Lighting.

So I am able to get a 4' 8 bulb t5 system for 50$, veging bulbs included.

How will this fare against me trying to get my hands on a 400w hps. I might not be able to afford the hps, but I can be creative in getting things when I need them.

the T5's are great for vegging ($50 is a good price).... the HPS would be better for flowering

I agree save for the 400w. Use some cheap cfls to veg until you can get a bigger setup.

Bomixius said:

So I am able to get a 4' 8 bulb t5 system for 50$, veging bulbs included.

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That's a good price assuming the bulbs don't have a ton of usage (they lose lumens over time). If you're growing shorter plants (autoflowers, scrog?) it would work ok for you but you'd need some warm (3200-3700k) tubes for flowering.

For taller photosensitive plants, not fimed, scrogged, etc., T5HO doesn't have enough penetration. You'll still get some good bud. I grew 5 plants under T5HO and it produced pretty good. But, not as good as a light with more penetration.

For that price you could try it and see how it works. Be prepared to add some CFLs or a couple LED UFOs to supplement in flower (if they're tall plants).

I was thinking of doing a Scrog, I have limited room, and the yields out of Scrog look impressive.

Bomixius said:

I was thinking of doing a Scrog, I have limited room, and the yields out of Scrog look impressive.

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scrog is a good way to grow and you can keep the plants really short, have kept the plants under 1ft tall (top of the pot to the screen)
I would always use a 400w hps over a t5 in flower, its going to give you a better yield

use t5 thru the whole grow just get some warn white ho bulbs there about 12 bucks a bulb were i am

rob333 said:

use t5 thru the whole grow just get some warn white ho bulbs there about 12 bucks a bulb were i am

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Is that a 4 bulb system? I'm about to pick up a 4 bulb sunblaster setup tomorrow. 50$ can't pass that up. I might actually talk them down to 40.

Bomixius said:

Is that a 4 bulb system? I'm about to pick up a 4 bulb sunblaster setup tomorrow. 50$ can't pass that up. I might actually talk them down to 40.

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yep

Is that your video or a YouTube channel?

I just bought a complete new 400W set-up on eBay for $110. That includes a digital ballast, timer, box with clear tube and both HPS and MH bulbs. If you can't afford that I don't know what to tell you. BigSteve.

Really? 110? I'm going to have to look into it