halfbaked90
Member
I was gonna start and was wondering which produces more and better buds hid when i use mh for veg and hps for flowering or just use t5 led lights instead? Or maybe both? All help is appreciated.
Which is better hid or led?
- Thread starter halfbaked90
- Start date
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
no such thing as a dumb question they say. jk
really there is no "best" light it is all relevant to what the room you are working with and the equipment you want to buy, or even the money you have to spend.
ideally a mixture of light sources is best to try and achieve the fullest spectrum you can. each ligh ha its own advantages and downfalls so ther is no best light.
personally i like HID since it is very intense but unfortunately it is not distributed over a large area thus the need for fancy reflectors, leds are nice too since they provide a great spectrum and low heats, but the light is very focused and does not blend well at close distances(where proper intensity is reached) and cant penetrate large plants
really there is no "best" light it is all relevant to what the room you are working with and the equipment you want to buy, or even the money you have to spend.
ideally a mixture of light sources is best to try and achieve the fullest spectrum you can. each ligh ha its own advantages and downfalls so ther is no best light.
personally i like HID since it is very intense but unfortunately it is not distributed over a large area thus the need for fancy reflectors, leds are nice too since they provide a great spectrum and low heats, but the light is very focused and does not blend well at close distances(where proper intensity is reached) and cant penetrate large plants
wyteberrywidow
Global
Basically he said it best. Although you will get some people come in here and say led is better or hps or cmh. But it all boils down too your grow space and money you want to spend. LEDs works perfect for smaller grows and small amount of plants but on a larger scale hid all the way.
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
he asked what was better for max yield and better buds, and that makes hid the best for him. proven many times over that leds can not compare to hid. a t5 is a floro not an led.
missnu
Well-Known Member
Regardless of space, room, or type of plant...HiD is the best...go look at any other indoor gardening forum...for tomatoes, or cucumbers, or flowers...everyone says the same...there are people that use t5s and CFLs and LED, but HiD is the best and the brightest..do they get hot?--yes they do...so to have the best lights you have to setup a way to manage the heat in the area in which you are working, and if you aren't able, or don't have the money then you can't use HiD, but is some other light as good?--No, but they will work...just not as well.
MajorCoco
Well-Known Member
My personal opinion (which is all anyone can offer on such a broad subject) is that HID is still best for raw light power per $, which is important to my style of growing in flower, but that LED is already the best vegging solution cost-effectiveness-wise.
Very good success can be had with either separately, or both combined if they're done well enough...
Very good success can be had with either separately, or both combined if they're done well enough...
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
they make tubes with Led that fit into t5 fixtures, and if its flouro thats also a GREAT source of light. easy to customize spectrum low heat and you can get the plants in nice and close better suited for small setups like led.
as far as yield goes this would depend on the size of your setup in relation to your plants i could yeild the same with the same amt of wattage using more smaller setups with LED or t5 light. the workload would be slightly more but in essence if i where to use flood tables it could be minimal.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
i love HID but if your plants are less than 3ft(including pot of course 8" avg pot height) i wouldn't waste the wattage, unless you have a lot of them ie. SOG
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
personally i think 400w of t5 flouro could easily outdo a 400w hps, or even a 250 HPS and 250 MH for plants under 3ft.
Justin00
Active Member
how would you ever get 400 watts of t5s at the proper distance to get reasonably similar results? t5's are about what 15watts per foot? so 400/15=26.6 feet of t5 with in 6 inches of the plant.................
i have seen a "few" t5 grows that had some nice plants, they were all single plants under 3ft, normally closer to 2ft.
I would be willing to bet i could identify a plant that had been grown under each of the types of lights (HPS, LED, and CFL) with at least 70% accuracy with only a few pictures.
wyteberrywidow
Global
Yeah watt for watt led (actual wattage) may outdo hps but how much thousands of dollars do u have to spend to do so?
On top of that you would still only be limited to a certain amount of plants when with his you can cover more of a area.
On top of that you would still only be limited to a certain amount of plants when with his you can cover more of a area.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
8 bulb fixture in a 2x4 is (432/
is 54watts per square ft. im not sure i understand you math but if we take into account the spectrum t5 sits then we are talking better than HID, not as intense, but in x2 2x4x5 tents side by side a t5 with the proper bulbs would out preform an HID noy if we where to do a 16 bulb fixture in a 4x4 we would sill kick ass but the plants can get much taller thus lossing its effectiness and the 800w HID would kick its ass. yes there are limitation but as a light source in the right setup they can rock. shit my fisrt grow was with t12s and i still pulled some thick nugs off some bagseed.
missnu
Well-Known Member
Well if we are talking the cost of electricity, or the upfront cost of the lights? because the lights aren't that expensive, once you see the difference in the way they grow plants anyway, and the power isn't that much either not really...I mean perhaps if you have a whole whole lot of like 1000 watters perhaps then it would be a difference...but if you are growing enough to derail your power bill by too awful much, then there is a good chance you are selling it thusly making your money back.
halfbaked90
Member
Thanks for all the help. room is no problem and im thinking im gonna go with hids. Im probably going to start with autoflowers. Should i use mh for veg and hps for flowering?
missnu
Well-Known Member
You can...but you don't have to...I have personally gotten banging results using nothing but MH from start to finish, and have heard tell of others using HPS with great results, start to finish...So...it is up to you. I like MH it is cooler and a nicer color to look at...I am sure there is a reason they say one for one and one for the other...I mean I know it is due to the spectrum, but real life evidence shows me it doesn't matter..
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
uve used MH the whole way thru too i used to like it better than hps till they came out with hps and the added blue spectrum. it almost doesnt matter (hps vs MH) but the the slight differences in spectrum make MH better for veg and HPS for flower and a combo of the 2 for even better results.