Red CFL supplementation

BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Here I combined 1 3000k and 1 red, both 13w. Should boost growth considerably. There's another fixture like that to the right with the red and whites reversed, so both reds are on the inside. This is just for clones, for the first few weeks. The reds are a new thing I just added today so I can't report on results yet but common sense tells me it should be an improvement. The spectrum is now more than 50% red but there's still enough blue to keep stretching down. Unfortunately, it's hard to find high wattage red CFLs. BTW, do you like my high tech reflector? I gotta put a flap on the front, or bend the pan down more, too much light leaking out from there now that I'm looking at it.

 
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BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
RM3 said:
Nope, but this post seems like an April Fool joke

why would a red party bulb be good for growing ?
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Oh, I don't know, maybe because the spectrum is all right around 680 nm. Does the fact that people sometimes use them at parties make them cartoon CFLs or something? Last I heard, red was red.
 
RM3

RM3

Well-Known Member
BobCajun said:
Oh, I don't know, maybe because the spectrum is all right around 680 nm. Does the fact that people sometimes use them at parties make them cartoon CFLs or something? Last I heard, red was red.
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got a link that shows that bulb with that spectrum ?

most colored party lights are just reg cfls with colored plastic coating
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
RM3 said:
got a link that shows that bulb with that spectrum ?

most colored party lights are just reg cfls with colored plastic coating
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I really don't know how they're made. I would have to look more closely. It doesn't say "party" on the base. It says red CFL, which would be misleading if it was just a white bulb with red plastic on it, not to mention that the plastic would melt.
 
W

WeedBulbs

Member
BobCajun said:
Red.
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What this means is that your bulb is "filtered" red. This means that under the filter (ie if you scratch it off) the light is white and the filter is only allowing red color to escape. You are losing all the other color which is simply being blocked.

With this type of bulb, white when off and red when on (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018PSHMYU)... you are getting native red light and 10% blue from the phosphors in the lamp. It appears red-orange because of the 10% blue.
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
WeedBulbs said:
What this means is that your bulb is "filtered" red. This means that under the filter (ie if you scratch it off) the light is white and the filter is only allowing red color to escape. You are losing all the other color which is simply being blocked.

With this type of bulb, white when off and red when on (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018PSHMYU)... you are getting native red light and 10% blue from the phosphors in the lamp. It appears red-orange because of the 10% blue.
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You may be right. Probably got ripped off yet again. I'll have to investigate more I guess. This bulb doesn't have anything on the outside but maybe it's a filter on the inside. Do you have any source that say colored CFLs are filtered white? Because all I could find said it used special phosphors. I know that blacklight CFLs filter out the visible light, which is why they get very hot. However, why wouldn't the red ones also get very hot if they were absorbing most of the light energy?

I did find that red fluorescent phosphors put out a red in the 611 nm band so probably not much good for plants anyway. Just another waste of money apparently.
 
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BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I found out that you can get red CFLs with 620 nm peak from here. This page shows that plants use 620 nm red. So the lamp should be usable, especially if mixed with the 658 nm ones they also have. As for what color band the ones I bought are, who knows? The page about photosynthesis says that 400-520 is absorbed maximally but that from 620 to 700 has low absorption. So maybe it's not even worth supplementing with red because it looks like blue is much more usable.

Here's a good page on plant spectrum requirements. Most plants can use a wider range of red than you might think. Here's a quote;

"Most plants had photosynthetic action near or over 90% of peak at all wavelengths from 610 to 680 nm, and near or over 80% of peak from 590 to 685 nm."
 
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BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I used my DIY spectrometer, a CD, and the red bulbs showed only red, while the 3000k showed red,green, blue etc. Here's the page about DIY spectrometers. This page has some good info about making a full spectrum light. Apparently Feit and TCP brand of blue colored CFLs use real phosphors but cheap ones use filtered daylight spectrum for blue. I'm assuming that Feit's red ones are also real phosphors, and they look just like the ones I bought.

Here's a weird thing though. TCP's red CFL specs say it puts out 925 lm, whereas the Feit ones say 25 lm, which is like 2 lm/w. Those may actually be filtered. TCP specs also say CRI 82, which seems unlikely for a red bulb. Maybe it's bad info. Looks more like white CFK specs. TCP bulbs also look different, more of a matte red color.
 
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Indagrow

Indagrow

Well-Known Member
I got some 730nm red LEDs that screw into regular outlets.. Look around on amazon they where like 5 bucks each? Mine where for the far red idea as just supplement for 15 mins at lights off.. Fuckers where bright tho not sure on output tbh
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Indagrow said:
I got some 730nm red LEDs that screw into regular outlets.. Look around on amazon they where like 5 bucks each? Mine where for the far red idea as just supplement for 15 mins at lights off.. Fuckers where bright tho not sure on output tbh
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Thanks, I may take a look. I currently use a 60w incandescent blacklight bulb for far red. Unlike CFL blacklights, incandescent ones put out mainly far red and a little UVA, which won't hurt. I run it for 5 min EOD, which is the abbreviation for End Of Day which is used in many articles about far red at lights out.

BTW I mentioned using a CD as a crude spectrometer before. Here's a video which shows it.

 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I put a couple of the 13w reds in with my main light, 230w of white COBs. It's surprisingly red in the tent with the LEDs off. This pic got washed out from the flash but you still see pink on the sides. With the LEDs on, you can't see red at all. Just looks white in there, though a nicer looking shade of white than the 4000k COBs alone. It has better CRI now. That's a Kushy Kush in the foreground, 3.5 weeks.

 
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