Watts of CFL per square foot of growspace?

[RemyDuron]

I'm building a cabinet and trying to decide how many CFLs I should use. I know more light is always better, but I'm afraid there will be a heat issue if I use too many. I have like 2.3 sq. feet of space (like 15 inches by 22 inches), and I could fit up to 12 CFLs (maybe more). With the CFLs easily available to me I could get over 300 watts (I may be able to find beefier ones, I'm not sure).

Also, is it safe to use aluminum tape on a power strip to hold it to the wall?

 

[Ca$h]

there may be actual mounting things on the back of your strip.. the kind that push over a screw head and slide down. I saw a strip the other day that had that, so I'd check before taping.

And I'm running 100 watt per plant right now, that's MH though .

 

[RemyDuron]

there may be actual mounting things on the back of your strip.. the kind that push over a screw head and slide down. I saw a strip the other day that had that, so I'd check before taping.

And I'm running 100 watt per plant right now, that's MH though .

I'm thinking of doing a mini-sog, so that wouldn't be possible.

Yeah, my strips do have those mounts, just need to get some screws. Thank you.

 

[bobcat1963]

Check out this forum,if you have not already https://www.icmag.com/ic/forumdisplay.php?f=65545 they pack a ton of cfl's into small spaces.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

I got 130ish watts in around 2 sqft of floor space (or, one plant) and I'm very happy with how its working out. Check out the link in my sig for pics.

 

[RemyDuron]

I got 130ish watts in around 2 sqft of floor space (or, one plant) and I'm very happy with how its working out. Check out the link in my sig for pics.

Beautiful plant. Okay, I think I'm going to try 8 and see how that goes, and I can throw in another 4 if need be.

 

[Blimey]

My cab is 17" x 17" (by 28" height) and I run 88 watts psf of CFL.....it's not excessive.

Link to my grow, if you are interested: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=153752

 

[thal]

If you can afford to get it, go with the Pl-L lighting. You'll get more lumens per watt and I believe less heat.

 

[LoKey]

If you can afford to get it, go with the Pl-L lighting. You'll get more lumens per watt and I believe less heat.

yes the do run cooler, and take up less space but cfl's are defintely quick and easy.

Right now im running 161watts for a 1.6ish sqft area so 100w sqft (around 7000lumes/sqft), there are plenty of people using lower lighting density out there and getting awesome results, i have none in this cab so i cant say, but have run similar density's for good results.


The biggest thing in my opinion is just how your go about your cooling, if you put them all behind a pane of glass or lexan and have a separate cooling fan for them your laughing, cause it just means you can use alot smaller or QUIETER fan for your carbon scrubber

 

[thal]

Sounds like you have a great veg area setup. I'm still constructing my new one. I looked at getting PLLs but I've decided I need a little more light than that. I'll be using 100W of LED and 400w of CMH. I LOVE CMH lighting. I like plants that have a lot of tight nodes, and CMH does a great job of getting plants to express those traits.

 

[pinecone]

I'm building a cabinet and trying to decide how many CFLs I should use. I know more light is always better, but I'm afraid there will be a heat issue if I use too many. I have like 2.3 sq. feet of space (like 15 inches by 22 inches), and I could fit up to 12 CFLs (maybe more). With the CFLs easily available to me I could get over 300 watts (I may be able to find beefier ones, I'm not sure).

I would advise asking this question in the micro grow forum as a the forum gets more hits from growers that actually use CLF lights. CLFs are very different from HIDs in the amount of heat per watt and light intensity.

Also, is it safe to use aluminum tape on a power strip to hold it to the wall?

I wouldn't imagine where this would be an issue.

Good Luck

Pine

 

[horhey]

Im as new as you remy so take this with a pinch of salt, im running two 125watters w/o reflectors til i can buy/diy them and my temps with 1 and no internal fans were quite warm; no thermom unfortunately, but the top of the cab felt like a television after a few hours use, and inside was slightly warmer. My cab measures 30hx12wx9d inches.

Iv since fitted another 125watter, but a hung a bog standard (80mm i think) pc fan blowing air across the 2 or so inches between light and tips of plants. The cabs temp is surprinsingly around half the temp of a single 125watter, and you have to put your fingers about 1-2cm before u feel any sort of "cfl hotness".

Theres another one in there blowing diagnolly upwards, and my temps seem very safe but the plants now require watering once every 2 days as opposed to 3. Therese also a psu in there powering the fans which must have added a few degrees, i only have a few holes drilled in the back for exhaust

guess the point of that ramble was my larger cfls seem to be easily cooled with pc fans even low quality one, but as your running many smaller ones, you may have to arrange a few fans to cover half a dozen each, as i only have two right next to each other to deal with.

 

[TeaHateSea]

With CFL's I would be less concerned with "watts per sq. ft" and focus more on the spectrum balance and the light penetration of the individual bulbs. So if you were to fit 12 23w bulbs your canopy penetration is pretty weak but sounds great when you say 120 watts per sq. foot. The larger bulbs offer better penetration deeper into your canopy but produce more heat. Mounting your lights behind glass seems to work well for a lot of users and may be your best option.

I personally prefer to use as many of the larger bulbs as I can matched with a substantially large fan also.

 

[Voodoo]

My cab is 17" x 17" (by 28" height) and I run 88 watts psf of CFL.....it's not excessive.

ABSOLUTELY AGREE! The minimum CFL wattage for flowering per square foot is about 45watts, however they will be VERY small buds. You really should focus on bringing the wattage up to 70-100watts per square foot with CFLs. Yeah, its a lot of bulbs - but they're cheap and emit about zero heat.

My flowering area is a 3x3 under 690 watts. 9sqft - 76.6 watts per sqft. The results are the same as any 600 setup I've seen. Currently my average plant is about an 18 inch cube and is producing about 2-3 ounces of dry weight. I may step it up to a 1000watt setup here, just cause its getting fun pulling more off the plants.

 

[MrFlyinHigh]

CFL's sound great, I just moved too a MUCH hotter place. I have always used HID's, but now I may change unless I install an air conditioner in the grow room lol. Do you have the CFL's on top only?

 

[gsmoked]

i am waiting for a 300 w cfl red spec anyone used them got any feedback onthere grow wondering how good they are

 

[cacamal]

I'm building a cabinet and trying to decide how many CFLs I should use. I know more light is always better, but I'm afraid there will be a heat issue if I use too many. I have like 2.3 sq. feet of space (like 15 inches by 22 inches), and I could fit up to 12 CFLs (maybe more). With the CFLs easily available to me I could get over 300 watts (I may be able to find beefier ones, I'm not sure).

Also, is it safe to use aluminum tape on a power strip to hold it to the wall?

I wouldnt worry about getting beefier ones as more is better with cfls. That way you can hit more bud sites directly with the cfls. They do not penetrate or carry light that far so If you have many on "wyes" you can hit multiple bud sites on each plant with its own cfl and get more weight than if you were to stretch a higher watt single cfl over the whole plant. Heat is not an issue with cfls.

 

[gsmoked]

i have a 300 watt cfl red light and im using 3 23 watts to cover middle sections of the plants for my af bb rom dutch passion

 

[smokeymacpot]

Heat is not an issue with cfls.

it can be..

 

[cacamal]

it can be..

really? I mean ive blown up cfls when the city was giving out freebies so people would switch over and granted i never used them in a computer tower type but ive used literally 40-50 in a small closet and never had issues esp compared to hid