Have I been told wrong?

From all the info. ive gathered on this site i was plannin on buyin TWO 400 watt MH lights to cover a 2X6 room. I can only use one room which is this room i speak of for the whole process from seed to harvest so i planned on using these 400 watt lights to start the seedling off all the way through vegation. I was told to leave these lights on a 18 hours light and 6 hours dark from seed all the way up till there 3 feet tall then to switch the light schedule to 12/12. Then take the the 400 watt MH lights out of the room in put a 600 watt HPS light in there. THE PROBLEM i have with this setup is ive now been reading that people are using HPS lights through out there whole grow and its better for the plants, the confusion i had is i thought that HPS was only meant for flowering which produced orangish light spectrums and the MH produced more of a blue spectrum which is better for vegation. IF somone could clear this up for me it'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks

hazemaster said:

From all the info. ive gathered on this site i was plannin on buyin TWO 400 watt MH lights to cover a 2X6 room. I can only use one room which is this room i speak of for the whole process from seed to harvest so i planned on using these 400 watt lights to start the seedling off all the way through vegation. I was told to leave these lights on a 18 hours light and 6 hours dark from seed all the way up till there 3 feet tall then to switch the light schedule to 12/12. Then take the the 400 watt MH lights out of the room in put a 600 watt HPS light in there. THE PROBLEM i have with this setup is ive now been reading that people are using HPS lights through out there whole grow and its better for the plants, the confusion i had is i thought that HPS was only meant for flowering which produced orangish light spectrums and the MH produced more of a blue spectrum which is better for vegation. IF somone could clear this up for me it'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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in a nut shell....light can grow anything......hps, halide, cfl's....are they right? maybe for some and not others. My experience from a friend whom grew HPS all the way through was skinnier lankier plants (400watt) i talked him into vegging with halide first and saw tighter node spacing...then when switched to hps it stretches and creates nice nugz. IF i had what you have i would stick to your plan! IF i had the choice i would buy a 600hps and continue to veg with my T-5's IF i only had the HPS WELL of coarse i would grow with that! its all relative to whats available and how much money you got to spend.


Peace

i keep hearing about T-12's or even T-5's. What exactly are these? CFL'S MH or HPS? Although do you think that i should just use ONE of the 400 watts MH lights until they are about 8 inches? Whats you opionion, thanks for the help

hazemaster said:

i keep hearing about T-12's or even T-5's. What exactly are these? CFL'S MH or HPS? Although do you think that i should just use ONE of the 400 watts MH lights until they are about 8 inches? Whats you opionion, thanks for the help

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the T types are flourescents...long tubular lights like shop lights just more intense...t-12's better than normal shop light and T-5's are even better than T-12's....i have 4-bulb unit and its 220 watts. I guess if you have yet to buy anything....go with 600 hps, i have heard this is the most versatile unit out there with fantastic penetration. I like the 400 watt halides but it does throw out some heat.....which is why i use my T-5's now instead. IF you have the ventilation and exhaust down, then go with 600hps........and 400 halide for veg. otherwise if you dont have the funds then just do the 600hps.

I would choose 600hps myself ok now i am rambling

Peace

alright now i know what the T-5's are. You would choose a 600 HPS for vegging and flowering, or just for flowering? I thought that the HPS bulbs were only good for flowering

my room is the exact same size roughly. IM not filling it up so IM using a 250W MH and some T5's for veg and a 400W HPS for flower but that is because Im an idiot and didnt buy a digital ballast.

If I had more $ I would probably fill the closet up. I think a 600W system would work great the whole way, but you could also get a 1000W system tha has a dimmer option and run it at 50% for veg, then up it to 75% or higher for flowering and when it gets bigger, but heat could be an isuue with these lights in that size room so you are gonna have to have the door open a little like me, or vent it. My 250W light gets the temp to 90 if I keep the door closed.

there is no need to buy 2 400W MH light and a seperate HPS light because many digital ballasts burn both bulbs with a flick of a switch or automatically. digital ballasts also reduce energy costs by about 30% (I read that no experience) this will save you a lot of money.

I have seen a lot of people on here only with HPS and it works, because light works like budmaster said. It is definitly good to use MH for veg if that is an option available to you. Here is the light I was going to get but I went with the 400W because I have a small grow and I dont have air conditionoing or venting and its JULY!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-600-watt-HPS-MH-GROW-LIGHT-600w-AIR-COOLED-HOOD_W0QQitemZ390046014934QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad08dddd6&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301:0|293:1|294:30

there are cheaper opions available with no glass lens, but the lens allows the light to get a bit closer and this reflector can be connected to a ventilation system.

Great post helped alot!! Ive read about "ballasts" but cant quiet figur it out. Is the point of a ballast giving you the choice of MH lighting and HPS with the same bulb of a flick of a switch? Please explain how it works. The reason i feel that i need two seprate 400 wat bulbs is because if i put just one up i am expecting it not to be able to reach the plants on the side but if im growwing 8 plants and put two on each side that mean 3 plants per 400 watts MH. I could see one 400 watt would cover the whole area when the plants are 4 feet tall although when they are only 8 inches i wouldnt think it'd cover it.

a digital ballast like I posted is capable of burning either a HPS bulb or MH bulb. it cannot make a HPS a MH and vice-versa. with a 600 or 1000 watt system you should be fine 95,000 lumens for a 600 HPS so that gives you the right amount of light and cerain reflectors are called "bat wing" reflectors and they help spread the light out in a more rectangular fashion

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Digital-600-watt-HPS-GROW-LIGHT-600w-Ballast-Sodium_W0QQitemZ120415430444QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0951a72c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

"or use without End Pieces as a traditional adjustable "bat wing" type reflector!"

you can always rotate the plants so nothing lives on the perimeter where there is less light, and supplementing with CFL's or T5's when needed is a good idea and cheap. maybe mount 2-3 48" T5's on the wall to light up the bottom parts of the plant. make sure the T5's are positioned to really get the plants on the edges getting less light from the HID

yah the whole thing makes since about the ballast. It would make more since to buy a hood that has ballast already hooked up if i ony have one room to do this. I could see if i had a seedling room- vegation room- then a flowering room to buy sperate bulbs for each, although I dont. Your recomneding one MH hood with ballast and then buying what bulbs for vegation? If im correct dont you need high blue spectrums? I controll the plant as far as when i decided to put it into flowering? By doing that i would change the lighting to 12/12 correct?

hazemaster said:

i keep hearing about T-12's or even T-5's. What exactly are these? CFL'S MH or HPS? Although do you think that i should just use ONE of the 400 watts MH lights until they are about 8 inches? Whats you opionion, thanks for the help

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T5's are a highly efficient form of fluoro tubes. They're aproximately 5/8ths inch in diameter. The number after the T indicates this. T8's are 1 inch(8/, T12's are shop lights, and aren't as efficient.

T8 and T5 bulbs can put out more lumens per watt than MH, but you need specialty plant bulbs(GroLux/BR/etc) to really get the most out of these lamps. Standard daylight/warm white aren't as spectrally effective as a standard MH.

8 inches? Use fluoros. Unless you plan to veg to over 2 feet, HID's intensity is a waste of time and energy.

So you could grow with fluoros to 8-12", then MH, for 1-4 feet range, then finish with HPS for flowering. That'd be quite cost-effective while not sacrificing quality or quantity. And you can set-up a crop rotation. Dividing the room height-wise in half(and making some shelfs/enclosure), and making a relatively small veg(double decker) area in the room would allow you to keep the remaining flowering room producing year-round.

Plenty of aluminum products exist that'll allow you to create a light-tight veg area in the same room.

ballast usually has about 10ft power cord and 10-15ft cord so that you dont need to keep it really close. Floralux makes many things with the ballast attached to it, those are not digital ballasts and they can only burn one type of bulb. there is no MH hood the ballast controls what type of light bulb you burn. get a digital ballast that burns both bulbs and get any reflector you want. Use your MH bulb for the seedlings and veg then switch to the HPS and 12/12 for flowering.

you dont need seperate rooms, the digital ballast will burn either type of bulb so you can switch it depending on what growth stage you are in

TeaTreeOil said:

Plenty of aluminum products exist that'll allow you to create a light-tight veg area in the same room.

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that is something I would really like to do, what type of products are you taking about and any threads on here refering to this type of setup?

Aluminum foil, aluminized mylar, aluminum tape, etc.

Lots of people make multi-purpose(veg/flower/cloner) grow cabinets. Check out the forum designated to grow room design.

Basically the ballast is a computer chips box HALFWAY through the cord that plugs into the wall and makes it so you can screw different bulbs into your hood? Besides the fact it reduces energy ETC. Im under the impression that you need to hit a bunch of buttons to get this thing to work and its a pain the ass to setup?