well guys im aware that sunbed tubes arnt the best for growing but im just wondering- my sunbed has 20tubes 18 of them glow blue and 2 glow red is there any chance of putting a couple of blue and red tubes together to grow 3-4 plants? i do have the ambition to use metal halide light with balist 400watts minimum, i have the enclosure sorted with emergency camping blankets (like foil effect but strong) and an air intake fan and a exhaust fan basicly i want to know what i can epect from these bulbs there 100watt each and i have 2red and 2blue running at 34 cellcius IS THAT TOO HOT? also would it be a better idea getting a couple of fluorescent bulbs and maybe putting 3 of them in and have just one red bulb from sunbed????
"Red" and "Blue" are really just a vague idea of what spectrum the tubes are really putting out. You'll have to check the actual markings on the tubes against the manufacturer's specifications to find out what you've got there. What you want is for the blue tubes to be around 6,500 Kelvin and the red tubes to be around 2,700 Kelvin. I'm affraid that what you will find out is that your tubes produce a lot of uvA and uvB, but not much usable light. 34c. is about 93F., that's pretty warm! Is that the growroom temp or the temp of the tubes themselves? "Also would it be a better idea getting a couple of fluorescent bulbs and maybe putting 3 of them in and have just one red bulb from sunbed????" That depends on if the ones you've already got are any good! If not, go with 6,500 K's for vegging and 2,700 K's for flowering.
