What would the best option for me?

Ivory said:

Hate to be a bother with noob questions, But i am new to H.P.S. And M.H. Systems. Ok, I'm growing in 5' x 4' Type closet. My question is for the space i have would this type of set-up Benefit me to the best way possible?

NEW 400 watt switchable HPS + MH GROW LIGHT hood system - eBay (item 150239320567 end time May-18-08 11:00:00 PDT)



Thanks.

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you should go 600w at least for a 5x4 room....anything less is a waste of space lighting and time....unless you are only going to utilize a 3x3 area of the room or so....you want to get about 50w per sqf...a little less is fine..but 400w is to little for that space...

also a sog with lst isnt a good idea.they kinda cancel each other out....sog is for packing as many plants into a small space with little or no veg period(usually from clones) to get a bunch of lolipop looking plants that produce 1 main cola......lst is for getting the most out of your plant by training it to grow bushy not tall.....if you want the best yeild for minimum plants you should look into scrog.....

That's a good light to begin with... usually 400w is recommended for 3x3 and 600w for 5x5. You're right in the middle. I would go with the 600w because more juice the merrier. You will yield more buds with 50% more lumens.

I just completed my first grow with almost the same exact 400w HPS (also from HTGSupply.com) in an odd 6' x 2' closet. I've heard many stories from others that when they bumped up from a 400w to 600w, they saw a considerable improvement.

Have you considered using a T5? you would be amazed at what you can achieve with a 4' 8 bulb T5. I mix my bulbs half blue and half red spectrum. i can keep the light 1'' away and get very deep penetration with it. It puts out 40k lumens and i am able to mainttain 75-78 degrees in my room. Not saying its better or worse than hps or MH but i will tell you its a great light if your new to the grow scene and if your growing for personal means. Peace

nickfury510 said:

sorry dude.your wrong.......330w flouro will never out perform a 400w hid...you are really trippin on this one.....

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Have you tried both and compared? IMO it will out perform, don't write of the t5's they do perform really well. The lumens per watt are nearly the same, less heat, and you can mix the bulbs for a broader spectrum. They are both good lights though.

JMHO

I'm looking into a similar setup. The user also sells a ballast that is 400w and is separate, and includes a free timer. I may go with this one. If I were to place this in a small 3x3 box, would it be too much heat for only 2 plants?

Ok, did some reserach thanks to the lighting guide mentioned earier. The 400w HPS system is 55000 lumens. If I were to use a 3x3 box, thats 9 square feet of space. 55000/9= just over 6000 lumens per square foot. I'm shooting for about 9000 as I read that sunlight can be 10000, looks like a 2x2 box would be more sufficient for just 2 plants.

Now, the Metal Halide has less lumens, does this mean it should be stronger or does the stages require different lumens per square feet? Any help would be great, thank you.

Isthisyourspecialbush said:

T5ho puts out around 90 lumens per watt at most mh puts about 100. I can put the light on the canopy no cooling nothing. If you air cool your mh that's more electricty therfore the t5 is more efficient. The individual banks are being reflected straight to the plants. They are not the best if you wanna grow 6 fters though. The arguement of t5 vs mh hps is not worth it though seeing no one will win, they all have there advantages. One of the t5's advantages is it does save some money on the power bill.

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Your right they do put out close to 90 a watt, BUT...

You need a bunch of them, and they do not COMBINE THIER lumens into one big lumen output...

Your bulbs on the far left of your BANK ARRAY are not Combining thier light with the bulbs on the FAR RIGHT of the array at touching plants distance.

What you have are a bank of 5000 lumen per bulb points of light that may or may not be getting a little extra added lumens from the bulb next to it...

Its not rocket science to understand this.

ganjagoddess said:

Your right they do put out close to 90 a watt, BUT...

You need a bunch of them, and they do not COMBINE THIER lumens into one big lumen output...

Your bulbs on the far left of your BANK ARRAY are not Combining thier light with the bulbs on the FAR RIGHT of the array at touching plants distance.

What you have are a bank of 5000 lumen per bulb points of light that may or may not be getting a little extra added lumens from the bulb next to it...

Its not rocket science to understand this.

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we could go back and forth on this all day so i'll just say I like the t5's better