400W CFL/FLOURO vs. 400W HPS

simply put: hps is gonna put cfl to shame hands down. cfls are good and all but if youve got to make a choice, go with the hps

 

if you can vent the heat, go with hps. the plants in said experiment would i think veg the same, but in flower the hps buds will be 100% more dense.

 

once they hit flower, the plant under hps will take off, forming dense buds, while the ones under CFL's will take longer to mature and wont be nearly as dense..

 

Thats all bull shit. Its all about how the plant is grown and how you position the light. I have had 3 T-5 grows that would rival an HPS system and I bet you cant fin a 400w HPS that will cover a 2'x4' area

 

With CFLs you have to plan for about 50% more wattage to get close to the same amount of light as HPS. Compare lumens and light spectrum. HID lights are the way to go if you can take care of the heat.

 

a 400 watt hps with spectrally enhanced bulb puts out 55,000 lumens. I'm not positive on the numbers but I don't believe your getting even 6,000 lumens from equal watts of cfl or flouros. it looks just as bright or brighter to us because the cfls and flouros have a lot more blue spectrum light, which the receptors in our eyes are more sensative to. mj during veg. also requires a lot more blue spectrum light. I use flouros (day light) to veg and get great quick results. During flower, mj requires a lot more red and yellow spectrum light which an hps is bettered only by the sun in providing.

Here are some pics. First plant under flouros only entire grow. to be fair they are only getting 260 total watts so with more they could be doing a lot better. they are about 8 weeks into flower. they were vegged for 8 weeks.

Second plant under flouros until showing sex (about 4 weeks under 18/6 then about 2 more weeks under 12/12). about a week after showing sex flower started and I put this group under 400 watt spectrally enhanced hps. this plant is now 22 days into flower.

both plants are the best from each group. all other factors aside from the lighting are the same, medium, temps, ventillation, experience level of care giver (lol). a picture says a thousand words you be the judge.

1st 2 pics plant #1 flouro only

last 3 pics plant #2 400 watt hps at flower

 

sorry for double post, I just want to be fair to cfl and flouro growers. I acknowledge much greater results than what I achieved can be attained.

This experiment is not conclusive evidence as the strains are unknown to me. all I can tell you is they came from the same quality of seeded weed. I am convinced of the superiority of hps from my experience and just wanted to share my point of view, no disrespect to cfl and flouro only growers who post some impressive pics on here.

 

man alot of bullshit is in this thred, i have had tons of great bud off of cfls.
thats all i use, 24x24x48 grow box, mylar great soil and tons of sweet in the last two week's, i get the same as just about anyone, but then again im not selling anything eather.

 

Ok, I'm on my first grow so take it for what it's worth.
400 watts of High Output T5 bulbs will produce around 35,000 lumens. Not as much as a HPS but a lot more that 6,000.

You can get floros in many spectrums. I use mainly 6500K bulbs for veg and I'm using mainly 3000K bulbs now that I'm in flower.

That said, I still believe HPS will produce higher yields but you will have more heat to deal with. I'm doing compact T5's for my first few grows but plan on moving up to a 250watt CoolTube with a switchable ballast. I'll run the floros for the first few weeks then finish the veg with MH. Once I decide to flower, I'll switch to the HPS bulb.

 

ty for correct numbers, I knew someone would show up with them. next time around I'm going to put my 400 watt on top and use 2 four foot tubes on each side for side lighting.

 

hey, no one is trying to get under your skin here brother. we all gather hear to learn from each other. no is personally attacking you, relax.

 

Lemme give you my take on this....Here's my CFL setup:

6x55w 3500 lumens each (2700k)
4x40w 2600 lumens each (3000k)
3x26w 1600 lumens each (5000k)

These lights are flowering TWO plants. I've got another 350 watts of CFLs in my veg chamber. My plants look good as they are surrounded by CFLs. I have spent just as much if not more than I would have spent on a 400w HPS. My total lumens is a little over 36,000 and my total wattage is over 550 watts just in the flowering chamber. I've got too much money invested into this setup to switch right now, but as my bulbs die and I get my money out of them, I WILL SWITCH TO HPS.

That having been said, my grow is kicking ass and off my first grow (1 plant), I got a little more than 1.5 ounces. I expect to get similar results with this round. Nevertheless, I'm close to 600 watts in my flowering chamber and a 600 watt HPS puts out what almost 100,000 lumens? Definately more than double what I've got now.

MORE LUMENS=MORE WEED

Also, with 13 lights in the top half of my bathroom closet, heat is an issue. I'd put my heat problems up against anyones 400watt HPS...it's a real bitch, my house is 64 degrees and my closet gets up to 85 with the door OPEN after running my flowering lights for 12 hours. I'm not gonna be able to use this many lights in the summer. I've got so many fans in my closet, the humidity is around 25%! I also have a 500cfm blower sucking air out to the attic (I cut a hole in the ceiling).

If you haven't bought anything yet, go buy an HPS. It's one bulb to deal with...I have extension cords, fixtures, and power strips everywhere. You have to move CFL's around to cover the plant and an HPS just sits there and does its thing.

I'll post a pic of my setup later (my plants are sleeping) so you can see all my lights and fixtures..it's a pain in the ass, but it allows me to tinker with it more, which is my style (something you can't really do with an HPS I suppose).

400watts of CFLs or HPS is gonna give you bud and if you keep the cfls close you'll get good results...I'm proud of my plants but it'd be a lot easier with just one light. If you're gonna get that kind of wattage, get the real deal. Less than 400watts, maybe stick with CFLs although some people have great results with 250watt hps.

 

the hps does throw a lot of heat now, I would dare to say more than all your cfls and flouros put together, espcecially if you can't put the ballast outside of your grow closet. the 600 watt hps is supposed to be the most efficient light for indoor growing. I don't remember lumens, sorry, but I remember claims that it puts out the most lumens per watt. your ventillation sounds really good, I can't imagine where your heat issues are coming from. anyways, there is plenty of tinkering that can be done to appease the hearts of the most die hard tinkerers. check out flo-doc-duece's homemade air cooled hps, something you might consider for your circumstances. peace