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I've got a skunk in flower right now under a 400w hps. I got some 160w self ballasted MV bulbs real cheap on ebay 4 for $25. Two days ago I started using the MV for side lighting. Seems to be making a big difference in trichrome production. I know MV aren't very efficient compared to HPS or MH but they seem to be helping. Just thought I'd pass it along.
If it works, use it! Kudos on the deal man! happy growing. Do they get real hot? Peace.
Those lights do put out some heat. Not a problem with my set-up though.
Of Course MV works, I used to use 2 175w myself to grow and they work fine (5900k coated bulbs of course), people seem to hate the idea of using something so inefficient (they are, but not that bad) but they do a good job and don't put out nearly as much heat as one would expect (less than a 150w hps). Now I have two remote-ballasted mv's collecting dust, I'll probably end up using one or both in a seedling cab in the future, but for now hps still rocks my socks.
About half of my CFLs have a small Hg symbol on them. So I'm guessing CFLs are also MV? In which case, MV is rising in popularity.
florescents contain mercury vapor, they're just more efficient(size and heat loss, more advanced coatings), the phosphor coating does more of the work in say a cfl, than a coated mv bulb, but are very much the same.