cfl veg / hps flower?

hey fellas never posted on here before but ive had abit of a look around.
just curious...

20 plants
2x 1000 hps for flowering
and it's a toss up between two 600 mh for veg or cfl's ????

I want lower electricity bills so I'm not red lighting myself but I still wanna get as close to 1g p/w as I can.

opinions? and suggestions on cfl types would be good

I would use T5 for veg they work great

hi cfls and tubes work great, you can place them almost touching plants which makes them very efficient lumen-wise for smaller plants. MH give off a lot of heat so they can't be placed as close but they are much more efficient, putting out more lumens per watt than cfls and tubes. This page explains lumens and the differences between mh and cfl in great detail.

I thought CFL's were great for veg and they are, but they don't compare to how fast a MH will veg a plant.

I am doing a combo of cfls and mh right now and it seems to be working nice. the cfls can be close to the plant and the mh is off in the distance but still giving the lumens. If you had to choose one of the I would choose neither lol....HO t5 man!

smoketoker90 said:

hi cfls and tubes work great, you can place them almost touching plants which makes them very efficient lumen-wise for smaller plants. MH give off a lot of heat so they can't be placed as close but they are much more efficient, putting out more lumens per watt than cfls and tubes. This page explains lumens and the differences between mh and cfl in great detail.

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does putting the cfls closer really make a difference how close do u have them ?

Use a t5, it will do better than any mh or hps with the right bulbs (Aquaruim reef bulbs). Lumens are like greek mythology it was a way of explaining what the eye saw a long time ago. Lumens are visible light , the light we see and plants only absorb about 5% to !0% of visible light. Plants mostly absorb infrared light.You want to give the plants what they need and not waste light that they don't use It's all about spectrum(where the spectrum peaks thats the intensity of the light.) and PAR (Photosynthetically Available Radiation.). Hids are about 10% par where the sun is 100%. With the right t5 bulbs , you can get up to 96% par. You can control the combination of spectrum which you can't with led's.

below is the spectrum graphs of the bulbs i use for t5,

View attachment 1786905View attachment 1786907View attachment 1786917

thanks guys.
hyroot have you got links to the reef lights? and how many wud I need for 20 plants?

Me, I'll use what makes plants look like these after only 3 weeks of growth... MH

pot tato said:

thanks guys.
hyroot have you got links to the reef lights? and how many wud I need for 20 plants?

Click to expand...

http://www.thehydrosource.com/Lighti...ntum_T5_Badboy

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/lighting/t5-lamps


4 BULB - VEG = FIJI / RED / BLUE / FIJI ................................................BL OOM/FLOWER=SAME

6 BULB - VEG = FIJI / BLUE1 / 75.25 / FIJI / RED / BLUE2 .....................BLOOM/FLOWER = Replace 75.25 with RED

8 BULB - VEG = FIJI / RED / BLUE1 / 75.25 /FIJI / BLUE2 / RED / FIJI .....BLOOM/FLOWER = Replace 75.25 with RED

BLUE1 = UVL Super ACTINIC @ 420nm
BLUE2 = UVL 454nm
RED = UVL RED SUN 630nm
FIJI = KorallenZucht FIJI PURPLE 630nm & 440nm
75.25 = UVL 75.25 (VEG ONLY)


I have one quantum badboy 8 bulb over 15 girls. It depends on how big you are going. For flower I use 3 UVL Red Sun and 3 Fiji Purple and for blue I use 2 ATI T5 12000 K Aqua Blue Special. It has has a higher blue spike and red and green too. You def want a green spectrum. use at least on aqua blue. for veg the 75.25 is fine. that has green too.

These bulbs are designed to grow reefs and penetrate 3 feet plus of water

plants do absorbs green spectrum in the 320 to 440 nm range

I have a 1000w with a hortilux next to it and I'm doing a side by side comparison. When the ones under the 1000w are done, I'm selling it and getting 2 more T5's. Almost no heat. No ventilation, less wattage, the quantum badboy is the only t5 that can run on a 240 too.

I'm vegging under on 6 bulb sunblaze with same bulbs. I do have 6 cfls over 7 moms in 3 gals but that's because it only cost 30 dol to do

Dude, in my opinion, save yourself the trouble, put 1 1000w in veg and 1 1000w in flowering and skip other lighting. You are blessed to have that setup; I would kill for it. You will have plenty of coverage with a large hood like raptor, or xxxl. Consider it playboy

stumpjumper said:

Me, I'll use what makes plants look like these after only 3 weeks of growth... MH

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my light will destroy yours. even it had a million lumens my light would still kill it.my light is 90% PAR your is 10% PAR.Yours only has 10% usable light thats such a waste. T5'sbulbs don't degrade like hid's do. I save so much money on electricity and not having to replace bulbs. I used to have 2 400 w mh 2 400w hps and 2 1000w hps. I still have the 1000w. like I said im getting rid of it. HID's is prehistoric technology. Plasma Lights are the best. They are like 99.8% Par. But they 3500 per light

hyroot said:

my light will destroy yours. even it had a million lumens my light would still kill it.my light is 90% PAR your is 10% PAR.Yours only has 10% usable light thats such a waste. T5'sbulbs don't degrade like hid's do. I save so much money on electricity and not having to replace bulbs. I used to have 2 400 w mh 2 400w hps and 2 1000w hps. I still have the 1000w. like I said im getting rid of it. HID's is prehistoric technology. Plasma Lights are the best. They are like 99.8% Par. But they 3500 per light

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Let's turn this into a pissing contest.

brokenturtle3102 said:

Dude, in my opinion, save yourself the trouble, put 1 1000w in veg and 1 1000w in flowering and skip other lighting. You are blessed to have that setup; I would kill for it. You will have plenty of coverage with a large hood like raptor, or xxxl. Consider it playboy

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too much heat, to much electricity. waste of money. 1000w costs more than my set up. I paid 200 for badboy and 190 for the bulbs.

http://www.thehydrosource.com/Lighting/Fluorescent_Lighting/T5_Fixtures/Quantum_T5_Badboy

or contact Green Coast Hydro. They make Quantum or so I"m told by the owner. I couldn't find any ownership details on their sites

hyroot said:

too much heat, to much electricity. waste of money. 1000w costs more than my set up. I paid 200 for badboy and 190 for the bulbs.

http://www.thehydrosource.com/Lighting/Fluorescent_Lighting/T5_Fixtures/Quantum_T5_Badboy

or contact Green Coast Hydro. They make Quantum or so I"m told by the owner. I couldn't find any ownership details on their sites

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He said he is already using 2 1,000ws for flowering, he is looking for a veg light. Might as well split them up cowboy

brokenturtle3102 said:

Let's turn this into a pissing contest.

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just don't cross streams

he can use those same for veg. you only swap out 1 bulb when you switch to flower. yeah use what you can. if you are able too thats the right way to go. I was saying what I use and the difference and the truth about light

View attachment 1787278

I do t5s for veg and they work great but I think 10 plants under 1 1k light is too much. U can do 6 per 1000 get the same yeild and have a harvest every other month if u do it right and u won't have as many tiny nugs to trim.

That's taking into concideration u know how to clone n stuff.

hyroot said:

my light will destroy yours. even it had a million lumens my light would still kill it.my light is 90% PAR your is 10% PAR.Yours only has 10% usable light thats such a waste. T5'sbulbs don't degrade like hid's do. I save so much money on electricity and not having to replace bulbs. I used to have 2 400 w mh 2 400w hps and 2 1000w hps. I still have the 1000w. like I said im getting rid of it. HID's is prehistoric technology. Plasma Lights are the best. They are like 99.8% Par. But they 3500 per light

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Pics or it didn't happen..

As far as your T5 aquarium bubs destroying my MH... I wonder why the best lighting for aquariums isn't T5's.. the best planted and reef aquariums require MH lighting. Just a fyi... I have a couple myself and am subscribed to a couple aquarium mags. THE BEST aquarium lighting IS HID...

We can talk about plasma but it's irrelevant. Wait till the price comes down.