:rastasmoke:CMH while providing a very wide spectrum still peaks at 540 and 600nm, peak photosynthesis occurs at 425-450nm and again at 640nm then takes a slight decline around 650nm then peaks again at 660-665nm. Now the unspecified wavelengths can still be used but will not be as effective. This is why I think LED or T5 lamps are soon going to effectively put HID to rest. You can use a combination of bulbs to "custom build" your own spectrum. Same with LEDs, in fact they have better control b/c LEDs peak at very narrow wavelengths. This is why I made this thread, I want info on the BEST HID bulbs out there so I can compare spectral distributions next to T5 and LED. Can't tell you how many hours I have sat with my nose buried deep in a book/computer screen and a joint in my hand. Expect a T5 grow from me using nlite products the T5 lamps found on this site. They are going to upgrade soon and the purple bulbs will be improved upon as well as the red to get a deeper red close to 660nm. The purple bulb peaks at EXACTLY the most photosynthetically efficient wavelengths. The only problem is you can control the bulb itself so you can't raises or lower the amount of lumens given off by the single wavelength. This means you can't have a mix of more red for flower and more blue for veg if you use only purple bulbs. These guys know what they are doing and actually specify their own custom gas mixes to the company that manufactures them. I have been able to contact the US department though it was a bitch and I got numerous e-mails sent back telling me that it never reached them. They are about 20-30 dollars a piece but they are worth it, or so the numbers say.
