hps or metal halide?

hi guys im currently using a 200w c,f,l light, but ive been oferd a 400watt hps with ballast..
or a 400 watt white metal halide..
which one should i go for that will work best with my c,f,l..?
closet grow..thanks

metal halide is good for vegging, hps is good for flowering, also heard of people using metal halide in the last two weeks of flowering to increase resin. if you want to use one all the way through i would go with hps, you can get modified spectrum ones as well so that they get improved veg under them. hope that helps you out a bit

yea cheers,
well my c,f,l vedges fine.. so il use hps for flower..
i will put my c,f,l at the bottom to get the undergrowth and the hps above them?

There is also ceramic metal halide...I just got one, I'll let you know how well it works. It looks impressive to me...let's see what the plants think.

MH for veg, HPS for flower...

If I were you, I would take away the CFLs all together if I was putting in an MH.... the CFLs just kind of take up space, outlets, etc. Cfls do need to be kept within a few inches of the plant, and not having to use them would make everything easier.... but then again you need a flowering bulb..

If you can veg with the CFLs, and then flower with the HPS, you should be good

Hey Benson sounds like a good plan. My 400 watt ballast will take either MH or HPS and I have bulbs for both but haven't used the MH since the first grow when it was new. I had the CFL veg system already fairly well debugged before I got the fancy lights so have devolved into doing it as you mentioned . CFL for clones/veg, HPS for bloom along with a few daylight spectrum CFL's. Just judging by the way the plants act I think there is some lack in the HPS spectrum. Least on the one I have. I know the plants seemed to cheer up when I started adding the CFLs. I have about 6 hundred watters in the bloom area mounted in banks of two about midway down from the big light on 3 sides.

yeah man hps above keep it a good distance away to avoid heat stress and light burn, the distance depends on how well ventilated and wether or not you've got a air cooled hood, i've never personally used cfl's but they are used by some as side lighting like you said.

some say that mh produces a better tasting final product when used all the way through the flower cycle...
but some say hps will yield more compact buds, and better dry weight, and finish a little faster but at a sacrifice in taste.
its all a matter of preference.
personally i go quality over quantity every time so when i use hid, i use MH, and supplement with some 3100k 46w cfl's.
im also noticing that in my few pure cfl grows, the final cured product has been best vs the ones grown with hid. this could be strain related, and as well the cfl's take a long time to finish the sativa heavy strains I prefer.
So lately im rebuilding my setup to do a dual 400w mh with supplemental cfl lighting, sog style. lol hopefullt it works out right, ive invested alot of time and planning trying to do this as cheap as possible, yet get the highest quality final product.

400 watt HPS = 45,000 - 50,000 lumens
400 watt MH = 30,000 - 36,000 lumens

...always check the kelvin of the light. Some HPS bulbs have blue spectrum and can be used for the whole grow, and I believe likewise for the MH...but as you see, you get more lumens with the HPS.
...watch this video, about 60 sec. into it, they explain in more dept. >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_e0tBM6rE

cheers guys..
so should i just get the 400w metal halide
and the 400w h,p,s?
and do away with the c,f,l light.
because the metal halide is a ice white spectrum, and it just looks like a ten times brighter c,f,l light ?
so i might use the M,H for vedge.
and the h,p,s for flower??

benson. said:

cheers guys..
so should i just get the 400w metal halide
and the 400w h,p,s?
and do away with the c,f,l light.
because the metal halide is a ice white spectrum, and it just looks like a ten times brighter c,f,l light ?
so i might use the M,H for vedge.
and the h,p,s for flower??

Click to expand...

if you can get both, why not? But if it were me and had to choose, I would get the HPS, no questions asked. I used T5 HO 6500k flouros to veg. For flowering, a 1000 HPS, with 4 6500K 23watt cfl's on the corners for supplement lighting. Works great.

GL

nice video about the lights mate cheers..

if given the choice between mh and cfl always go for mh, if its a choice between mh and hps go for the hps. only bonus with cfl is saving on the electric bill. only drawback with mh and hps is heat but as long as u'v got good ventilation that shouldnt be an issue. i'd use my cfl's alongside my mh/hps at the bottom or side of the grow especially further into the grow when ur canopy is gaunna stop light penetration at the sides and bottom of the plant.

cheers dura, nice one mate..
wat about using the h,ps and the m,h together?
wud that burn them?

nah it'll be ok as long as u keep them the right distance from the top of the plants and ur obviously gaunna have to upgrade ur verntilation set up to deal with the extra heat. i havent done it with my own grow this time but when i start my next grow in around 4/5 weeks i'm gaunna veg with mh and hps together( although my hps is dual spectrum) and when i move into flower i'm gaunna remove the mh bulb and put in another hps. i prefer two lights in a tent as opposed to one large i.e a 600hps and 400 mh, i feel it spreads the light around better but thats just an opinion.

nice..well its a closet grow with a large fan inside it.
that should be ok?
im going to use the M,H for vedge.
and the H,P,S and 200watt c,f,l for flower.
does that sound ok?

if i was 2 buy a new hps bulb,
or a m,h bulb.
are all the screw in fixtures the same?

most of them are industry standard, it'l tell u on the bulb holder/box.

i searched around the net a bit and i think the standard size is an 'e39 mogul base'. but i'm not totally sure about that. all the bulbs me and my friends have used are all the same size.

nice,nice so if one goes its just a quick look on ebay to get a new one?