Grow Lights

Anyone here had experience with these and which would be the best to use...I have heard so many differing opinions and would like to hear from someone who has used them..I have lots of little seedlings which I wish to grow on over winter, most of these are frost tender but also need full light and as my garden tends to be very shady and frosty in winter I am unable to provide for them outside . I have searched ebay and contacted a seller but the ones he recommended were going to be extremely expensive...I really don't think it should cost me hundreds of $. I have also read posts on other threads but would really like to hear from someone in Aus who has had the experience.Thanks

I have read some where that ordinary fluros will work for the extra light but don't know about heat because the are not that hot.
Brian

Thanks Brian,I don't think lack of heat would be a problem as I can provide for that...just need the right lighting for strong growth(no need for flowers).I have also read about shop lights/flourescents just wonder if they would provide the right light and would be economical to run.

G'Day Brical.
I think with the fluros you would have to use the daylight ones that provide the white light. To work out the cost just take the wattage of the globe in parts of a Kilowatt and multiply by your cost then multiply by the number of hours.
Let's say you have a 250W light and your cost is 10c per KW and you use it for 10 hours per day. 1/4 x 10 x 10 = 25 which is 25 cents per night. I have no idea if those figures are realistic you have find the true figures for your light, cost of power and length of time used. You might find that the new globes will do the job and because of their much lower power use would be even cheaper to run.
Brian

Thanks for that Brian,I've just learned that our electricity is to rise by up to 30%....I might have to really do my homework on this one!

Judy I think the Aquarium Lights are suitable ...it would be interesting to find out
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/guide3.shtml
In many of the American Forums ...they just use Fluros, but one of the expert growers said Aquarium lights are suitable. I have no experience with growing seedlings out indoors so I can't help you, good luck!

I did a lot of reading on this at one stage, and I seem to recall seeing that you need a warm light and a cool light in the fluoros.

I was rather surprised recently to see UV fluorescent tubes at an electrical supplier. They were black in colour. Which reminds me, I saw at another electrical supplier a few years back, regular light bulbs that were grow lights.

Hi Judy. Take a look here under the heading "Indoor Growers". Located at Nerang. They might have some clues.

http://www.hydrocentre.com.au/

Thankyou all for your help ...I will look into the link you gave Wayne,cheers