How I built my upgradeable plug n play CFL reflector system...

CFL's could help to add a touch of bluer light with a standard hps.. With an enhanced bulb I'd agree it pointless..

It's pointless in general... the lumen support would be whatever the HPS provides, and the CFLs wouldn't add anything aside from a very slight tint of white to the color. This is really intended for those who plan on using and sticking to CFLs...

For example, the actual reflector part of this is left over from an HPS system... I feel like I can veg better with my CFLs than my HPS equipment, plus to keep the temperatures down in the veg tent, running CFLs rather than a hot HPS system helps.

CFL's do veg pretty nicely.. Lumen support is irrelevant though.. To keep the best possible leaf chemistry, its best to keep all pigments active if possible..
And light measurement/addition really doesn't work like popular opinion describes it.. Plants don't care about W/m^2, or lumens, or lux.. They care about photon count.. If you're adding photons, you're adding benefit.. The only reason distance even matters is because we aren't growing in a vacuum, and air absorbs/scatters photons.. In a vacuum, all photons leaving the light/reflector would contribute equally at any distance.. (Well technically even a perfect reflector could only collimate light as well as difraction allows)..

born2killspam said:

CFL's do veg pretty nicely.. Lumen support is irrelevant though.. To keep the best possible leaf chemistry, its best to keep all pigments active if possible..
And light measurement/addition really doesn't work like popular opinion describes it.. Plants don't care about W/m^2, or lumens, or lux.. They care about photon count.. If you're adding photons, you're adding benefit.. The only reason distance even matters is because we aren't growing in a vacuum, and air absorbs/scatters photons.. In a vacuum, all photons leaving the light/reflector would contribute equally at any distance.. (Well technically even a perfect reflector could only collimate light as well as difraction allows)..

Click to expand...

I'm not really in this to be Mr. Wizard... Just to grow bomb buds and make money. I use this reflector to keep my vegging plants growing fast enough to take clones every couple of weeks, and it definitely works. My point was just that if I were to add an HPS bulb to it, it would be an HPS reflector as the CFLs would not be improving the setup that much.

Agreed simply substituting one or 2 of those cfl's for HID wouldn't help at all, and probably reduce overall effectiveness due to reflector obstruction.. Thats why I mentioned the difficulty with using them in any single rig together..
CFL's obviously veg fine, and the slightly slower growth can even be beneficial here if you need to keep a perpetual schedule, and if you aren't using 40 then the energy savings are smart..
Blue light in any amount during flowering though can only help.. Obviously the best way is with HID all the way.. (Labs typically use multiple lamp types with a diffusing panel)..
My point is that if you're using a standard hps, and don't own a small MH to suppliment it, cfl's placed anywhere that they can cast light on your plants without blocking any hps , or causing heat problems is beneficial.. Potency tends to be a tad higher in buds grown with blue, and long-wave UV light present..
Do you use enhanced bulbs, or run hps and mh together yourself?

I use daylight CFLs, and flower with 1000W super hps hortilux bulbs.

Nice grow tech

I'm a hortilux fan as well..

imma e con fan yay lol