Which is best, 400 hps with extra cfl's or 600 hps alone? less energy used

MR GANGA said:

nice, i recently found a 400w hps with 430w bulb, and a mh conversion bulb for $50 on craigslist!

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I have been looking on craigslist, but most people are from grow shops and they get annoying and its not that great of a deal, for me. I passed up an AWESOME deal on craigslist, for (4) 400 w hps, ( bulbs, (200) 5 gallon pots (400) 4" pots (1) 1000 w hps with 2 bulbs all for $900!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I definitely DO NOT have the money for all of that, but I asked someone to go in with me, then saw my electric bill, got paranoid, and at that time decided I didnt want more lights. Well.....after talking to some people and finding out how to save energy so I could still use an extra light, the deal was GONE! Figures, a deal that good wouldnt last long.

My new 400 should be here Saturday, hopefully, my girls are begging for more light, and I am guessing more heat which i am sure they would get from the extra light

dude remove that useless jungle of lights get a single 600

zem said:

dude remove that useless jungle of lights get a single 600

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I dont think 2 400 hps with 3 side cfls is useless jungle of lights. Im actually excited to use the extra 400. I noticed the side where I have the cfls currently are getting better bud sites than the side that does not have the side lights. Even if I had a single 600 id still stick with a few cfl's. Plus, 2 400s have more lumens than 1 600

well most 400's put out around 45k lumens, and most 600's are around 95k lumens.
400 watt bulbs are one of the most inefficient for growing. .02$

DirtyDiana said:

Ok, so I ended up getting another 400 hps, which looks like a good idea. 2 400's and ill keep the cfls still for lower side lights

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This is exactly what i would have done

MediMary said:

well most 400's put out around 45k lumens, and most 600's are around 95k lumens.
400 watt bulbs are one of the most inefficient for growing. .02$

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Correction my firend 55,000 a 400watt..average kicks out 50,000 while the 600 average kicks out 72,000..

Those little cfl "side lights" are like rear view mirrors on a dragster. They are going to do next to nothing. Use them for early veg and get more cycles per year. I mean really..what are you going for, slightly denser popcorn bud? You should SCROG anyways with that room size and lights. Should be pulling a pound and a half easy.

Don't cry about power costs, you make it up in the end if you know how to grow. I'm quite certain people have bigger electric bills than mine but I'm cranking over 3 KwH in grow equipment alone and your at .8 KwH.

wyteberrywidow said:

Correction my firend 55,000 a 400watt..average kicks out 50,000 while the 600 average kicks out 72,000..

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FAIL.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=600+watt+HPS+lumens&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=18137065362318552621&ei=Fr5UTYDVM4L6sAPdmv2FBg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQ8wIwAg#

legallyflying said:

FAIL.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=600+watt+HPS+lumens&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=18137065362318552621&ei=Fr5UTYDVM4L6sAPdmv2FBg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCsQ8wIwAg#

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Is that a average/standard 600 watt bulb?
No its not the standard 600 watt bulb emits 72,000 lumens like i said so for you that is a FAIL yes

2 400w in a 5x5 room is fine. no need for the cfls down there though, I say use them to veg out seedlings and clones so you can have some quicker harvests.

best of luck.

wyteberrywidow said:

Is that a average/standard 600 watt bulb?No its not the standard 600 watt bulb emits 72,000 lumens like i said so for you that is a FAIL yes

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LoL. What the hell are you even talkjng about, "standard bulb" I didn't know we were talking about light bulbs you buy at home depot. What kind of cheap ass uses "standard" bulbs anyways? Fact is that quality HPS bulbs all put out around 95k lumens which is almost double what a high quality "non standard" 400 puts out. I think the point of the OP was a 600 gets you almost 2x more lumens for 50% more juice.

Fail or no fail, that is the reality of the situation

Why does every thread over 20 posts have to turn into an internet pissing match over who knows more about what? Seriously it's fucking dumb. I could sit here and claim to know shit about Einstein's theory of relativity and post google links all day too. Everyone zip up your pants and learn to walk away from a pointless argument.

The original question was... Which is best, 400 HPS with extra cfls, or a 600HPS by itself...

answer... the 600HPS by itself is better

I have a seperate setup with enough lights for my veg room. Adding the extra cfl's to the grow will not hurtm, right? So thats that. The products that I searched, 2 400's had more lumens than 1 600, when you take into consideration the bulbs I am getting, 58,000 lumens each. I am not worried about energy COSTS but energy usage. I have my own reasons to try to stay low.

legallyflying said:

Those little cfl "side lights" are like rear view mirrors on a dragster. They are going to do next to nothing. Use them for early veg and get more cycles per year. I mean really..what are you going for, slightly denser popcorn bud? You should SCROG anyways with that room size and lights. Should be pulling a pound and a half easy.

Don't cry about power costs, you make it up in the end if you know how to grow. I'm quite certain people have bigger electric bills than mine but I'm cranking over 3 KwH in grow equipment alone and your at .8 KwH.

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I beg to differ. There is quite a difference on the side I have the cfl's compared to the side I do not have the side lights. They are making enough visual difference that I am willing to keep them.

legallyflying said:

LoL. What the hell are you even talkjng about, "standard bulb" I didn't know we were talking about light bulbs you buy at home depot. What kind of cheap ass uses "standard" bulbs anyways? Fact is that quality HPS bulbs all put out around 95k lumens which is almost double what a high quality "non standard" 400 puts out. I think the point of the OP was a 600 gets you almost 2x more lumens for 50% more juice.

Fail or no fail, that is the reality of the situation

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Yeah a high quality 600 hps bulb emits that much but someone said something about 45,000 lumens from a standard 400 hps thats when i chimed in about standard lumens my friend if you would bother to read you would know that

I didn't mean to get overly snarky. I did read the post and when I did, I was like wait, that isn't right either. In the end, a long, long,long day at the office got the best of me.
It did seem to me that you were worried about energy usage or cost or whatever. In that respect the 600 is the best bang for the buck as for watts/lumen, it is indeed the most efficient bulb. Also, the benefit you will get from side lighting is negligible IMO and therefore not worth the extra cost but obviously if you feel that its going to make a difference then more power to you (or more power used by you).

All opinions/preferences are welcome. When I first started this thread I was looking to use both my veg and flowering room, wanted more flowering light, but wanted to do it the best energy efficient way possible, due to using both rooms. After having a conversation with wyteberry, I came to the conclusion that my heaters in each room didnt help my energy use at all so not using those would save energy, also not doing a grow in each room using ALL of my lights, and just focusing on one room at a time, which gives me the extra room or energy to play with.

Sounds like you need insulation and a timer on your hood fans to allow the lights to heat the room then turn on.