I'm reading up on lighting and came across this handy chart http://www.eleekinc.com/eleekchart.pdf Now... here's my question. Everybody jocks MH/HPS... but T5s are literally 50% more "efficient" (lumens/watt). So if you're rocking a 400w HPS over 3 plants... you'll get the exact same output from 250w of T5's. So... what's the tradeoff? I know fluorescents "drop off" brightness more quickly, but they're MUCH cooler and can run just a few inches away from plants. Is the only upside to HPS that you can throw a single light at the top and take care of 90% of your lighting needs, vs needing to monitor t5's, keep them constantly close/adjusted, etc? And obviously the top of the plant is but a small amount of the leaves' surface area, a majority of that light will travel not 2 inches but 8-12" before absorbed on the outer leaves... Just working thru the pros/cons in my head, please feel free to chime in!
HPS will run cooler...I get mine 2" from my plant...why? a Vortex inline fan with a closed/sealed Magnum XXX hood. The Vortex pulls over 800 CFS of air...no stand alone room fan can match that...not to mention the sealed system pulls heat out and away from the bulb. I use a T5 for my mothers...you just cant get the same effect growing with a T5 man, I am not pulling your chain here...the heat isnt closed off and sucked out of the lamp like it is on MH/HPS. No amount of fans will work...if you have killer A/C in the room, then that is a different story (sort of, you still do not get the Lumens and Spectrum tho), but with that amout of energy you are burning, you could have invested in a sealed system... GL!
Thanks for the useful input! At this point, I'm pulling my seedlings outside during the day, they're under 4x26w 6000k tubes at night (well, 20/4 total) but they really pull towards the sun when they're out! I think I'm going to be able to do this all the way through flower, so in all actuality I'll have free "1000w+" lighting for 8-9 hrs a day, and pull them back inside at night... so whatever indoor lighting I have will just be 3-4 hrs supplementation before and after that. I was also considering the effectivity of a high-power (500w+) LED setup. Again, it can be run right next to the plant, even less heat than fl, etc. I'm really trying to avoid a ventilation system, just want to grow in a spare room (hopefully the closet)
Not everyone loves HID lighting. I used to use it but have migrated to LED. I use a California Lightworks Solarstorm 5w LED 800w lamp. Pulls about 690 watts with everything on. As for vent system with mine you have to have one...anything pulling significant wattage will require it. It may not get as hot as a HID but without a fan my tent would be over 100 degrees. As for your T5 question...T5 cant ever match the light intensity of a HID system, which is a important factor in robustness of your plants.
[quote name='"rhapsodyrcks"']Not everyone loves HID lighting. I used to use it but have migrated to LED. I use a California Lightworks Solarstorm 5w LED 800w lamp. Pulls about 690 watts with everything on. As for vent system with mine you have to have one...anything pulling significant wattage will require it. It may not get as hot as a HID but without a fan my tent would be over 100 degrees. As for your T5 question...T5 cant ever match the light intensity of a HID system, which is a important factor in robustness of your plants.[/quote] Man... I really like the idea of led! My question is... What "intensity" are you going off? Lumens? There's math to back that up, and people are just as wary of led Also, I don't think I'll run a tent, this will be in a room/ closet as needed
No lumens really dont apply to LEDs. PAR is a much more accurate measurement. Lumens is a measurement of how bright the light is to the human eye. People are wary of LEDs from the past..and the price. The LED world has changed greatly since they were first introduced. The LED I use is pretty legit. California Lightworks. 100% American made and all American components. The few that are not are sourced from Germany I think. Uses 5 watt Diodes which few if none use presently.
This is why people use hid, with t5's or CFL's you cannot get light penetration like you can with HID, your 400 watts of t5's ontop of your crop will only produce buds on the top few inches, the rest going to be crap scragly buds, with a HID the light will penetrate for atleast a foot down past the top depending on your wattage I have plants in flower 1 is under t5's and the buds under the top 3 inches are so crap looking its not funny, i can get u a pic if you want to see for yourself and i have no experience with leds so yea
I use LED and love it. I use ProSource 180 Watt Jumbo Illuminator. Just have to make an even canopy, because as mentioned it's not good at penetration, but the plants love it. Illuminator 180W UFO LED Grow Light Also, here's a great review by Rumple, but note that I paid $499, not $700 like he mentions: http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-grow-journals/485301-rumples-led-challenge.html
HID lighting is cheap, it's really cheap. You can easily find old magnetic ballasts for under 50 bucks with a bulb. It's hard to beat a 25 dollar 400 watt HPS. HID isn't really hard to cool. I could see having a ton of florescents be a problem, because you can't really vent them as easily.
Its all about penetration. You can only seriously bud a 1ft tall plant with t5s no matter the wattage. But you can grow 6' tall trees with a 1kw hps
Well said. This may be the most well informed post with the least amount of words on these boards...and it backs up what I have iterated over and over about growing...sure, you can use a few CFL's...but why, I am from the school of "if you do not have $500 to $1000 to initially invest, then stay away from it" I have helped a few personally get going, but I explained to them I will not help if all you are planning to shell out it enough for only a silly setup...so, get the basics (400w or < HID = Hood-Ballast-bulb, 1 inline fan, newts, test strips, a TDS Pen, panda film, 2 timers, and growing pots..well, and strong seeds! plus a few other strong fans for the room) then you can build around that with harvests.