Hydroponic gardening is a great way to grow plants in areas that could not otherwise sustain plant growth. One of the most important and costly pieces of equipment you will buy is a lighting system for your hydroponics garden. After you have made the investment, you will want to do everything possible to ensure that you care for your system properly so it offers the longest useful life.

In a greenhouse or home setting, a hydroponic lighting system will be running for many hours each and every day. Most plants require artificial lighting, which comes from grow lights, to be turned on for sixteen to eighteen hours daily. This means that the grow lamps will be running hot because of the duration of time that they are operating. You can increase the life of your equipment by taking care of the electronic circuitry by reducing the heat. Running auxiliary fans can help bring the temperatures down, and this can help your grow light last for as much as twice as long as it would if running in hot operating conditions.

Another way to take good care of your lighting system is to make sure your ballast is operating properly. All HID lights operate in conjunction with a ballast. A ballast controls the electrical flow through a light bulb. If you are using an older magnetic ballast, you might want to consider upgrading to an electronic digital ballast. These electronic units are able to keep a more consistent flow of power to the lighting system, and this not only allows the unit to run more effectively, it also costs less money to run. It offers the best operating conditions so that each component of the lighting system will last longer than it would with having to contend with power spikes.

Also make sure that you use appropriate equipment with the particular type of grow light you use. There are different ballasts, for example, that are adapted for use with specific grow lamp's type and wattage. Using the correct equipment for your grow lights will ensure that the system works properly. Using the wrong equipment will cause a system shut-down, so pair up your equipment properly.

Take care when you are hanging grow lights above your plants that they are hung in a very sturdy manner. Lights that get bumped or jostled, or grow lamps that are placed near an entry door or near fans could receive vibrations. These vibrations loosen up all of the components of a lighting system, and reduce the life expectancy of all the parts. Solid placement where the equipment will not get shaken will help ensure that it operates properly for a long time before it needs to be replaced.