what CFL lighting should i get for my grow room ?

[Rafiky77]

hi guys

i am looking to do my first grow using CFL lighting (perhaps moving to HPS for the floweing stage)

i have done much reading on using CFL's on this site, possibly too much as now i am just more confused than i was so i hope you dont mind me asking a couple of questions, you have all been so helpful thus far (i apologise for as this question has been asked many times

my grow room is 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep, with a adjustable ceiling that can go from nothing to about 7 feet high

i only plan to grow a couple of plants, i think i will go for the spiral type CFL's that allows me to focus the light all the way round the plants as well as above, is that ok?

what sort of wattage CFL's should i get? and what type of light, i have read so many threads regarding CFL's that my mind is jumbled up, if you could provide links to the lights you suggest that would be superb

obviously seeing as the height of the grow room initially will be very low i wont need as many? and add more as i slowly raise the ceiling

what kind of CFL light should i be looking for for growing initially, and if i do decide to flower with CFL's should i use a different color CFL or just more

sorry if these questions have all been asked before, i did a search and there was so many threads that it just got confusing

hope you guys can help

Cheers

Raf

 

[reeffermadness]

2700k flowering and 6500k for vegging...1000bulbs.com has a nice selection of bulbs.

 

[Rafiky77]

any particular light type of CFL bulbs i need to get? and different types for vegging? lighting?

a little more in depth a answer would be great

 

[Doctor]

well like reefer said....

you need the CFL's that have a 6500 kelvin colour tempreture (also called cool white, bright white, daylight) for vegging. basically the light should be more blue white than warm yellowy, orange.

doesnt reali matter about the shape of it.....

and as far as wattage goes ... get the highest you can.

on the box you get your bulb in it should say how may lumens it gives out, you need minimum about 3000 lumuns for vegging.

a 20 watt CFL gives out about 1000 lumens... that means about 3 for each plant minimum, but there usallly cheap. i live in uk and mine are less than a pound each (altho i can only get the CFLs with a 2700 kelvin colour temperature, which is still ok, but not good).

also get some reflective cover for the walls or paint them flat white.

good luck growing m8

 

[Droski7]

Has anyone use the EcoFlux fluros that come in the green box that are for aquarium and greenhouse lights. They seem like they would be a good light to use, but the lights are kinda purplish looking, but that is what i had my seed under that were just germinating, and then switched them to a 400W MH and a GlowPanel45, I will be using a 400W HPS for the flowering when that time comes.

 

[Purple Hindu]

youll need 2 42 watt 6500k which puts out 2700 lumens and 3 24 watt 2700k which puts out 1600 lumens (this is from a youtube video and it was for one plant in a 12in by 12in grow space) it was in a box with aliminium foil everywhere and the foil bowed over the light which barley let any light out.

 

[curseofnoob]

well like reefer said....

you need the CFL's that have a 6500 kelvin colour tempreture (also called cool white, bright white, daylight) for vegging. basically the light should be more blue white than warm yellowy, orange.

doesnt reali matter about the shape of it.....

and as far as wattage goes ... get the highest you can.

on the box you get your bulb in it should say how may lumens it gives out, you need minimum about 3000 lumuns for vegging.

a 20 watt CFL gives out about 1000 lumens... that means about 3 for each plant minimum, but there usallly cheap. i live in uk and mine are less than a pound each (altho i can only get the CFLs with a 2700 kelvin colour temperature, which is still ok, but not good).

also get some reflective cover for the walls or paint them flat white.

good luck growing m8

bravo
you explained it well. i was wondering that and i couldnt get the answer although i tried to find it out too many times

thanks

i have 4060 lumens 6500k (3 bulbs) which are 21w+23w+23w.

but does it matter if they are philips+ osram+ GE ?

 

[jonnyblazin1984]

Ok ive been using cfls for quite some time and one thing ill tell you is you can never have to many currently im running 50 23w 2700k for 6 plants in a 3x5 room and in all honesty im still a little under the "claimed" 5000-10,000 lumen per sqft" but the buds are very very nice im adding more caus in all honesty the cfls in my opinion drain the least amount of energy i make ballest from homedepot very cheap and works great 12'x12' piece of plywood.....6,y light sockets....6,waterproof sockets....12 pack soft white clfs....foil super easy super cheap ...but to answer your question remember at least 5000 lumens per sqft so 2x3=6 the multiply that by 5000 you get 30000 and divide that by 1500 "thats the lumen output per bulb 23w that is" and you come up with 20,23w clf lightbulbs min hope that helps you

 

[Thundercat]

I've been using cfls to veg my plants and clones for about 4 years now. In the first couple pages of my journal in my sig line I show the CFL "fixture" I built. It cost about $20-25 or so in supplies, and it allows you to run 8-9 cfls in a 2x3 ft space. I have 2 of these fixtures running now, and each is filled with 24w spiral cfls. I run 8 in each of mine, which is just under 200w. I made a simple hood for them with cardboard and highly reflective wrapping paper actually. Like I said I've been running these lights for 4 years, and have only even had 2 bulbs go out. They work great for vegging moms and clones. I didn't invent the design, but I can't recommend it enough, its simple to build 20-30 minutes, low cost, and very effective.
(24wbulb = about 1500 lumens x 8 bulbs = roughly 12k lumens in a 2x3 or 3x3)

Peace TC