400w hps for £40?

**morp** · 04-03-2007, 09:01 AM

hello, i have an extremely tight budget due to the devils bank taking anything i get away from me.
i will be flowering in the next 3 weeks, was just wondering what would be the cheapest and most efficient option. cost comes first, second by a hair to yield.

okay, the options are:

-400w hps my friend is selling for £40/$70. (although no more cost initially, i am concerned about the electricity consumption. i also probably wont be able to afford a new bulb. i know his has been used for about half a grow...).

-125w envirolite 2700k cfl, i could probably pick one up for around £25 on ebay. if i used this, i would probably through in either another 125w 6400k cfl to add additional lighting (which i already have), or a 85w 5500k cfl which would cost me another £20..

cheers for any input. i know alot of you will instantly say go for the hps, but times are very hard for me right now. roll on chaps!

**Eimer** · 04-03-2007, 09:44 AM

i started out with envirolites,but soon changed to hps,pay less than £10 a week in electric,but thats for everything,the bulb i'm using is on its 3rd grow now and still going strong,and during veg i did a 16/8 schedule instead of the usuasl 18/6,saves a bit cash

**morp** · 04-03-2007, 12:30 PM

cheers eimer, what wattage was your lamp?

**Eimer** · 04-03-2007, 12:33 PM

it's 400 watt hps

**ronbud1963** · 04-03-2007, 03:56 PM

go with the 400 MUCH,MUCH beeter buds thats cheap and itsbarly used.

**OverD0se** · 10-27-2008, 10:11 PM

For my first grow,I did design my own CFL box for about £20 (10 x £2) and the yield was amazing .I Just bought 10 normal cfl with full range of light (6400-2700)... You can use a combination of 6400+5500+2700 and you will not have any problem with elect consumptn. So , I think its better to start with cfl.

**beginningbotanist420** · 10-27-2008, 10:15 PM

If you do the math, you really don't save that much money going with the CFL. I am all for CFLs, but if you can get a HPS and ballast for that cheap, jump on it.

Just my $.02.