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I found those ballasts you were looking at on craigslist. Don't get them! The bulb sits vertical in the ballast and this is NOT ideal. I've read from a few reliable sources that you loose up to 30% of the light in a vertical fixture. This means you GAIN 30% usable light just by orienting the bulb horizontally.
If you look at all the reflectors sold for growing, you will notice that all the bulbs mount horizontally. There is good reason for this, as stated above.
Don't get me wrong, you can still grow great plants under them, it's just not what you're looking for. Go ahead and splurge and get a good light for growing plants. You won't regret it.
My first grows have been done under a vertical mount high-bay fixture (just like the ones on craigslist). Here's some pics from my first grow. It worked at the time, but now I need more. So I got a REAL grow light. I'm shooting at pulling 1g/watt or more on this run with a 400W. With my new light it shouldn't be a problem.
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