yea im not exactly sold on that... im not sure i want to use 6+ lights in a 2x2x3 area... i'd rather just stick to 1 100 watt cfl then another 100 watt cfl for veg... but if you find something on leds befor me that would make me lean twards led please feel free to share

200 watts will be some so much radiant, unventable heat, that it is probably undoable. Maybe a 100watt + 2 blue led and 1 red, then add more led as the plants get bigger. Or if you really, really insist on CFLs (tried and true, can't hate if you do), maybe you could make the bulbs into external ballast systems (there is a tutorial somewhere)

why does it matter how many bulbs, other than initial cost? if they run cooler and produce better growth, then why not? Plus, let's say you get 2x100 watts in there, trust me, you will still want more but will not be able to add it.

The question you want to answer is: say with a 27 watt CFL vs a 3 watt blue (or red) led bulb, which one produces more blue (or red) wavelength . I'll find the answer later/tomorrow, you try and look it up in the meantime.

I just feel like you will be let down by the CFLs, but the question is will the LED be that much better to justify the upfront cost? And that we will find out together.

actually, now that you have said you will use 200 watts with built-in ballasts, you might as well look at a 250w hortilux blue mh with external ballast and solve all your problems. You could add supplemental LEDs later in flowering if needed.

yea ? what... u lost me about 4 posts ago ..... i know nothing about spectrum and diffrent lights... and u seem like ur going back and forth..... i have no idea or mabe im just slow

read the photosynthesis and red vs blue links, then I will be happy to answer any of your questions .. I assure you there is a coherent flow to my posts, they don't go back and forth, there is just a lot of info scattered amongst them.

ok i read it the best i could... most of that shit ment nothing to me.. but here's what i got out of it.... plants use mostly light from the red and blue sections and something called like ppr or something to do with photons... basicly the led lights take the most used lights and give the most of those 2 area's which gives the plant optimal light usage... watts and lumens = inacurate in terms of led so u have to look for the photon output or something..... only problem with led's other then the ones ive already listed... is that it doesnt provide a full spectrum there for it has to be accomponied by other "base" lights ? ... is that somewhat accurate.... im gonna go back and read what u wrote again and see if it makes alittle more sence... the only thing im not sure about is... if watts and lumens cant judge the light then how do u know how many lights u need to grow a plant......

Edit: i seem to get it alittle more.... but do u actully know if they work.. or are u just getting into led now ? and im still not sure about the 1:6:1 thing = ? .....

1.6:1 = 60:40 = ratio of blue light to red light

Spectral Power Distribution Curves - If you look at the spectrum of a daylight cfl, you will see that only ~10% of the light is blue. 5% is red, and the rest is green/yellow. 10% of 27 watts = < 2.7 watts going into blue production (because CFL is not 100% efficient). Whereas with the LED, you are getting 3 watts of blue light straight up. (I think - I know it is *all* blue, but is it really 100% efficient? - that we need to answer)

That is the paradox... the answer is there is no simple way to go to websites that sell lights and see which one is the best - marketing is stuck in the lumens/watts mentality and this will not change until consumers become more educated...

To judge lights, first stop looking at it as a "light". Instead, see it as a device that converts raw electric energy into colored light radiation. So the way to judge is how much of the incoming watts convert into usable radiation of the color you need.
Second, get a basic idea of the "inverse square law". This describes how radiation diminishes with distance. Basically at one foot you get full power, at two feet you have 1/4 the power, 3 feet 1/9th and so on.

The only problem with LED so far as I can tell is that they do not have a lot of initial power - past 1-2 feet they will not work as a primary light. However, with only two feet of clearance, you're perfect for LED. Then you add one or two daylight CFLs to cover yellow/green. Why? because beta-carotene, phycoerythrin, phycocyanin are secondary plant pigments that use this spectrum instead of red/blue. However, they are much less abundant than chlorophyll, the primary facility of photosynthesis, and consumer of red/blue light.

The LEDs will solve your heat problem and provide optimal growth... Frankly I can't see more than 1x100watt cfl or 2x65 watt cfl unless you remove the ballasts, in which case you would still be pushing the heat limits. But think with that 100watt CFL, you are only producing something like 10watts of blue, 5 red - the secondary pigments use some portion of the leftover green/yellow energy, and the rest is wasted and just makes your plants *look* pretty green to your eyes. Plus the 100watt is not cold running by any means. Radiant heat cannot be ventilated - and it will be 90deg at least anywhere within 6" of the light, meaning dry, scorched tops.