Thinking about a 4' 8 light T5HO fix w/ 54w bulbs - 40,000 initial lumens Specifically the sunblaze T5-48 made by sunlight supply. 432 actual watts, how much area could be covered and still be efficient enough for 4 plants? If I were to keep a small closet grow with just this one fix...
Is there a reason why you aren't going to go with an HPS/MH light? You could get a nice 400w lumatek ballast with air cooled hood and really produce some nice bud. That ballast will drive either a hps or mh bulb for flowering and vegging all with the same system. Just my 2 cent.
cant make up my mind on whether or not to use hid lamps. would i be spending more or less on this fluoro fix than if i were to go with a 400w hps? really im just worried about energy cost.
400 watts is 400 watt. If both lamps are using the roughly the same number of watts, your energy costs will be pretty much the same. I got a 400w lumatek digital ballast with, air cooled hood, and both a mh and hps bulb for under 300 dollars on ebay about a year ago. I think they are slightly more now but still a pretty good option in my opinion. You could easily grow 4 plants in the three by three foot area that this setup provides good coverage over. Like I said, the HID will produce much denser buds than the t5 setup. let me know if you have more questions and I can try and help.
The advantage to T5`s for vegging is that they produce less heat and you can have them alot closer to your plants but for flowering I plan on using my HPS light. I talked to an old school grower at a hydro store who said he was trying a T5 set up for veg growth and he loved it and liked the results he was getting sofar but was switching over to his HPS light for flower.
I was under the impression that HID used more energy and therefore cost more money torun because of the ballasts used; but it makes sense that they would generally use about the same amount of energy. I guess my fluoro fix are ballasts themselves I just never recognized becz they look different...
Can I just buy one fix and be able to run both MH n HPS one after the other? Im only wanting to mess with 1 ballast, 1 fix, and both mh for veg then the hps for lowering. That way i can keep it nice and simple and still be able to support my habit! (lol just weed)
Nice! never occured to me to use fluro then hps but sounds like a great idea im thinkin im going to try that out myself.
Its a little more expensive equipment wise but my 4 foot 8 bulb T5 floro light set up uses 54 watts for each bulb for a total of 432 watts but the Hydrofarm floro light set up I bought you can run 4 or all 8 bulbs, its got 2 power switches.