bicycle racer
Well-Known Member
people who use flouros for growing cant for various reasons use hid lighting that said lets not argue about it and discuss ways to make our flouro grows better.
How many (Cfls) Bulbs are you useing
- Thread starter On3Tim3OnLy
- Start date
LOL! You can not argue with that I guess! LOL. Damn it Damn it Damn itLOL...
Ganga89
Well-Known Member
ok getting back to topic, how many cfls are u using. currently i am using an mh lamp but i want to switch to flowering. will one 125W envirolite (red/2700k) do for the flowering stage or will i need more or a bigger wattage. i'm not looking for HUGE buds but i dont want a shitty amount neither. i only want a minimum of 15-20g although the more the better.
mrskitz
Well-Known Member
i live in the uk and i use a 400watter and my bills only gone up by about £20 a month+i have a oscilating fan on 24/7 and a ruck fan too,,,a hid is better than cfls,,,,yes you can get a descent yeild using cfls,,but youll acheive better using a hid light,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,peace
I am using 11X15w cool white (4000k) CFL's plus 2X18 watt cool white T5 tubular fluoroscents and have 80 plants (I'm expecting a lot of males!) vegetating for 24/7 under them. I am going to add another 20 cool white CFL's soon. Altogether that will be 465 watts of light. They are at 7 weeks (day 50). Four of the plants immediately started budding when they reached the 4th node and now have some really nice looking solid chunky 'buds on a stick' tops on them which I estimate at 2-3 gms dry weight. I am assuming these plants are 'Lowryder' or a similar autoflowering strain, but I have no way to tell since they are just from a heavily seeded bag of unknown origins.
I was considering using a 600 watt HPS for budding but the heat is an issue, also the confined space I'm growing in (under a table in my living room) and also, since I don't actually smoke and am growing them for fun (nostalgia) I can't validate spending the extra money on it.
As far as the debate between CFL's and HPS for budding goes, here are some distinct advantages of using CFL's over HPS,
1.) There is a way of wiring CFl's in which you don't require any sockets, so the extra costs associated with that aspect of using them (as mentioned previously in this thread as a disadvantage) can be dismissed.
2.) The amount of lumens a HPS globe emits begins to deteriorate over time, whereas, (I'm not certain of this, though), I don't believe this is the case with CFL's. Therefore, the life of a CFL is possibly longer than that of a HPS. (It might, however, be so negligible an amount of time difference between the life of the two types of bulbs that it's of no consequence though.)
3.) Although CFL's need to be moved regularly to evenly distribute the light throughout the plants, and to some this is a disadvantage, it could actually be advantageous to be able to place them around the lower limbs of the plants, something that's just not possible with a large single bulb such as a HPS.
4.) If the advertised ratings are correct, the wattage of a CFL is equivalent to much brighter incandescent bulbs, for example a 15 watt CFL is supposedly the equivalent to 75 watts of incandescent light. This would mean that 450 watts of CFL light should be the equivalent to 2250 watts of HID lighting, whilst drawing only the charge of 450 watts, if this assumption is correct. The comparative difference in the consumption and therefore the expense of the electricity is going to be an advantage.
On all of these points I'm happy to be proven wrong!
Though this section is specifically for those growing with CFL's there do seem to be a few posters who are HID enthusiasts who are voicing their opposition to the CFL growing technique here. I hope they are not doing so out of malice, but it would make sense that someone who's had a heated debate with a CFL grower might be enjoying venting their spleen on other CFL growers.
Hmmm, maybe it's time to start a thread, 'The Definitive Ultimate Debate Between HID and CFL - What's the Best'?
That should get a few people screamin' !
I was considering using a 600 watt HPS for budding but the heat is an issue, also the confined space I'm growing in (under a table in my living room) and also, since I don't actually smoke and am growing them for fun (nostalgia) I can't validate spending the extra money on it.
As far as the debate between CFL's and HPS for budding goes, here are some distinct advantages of using CFL's over HPS,
1.) There is a way of wiring CFl's in which you don't require any sockets, so the extra costs associated with that aspect of using them (as mentioned previously in this thread as a disadvantage) can be dismissed.
2.) The amount of lumens a HPS globe emits begins to deteriorate over time, whereas, (I'm not certain of this, though), I don't believe this is the case with CFL's. Therefore, the life of a CFL is possibly longer than that of a HPS. (It might, however, be so negligible an amount of time difference between the life of the two types of bulbs that it's of no consequence though.)
3.) Although CFL's need to be moved regularly to evenly distribute the light throughout the plants, and to some this is a disadvantage, it could actually be advantageous to be able to place them around the lower limbs of the plants, something that's just not possible with a large single bulb such as a HPS.
4.) If the advertised ratings are correct, the wattage of a CFL is equivalent to much brighter incandescent bulbs, for example a 15 watt CFL is supposedly the equivalent to 75 watts of incandescent light. This would mean that 450 watts of CFL light should be the equivalent to 2250 watts of HID lighting, whilst drawing only the charge of 450 watts, if this assumption is correct. The comparative difference in the consumption and therefore the expense of the electricity is going to be an advantage.
On all of these points I'm happy to be proven wrong!
Though this section is specifically for those growing with CFL's there do seem to be a few posters who are HID enthusiasts who are voicing their opposition to the CFL growing technique here. I hope they are not doing so out of malice, but it would make sense that someone who's had a heated debate with a CFL grower might be enjoying venting their spleen on other CFL growers.
Hmmm, maybe it's time to start a thread, 'The Definitive Ultimate Debate Between HID and CFL - What's the Best'?
That should get a few people screamin' !
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I thought i would be saving money by using cfl's, but in the end i kept having to buy more bulbs to get better results. In the end, I could have bought two or three hps or mh for the amount of my cfl setup. I have a 200w true bulb that costs 140 alone. I don't even use it anymore.
And why would a watt used by a cfl cost less than a watt used by a halide?I see what you are saying primera. makes sense to me.
And why would a watt used by a cfl cost less than a watt used by a halide?I see what you are saying primera. makes sense to me.
After seeing this, i am switching to all t-12 flo tubes. I think two 24inchers should be able to raise at least 6 plants good.
Guess he showed us.
bicycle racer
Well-Known Member
only count actual watts like 150 equiv is 42watts actual. equivalent watts mean nothing it is for marketing. and they only are comparing to incadescents which cannot be used to grow with anyways
bicycle racer
Well-Known Member
450 of cfl watts equiv to 450 hid watts not more though
eyewtkas
Active Member
Cabinet Dimensions: 34"h x 18"w x 15l" =1.875 Square Feet
Lighting Setup:
Vegging: x4 27w Daylight CFL (5500k) blue spectrum = 108w of daylight 10-14 days.
Flowering: x6 42w Soft White CFL (2300k) red spectrum = 252w of soft white for 60-65 days.
Lumens Per Square Foot during Flowering: 8320 Lumens Per Square foot
2600 lumens x 6 = 15,600 lumens / 1.875 sq. feet = 8320 Lumens Per Square foot
IMPORTANT: When using CFLs (as with any light), you'll want to calculate your Lumens per Square feet and base it against these numbers:
Excellent - 10,000 + lumens sq. ft.
Good - 7,500 lumens per sq. ft.
Fair - 5,000 lumens per sq. ft.
Bare Minimum (and not recommended) - 2,000 lumens per sq. ft
Watts don't necessarily have anything to do with what your plant see's and takes in. It is the light energy given off of the lights that you are looking for. You want to meet these guidelines for lumens per square feet or you simply don't have enough light source from your CFL's to produce good buds.
Lighting Setup:
Vegging: x4 27w Daylight CFL (5500k) blue spectrum = 108w of daylight 10-14 days.
Flowering: x6 42w Soft White CFL (2300k) red spectrum = 252w of soft white for 60-65 days.
Lumens Per Square Foot during Flowering: 8320 Lumens Per Square foot
2600 lumens x 6 = 15,600 lumens / 1.875 sq. feet = 8320 Lumens Per Square foot
IMPORTANT: When using CFLs (as with any light), you'll want to calculate your Lumens per Square feet and base it against these numbers:
Excellent - 10,000 + lumens sq. ft.
Good - 7,500 lumens per sq. ft.
Fair - 5,000 lumens per sq. ft.
Bare Minimum (and not recommended) - 2,000 lumens per sq. ft
Watts don't necessarily have anything to do with what your plant see's and takes in. It is the light energy given off of the lights that you are looking for. You want to meet these guidelines for lumens per square feet or you simply don't have enough light source from your CFL's to produce good buds.