Which 250w MH Bulb is better? Or any suggestions?

Hey guys,

I was looking for some 250w Metal halide bulbs and there doesn't seem to be as much good selection as larger watt bulbs.. I found these two PlantMax brand bulbs and was wandering if anyone had any input on which might be a better one given there plus and minuses:

This one has more lumens at 24,000 but the temp is only 4200k: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88105/PX-MS250.html

This one only has 18,000 Lumens but has an almost perfect temp of 7200k:
https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88156/PX-MS2507200.html

Both are about the same price so I guess my main question is, is the drop in lumens worth the better temperature range?

Thanks for the input.

Pazzo said:

Hey guys,

I was looking for some 250w Metal halide bulbs and there doesn't seem to be as much good selection as larger watt bulbs.. I found these two PlantMax brand bulbs and was wandering if anyone had any input on which might be a better one given there plus and minuses:

This one has more lumens at 24,000 but the temp is only 4200k: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88105/PX-MS250.html

This one only has 18,000 Lumens but has an almost perfect temp of 7200k:
https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/88156/PX-MS2507200.html

Both are about the same price so I guess my main question is, is the drop in lumens worth the better temperature range?

Thanks for the input.

Click to expand...

7200 is not the right color for veggie (if anything it is closer to a finisher bulb )
the 4200k is the correct one and the lumen output is higher so that means bigger plant in the end


rem the goal is to mimic natures best day as many times as possible for the plants whole life ........the 4200k is closer to natural sunlight then the 7200 by far

I feel like such a newbie right now asking a question about lighting lol

I always thought 6500k was the best spectrum for veg? So would I be better off having a 4200k T5 bulb instead of the 6500k too?

without seeing the output graphs for the bulbs id go for the brighter one, or just buy both and test, theyre cheap anyway
i use a HPS from seed and its 2100k/26000lm

Pazzo said:

I feel like such a newbie right now asking a question about lighting lol

I always thought 6500k was the best spectrum for veg? So would I be better off having a 4200k T5 bulb instead of the 6500k too?

Click to expand...

yes the 6500k is the most common of the bulbs it mimics a cloudy day .....at that point u want lumen power ideally shooting for somewhere in the 50 60k range for
u would be better off with a lower range one 4200k would be great the 24k lumens is ok the plant will live and do fairly ok

the 250w mh 4200k light is the better of the 2 choices for vegging .......if u are able too i would say increase it to a 400w for the extra lumens (this will give u some more depth allowing the under canopy to get light making more bud sites )

Yea I think I would agree having the extra Lumens would be better as it is a pretty big difference.

Are there any bulbs out there you suggest that aren't super expensive like the Hortilux but are comparable?

Oh and I do have 2 600w (1 MH and 1 HPS for mixed spectrum - I like starting and finishing my plants under the MH) for flowering and I currently have 1 250w MH and an array of T5s and T8s for veg but just adding another 250w to expand a bit. I thought about getting a 400w but the way my space is setup 2 250w lights would cover more area then a single 400w. It's been years since I've done a grow journal and I'm thinking about starting one up again...

I was just put back that you said the 4200k is better spectrum then the 6500k cause I've always thought the mid range spectrum was the least helpful.. then again I'm going off stuff I read 10 years ago too. Now a days it seems like it has a lot less to do with the spectrums and more to do with the wavelengths of the bulb...

Truly the best veg lights are florescent daylight tubes, mounted vertically around the plants and horizontally above the plants.

If I were to have a MH in the veg room it would be 150 watt frosted(MV) MH's, but only to supplement the daylight tubes.

Hey growers im just setting up a new light for the veg room and cant decide on 400w m/h or 300w cfl, any help/advice appreciated i was using a 600w hps but the veg tent is in the same room as my flower tent and heat was an issue which is why i gotta down size my wattage.. thanks.

I use a cermatic metal halide bulb. It comes in 3000K with 80 CRI. I can't see why you couldn't run that both in veg and flower. Check out its spectral graph: Philips CDO-TT 250watt

grapefruitmarmalade said:

I use a cermatic metal halide bulb. It comes in 3000K with 80 CRI. I can't see why you couldn't run that both in veg and flower. Check out its spectral graph: Philips CDO-TT 250watt

Click to expand...

thanks man i go check that link now. cheerz

erbNgrowa said:

thanks man i go check that link now. cheerz

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I didn't give any link because it's only available in Europe. But if you google it you might get better suggestions of CMH bulbs (in the US, still ones made by Philips)