upgrade 400 mh for t5's

anhedonia

Well-Known Member
I have a veg closet thats 48" x 24" x 8 ft high and Im using a convertable 400watt mh to veg 10 plats at a time. Its a pretty nice system for what I paid for it. $300 from htg supply.
But I fund this bad ass fixture by sun systems called the spectra max 516. Its 4 ft x 14.25 inches wide and uses 2 150 watt hps and on each side are 2 54 watt t5's and has a lumen output of 52,000.
So if I got this will I veg better plants with less heat? And is it bettr than a 400 watt mh? Its 300 watts of hps and 216 watts from t5's.
On a different note maby its just a fixture that you can use for veg and flower and get sme killer buds. Either way I want one.:hump:
 

rainysuma

Active Member
the mh is perfect for veg but not so good for flowering as the hps is. i would use the mh for veg only, it isnt nearly as bright as the hps
 

LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
As I have become educated to this lately, I will try to pass it on. Since Lumen's don't add together, realistically that fixture is only a 16,000 lumen fixture since those 150w HPS put out 16,000, the tubes are 5000 each.

The 400w mh puts out 36,000 lumen, which is higher but may not give you the same coverage? I think there is more to think about then just wattage and total lumen.
 

anhedonia

Well-Known Member
What? How do you get 16,000? That thing is putting off wayless heat and has an out put of 516 watts. Thats inches above the tops of the plants.
And the dmn thing is hella spendy. over $420. My youngr sister and a good friend of mine are getting married. Maby i'll buy them this fixture as a wedding gift and see what kind of results they get. The things gota be bad ass for that price.
 

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LemonHerb

Well-Known Member
Because all that fixture is is just 4 differnt lights strapped together, basically. Remember, lumens don't add, so if you take two 150w HPS that are 16,000 lumen each and put them right next to each other and then put a lumen meter under it you will get a reading of 16,000, not 32,000. You just get better coverage.
 

anhedonia

Well-Known Member
the thing that impressed me about t5's was that durng my first grow my ballast broke on the day I was to switch over to hps. The ignighter broke and I had to send it back to htg which took about 2 weeks to get back. So duing this 2 week period I had to kep them in veg. So i went out and purchased 2 t5's with reflectors and put them in my closet with a 65 watt flouresent fixture. Not only did my plants get sufficient lighting but they grew as well. And it was some pretty impressive growth for the lttle bit of light that was in there. It was a 24" x 48" closet. So ive always thoght t5' were hella cool after that.
 
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