hid lighting mh or hps

[Pals]

Originally Posted by jim blanford

That's what makes this crazy hobby much fun. Jim.

When it comes to information, I think "That's what drives us much crazy about this hobby!" would be more accurate. I was in the same situation as lamellata whilst looking for lighting: footcandles, lumens, kelvin, sodium, metal hallide, fluos, compact fluos, mercury vapour, blended mercury, T5, T8......aaaargh
I'm no lighting expert so maybe you need sodium in a basement but I'm fortunate that I get north daylight so perhaps that's sufficient red without using sodium. (Going to attempt to attach photos of the growroom light but even re-sizing pics are still more than the max 19k). I like the metal hallide light, its a clean, white colour and very pleasant to be in.

Pals

[s1214215]

Hi Everyone

How many footcandles/lumins might I expect to get from a metal halide unit say 100cm/40 inch from the bulb with a 6500k bulb (150 or 250 watt)? I am curious as I am still debating using T5 or MH for my orchidarium when I build it.

I plan an orchidarium that would be 90 or 100 cm from bulb to the tray bottom.

Brett

[kavanaru]

just my
in this thread you can see the light intensity I could measure at different distances from my two different T5 Sets:

FYI: Light Measurements under T5 lamps

they provide light for about 100 plants, and to be honest that's too much light... I have to add some filter for the mid-light plants (Cattleyas and Catasetinae are ok with it as it is, even though they are on the high side!)

T5 are not THAT expensive (at least not in Europe, therefore I expect them to be cehaper in USA) - OK, the lamp set was expensive in my case, as i bought some especial good looking set-ups

[jkhom]

I was looking at MH / HPS also. I read that the HPS give off an unnatural color although the spectrum is supposed to promote flowering and MH is supposed to promote for plant growth. Optimal set-up is supposed to be a combination of both, but that's a lot of power and heat.
I think the the MH bulbs are available with different spectrums and would be interested in knowing which one you are using.

[s1214215]

I am interested in this topic as I think both MH and T5 have merits. I am trying to assess what is best for my orchidarium to be built next year. I have yet to decide the height, but if it is T5, then it will be not taller than 80cm I think. If I go metal halide, then it may be taller if it means I can get more footcandles to the base of the orchidarium.

MH have a bit more strenght over distance - correct me if I am wrong here. They do however act more like spot lights that spread over distance, where T5 has greater/more even light spread overall.

From what I have read on various threads, it seems users of T5 are not using them on distances greater than 75cm or so from the bulbs. Where as I have seen MH users applying them to lengths of 1 metre or more.

I note the Grand Cayman Orchidarium is about 1 metre tall, but it uses power compacts that I think are a bit stronger than T5.

As to the colour spectrums available in MH, you can get anywhere from 5000K up to 25,000k bulbs from what I have seen.. You can get quite a range over the internet. Many Marine suppliers sell various bulbs. I am wondering about the Giesemann MEGACHROME Tropic DE 5,600K bulbs as it is designed for plant growth. Would that be around the light intensity needed on a MH bulb?

Brett