Cmh grow help!

So I'm wanting to do a cmh grow. My closet is 5x3.5x6 and I was going to use a 400w system for veg. My question is should I use more wattage for veg or is this 400w cmh good for veg and flower?should I add additional lights for flower? Also a side question. So I'm not an electrician or anything but I was wandering how much power does a 400w hood or ballast system use up? Does it use up the amount of power that it is in wattage or is that irrelevant when finding power consumption? Looking to do a stealthy cmh grow if possible because I've been living in the same place for 5 years and I believe it'll look suspicous if I start using like 2k watts with all my fans and other things almost all day long for months. Thanks in advance for the help.

a CMH should work good in that spot, you would want more for flower but that would do. I use one for veg in my 2x4x5 tent

Id just set up a 3x3 in a corner and do a sog type thing so you have minimum veg and dont need extra watts for flower.

Turn around will be good too so youll get more harvests for your electricity because you wont veg as long.

So a 400w cmh in this area for veg is good? And I was thinking about adding cfls with the original 400w cmh for flower, how much more wattage in cfls should I add for flower? Also just a quick question you think 4 plants would fit in here or maybe 4 and an autoflower since by the time my auto finishes my other plants with be just entering flower? And Ty for the very helpful response

what kind of cmh are you using? I prefer the philips allstart line

The ballast consumes power/generates heat, you typically do draw a little more at the wall than the rated wattage of the lamp. Perhaps a matter of twenty Watts or so in this case.

Not necessary, but some IR flower boosters could be cool.

the Phillips allstart line (145w an 330w) can only be ran on Magnetic ballasts.

Stead of CFL lil screw in Halogen will give them more red an low IR 660 an 730 for Pfr an Emerson effect

If anyone plans to supplement with hologen lighting be sure they are thermostat controled after the timer.

Bumping Spheda said:

The ballast consumes power/generates heat, you typically do draw a little more at the wall than the rated wattage of the lamp. Perhaps a matter of twenty Watts or so in this case.

Not necessary, but some IR flower boosters could be cool.

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Thanks for the help that's what I thought but I wasn't entirely sure. And ill be using a Phillips Master color cmh hps retro white alto hort s51 horizontal burn. And the reason why I was planning on doing cfls is because its cheaper and idk about the heat issue with adding another hid bulb.

Didn't they cancel the retro white line? Is it 4000K?

Monster gardens still has a stock pile(10ish).





Not on their site...but they would probably love to sell them if you called and haggled.

Yeah they discontinued the retrowhites(hps magnetic) which makes sense as the allstarts(205/330w) are more efficient and universal burn(not the 860w obviously) but they are ALL designed to be run their "best" vertically according to philips.

Only problem is your still dealing with an MH, which can be unstable(explosion/spectrum shift)

Yup, 4000K. I don't believe people ever really considered them HPS killers for flower, there's more Blue/Green than you really need, but should be great for veg.

So what would be best for flower just plain hps 600w?

AvidSmoker420 said:

So what would be best for flower just plain hps 600w?

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philips allstart 330w watt cmh, philips allstart 860w cmh, philips elite agro 315w cmh and philips master color elite 315w cmh . Any of those would be better than a 600 watt hps.

2 area51 leds 155 watts each would be better than a 600 watt hps too.

hyroot said:

philips allstart 330w watt cmh, philips allstart 860w cmh, philips elite agro 315w cmh and philips master color elite 315w cmh . Any of those would be better than a 600 watt hps.

2 area51 leds 155 watts each would be better than a 600 watt hps too.

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How the hell do I find a ballast and socket for a 315w or 330w bulb. What about using my prexisting 400 cmh with another bulb which would b best to add with my initial set up for flowe

AvidSmoker420 said:

How the hell do I find a ballast and socket for a 315w or 330w bulb. What about using my prexisting 400 cmh with another bulb which would b best to add with my initial set up for flowe

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the 330 run off a 400 watt magnetic mh or switchable ballast. The 315watt run on a specific electronic ballast. That's at either cycloptics / greebeams, growers house, or advanced tech lighting. The 330 you can get at advanced tech lighting, bulb America or amazon.


the 315's run on 240v. Growers house has 120v version.

hyroot said:

the 330 run off a 400 watt magnetic mh or switchable ballast. The 315 run on a specific electronic ballast. That's at either cycloptics / greebeams, growers house, or advanced tech lighting. The 330 you can get at advanced tech lighting, bulb America or amazon.


the 315's run on 240v. Growers house has 120v version.

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So the 330 allstart works in a s51 mag 400w ballast and is equivalent or better than a 600w hps and a 400w cmh for flower. Ima have to look up these allstarts I guess cuz I'm confused on how a 330 beats a 400

It has a higher par rating and cri that's how.

I have been thinking of trying a cmh but im a little unsure which would be best.
I currently have a 400w hps (magnetic ballast) so if im correct I can run either a 330w allstart or 400w cmh retro white with my ballast.
which of the above philips bulbs would be the best or are they just different names for the same bulb?
Also would there be any benefit getting the 315w with correct ballast when I already have the 400w ballast.
Many thanks Andy.

I think I have just realised the retro white 400w (is it 400w or 330w?) runs on a hps magnetic ballast and the 330w allstart runs on a mh ballast. If so that rules out the allstart for me as I believe my maxibright mag ballast is just a hps one.
So my question is if the 400w retro white 4k bulb in my 400w mag ballast is as good/better than the 315w bulb with the correct ballast.
If the 315w is better does anyone know how much better it is as it would cost an extra £150 over the retro white due to purchasing the correct ballast.
Many thanks andy.