400 Watts Of Cfl Vs 400 Watts Mh

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Crazy Horse

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What Do U Fellow Growers Recomend? I Have 1 200 Watt Cfl For Veg Right Now And Love It. Tight Nodes, Can Keep It Within Inches Of My Seedlings And No Heat Issues. So In This Case Would Have To Purchase Another 200 Watt Light To Get My 400 Watts (duh).

Or Should I Purchase A New 400 Watt Mh Setup With Of Course More Fans To Deal With Heat Issues? Is 400 Watts Of Mh Superior Over 400 Watts Of Cfl's? Taken Into Account All The Pros And Cons Of Each.

I'm Leaning Towards The Cfl's Because Lower Cost To Get Setup And No Heat Issues (which I Battle With On A Daily Basis In My Flowering Room And Can't Stand It). Thanks Ahead Of Time ;)
 
Should I Purchase A New 400 Watt Mh Setup With Of Course More Fans To Deal With Heat Issues? Is 400 Watts Of Mh Superior Over 400 Watts Of Cfl's?
Yes and yes. I was a dedicated cfl vegger until I used my MH for the first time. Make sure and get 5500k-6500k bulbs and not 4000k or 4500k bulbs and you should see a big difference:).
 
If you go with the 400w MH you might want to consider going with a 400w HPS ballast and using a ceramic metal halide bulb (CMH). They put out a much better balanced light spectrum and are excellent for vegging. They can be used to flower with really nice results in bud quality, but they just don't seem to put on the same weight as with an HPS. This isn't to say the buds will be of lesser quality, just a bit less yield. The smoke if anything from other grower's reviews has been higher quality. But the CMH bulbs seem to encourage LOTS of branching and new shoots so if you're topping/lst/scrogging this might be quite valuable to you. From all the grows I've seen with CMH bulbs they definitely veg plants exceptionally well.

I have a computer case I'm building with a mixed spectrum of 150w HPS + 100w CMH. The idea is to get the benefits of the much more balanced spectrum and also keep the far red light of the HPS to put on that extra weight. The CMH bulbs put out UV-B which makes for more potent ganj. So hopefully with this set up I can get the yield and the higher quality smoke. Just my thoughts you may or may not find of value.
 
bombbudpuffa said:
Yes and yes. I was a dedicated cfl vegger until I used my MH for the first time. Make sure and get 5500k-6500k bulbs and not 4000k or 4500k bulbs and you should see a big difference:).

LOL--I was a dedicated MH vegger until I used a T5 for the first time. I have a 400W MH and a 250W MH that I no longer use. The lower heat is really as big deal and I have noticed no real difference in the growth. Of course, CFLs are not T5s, but you might want to consider one since you are buying something...
 
The lower heat is really as big deal and I have noticed no real difference in the growth.
I use a 175w in a cool tube and I notice a BIG difference:D.
 
Man I hate u guys! Lol. I was hoping for a little more positive input on the cfl's. But I guess u guys are right about the mh though, especially when I plan to have a longer veg time (like 2- 3 months, I want trees). Is it safe to have a MH light on 24 hrs/day, or do they need a little down time to cool off. I usually run 18/6, but want to go to 24. Do the nodes still keep pretty tight with MH?
 
I run mine on 24/0. Tighter nodes and thicker stems are the main thing i've noticed using mh. I can put my seedlings about 6 inches from it with no probs. I use my cfls for side lighting if needed but for the most part just the mh:).
 
I run mine 24/7 also. A MH will have substantially better penetrating power than the CFLs or the T5. My vegging space is 4' tall and I do individual DWC in 5 gal buckets. When they get to the light, they go into flowering.

Here is a girl (has some nice preflowers) that was started from seed on 5-1. She's been under the T5 her whole life. She is going to be moved into flowering soon because of her size. You can see some places where she grew into the light and burned some leaves, but she is nice and healthy. She's about 20" tall now.

mp 6-13-08 002 (2).jpg
 
Cornellius said:
430W 1x430W HPS Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 322$
990W 33x30W CFL Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 180$

Choice is yours.


The lumen is the same,what about the penitration threw the canopy? is that the same.i have the t5's that are mentioned but i have never used it to veg .i have only used it with the bloom tubes for flowring.
 
Cornellius said:
430W 1x430W HPS Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 322$
990W 33x30W CFL Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 180$

Choice is yours.


I forgot:smoke1: how many tubes are you talking about?
 
johnnybuds said:
The lumen is the same,what about the penitration threw the canopy? is that the same.i have the t5's that are mentioned but i have never used it to veg .i have only used it with the bloom tubes for flowring.

If you have a large grow space and some cash, I would not recommend CFLs, their combined heat generation may exceed HPS lamps. If you have a moderate grow space up to 14 feet², you will not have the need of penetration as you can place CFLs as close as to the plant you desire as well as anywhere around it, even under it.

At small numbers for relatively small grow spaces, CFLs are ideal.
 
Cornellius said:
If you have a large grow space and some cash, I would not recommend CFLs, their combined heat generation may exceed HPS lamps. If you have a moderate grow space up to 14 feet², you will not have the need of penetration as you can place CFLs as close as to the plant you desire as well as anywhere around it, even under it.

At small numbers for relatively small grow spaces, CFLs are ideal.




Thanks:48: 2.5 deep by 5 wide by 7 high.
 
CFL's have almost no light penetration, and yes you need light penetration unless you are growing 1 foot plants.

Penetration means how far can the light shine through the canopy to light the lower branches and bud sites.

by the way you can get a 400 watt HPS for about $100 online, I would never pay $322 for a 400, I wouldn't pay that for a 1000.

Lastly CFL's are not even as close to as efficient as a HID, so 400 watts of CFL are going to actually run quite a bit hotter then a 400 watt HID.
 
Cornellius said:
430W 1x430W HPS Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 322$
990W 33x30W CFL Light Kit, 53.000 Lumen, 180$

Choice is yours.

Are you saying this in favor of CFL's???

this says you need 930 watts, 33 actual bulbs in order to match 1 - 430w hps. Plus with the CFL's you get a lot less penetration.

Those prices seem kind of whack, $322 for a 430 watt HPS?

Also the actual wattage run is significantly higher with the CFL's meaning that you are paying twice as much monthly to power the lights. So even if you got suckered into buying a $322 HPS, you would still save money after only about 1 harvest by using the HPS
 
My 200 watt cfl produces 18000 lumens, so that would equal 600 watts to equal 54,000 lumens. But any ways, I think I will try a MH setup. I love my little cfl, but not going to know if a MH is better unless I try it myself. Thanks for the input fellas, and of course you too HempGoddess (your little girl there looks healthy and really bushy!).
 
massproducer said:
Are you saying this in favor of CFL's???

this says you need 930 watts, 33 actual bulbs in order to match 1 - 430w hps. Plus with the CFL's you get a lot less penetration.

Those prices seem kind of whack, $322 for a 430 watt HPS?

Also the actual wattage run is significantly higher with the CFL's meaning that you are paying twice as much monthly to power the lights. So even if you got suckered into buying a $322 HPS, you would still save money after only about 1 harvest by using the HPS

I were neutral, I am still neutral... If I had a grow space of 2x5, I would definiately not use HPS lights... If I had a grow space of 7x7, then I would definitely not use CFLs.

Up to a certain area, CFLs are conomic, cool and flexible solutions but beyond that, they just can not handle the job. HPSs are superb for large rooms as CFLs are for small rooms.

Small shots for sparrows, slugs for pigs.
 
If i had a smaller space I would just opt for a smaller hps or MH. I myself use 42 watt cfl's for cloning and sprouts. I can understand very small boxes or micro cabs using CFL's but HPS's come in as small as 75 watts, and even at that wattage I still see them being a better bang for your buck
 
i would get the 100 dollar setup from htgsupply and in the HPS and then run the 400hps for veg and add the cfl's ya got to around the base with the hps in flower.

your going to be talkin to yourself at time of flower wonderin....why didn't i buy the HPS???? do you want tight buds or tight nodes??? and believe me.. .with the 400W of either you will have tight nodes.

i did this for a long time and it worked great. Hps for veg/flower. go for the quality of smoke and don't worry so much about the veg imo.
 

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