I was under the impression that you could use LESS wattage for your CFL than you would for a HID light....thereby saving your electricity by maximizing your lumens/watt...of course getting two 200w enviros wouldn't make sense, green_nobody you're totally right on that...same wattage and less light. I guess what I was trying to get at is that if you wanna go with 125w or 200w of CFL, you'd clearly be sacrificing yield, but if that's what it takes to flower your plant, it's better than throwing your plant out But he's right, greenthumb, if you're gonna use up at least 400 watts, you might as well make it HPS....

OH and in either case, less heat is always better, since you're going stealth on this one, shying away from HID (HPS/MH/MV lights that get the job done the best) saves you from worrying about dealing with so much heat.

for your reg, i'm growing since the early 90's and are now in my second full indoor year in which i grow decent yield, and big buds with some potency to them. i have tried it with floro tubes back when i started and went outdoors because i was frustrated about the turn out off this. floros evolution sure hasn't stoped since then but they still not up to a hps, that is an fact, face it. it maybe looks differne in 3 to 5 years but today flowering indoors has still to be done with hps or you face a big ass bill since floros will use far more kWh for the same job.
and with a air cooled hps you can go as close as with a small cfl!

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !

http://http://cgi.ebay.com/400-watt-HPS-Grow-Light-BALLAST-KIT-MH-175-250-600-1000_W0QQitemZ180091506403QQihZ008QQcategoryZ42225 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


yeah im thinking i might get this . . but wouldnt i need a reflector /..? and since that is 400 watts can i still use a lower watt bulb like a 250 watt . . .

Check out these two links if you want a 400w HPS

eBay: 400 WATT HPS high pressure sodium LIGHT FIXTURE ballast (item 320089561187 end time Mar-08-07 11:39:40 PST)
eBay: NEW High Pressure Sodium 400 watt HPS Grow Light w 400w (item 180059683648 end time Apr-03-07 09:48:40 PDT)

Peace

Thanks GN! Still learning, but I'm confused about your statements...are you saying that you'll use more kWh for the same job meaning for the same grow results??? If so, I would remind you that all of my statements are predicated on saving electricity, and compromising results are a GIVEN. I am not a member of the "CFLs are just as good as HPS" school of thought, I was just thinking you could use them as a last resort if you're unable to use HPS for whatever reason.

If you're saying that you'll use more kWh with the CFL's in general, then I respectfully apologize and bow down to your knowledge.

Mostly, I'm not interested in arguing with you, just understanding the whole CFL thing, and I know it's a hot topic, but how would you sum up your opinion on it?? Also, is the wattage equivalency thing true? I mean, I've heard things that led me to believe that, for example, a 100w CFL would be equivalent to a higher-wattage normal tube in terms of it's light-intensity...is that true?? thanks

i really like that one by htg supply . . how many plants can you grow with one of those?>

you got it with the cfls

and the summe of this all:

cfl: great for vegging cheap and almost as good as MH (cfl up to 100Lum/W, MH 120lum/W)

MH: top notch to veg with but not cheap and trick since it deveops a shitload of heat (but big cfls get damn warm too!!)

HPS: still the way to go for flowering (there are even special bubls that can be used for veg which are heavier on the blue side but the sale for up to 3 times the price of normal flowering HPS bulbs!)

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !

Thanks, buddy, I edited my last post and added a question at the end, I'd love an answer if you get around to it!

i wouldn't go with both of them, both are junk!

shop for a horizontal fixture with a hammer-forged non-mirroring bat-wing reflector or go strait for a air-cooled one.

try them if you want to buy a new one High Tech Garden Supply videoman recommend that shop to me. they are fair priced, really fair and got great stuff

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keep the thumb green and the gun oiled, !