Leds suck they are very heavy also,they are great for veg and early flowering but they won’t produce buds like my CFL’s and that says alot.If it isn’t directly under leds buds get small and won’t ripen up.
If I’m tired of lower grow suffering and sativa airy buds.Which light may fix that hps or T5’s?
One, your LED system was not the best by far. A good system will not advertise itself as a 400 watt system and yet only be running actual 200 watts. This LED will only give you the performance of a 200 watt HID at best, not a 400 watt HID. T5s are nowhere near as intense as HIDs, metal halide or high pressure sodium. The reason you saw some better performance from buds real close to the fluorescents is just that, they were real close, and that is the advantage of fluorescent lights, at super close range they may have more lumens than even a HID light at a distance and because of heat you usually can’t get HID as close as fluorescents, its all about the actual lumens at the leaf more than the total watts, but total electrical watts is the only way to compare apples to oranges and to have even kind of a way to compare HIDs, high output fluorescents and LEDs without the actual Lumens/FLUX/PAR data. If you want penetration through the plants canopy to help develop the other buds, you want HPS or a LED system that probably costs two or three times as much as the HPS system, or even way more expensive. If you really know what you are doing you can get a decent mars LED system to work for you but you will need to buy one that actually uses around 350 actual watts to give you near the performance of a 400 watt HID or around 500 watts to give near the performance of a 600 watt HPS.
Also with LEDs, lenses can be very important, you want 90 degrees ideally.
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The only thing that will fix your issues; As you see them; Is, More light.
To answer your question; That would be the 400 watt. T5 is great for seedlings and vegging. When you wan the plants to burst, you get an HID lamp. 
I would go with the hps. If you check out my pic…my ladies from day one have been grown with a 1000 watt hps. The more light the better your plant will reward you.
P.S my ladies are 17 days old and a foot tall.
I would go with the hps. If you check out my pic…my ladies from day one have been grown with a 1000 watt hps. The more light the better your plant will reward you. I got a complete set up for around $127.00 you can google complete light setups
an enhanced spectrum HPS or dual bulb (HPS/MH combination) would be your most cost effective option if you can deal with the heat.after many generations of indoor breeding these plants have adapted to this light. if heat is a problem than T5s are much more efficient and cooler than CFLs.some can achieve 105 lumens per watt and many growers have had successful grows with these. cheap LEDs use low quality components and are not worth the money.high quality leds are very expensive.lumens are not the best way to compare plant lights.radiant power tells you the actual amount of energy the light is putting out and PUR efficiency tells you haw closely the light spectrum matches the absorption spectrum of the plant. intensity and spectrum are both important factors to consider but LED makers are still looking for the best spectrum for their lights.this technology is not quite ready for prime time.you would be much happier with HIDs for large grows or T5s for small stealth grows.one induction light company and some DIYers have added 660nm leds to their fluorescent lights and had good results.the deep red helps during flowering and yields are similar to that achieved with HPS at similar power levels
Wow, things changed suddenly, back to an earlier time, probably a real nice forum improvement. My experience with heat, that t5’s in a small 4’x2’x5’ so called seedling tent made it too hot with eight t5’s going, which damaged several of my plants, but not with four t5’s going, even vented with a four inch votex fan. I designed a shroud to go over a t5 bulb assembly to cool from a four inch vortex exhaust fan drawing in cooler air across the bulb, like a duct cooled hps or mh.
As more practice with this new forum style, I can say I turned on a 600 watt hps dimmable ipower light I have, for the very first time, and wow, very hot. Which is why I ordered a $200 600watt ipower led light fixture for at least vegging, and will hps my plants in flowering in a larger area, my outdoor shed, later.
As a beginner indoor grower, I have been troubled with heat dilemma and uncertainty, almost thinking that a small air conditioner has to be pointed on the grow area, or one air conditioner per tent or grow room, likely not true. Which is why I want to experiment with led for vegging.
My full spectrum LED’s make for really nice buds. I’m not sure where they got their bad rap. Yes, they’re heavy, but well worth the extra weight when it comes to temperature control. I can maintain 75 F in the canopy without having to invest in extra fans or AC units. Perhaps it’s the brand of LED’s?
As far as extra temperature control, I have the input fan drawing from the room the tent is in. There’s an AC in case it gets above 75 outside. I can also move the input hose up or down in the room to take advantage of warmer or cooler air. The HID I was using got so hot it was practically useless even with the AC running full bore in the room.
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Amazing how this thread ran away from the original question. I wonder what happened to ED?
A note for future re: There is noting wrong with making recommendations when a member asks for such. On the other hand; When a member asks a question, we should contain our support to that answer, And; Not Try to sway member away from his original plan.
Thanks for reading; Please apply
That’s ok isn’t.just a bunch guys and girls talking shop and information.I enjoy
Another option you might explore is LEC. I have a Sun System 315W LEC in my 3x3 foot space and it rocks.