400w HPS vs CFL's @ 5700K

T

Tmac123

Member
The question applies to the vegetation stage. Obviously the HPS will be better for the flowering stage. However, I'm not seeing a lot of growth in the vegetation stage. I'm using 4 40w Gro-Lux fluorescents and a bunch of CFL's @ 2700k.

I bought an industrial 400w HPS light for a decent price, but am wondering if I should wait to use it until I flower and keep my current setup, even though it doesn't seem to be doing much for growing. I figured the extra intensity of light from the HPS would make up for the fact that it's not 5700k, but you guys would know better.

Thanks in advance!
 
Whelp, you have to hit your light minimum for vegging. A good veg is necessary for a good flower. Obviously you've done your research and know the diff between MH, CFL, and HPS. I'd read https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/107992-tutorial-growing-cfls.html and get your CFLs in order for vegging. The HPS will be great light but its deficient in the light the plant will use for good veg. Additionally be cautious with using an HID on young plants, if they go under the HID too young it won't necessarily kill them but it can retard growth.

If you're a perfectionist, go all veg light and save the HPS, if you just wanna grow some green, fire that HPS up, its not going to hurt your plants. They'll have plenty of light, the spectrum will be a little off. I've heard from some growers that using high amounts of HPS can induce flowering seemingly at random depending on the plants phenotype.

Using the HPS with the CFLs will work. . . . . . but you could do this better. Your call my friend.
 
Yeah this is my first grow and it's from bag seed, so I'm not too worried. The next grow will definitely go a lot better now that I know a lot more about the finer details.
When I bought the CFL lights, I didn't really know the difference between the difference "temps", but now I know. At least if I fire up the HPS, I'll be able to see the difference once I grow properly in the future.

Also, I bought a few of the 400W HPS lights, so I got a HUGE discount. I plan on selling about 2 of them and then using the profit to get a 400W MH light for the vegetation stage in the future. It seems like that's the ideal growing setup, assuming you have access to both types of light.
 
If you'd like, start your seedlings under your current CFLs and order a conversion bulb. You'll lose a tiny bit of lumens but the MH conversion bulb will plug into a HPS setup. If you got the cash, may as well do it right the first time eh what?
 
Wow, I didn't know there were conversion bulbs. How much do they usually cost compared to normal MH bulbs? And would they have them at Homedepot/Lowes?
 
Depends on your ballast man, some will be at full light in 60 seconds, if you have a ballast that has "soft start" feature (lumatek for example) it can take 5-10 minutes for full intensity. You should def watch your conversion bulb right when you plug it in, don't burn your eyeballs out watching, but right at the beginning the cloud that forms is pretty sweet ;)
 
Forget cfls, forget conversion bulbs. Get a grolux 400w hps bulb, it has extra blue in the spectrum for the veg phase. I use a 600 from seedling to finish. I used to use 2 x 250w envirolites for veg, but would never go back to them after using the dual spectrum bulb.
 
Geozander said:
That last post sounded rather blunt. I do apologise. And it was all imo.
Click to expand...

Nah don't worry about it. I appreciate the input. Someone also mentioned that they used to make HPS bulbs at the 5k+ level. So I'll look into both of those.

How much do you get the Gro-Lux HPS bulbs for? and where?
 
Tmac123 said:
Nah don't worry about it. I appreciate the input. Someone also mentioned that they used to make HPS bulbs at the 5k+ level. So I'll look into both of those.

How much do you get the Gro-Lux HPS bulbs for? and where?
Click to expand...

you will get them at any hydro shop or online. Dunno about us pricing,i am in uk ! They aint cheap but are worth the money.
 
What you'd be looking for given you have a 400watt system if you're interested in a dual-spectrum light is called SonAgro. Search for that, its actually a 430watt bulb in HPS. The additional 30 watts is blue light similar to a MH. This will work for the entire cycle, but remember, dual spectrum is still sacrificing the level blue/white light from MH you're looking for in veggie growth. Back to the same concept, what you have will work, its up to you how perfectionist you want to get.
 
Oh yeah, and @ Geozander. . . . you and I are TOTALLY TO THE DEATH ENEMIES NOW! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY ADVICE! Lawl, jk man, give counteradvice all you can, paints a more balanced picture. The combo bulb ain't a bad call but what I'm tellin the fellow is if he wants to go with the MH for that big burst of blue/white theres conversion bulbs out there so he doesn't run out and buy a MH system. Keep on keepin it real geo. . . . ya bastard. ;)
 
GrizzlyAdams said:
Oh yeah, and @ Geozander. . . . you and I are TOTALLY TO THE DEATH ENEMIES NOW! HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY ADVICE! Lawl, jk man, give counteradvice all you can, paints a more balanced picture. The combo bulb ain't a bad call but what I'm tellin the fellow is if he wants to go with the MH for that big burst of blue/white theres conversion bulbs out there so he doesn't run out and buy a MH system. Keep on keepin it real geo. . . . ya bastard. ;)
Click to expand...

so you are now my arch nemesis! Lol. Like i said it was all imo. I just like keeping my grows as simple as poss. I do appreciate that i may lose some vegative growth, but for simplicity you cant beat the dual spectrum bulbs. Differing opinions are what its all about mate. As long as it dont end up in chaos! Cheers mate. Geo
 
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