hey guys,

i've been posting a lot and asking a lot of questions lately... sorry about that. bear with me and i'll be happy to let anyone in my area sample my finished product. basically i'm trying to get the most decent bud i can with my available recources. (isn't everyone?) I have two closets available, a 2.5x2.5x8 and a 5x2.5x8. originally i was gonna go the MH/HPS route, but i feel like i'm losing a ton of growing space that way because of heat. now i'm thinking about cfl's... here's my new idea:

two shelves in each closet, plus the ground for a total of three growing levels in each closet. i figure with HID lights i'll only be able to get one level in each closet because of heat from the lights. if i grow SOG autoflowering lowryder strains (maybe auto kush?) i can fit 16 5L square pots (6.25x6.25x8" tall) on each level of the 2.5x2.5 closet, and 32 pots on each level of the larger closet for a total of 144 plants. it seems kind of ridiculous for such a small space, but lowlife seeds list this strains ideal pot size at five liters and its expected hight at 10-14".

i'd probably use vics super soil, yeast for c02, mylar over all walls, with a huuuge ventilation fan and carbon filter for each closet, and probably 5 42w warm cfl's for each level in the smaller closet, 10 on each level of the larger closet. i can get the bulbs for 8 bucks a piece, maybe less since i'd be picking up 50 of them. is this idea worth looking into? cause if i grew a high yielding strain like thc bomb with HID's i'd probably get 2oz per plant, for a total of 24 oz between both grow spaces providing everything goes smoothly. this way i figure id come out with at least 63oz... and thats at only 7 grams per plant.

is this idea plausible? can it work????

that many clf's in a small space is ridiculous. and not in a good way. 400w HIDs in the end will probably be cheaper, and almost definitely create less heat than 50 cfl's with a better return. yeah i know everyone says cfl's are great because they create less heat--but not 25 in one closet. also IMO co2 without HID is a complete waste of money. i'd say buy 2 hps, and with the money you save set up a decent exhaust.

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thanks for the response freddy. i was planning on HPS/MH at first, but i figured i could grow 3x as many plants with cfl's cause of less heat. i would've thought that 1000w worth of cfl's would produce significantly less heat than 1000w worth of HID lights simply because of the way HID's are designed. HID's still rely on electrical resistance to get the filament inside the bulb red hot, where as CFL's just excite argon gas to produce light. I really have no idea what i'm talking about right now... i'm just making assumptions that seem to make sense. and i just had a longer than usual wake and bake session. so to be honest, i dont even know if any of this post is comprehendable.

it is comprehensible and while your number of lights is too high, your yields don't seem to be

It's not really the heat from the CFL's that is the problem. Usually it's the light fixtures that generate the heat not the bulbs. Just go HPS route IMO. It'll definitely turn out better growing in bulk with HPS. Should do a monster in your other closet with CFL's though!

He's right! I have 2 in a small space and i had to get intake and outakes fans and a 9" fan to keep the temps below 80 C.

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ok... thanks guys. so the obvious flaw in this idea is too much heat. satch commented on how with CFL's, the fixture produces heat moreso than the bulb itself. that seems like it makes sense. in that case, what if i used one third or even one fourth the amount of lights, but upped the wattage of each bulb to 150w with batwing reflectors instead of plain 42w bulbs? i could probably order a wholesale case or something... and i was planning on going nuts with the ventilation anyway.

guys on this forum told me that i could get away with a 1000w hps in the 2x4x8 closet with good ventilation. i can't imagine six 150w CFL's @900w would produce more heat than a 1000w HID lamp. even with the extra 5 fixtures. then again, i am still a newbie and theres a good chance i could be wrong.

how about envirolites off ebay?

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