New set up. Need input on lights.

Okay guys, I use to grow the mazar plant in soil and was running a 250 MH and a 430 HPS for flowering. Now I have decided to change my set up into aeroponics. I am going to use a 400 watt MH and not too sure yet for flowering. I rather not use an HPS and was wondering if T5 bulbs can be used for flowerig or come with a red spectrum. If not, what would be a greater alternative?

i have never used t5's but have heard some good things. i use an HPS for flower. i dont see why you wouldnt want to use an HPS for flower other than a heat issue and or a smaller room. why not use an HPS? i may not be here to see your answer but thought i would ask to save someone else from asking. the more info you give the better replies you will get.

I don't have an hps, rather not fork ove money for it if there is just as good of an alternative. And yes the room is small and thr hps in the past has given off mad heat. This is my bedroom.

I would use a 400w MH in in flower over t-5s any day...... HPS is the way to go...... and cheapest....... Coukd even grab a MH bulb with additional spectrum

Skoal, T5's do come in different spectrums and mine is a 4 bulb and I run 2 bulbs of each start to finish. You don't really say why you want to get away from the HPS that you already have. I am a pretty strong proponent of the T5's and love mine, on the other hand if the HPS isn't giving you problems to deal with I would stay with it. The T5 won't penetrate as deep as 400W of HPS. Good luck with whatever you decide on.

I do not have an HPS. I have only a 400 MH. That is why I'm looking for a good alternative since I don't really feel like going out and getting an HPS.

Skoal said:

Okay guys, I use to grow the mazar plant in soil and was running a 250 MH and a 430 HPS for flowering. Now I have decided to change my set up into aeroponics. I am going to use a 400 watt MH and not too sure yet for flowering. I rather not use an HPS and was wondering if T5 bulbs can be used for flowerig or come with a red spectrum. If not, what would be a greater alternative?

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says in your very first post you were running a 250 MH and a 430 HPS for flowering.

Get a conversion bulb for the MH ballast to use for flowering and use T5 for Veg....

Get a new digital ballast, you get MH and hps out of the same ballast. T5s are ok for veg I just as well use flourescent fixtures I have from everywhere. But if you want a quality grow my HPS set up is the closest to the sun..literally.

I dunno what you guys are talking about but HPS is way easier to cool than a t5 pluss cost less per watt. I could see using t5s if you really cant run ventilation (grow boxes) but that is it. I would reccoment you use mh for flower untill you can save up for a hps. Meantime you can veg with CFLs and that would be super budget.

Skoal said:

Okay guys, I use to grow the mazar plant in soil and was running a 250 MH and a 430 HPS for flowering. Now I have decided to change my set up into aeroponics. I am going to use a 400 watt MH and not too sure yet for flowering. I rather not use an HPS and was wondering if T5 bulbs can be used for flowerig or come with a red spectrum. If not, what would be a greater alternative?

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They make t5 bulbs in red spectrums for flowering. You will not get the density of buds with the t5's though. if they are 54w t5HO they put out about 5,000 lumens. A 400w hps will put out about 50,000 lumens. Even with 10 54w T5HO bulbs it will still be an initial intensity of 5,000 but it would be distributed more evenly. This is because lumens don't stack. The 400w HPS would provide a much greater initial intensity that will provide you with more dense buds and less whispey ones you would get with the t5's. Hope that helps.

I know the HPS is pretty much the best bet and I have used one before in the past. I understand the quality of buds and density when using one. But basically, my current set up is a 400MH and thats it. A little broke considering I have just purchased two aeroponic systems that hold 8 plants each.

Someone mentioned a conversion bulb, must you need an HPS ballast to run an HPS bulb?

Buying a new ballast, would basically leave me with the same issue, just one more ballast, but then I need to buy a bulb and reflector, since I only have one.

Someone also mentioned flowering with the MH. Is that even possible?