hps bulb or cfls??

cc2012

Well-Known Member
furious248 said:
okay thanks, I was reading one post and the guy was saying that Watt for Watt lumen to lumen and cost effectiveness that cfls were better off because the for the same price of running you would get say 9700 lumen off hps but with cfls 15000 lumen
200w is 200w and no way a CFL is going to give you more Lumen, you can get em much closer,but Lumens is Lower! 200w CFL about 10,000L and 250w Mh/Hps is 21,000 and 32,000L depending on stage and Bulb

furious248 you could always get a D.B. and run at 250 for first Grow..I've had Great results so far with My Master Blaster Dual Bulb(at first I was Like..Oh shit..I wanted both Mh/Hps bulbs, But after this Grow I think I will stick with Dual)

Just Remember you get what you pay for(I've learned this) the cheap Kits are Ok, Here's the BUT! Tent Quality, Ballast Quality, Bulb, Yo-Yo...IF you have a Grow Space you can use/convert?? skip the Tent for now - Go Digital - Will save you money in the Long Run...and like I said ^^^^ You will be able to run it at a lower setting(for first time round OR even just because Ladies are babies/seedlings) Get Dual(that's up to you) But no swapping Bulbs out) Plants getting more usable light(Mixed) which is why some MJ Growers mix their spectrum(Bulbs) CFL 5400/5600k(Veg) & 2700k(Flower) Ratio of maybe 2:1

Before You spend check out Ballast reviews etc...

Peace
 

pecks

Member
Alrighr bud dont mean to just jump in but u ask for options.the tent u see with the light and filter would probably be perfect.
 

pecks

Member
Like u said u wont to grow some beautifull ladies and light is key as long as ya filter is replacing ya air !!
Good luck for your choice bud
 

undercovergrow

Well-Known Member
team T5 is referring to buying a T5 light and using that instead of the CFLs. ultimately, you will upgrade your lights :bigjoint: and the T5s are great for veg. also, moving CFLs are a pain-at least with the T5 you wouldn't have to do that if you can't do anything about heat.
an HPS is the way to go-what about a 250/400 watt HPS like i've got-i think it is a sunblaze system... nothing fancy, will probably upgrade one day but for now it's rockin'. you could start out with the 250 and if you want to grow more (because you will) :P you can start using the 400.
welcome to RIU and good luck with your grow! :peace:
 

sunny747

Well-Known Member
I 'll get you some pics as soon as I can. I guess we have to host them ourselves now. Is that correct?

One question. If you have a small grow how do you grow without some kind of tent or cab? How would you control odors and reflect your light?
 

sunny747

Well-Known Member
hey Sunny. id love to see your 150w tent set up. everyones hooked ! bongsmilie
peace.
Here are a few pics. This tent actually turned out too large for my light, but I can supplement with cfl's. Measure twice, cut once :) Nice thing about making a tent is that it's easy to change the size. This is 3/4 inch schedule 40 pvc wrapped in Panda film. It's about 4.5 sqft x 5.5 ft tall. I have a 180 cfm fan and Phresh carbon filter attached to a fan speed controller.. one 6 inch for intake. The carbon filter and fan vent through the closet wall into another room. (This is the only way for me to control temps in the closet.) The HPS is a 150 watt Sun System ($80). I mix the spectums of my cfls and mount them using work light reflectors and a 2 way splitter.

I'll also show my veg cab which was originally supposed to be my stealth grow box. I outgrew it in weeks. Now It's just for veg.

I made the intake fan into an inline fan (cost only $10.00) I just took a 2 speed 6 inch tabletop fan and wrapped it tightly in cardboard to make a tube.
 

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Holy Grail 888

Well-Known Member
Here are a few pics. This tent actually turned out too large for my light, but I can supplement with cfl's. Measure twice, cut once :) Nice thing about making a tent is that it's easy to change the size. This is 3/4 inch schedule 40 pvc wrapped in Panda film. It's about 4.5 sqft x 5.5 ft tall. I have a 180 cfm fan and Phresh carbon filter attached to a fan speed controller.. one 6 inch for intake. The carbon filter and fan vent through the closet wall into another room. (This is the only way for me to control temps in the closet.) The HPS is a 150 watt Sun System ($80). I mix the spectums of my cfls and mount them using work light reflectors and a 2 way splitter.

I'll also show my veg cab which was originally supposed to be my stealth grow box. I outgrew it in weeks. Now It's just for veg.

I made the intake fan into an inline fan (cost only $10.00) I just took a 2 speed 6 inch tabletop fan and wrapped it tightly in cardboard to make a tube.
thanks for sharing. its looking good. will this make you self sufficient ?
 

sunny747

Well-Known Member
thanks for sharing. its looking good. will this make you self sufficient ?
Thank you. I figure that with this setup running 150w of hps and 100w of cfl I will be more than self sufficient. I am growing autos right now and I figure I can harvest 1 oz or so per month on a perpetual grow. Mostly I grow for the fun of it. All I require is a little bit of decent edibles to help me sleep. I can hardly wait until my CBD Critical Cure finishes so I can sample that. None of the dispensaries around here are carrying the cbd strains yet.
 

Wait, what?

Well-Known Member
I had a bushy plant under 9x 23 watt cfl's for veg and added a 150 watt HPS for flower, and the difference is amazing. The light penetrates through to the soil. I made the cfl's into side lighting

I think the heat is the same with the HPS, maybe a few degrees warmer. Didn't even add a fan and the closet is fine. I'm going to add another 150 watt HPS soon and take the cfl's down and see if there's a difference there. I honestly don't think the CFL's are cooler
 

polo the don

Well-Known Member
I started out with cfl. I had 16 23w bulbs jammed into a 2x2.5' space. It was HOT in there. I wanted to upgrade soo bad so I got a 400w hid and the temps were actually cooler believe it or not. The
differance in light is amazing. It costed more money to buy all them bulbs sockets an whatever else I had to get to DIY cfl.
When I got my 400 I took those 16 cfls and replaced all the lights in my home with them to offset the cost of running the 400. If you can manage the temps go with hid for better results. It was the better choice for my setup. Go dimmable as mentioned before so you have a range if choices.
Just remember the more you grow the more you wanna grow so your gonna need more light at some point.

My cfl setup was 16 23 watt bulbs for 368 actual watts. Pretty close to the power use of a 400w anyway but without the penetration.
Sorry bout the ramble this coffee and this haze got me going this morning
Good luck
Happy growing
Polo
 

mr2shim

Well-Known Member
Metal Halide for veg, HPS for flower. CFL is ok if you don't have the space. I have a 250w CFL but I still use the 400w MH to veg. But if you have the space and budget there is no reason to use CFL.
 

Holy Grail 888

Well-Known Member
Thank you. I figure that with this setup running 150w of hps and 100w of cfl I will be more than self sufficient. I am growing autos right now and I figure I can harvest 1 oz or so per month on a perpetual grow. Mostly I grow for the fun of it. All I require is a little bit of decent edibles to help me sleep. I can hardly wait until my CBD Critical Cure finishes so I can sample that. None of the dispensaries around here are carrying the cbd strains yet.
im very keen to see how your CBD Critical cure turns out. im very interested in high CBD strains after trying the Cannatonic and falling in love !

how much do you get of one auto in your set up on average ?
 

furious248

Well-Known Member
thanks again for all the help everyone from what I have found out cfls will do the job but if you want to do it properly it's hps, I'm not going to listen to any arguments about cfls anymore, because cfl arguments just don't make sense and hps/hid just makes sense
 

Holy Grail 888

Well-Known Member
thanks again for all the help everyone from what I have found out cfls will do the job but if you want to do it properly it's hps, I'm not going to listen to any arguments about cfls anymore, because cfl arguments just don't make sense and hps/hid just makes sense
one thing i will say though . ive had some extremely tasty results from t5s . however the yield isnt good. but the quality was excellent. if you can hps of course ! .
 

cc2012

Well-Known Member
I will say this CFL's do have their place and uses, and If you only have a limited(small) space and can't afford LED(though You could build your own cheaper) Mh/Hps is just No Go in some situations(Heat and other factors) But point being IN the Right Setup some peeps still do very well with CFL...I mean when I started the First CFL I purchased was a 200w Dual Spectrum Giant CFL, which I got 4oz off 4 Ladies in a 4' x 3' x 8' (Vertical,No Reflector) on My first Grow...Now I can't remember which Forum I joined 1st, but was askin advice and stated what bulb I had gone with and basically got laughed at and told was wasting My time...well Me being a bit of a stubborn git, and hate admitting defeat...went ahead and was quite happy with results, which thinking back to what I knew then and what I know...Hmm I might have to give this another Go....

:twisted:

EDIT: Just remembered I did Top em, and I also let em get too Tall before flipping to 12/12....
 
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