CFL for Veg or MH

Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
This is my prob, I am currently running a bubbleponic sytem, wich you can see what im doing if you are curious in my

grow journal. but anyway, im in my first grow and i am using a 400watt MH bulb. I also have a 400watt hps just sitting there waiting on flowering.

My room i am in is 4foot by 6 ft, it is a big room for veg, way to big really for what i am about to do, so this is what i thought,

I am going to buy a tent, 4 ft by 4ft and make that my veg room, i need such a big flower room b/c all i am going to be doing is SCROGing.

So here is where the cfl vrs MH 400watt comes into question and play, would you all advise i just buy a new ballist and reflector, or go with CFL's for the veg room?

I am so curious b/c alot of reasons, i know its the lumns not the watts, so just wanna know what is better really a MH bulb 400watt or get a big CFL and a bunch of small ones,

with CFL's will the watts be lower or will they be the same to hit the right amount of lumns, also what do you think would be cheaper on electrc, a bunch of cfl's of the ballist and a 400watt MH.

Please take just a second to go through my journal to see my setup and pics, there is alot of info there that will answer anything you might wanna know.

I am going for sure to have two rooms, a veg room, and flower room. I will have clones going, 8 going in a veg room, and 6 in my flower room at all times, thus why

i need two rooms, light times, heat temps, just would be alot easier with two rooms, space for me is no prob, just curious what some of you would do, CFL veg room or 400wattHM veg room?
 
chronbudz

chronbudz

Member
To be honest i would most definitely go with the MH light. Weighing out the Pro's vs Cons the MH is going to put out more lumens and the better light spectrum needed for the veg state. Of course if you went to using the T5/cfl's you can still achieve the neccessary wave length needed for the veg state and it would be giving off a considerable less amount of heat and save on the electric. So the decision is more on you, keep the MH for the extra wavelength/lumens, or go with a more economical choice (CFL)
 
Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
chronbudz said:
To be honest i would most definitely go with the MH light. Weighing out the Pro's vs Cons the MH is going to put out more lumens and the better light spectrum needed for the veg state. Of course if you went to using the T5/cfl's you can still achieve the neccessary wave length needed for the veg state and it would be giving off a considerable less amount of heat and save on the electric. So the decision is more on you, keep the MH for the extra wavelength/lumens, or go with a more economical choice (CFL)
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how many cfl's would it take to get around 40000lumns
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Well, I'll tell you right now that a 400 watt MH isn't enough to cover a 4' x 4' area, because the plants will stretch like crazy(sometimes confused with rapid growth.lol) You'd need 2 to cover that area effectively, so I'm going to recommend fluoros. In that 4' x 4' area, you should consider buying some 4' T5's and create a 'ceiling of light'. They kick ass for veg, as long as you don't plan to veg them much bigger that 18-22", because the fluoros don't penetrate the canopy near as well as a HID light. CFLs are a good option too, as long as you take the time to set it up right, making sure you have good coverage and sufficient wattage for growing. Check out some of the other members' setup for some ideas, as I've seen some really nice grows under fluoros. I recently switched from a 400 watt MH back to fluoros, and I will say that I'm totally satisfied. The plants look three times as nice, and are nice and short and bushy. :cool:
 
Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
jawbrodt said:
Well, I'll tell you right now that a 400 watt MH isn't enough to cover a 4' x 4' area, because the plants will stretch like crazy(sometimes confused with rapid growth.lol) You'd need 2 to cover that area effectively, so I'm going to recommend fluoros. In that 4' x 4' area, you should consider buying some 4' T5's and create a 'ceiling of light'. They kick ass for veg, as long as you don't plan to veg them much bigger that 18-22", because the fluoros don't penetrate the canopy near as well as a HID light. CFLs are a good option too, as long as you take the time to set it up right, making sure you have good coverage and sufficient wattage for growing. Check out some of the other members' setup for some ideas, as I've seen some really nice grows under fluoros. I recently switched from a 400 watt MH back to fluoros, and I will say that I'm totally satisfied. The plants look three times as nice, and are nice and short and bushy. :cool:
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Go look at my journal i am using a 400watt MH now and it is great for 14 plants, its ALOT bigger than a 4x4 room too.

its in a basement, keep the room at 72, and area around plants 78-80, humidity at 23%, water temp at 67. dont have any probs with a 400watt MH for my area.

Just a little note to as i said i am in a basement, there is two feet of snow outside lol, and my room has a window in it, so i spend alot of time on my setup. Also i might want my plants to strech a lil b/c i am only doing SCROG grows.

Keep in mind it will be a reflector tent to! just trying to look at the money situation, already spent 90 bucks on the MH light! lol
 
Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
JoeCa1i said:
T5 system will work great,or t8's.But if you get a better deal on a MH system,than get that.
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will look into the T5 and T8's for price, i already have the MH bulb so was thinking just get a cheap reflector and a good ballist,

the tent should do the rest of the reflecting for me. plus i was thinking not to use a CFL setup i need the heat because i am in a basement!
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Moochbuds said:
Go look at my journal i am using a 400watt MH now and it is great for 14 plants, its ALOT bigger than a 4x4 room too.

its in a basement, keep the room at 72, and area around plants 78-80, humidity at 23%, water temp at 67. dont have any probs with a 400watt MH for my area.

Just a little note to as i said i am in a basement, there is two feet of snow outside lol, and my room has a window in it, so i spend alot of time on my setup. Also i might want my plants to strech a lil b/c i am only doing SCROG grows.

Keep in mind it will be a reflector tent to! just trying to look at the money situation, already spent 90 bucks on the MH light! lol
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Not bad, but have a look at my 11 day olds,(18 days since taking the cuttings) under my 6-bulb 200 watt 'high bay' T8s. :wink:
 

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indyman

indyman

Active Member
clf's to mh,here it goes,400mh is about 35,000-40,000 lumens and if u use 68w cfl's and each had 3500 lumens u would need 10 of them to get the lumens and now buy sockets reflectors ect..and now u are using 680watts of elec and there is now more heat from those bulbs than from one 400mh bulb.Now if i cool the mh hood i can get it 6in away from canopy and now the 35,000 lumens is at 70,000 lumens so now think of how many cfl's u need that is 20,so i would say stick with what the best use mh/hps and u will get the best results,GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!
 
Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
indyman said:
clf's to mh,here it goes,400mh is about 35,000-40,000 lumens and if u use 68w cfl's and each had 3500 lumens u would need 10 of them to get the lumens and now buy sockets reflectors ect..and now u are using 680watts of elec and there is now more heat from those bulbs than from one 400mh bulb.Now if i cool the mh hood i can get it 6in away from canopy and now the 35,000 lumens is at 70,000 lumens so now think of how many cfl's u need that is 20,so i would say stick with what the best use mh/hps and u will get the best results,GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!
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best answer yet, +rep thanks
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
It's six 32 watt tubes, which is a hair under 200 watts. I have two of them running now, and I'll tell ya, I like them alot better than that crappy old 400 watt MH. Also, those fluoros are putting out about 40,000 lumens, compared to 25,000 for the MH(if you're lucky, after the bulb degrades a little, which happens within weeks), at the same wattage. The T5's are nice too, but are more expensive, a little less efficient, and burn the plants if they touch them for more than a few minutes. I should add that you can't just go out and buy regular old T8 shoplights and get the same results, because you lose some output with the cheap ballasts they use, and a little more because of the economy reflectors they use. Same with the T12's. They'll work fine, just not as fine as the 6-bulb industrial light I'm using. :)

EDIT: The 400 MH is about 38,000 lumens, initially, not 25,000 like i said above. They still can't get the coverage or output of the fluoros, because the fluoros allow you to place the plants alot closer, while still covering a wide area. :cool:
 
indyman

indyman

Active Member
Moochbuds said:
will look into the T5 and T8's for price, i already have the MH bulb so was thinking just get a cheap reflector and a good ballist,

the tent should do the rest of the reflecting for me. plus i was thinking not to use a CFL setup i need the heat because i am in a basement!
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LISTEN BRO I GOT MY REFLECTOR FOR 105 DOLLARS AT SANTEE HYDRO.COM WELL THE STORE IS CLOSE TO MY HOUSE SO I WENT THERE I GOT A RAD HOOD AND A SWITCHABLE 400 WATT BALLAST AND THE HPS BULB FOR 275 OR CLOSE TO IT!!THERE SITE HAS THERE PRICES AND IF U CALL KYLE THE OWNER JUST MIGHT GIVE U A DISCOUNT HE GAVE ME A 15% DISCOUNT ON EVERYTHING!!:bigjoint:
 
Moochbuds

Moochbuds

Active Member
jawbrodt said:
It's six 32 watt tubes, which is a hair under 200 watts. I have two of them running now, and I'll tell ya, I like them alot better than that crappy old 400 watt MH. Also, those fluoros are putting out about 40,000 lumens, compared to 25,000 for the MH(if you're lucky, after the bulb degrades a little, which happens within weeks), at the same wattage. The T5's are nice too, but are more expensive, a little less efficient, and burn the plants if they touch them for more than a few minutes. I should add that you can't just go out and buy regular old T8 shoplights and get the same results, because you lose some output with the cheap ballasts they use, and a little more because of the economy reflectors they use. Same with the T12's. They'll work fine, just not as fine as the 6-bulb industrial light I'm using. :)
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Hmmm my 400 watt MH puts out 32000, it is the hortilux Blue daylight, MT400D/BUD/HTL,

the retail in the book im looking at is 125 i got it for 90. I have a very very good ballist and better reflector,

i think ill stick with the MH for a few grows anyway, shit i got it might as well ya know
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
^That's pretty expensive, actually. Might be a nice setup, but you can get a similar one for $100 less on Ebay(HTG supply, for example). :)
 
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