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CFL's whats your take
- Thread starter airplane
- Start date
why are you using such a large wattage of cfls? heat?
personally i prefer hps over cfls, id rather pick 70w of hps over 150 of cfl.
much bigger harvest.
though personally i find the harvest from cfls a little bit more potent, so i add a few to the hps.
with the footnote that if you are doing it for heat reasons, then i know of others who have done so with success, having tried hps..
but aside from heat consideration i dont know of a good reason to choose cfls over hps, unless for use in small veg rooms.
(and unless it was difficult to score lower wattage hps´s)
personally i prefer hps over cfls, id rather pick 70w of hps over 150 of cfl.
much bigger harvest.
though personally i find the harvest from cfls a little bit more potent, so i add a few to the hps.
with the footnote that if you are doing it for heat reasons, then i know of others who have done so with success, having tried hps..
but aside from heat consideration i dont know of a good reason to choose cfls over hps, unless for use in small veg rooms.
(and unless it was difficult to score lower wattage hps´s)
yeah man, there's no way those bulbs you're using are actually 420watt CFL's, ...that figure MUST be the equivolency and not the actual.
...and CFL's work fine for all stages of life, even flowering if you understand their limitations.
...CFL's are also a great place for a beginner to find out whether growing is something they really want to do or not before investing hundreds on a proper HID setup, ...or for those who don't have those hundreds.
i personally grew using nothing but CFL's for nearly 2 years in a space of similar dimensions as you, ...i ran 4x 7gallon DWC's each with it's own multi-bulb light fixture so i was pulling one DWC every two weeks and i averaged just under 1/4 elbow per bin. (btw, i used nothing but common, easily found, cheap 23 and 26watt bulbs in these fixtures)
here you can see 2 of the bins to the right.
and here you can see my first HID, one of two 150's i'd just bought and that had just been delivered, lol, i couldn't wait to see it at work.
and here you can see them in their final home, lol.
anyway, like i said, CFL's are a great place to get started and you can grow some FINE buds, ...just remember that the chief limitation with CFL's is their lack of intensity so you need to grow many short plants rather than fewer tall plants, ...the light just won't reach the lower parts with enough umph to do any good.
peace, SOG
btw, here are a few of those CFL buds, still weeks away from being ready.
peace, SOG
peace, SOG
I just used 2700k bulbs from veg to finish as I did not want to spend for 6500k bulbs. Worked out ok.
Y splitters and reflectors will double the light and penetration of the light(the side light from the 2 bulbs will combine). Beer can reflector if that is all you can do or a good large clamp reflector.
Check out blynx in micro section if you have not already.
Y splitters and reflectors will double the light and penetration of the light(the side light from the 2 bulbs will combine). Beer can reflector if that is all you can do or a good large clamp reflector.
Check out blynx in micro section if you have not already.
S
Space Ghost
They are great for veg and 'ok' for flowering...
<<<<grown with assortment of cfl's
but like many others have said, I'd much rather grow with hps for flowering it at all possible...
SG
<<<<grown with assortment of cfl'sbut like many others have said, I'd much rather grow with hps for flowering it at all possible...
SG
LetsSeeYa
Member
My first indoor was with CFL's and it really impressed me. I had pretty hard buds and it was killer. I used 65k lights at first but with not much cash i started flower with a mixture of different spectrum's. I would do it again, but im using LEDs. The issues are the heat and like you said a longer flower time. But using hook lights to add four lights to one light is very bright so 3 of those in a scrog IMHO would do well.
It may not seem like it, but in the long run a 150hps in the long run is cheaper. The longer electric, venting the heat and they need changed at the least ever other grow. They do last a long time, but the intensity just isn't there like the first run. But ya cant find money on trees now so if your using them just maybe save your pennies to get an hps some day and in the mean time rock the CFL's.
Good luck my friend,
LSY
cfls are only less inexpensive the first run yeah.
and with small wattage.
once you start going multi, all those lightfixtures and cords are gonna add up, plus the cfls dont last as long as hps bulbs.
30 per bulb? yeah, but its 4x30= 120
and not alot of lumens, at top 20 000, you can get 2 600w hps for that price and 180 000 lumens.
and then adding the cords and the whatnot and replacing bulbs sooner and all the computerfans.
while a hps costs anywhere from 50-200 bux. (buy a small hps, 150-250 and you wont need much more fans than with similar of cfls.)
bulbs actually less expensive than cfls and especially when you compare efficiency.
on the hps, the ballast is remote placeable. reducing heat, cant do that on cfls without some trouble.
cfls plus get hotter as they get older, lots hotter.
and lose intensity faster.
plus its lots more work, using cfls, much more fiddling with the plants and lamps, always moving something about to make it fit better.
and with small wattage.
once you start going multi, all those lightfixtures and cords are gonna add up, plus the cfls dont last as long as hps bulbs.
30 per bulb? yeah, but its 4x30= 120
and not alot of lumens, at top 20 000, you can get 2 600w hps for that price and 180 000 lumens.
and then adding the cords and the whatnot and replacing bulbs sooner and all the computerfans.
while a hps costs anywhere from 50-200 bux. (buy a small hps, 150-250 and you wont need much more fans than with similar of cfls.)
bulbs actually less expensive than cfls and especially when you compare efficiency.
on the hps, the ballast is remote placeable. reducing heat, cant do that on cfls without some trouble.
cfls plus get hotter as they get older, lots hotter.
and lose intensity faster.
plus its lots more work, using cfls, much more fiddling with the plants and lamps, always moving something about to make it fit better.
not saying this to sell hps.
im saying this cause ive run multicfl setup, large cfls, t5´s , mh setup and now im using a 600w setup. (im a daily smoker, cant do with less.)
if the current setup does ya fine, keeping on doing as you are doing hey why not, but you could probably get better results with a 150w hps (less electricity and fans.)
and have an easier time of growing at the same time.
im saying this cause ive run multicfl setup, large cfls, t5´s , mh setup and now im using a 600w setup. (im a daily smoker, cant do with less.)
if the current setup does ya fine, keeping on doing as you are doing hey why not, but you could probably get better results with a 150w hps (less electricity and fans.)
and have an easier time of growing at the same time.
they work ok . but there are better lights
joe guy
Member
Agreed with yesum up there with the 250 that's what I'm using for 4 plants. It works pretty damn good. I was using 2 4foot 2 lamp t8s with mixed spec. Alternating red and blue with 2 40 watt 2700 and did real good but with my used 250 hps I can see a way big diffrence I got it for 40 bucks online not sure if I can say it but ill risk it and just say its a list lol... super cheap and crazy better so look around and find one cheap and see if this is really for you sum guys don't like it after they spent a shit load of money on brand new stuff. All I have is one 7 or 8 inch tabel fan on the floor and a six inch I super getto riged on the hood to cool the light rite back into the room lol no venting what so ever except when I open the shead up
heatherlonglee
Active member
See SSO's post #13. I had all those problems with the cfl's. You will get good bud if the rest of your room is dialed in. You would use less electricity and get a bigger harvest with hps.
