You can always pick up some CFLs for a couple bucks and put them about 1-2" inches above the tops of the seedlings to keep them short & happy. Fluorescents are your friend when it comes to starting seeds. You can keep them ridiculously close, and they put out almost no heat. After a couple weeks they'd appreciate the MH more. I'd probably keep the CFLs close and the MH higher up for a week or 2, then scrap the cfls and bring the MH down close.


Oh, and here are those 175watt MH ballast kits you were lookin for http://www.1000bulbs.com/products.ph...Halide-Ballast for like 40 bucks.


edit: er, you already got your MH ballast. Lol, i don't read thoroughly