Which light to choose?

[drudown11]

400 watt Metal halide, or 4 T-5's. Im in a controversy on which too get. I also want something that will allow me to clone and start seedlings. I need advice from veterans.

drudown11 Reviewed by drudown11 on 07-24-2009. Which light to choose? 400 watt Metal halide, or 4 T-5's. Im in a controversy on which too get. I also want something that will allow me to clone and start seedlings. I need advice from veterans. Rating: 5

[Mississippi Steve]

400 watt Metal halide, or 4 T-5's. Im in a controversy on which too get. I also want something that will allow me to clone and start seedlings. I need advice from veterans.

I use CFLs for seedlings through veg, then when I change over to flower, I add 4ft flouro tubes. They use a lot less electricity, and run a whole lot cooler.

[oldmac]

400 watt Metal halide, or 4 T-5's. Im in a controversy on which too get. I also want something that will allow me to clone and start seedlings. I need advice from veterans.

First, there is a big difference between a 400w MH and 4 (4'?) T5s. The 4 HO T5s are just 216 watts total (4x54w). A 400w MH will give about 38,000 intial lumens and the 4 HO T5s will only produce about 19,000 lumens. The MH will have more light penetration vs the T5s. This is really apples vs oranges.

For clones or starting seedlings you could probably use just 1 4' T5 54w (6000-6500K) lighting abt 2'x4' and get great results. If you are vegging moms or plants taller then abt 2' or have a lot of them, then the MH is better.

You need to figure out how much space you are going to devote to seedlings, clones or vegging. Also think abt the heat build up, the MH is more then twice as much heat as 4 4' T5s to deal with.

Hope this helps you with your decision.

[drudown11]

i wouyld go with the mh but the thing is my room is hot as fuck!!! I have a 1000 watt hps for flowering and it raises the temp by like 10 degrees

[BlewBerry]

I have used both MH and flouros for veg, clones, and seedlings and find that the flours are what i prefer. Clones and seedlings do not like a lot of high intensity light which makes the flouros the way to go in that regard. During veg the plants can definatly take the added lumens from the MH but I have found that it is not that much more benificial than just the flouros. You figure from a cost effective point of view being able to seed clone and veg under flouros and only veg under MH...flouros win. Plus the added low heat and less electricity used, its a win win.

[drudown11]

well thanks alot for all of your advice guys. I will take all of you into consideration when I make my choice.