MH vs CFL setup Help me pick

Hey all, Im in the middle of switching my lighting set-up from CFL to Metal halide and was wondering if its worth it so heres wat I got..

Room Size: 3x6x6

CFL Lighting Set-up
Two 2ft 100w HO 9300k 5000Lums
Three 4ft 40w 6500k 9000Lums
Two HPS 50w 1900k 10,000Lums (For Flower and used along with CFL's)

MH Lighting Set-up/CFL HO
Two 100w MH 4100k 10,000Lums
Two 2ft 100w HO 9300k 5000Lums
Two HPS 50w 1900k 10,000Lums (For Flower and used along with MH's)

Now I have the 2 MH 100w's in place now I installed them last night and the temp seemed to be holding at about 80. It was between 70-75 with the CFL setup.. I was planning on keeping the Two 2ft HO CFL's in with the MH since the MH's color temps are 4100.. So I guess im sayin im mixing the 9300k with the 4100k lights.. But total Lumens for Flower will be 25,000lums and I was wondering if I would get some nice dense bud with this setup? If I could manage the temps

Total lumens to flower would be 25,000? How many hundred watts are you burning because you could just sell that stuff off as a kit and replace it with a used hps or two on diy cooltubes real cheap.
I can find used hps's 400w for around $25 if you look for wharehouse lights, high bays and low bays on craigslist and new bulbs for $2.99 ea and cooltubes there's 6 candle chimneys from michaels craft stores and for fans you could probably use two duct boosters which may still be on sale at home depot for $15.

That's 50k lumens with one 400w... You will shit yourself with the change in growth with just one, but two would let you really rock that whole space, one would just be best for half.

You haven't been running with nearly enough lumens.

dont switch to metal. Actually the lumen output from the flouros are pretty close and plants can use more of the light from the flouros. Plus why have a bright metal halide when the heat will cause the plants to stretch. If you have never used metal its gets retarded hot

Use t5 flouros i'm doing a post of lowryder 2 under 540 watts t5ho

Somebody help me. how do i refresh the page to see the new comments. just use the reload button or do your comments pop up automatically

OregonMeds said:

Total lumens to flower would be 25,000? How many hundred watts are you burning because you could just sell that stuff off as a kit and replace it with a used hps or two on diy cooltubes real cheap.
I can find used hps's 400w for around $25 if you look for wharehouse lights, high bays and low bays on craigslist and new bulbs for $2.99 ea and cooltubes there's 6 candle chimneys from michaels craft stores and for fans you could probably use two duct boosters which may still be on sale at home depot for $15.

That's 50k lumens with one 400w... You will shit yourself with the change in growth with just one, but two would let you really rock that whole space, one would just be best for half.

You haven't been running with nearly enough lumens.

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I have a 400w MH fixture but the problem is that it raised the temp in the closet almost 10F in 10 mins... So I guess i figured to try Two 100w MH's but Like the other guy was saying it is still close to the CFL's lumens... And with the CFLs I can keep the temp between 70-75. Maybe I should look into one of those fixtures with 5-6 4ft t5's in it... I think that would maybe be a better way of attacking this light problem? Cuz the CFL's im workin with now are spread out into 3 different fixtures.. 1 with 2bulbs, 1 with 1 bulb,.. and the other with 2bulbs. I figure for organization/effectiveness go with one of those 5-6bulb CFL 4ft fixtures?

When you stuff big HID's in small spaces you have to vent them. That's why I mentioned the cooltubes. If you already have a 400, then you only need a cooltube setup to add it to your grow.

Four foot 54 watt T5s output 5000 lumens. They are highly energy efficient and the manufacturers claim ~3x PAR output versus HID. Coupled with 1/2 distance to plant... they are 6x. 1/4 distance = 12x, etc.

Above is a marketing lie though, they don't do better than hid's.

What everyone seems to fail to understand is heat is heat and watts make heat. t5's will make a little less heat than t5ho or t8 and smaller cfl's are cooler than big cfl's but when you start adding up many cfl's they put out way more heat than a single HID and shove all the t5's in there you need to reach 10k lumens per sf and you will also have the same heat problems.

Except with the HID it's one heat source, and so it's easy to cooltube and keep almost all the heat out of your space. Multiple other lights can't be cooled like that, you you would just be limited to far less light.

Anyone could stick a 400 with a cooltube in there and keep temperatures in line, probably well under 80's and in the ideal 70's if ambient temp is lower than 70's. But no matter what the outside temp, not just anyone can stick the same 50k lumens worth of t5's or cfl's in that space and keep it below 90f no matter how hard you work.

Yea, ~1100 degree C HPS arc versus a CFL I can actually touch and not have *instant* 1st degree burns.

You make a lot of sense, OregonMeds.

IR radiation is not affected by 'cool tubes'.

OregonMeds said:

cooltubes there's 6 candle chimneys from michaels craft stores and for fans you could probably use two duct boosters which may still be on sale at home depot for $15.

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The very best thing I have ever found for making your own Cool Tube is a round, as in tubular, Pyrex bread baking thing. (I do not know what to call it, what its actual name is.)

They can be very hard to find in stores but I have seen them on eBay and for reasonable prices. Being Pyrex they are thick and heavy and more than capable of handling heat and are the perfect size. They are almost the exact same as what you get when you purchase an actual Cool Tube.

For anyone making them it is worth trying to find one even if you have to pay just a little more for one than if you use something else.

TeaTreeOil said:

Yea, ~1100 degree C HPS arc versus a CFL I can actually touch and not have *instant* 1st degree burns.

You make a lot of sense, OregonMeds.

IR radiation is not affected by 'cool tubes'.

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what OregonMeds is trying to say, is that if you wanna go to pussy town stick with cfls and the floro's. But if you wanna ride the weed train to big bud city then man up and go with a mh and hps setup. yea heat is a concern, but its usually easily dealt with if you know what your doing. Im not downing floros because they are ideal for some conditions. but if you want the most growth and the best buds watt for watt hps and mh are the way to go period. anyone will tell you HID's are the best for indoor growing.

just get a cheap inline duct booster and that should pull enough air out of your room to keep the temp manageable. it wont move as near as much air as a inline fan. but it should get the job done.

Because heat is additive. Throw 10 100f heat sources in a space and it doesn't just stay at 100, it'll keep climbing way way way beyond 100.


Multiple lower heat sources can easily add up and far surpass the heat output of one or two higher heat sources.

So if I somehow increase solar winds I won't get sun burnt?

He would only have problem with radiated heat if he went well over 10k lumens per sf, what radiated heat there is that he will have will be evauated by the intake side of the cooltube.

Do you know how they work? Have you ever used one?

Are you honestly trying to infer HID's are a less effective option than others and cause to many problems? You'll have to argue that with every seasoned grower on here.

Using a bunch of cfl's etc is beginner territory and we've all been there and learned that lesson and you clearly haven't.

OregonMeds said:

Because heat is additive. Throw 10 100f heat sources in a space and it doesn't just stay at 100, it'll keep climbing way way way beyond 100.


Multiple lower heat sources can easily add up and far surpass the heat output of one or two higher heat sources.

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exactly. if you want the most lumen output for the heat go with mh and hps. 25,000 lumens evenly dispersed over an 18 sq ft area is no bueno. thats only 1388 lumens per square foot. now if you had a 400w hps setup (55,000 lumens) evenly dispersed over the area would bring it up to over 3000 lumens per square foot. a much more desireable light level.

OregonMeds said:

He would only have problem with radiated heat if he went well over 10k lumens per sf, what radiated heat there is that he will have will be evauated by the intake side of the cooltube.

Do you know how they work? Have you ever used one?

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I've Only used floros(t12's, t8's, CFLs). And lots of sun light. HID don't output adequate PAR light/watt for my tastes. Hortilux MH(BLUE or Super BLUE which is HPS/MH a 2 in 1) is pretty close, though. If anything(HID) I'd go with EYE Hortilux, and be sure to invest in a top-quality ballast/igniter.

TeaTreeOil said:

So if I somehow increase solar winds I won't get sun burnt?

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and no if you increased the solar winds you would strip the earth of its atmosphere and everyone would die. and be severely burnt

and perhaps HID's dont output enough light watt for watt as a floro or cfl. but that doesnt change the fact that you would need a mass amount of them to touch the lumenary output of a HID.

bSmokey said:

and no if you increased the solar winds you would strip the earth of its atmosphere and everyone would die. and be severely burnt

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I heard the that the *Moon Landing* astronauts suits had ZERO UV/IR protection.... It leaves me to wonder how the fuck did they not die?!

TeaTreeOil said:

I heard the that the *Moon Landing* astronauts suits had ZERO UV/IR protection.... It leaves me to wonder how the fuck did they not die?!

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because the lunar landing NEVER HAPPENED.