Whats better for veg..t5 400 watt or 400 MH cooltube?

[Cona]

I have both a 48 inch t5 8 bulb fixture and also have a 400 watt cool tube metal halide. Which would be better for vegging in my cabnet? I know the heat is less with the be is air cooled so that should dissipate heat.

I am mostly wondering which will grow my plant faster? The halide or t5?

Thanks

 

[WattSaver]

HID better than T5

But your setup is a bigger consideration than raw power.
Is this cab for veg only or is it for full cycle?
How much ventilation can you get?
What is your cab footprint? (2x4x?)

 

[Cona]

HID better than T5

But your setup is a bigger consideration than raw power.
Is this cab for veg only or is it for full cycle?
How much ventilation can you get?
What is your cab footprint? (2x4x?)

iTS A CAB IN MY FLOWER ROOM...i HAVE THE T5 IN THERE NOW...WITH A FEW VENTILATION FANS. My flower room will stay at 76 degrees and when the veg light is on its 84 in the cabnet. Which is a little high for my taste. With the cool tube and the 400 watt MH I could run a duct hose to the cool tube and out into the flower room....so Im thinking it would actually run cooler with the tube...but I may be wrong? Yes my t5 light is 8 bulb and 48 inches wide.....it just fits the cabnet.

Yep its a veg cab only.....so what do ya think?

Cona

 

[mr.tortoise]

If you can keep the heat down off a 400w MH, you should see faster growth with them. I have used two x 4 bulb 4 feet T5s over a 4x4 area and it did very well but I like my 400w metal halide better. Just faster more compact growth.

 

[WattSaver]

iTS A CAB IN MY FLOWER ROOM...i HAVE THE T5 IN THERE NOW...WITH A FEW VENTILATION FANS. My flower room will stay at 76 degrees and when the veg light is on its 84 in the cabnet. Which is a little high for my taste. With the cool tube and the 400 watt MH I could run a duct hose to the cool tube and out into the flower room....so Im thinking it would actually run cooler with the tube...but I may be wrong? Yes my t5 light is 8 bulb and 48 inches wide.....it just fits the cabnet.

Yep its a veg cab only.....so what do ya think?

Cona

8 degree temp difference is too much, sounds like you might need more ventilation in and out of the box. The cooltube could help this a bunch. leave one end open in the cab and duct out through a 4" inline fan. Be sure you have an equal sized passive intake into the box.

My veg box is 18x48 38"tall. I've mounted a 80 cfm bathroom exhaust fan on the wall it works great. My light is a 4' - 4 bulb T8 fixture. I take clones as plants go into flower, the new clones won't get out of the box for 8 to 10 wks
so I'm not looking for accelerated veg growth, but nice tight dense growth.

So your growing style and resources can sometimes dictate your setup.

 

[Stoned4daze61]

I would think the T5. A 400w MH is 30,000-35,000 lumens and is a single light source. The 8 bulb 4' T5 is 40,000 lumens and the light comes from multiple bulbs which evenly distributes the light for more uniform growth. If you have fewer plants and want to veg longer I would say MH because of better penetration, but the T5 will cover a larger area if you want more plants.

Metal Halides are 80 lumens per watt & T5 HO's are 92 lumens per watt so they are actually more efficient. However If the A/c MH runs your room cooler then I would go that route