant and aquarium bulbs in them dont know the wattage?

That's basically what I have too.

My grow room is 8' x 8' and is painted white...I use one 400 watt MH and one 400 watt HPS. Wish I had a light mover but as yet that is still on the 'list'. I'm looking to upgrade to one 1000 watt HPS, if I can find one at a reasonable cost locally.

The only indoor plants I have are in a small box, and mostly pleurothallids.

I use some ~40 watt compact florescents (about 5000k).

I've got a 430 watt SonAgro for non orchids in the basement, only used during winter for overwintering tropical plants that go out every summer.

Orchids in the basement are grown under a 400w HPS and a 200w MH(the MH was given to me so I only use it to light up a darker corner the HPS covers)

In the greenhouse, the darker wall is light by two High Output Fluorescent Systems from Charley's Greenhouse Supplies. These things are wonderful and I wish I would have found them before installing the HPS in the basement. Here's a link if you've never heard of these:
http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_productdetails&productid=5384&cid1=176&cid2=729&cid3=368

Jon

Yes I have seen those. Thanks guys, I am trying to gather research for lighting options eventually. My light are the straight shop lights also.

I have a 7x10 grow room in my basement. I have a sun system VII. The balast has both 400 watt MH and a 600 watt HPS. This light really changed my sucess rate. I was getting plants to grow with flourescent but was not getting spikes. Now, I get a lot of spikes. The system generates a lot of heat. This was great for the winter in my basement (no heater required) but requires extra effort in the summer to prevent overheating. I vent my room to the outside directly with fans and have had sucess keeping the temperature around 83 degress in the daytime. I live in North Carollina and can even get the room below the outside temperature with ventilation drawing from a small portion of the basement that is cooled. I still have most of my plants inside as I do not have a good place to summer them.

Paul