144 Watt CFL Grow

ok maybe you got me there but it might be worth looking into for someone... maybe a MICROVERT... haha... new ideas I love it (that's like, trade marked ok, so all ya'll keep your mitts off... but say it with me... microvert oooh sexy right?

Mi

thewanderingjack said:

ok maybe you got me there but it might be worth looking into for someone... maybe a MICROVERT... haha... new ideas I love it (that's like, trade marked ok, so all ya'll keep your mitts off... but say it with me... microvert oooh sexy right?

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Microvert sounds legit lol. Copyright that shi!

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! BOOM!

I was thinking of doing a microvert, in hopes of giving each of my plants a little more head room... stll thinking about it.... my idea was a "half-stadium" ie, a little stair case. My light (LED) would go where the wall/ceiling meet and point down on the stairs... wall and ceiling as a reflector (angles pretty much the same as the light anyway, so little needs to be reflected back.

Maybe I could make one o those little things... like the kitchen herb garden, all reay made (You've seen those I'm sure... but something that looks like a dehydrator more all up and circly.. circelly? you know, circufuckinglar

HazednConfused said:

Yeah, I wouldn't use those high wattage cfls. They're pointless to me; they have 200 watts focused 360°, in one spot. I guess they might be decent in one of those gull wing reflectors, but that would just be for the canopy. You would still need more cfls to hit all the spots that the big, hot cfls don't hit, which would be a lot. I've come to learn that a 250w actual draw cfl is not as good as a 250w hps.

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On a Scrog they would still work well. Dont need light under the canopy on those.
Yes, a HPS is going to be better than CFL in most cases. I did just read on another forum that HPS does cause more stretch than CFL. So maybe not as good for a smaller space.

Lucky Luke said:

On a Scrog they would still work well. Dont need light under the canopy on those.
Yes, a HPS is going to be better than CFL in most cases. I did just read on another forum that HPS does cause more stretch than CFL. So maybe not as good for a smaller space.

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A Place for everything and everything in it' place... definitely won't try using small CFLs on a massive tree I guess if I could dress it up like x-mas....

thewanderingjack said:

A Place for everything and everything in it' place... definitely won't try using small CFLs on a massive tree I guess if I could dress it up like x-mas....

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lol..Angel on top..

Lucky Luke said:

I havent done the maths..but u can buy new CFLs at 250w for well under $100.

Im running a single 130w and having no heat issues in a very small space (a fridge). Globe cost me $50.

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Sure but for 129$ you could get a 400w mh/hps/ballast/hangers/timer and wing reflector, You can pull 12-16 zips in a 2x4 with that without the need of daily bulb adjustments, the plant will also grow bigger and faster with thicker leaves ect which reduces the time needed for veg.

Personally growing with cfl's is fun for me, but then i can't get carried away with using my cfl's because i started growing to save money in the first place!
Once you hit 250w and up, an hid will give you way more product vs the cfl's at the same wattage. Chip on board led's can give you even more at the same amount of wattage.

SPLFreak808 said:

Sure but for 129$ you could get a 400w mh/hps/ballast/hangers/timer and wing reflector, You can pull 12-16 zips in a 2x4 with that without the need of daily bulb adjustments, the plant will also grow bigger and faster with thicker leaves ect which reduces the time needed for veg.

Personally growing with cfl's is fun for me, but then i can't get carried away with using my cfl's because i started growing to save money in the first place!
Once you hit 250w and up, an hid will give you way more product vs the cfl's at the same wattage. Chip on board led's can give you even more at the same amount of wattage.

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No argument..but im in a fridge..so 130w seems to be doing ok. Due to the size of the grow space im not moving the light everyday (i havent moved in maybe 5 days (??)

Horses for courses. I really dont think their is one light for all. I used a couple of metal halide in a grow decades ago and the heat was huge.

Lucky Luke said:

No argument..but im in a fridge..so 130w seems to be doing ok. Due to the size of the grow space im not moving the light everyday (i havent moved in maybe 5 days (??)

Horses for courses. I really dont think their is one light for all. I used a couple of metal halide in a grow decades ago and the heat was huge.

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Sorry, i thought you were still talking about my "that would be expensive as hell" reply since you quoted me. There is no problem with using cfl's if thats all you can get away with. I've actually done all that, and its way easier to cool an hps watt for watt once you get into the 300w+ area so yes, any light that pulls big numbers will be hot but the question is which one produces more light and less heat?, im just stating friendly facts though incase anyone wanted to know.

SPLFreak808 said:

Sorry, i thought you were still talking about my "that would be expensive as hell" reply since you quoted me. There is no problem with using cfl's if thats all you can get away with. I've actually done all that, and its way easier to cool an hps watt for watt once you get into the 300w+ area so yes, any light that pulls big numbers will be hot but the question is which one produces more light and less heat?, im just stating friendly facts though incase anyone wanted to know.

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well i was ..idk..lol..i suppose it depends on what is consider high in a CFL grow and the size of room and the environment. (close to the equator for eg)

Anyways..not arguing..just bored.

Lucky Luke said:

well i was ..idk..lol..i suppose it depends on what is consider high in a CFL grow and the size of room and the environment. (close to the equator for eg)

Anyways..not arguing..just bored.

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Lol, whats funny is its fucking hot year around where i live. Can you guess? Very close to the equator and still, i ended up with a 1000w hps lmao. It did take a few designs to work out the cooling but im using dual active ventilation that draws 80 watts with a sealed hood and no a/c. I use lights at night and works wonderfull as long as it doesn't rise past 75f outside.

The stretch with lights depends really, 200 watts of 6700k cfl would probably keep the plant shorter then 200watts of hps at the cost of penetration. The stretch wouldn't really be much at all unless your using a small light in a big room, hell some strains just stretch period..

75F is only 25c...thats not hot.

I was meaning warmer weather high 30s and low 40s C (around 95F up). Swimming type weather.

Its winter here and its 22 c (72F) inside atm and i have a jumper (sweater) on, jeans and about to grab a blanket when i retire to the TV.

^ that post came out a bit weird re reading it the next day.. but i do get 40c (104F) days here in summer (and i live in a cool part of the country)

But yea..CFLs are all about small, inexpensive fun. Unless you got to T5's...??

I recon id go down the LED path if i was going to get serious.

Lucky Luke said:

id go down the LED path if i was going to get serious.

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oooh Luke all serious... do it, get serious, right now, like super serious...

as a hobbyist myself, I got a cheap LED 300W (& 6 CFLs @ ~20 watts each) for my little 3x4x4 cab... it's nice... we'll see maybe I'll try stepping back to higher watt CFLs instead to compare... I assume heat would go up... but also, not sure about LED vs CL at this level either, I wonder how it's effect my production, all other factors staying about the same...

thewanderingjack said:

oooh Luke all serious... do it, get serious, right now, like super serious...

as a hobbyist myself, I got a cheap LED 300W (& 6 CFLs @ ~20 watts each) for my little 3x4x4 cab... it's nice... we'll see maybe I'll try stepping back to higher watt CFLs instead to compare... I assume heat would go up... but also, not sure about LED vs CL at this level either, I wonder how it's effect my production, all other factors staying about the same...

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I know it's "par" that matters, but you could use lumen divided by watts to get an lpw value with all your bulbs, which is all that really matters assuming the light only beams one way.

SPLFreak808 said:

I know it's "par" that matters, but you could use lumen divided by watts to get an lpw value with all your bulbs, which is all that really matters assuming the light only beams one way.

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Well I think the LED should do better... usually get better LPW... and focused PAR, which means more of those lumens working for you... and for targeted light, as it's more directional...

CFL is ~50LPW (when using bigger bulbs... the small spirals do ~65) and need a reflector to re-target light, which still means some light lost... but I think the intensity/penetration can be higher and maybe the additional spectrum isn't so wasted after all... making the efficiency over all close.

LPW for LED are all over the place and there's very little real current info... except Philips and Cree breaking 200 and 300 LPW... sellers focus so hard on par, and tester hardly ever use light measurements, they just set up "comparable lights" (usually, similar wattage)

I got tired of constantly having to adjust my y-adapters daily, as they would love to wiggle out of alignment throughout the day. My makeshift, Reflectix reflector wasn't cutting it for me so I built another one today. I bought some thick, stock cards and foil tape.
Supplies:
Foil tape, boxing tape, stock cards, razor blade, zip ties, y-adapters, Cfls, ring links.

Dimensions:
20.5"Lx14"Wx4"H

There is no reinforcing/bridging components; it's wings' angles are kept by tension created with the two types of tape.

I'm so much happier with this new wing reflector. I'm able to focus more of that light on my plants that had been escaping into my ceiling area with that piece of shit reflector I had.

A few pics of my buds. I think they're going to be some light green, bomb ass buds.

@HazednConfused Nice! How's the smell? )

Mattock said:

@HazednConfused Nice! How's the smell? )

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The smell actually hasn't even set in yet! I can only smell mintyness on my fingers after touching the branches or leaves. It's sativa dominant so it's taking forever for these buds to fill out some and let out that smell!