Lighting Question

Hey guys,

well i originally had a question about bulbs that i pretty much solved myself so i decided to edit my thread. Now i have a new question... Would two GE Fluorescent Plant and Aquarium lights be enough for a grow with two plants? and, Would the color temp they emit, 3100K, be OK for the flowering? The bulbs are 40watt, 48", T12's and they emit 1900 lumens. I am growing an the autoflowering strain, Lowryder #2 X AK47, if this helps at all. As of right now i am planning on going back to the store to get another one of these with a few additional low wattage 2700k bulbs as an additional lighting supplement.

hope to hear from you soon this time.

Hey man. I think it's all about trying to make the ideal setup. The 2700k is ideal for flowering, but if you have the 3000k they'll work. Especially since that's all you can get. I would suggest adding some cfl's in there too if you could. They have the 2700k spectrum all day just get a clamp light (or two) with a Y splitter on each and it should help out a lot. You probably won't be growing High Times cover shots, but they should still grow.

Good luck

There's no "lighting requirement" really. The rule of thumb is around 6K for vegging (5000K -6500K) and then using (2300K -3500K) for flowering. This is to simulate what the HID lighting does. Hps lights are around 2300K and MH is around 6K. Bigger buds = bigger lights. You can grow bud with 2 cfls, but your buds will get much larger with 10 cfl's per plant.

Some people swear by using 2300K throughout the whole grow while some swear by using 6000K the whole grow. It's up to you.

Chomps said:

Hey man. I think it's all about trying to make the ideal setup. The 2700k is ideal for flowering, but if you have the 3000k they'll work. Especially since that's all you can get. I would suggest adding some cfl's in there too if you could. They have the 2700k spectrum all day just get a clamp light (or two) with a Y splitter on each and it should help out a lot. You probably won't be growing High Times cover shots, but they should still grow.

Good luck

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Thats exactly what i was thinking. I dont really wanna spend any more cash that i dont have and HPS lights are expensive in more than one way. So if i just get a few extra lights i figured i'd be alright. thanks for the advice man.

purplehazin said:

There's no "lighting requirement" really. The rule of thumb is around 6K for vegging (5000K -6500K) and then using (2300K -3500K) for flowering. This is to simulate what the HID lighting does. Hps lights are around 2300K and MH is around 6K. Bigger buds = bigger lights. You can grow bud with 2 cfls, but your buds will get much larger with 10 cfl's per plant.

Some people swear by using 2300K throughout the whole grow while some swear by using 6000K the whole grow. It's up to you.

Click to expand...

I get what you are saying but at 10cfl's a plant, i might as well buy a 125w grow light.

Exactly

I was actually thinking that i would just go back to Ace Hadware and pick up another light fixture and put in 2 3100k 40watt GE fuorescent tubes. I was also gonna get like 4 2700k bulbs and place them around the bottom of my grow box. I figured that would be enough light and cost roughly the same as a 125 watt light. Good news though, planted the seeds at 3am last night.