about cfl lights.

No higher wattage is better with CFL's because of the penetration, penetration is everything when it comes to light.

People work round the penetration by using lots and lots of small CFL's and placing them within 1-3 inches of each part of the plant, covering the plant with light.

The other option is to use high wattage CFL's I use Maxibright 250watt CFL's and I swear by them over lots of little ones. Too much adjustment is needed.

With only one plant small lights adjusting often could be better for coverage, (grow 4 small ones and make it perpetual if its a percy grow, that way it will be worth while) lots of small ones would be better.

I would recommend a 250 or a few 50's (like 7) all around the heads on 4 little plants ofset so you always have some smoke :)

Just my stoned ramble :) Take it or leave it.

Mouse
 
mouse said:
No higher wattage is better with CFL's because of the penetration, penetration is everything when it comes to light.

People work round the penetration by using lots and lots of small CFL's and placing them within 1-3 inches of each part of the plant, covering the plant with light.

The other option is to use high wattage CFL's I use Maxibright 250watt CFL's and I swear by them over lots of little ones. Too much adjustment is needed.

With only one plant small lights adjusting often could be better for coverage, (grow 4 small ones and make it perpetual if its a percy grow, that way it will be worth while) lots of small ones would be better.

I would recommend a 250 or a few 50's (like 7) all around the heads on 4 little plants ofset so you always have some smoke :)

Just my stoned ramble :) Take it or leave it.

Mouse
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thanks man. i love your name. mouse haha
 
mouse said:
What kinda setup are you looking at ?

Mouse
Click to expand...

Hey mouse, i have used the maxibrite 250watt once when i couldnt get an envirolite, i think youd prefer the envirolite over maxibrite anyday, much brighter and bigger yeilds. I know i said envirolite had gone bust but the same bulbs are also sold by 'plug n grow' so try this company. Please trial these bulbs as i was in no way impressed by the maxibrite or any other large cfl companies except envirolite and 'plug n grow'.

I run a 250watt red and 250 watt blue for flowering, they do get quite hot and still need an inline for the larger sizes.

Correct as well, two 25watts will not penetrate as well as a 50watt but whereas two 25watts might give you more light spread a 50watt will give you tighter bigger buds. Always go for the single biggest wattage lights. I dont recomend lower wattage cfls though, flouros are better at handling 100watts than a 100watt cfl just i cant flower with 400watt hps due to space and heat issues. Peace
 
mouse i have a question--dont want to hijack thread---i have 30inch highx36 inch wide x22 inches deep box i have 7 100 watt clfs to raise 2 lowryders--will that work ok? spectrum is 6500 for veg
 
EDIT : Are they daylight equivalent or actual 100 watt ?

Honest opinion. Go buy a 400 watt hid and air cool it. 600 if you can it will obliterate anything else on yield and honestly compared to that much wattage of CFL's, hids are pretty cool lol its all about engineering your setup towards high yield in the first place. I used to run 750 watts of CFL goodness and now I rock out with two 600 watt air cooled supernova's and I love them. If I could I would cuddle them, they run cold tho, it wouldnt be nice.

Its all personal preference. Do some maths on your lumen output, take into account 'Inverse square law' and bear in mind that only lumens within PAR count towards your lumen total :) Always remember that higher wattage light almost always penetrates further as well.

You will soon work out whats best for you :) Every case is unique you are always best working out what works best for YOU.

Feel free to shoot back some questions but do a little reading on the light topics I mentioned above.

Just the stoned ramble of a guy who likes to grow good pot, take it or leave it.

Mouse
 
They are only really good for vegging if I remember rightly you need 2700k for flowering.....

Mouse
 
Yep a 400watt aircooled or 600watt will certainly destroy any cfl grow, wish i had a bigger budbox to run one but at 1.2 meters high by 75cmx75cm two 250watt cfls are my best and biggest choice. I would assume a 400watt hps would be slightly better than my 500watt envirolites.

I do like the idea of running an air cooled reflector but it means you got to have two inline fans, one for the light and one for the tent, when will they make it possible to split the draw from an inline as i cant run two inlines due to the noise.

What do you think of the noise from a 6inch ruck fan on full speed mouse?? This is my next purchase for my small budbox, the 4inch bathroom inline i got just dont cut the heat from the lights even with a big desk fan in there, got to run with the doors open or too hot, hoping the 6inch ruck will reduce temps enough to close and seal the grow with lights on?? Peace
 
Honestly a 400 watt HID will laugh at 500 of enviro's. I would say one 600 is about 4 250 watt cfl's ish but you can cover so much area and the penetration is so much better.

I used to be a CFL man and now I will never look back.

I run two inlines in my right near my bedroom on a temperature controller and they are only noisy in the day when its hot outside. You could fit a 600 in there if you did it right ;)

I use supernova's and they rock. I use RVK 150 L1 fans with an SMSCOM twin fan controller. Passive intake, carbon filter to exhaust and a seperate run for my lights, to minimise noise keep your duct runs short and straight use silencers if you have to and run temperature controllers to keep it quiet and cool.

Its an expensive setup but 90,000 lumens over a square meter just owns. (you might want to go with a 400 and 6 inch extraction running slowly to keep it real quiet)

My desk fan in the tent makes more noise than my setup except when its hot outside (like midsummer) but its always quiet at night.

Mouse
 
Putting the filter and air cooled hood on a single run will make it LOUD I am afraid. (if you want to keep it cool that is)

Mouse
 
Cheers dude, all my fans will just run straight out the vents in the tent, little or no tubes in between due to small size tent.

One day i will ditch the cfls and become a 400watt owner but not ready yet. You got to admit thoug 2x 250watt enviros over a 75x75cm area keeping all plants 12inches or smaller is a reasonable situation to be in just for supplying yourself. I also plant up a seed every week and harvest every week keeping it continuous, that way i can maximise light in flowering as all plants are at different satges and smaller preflowering ones take up less space.

One more question, what is an expected average clearence with an 400watt aero hood when cooling with a 6inch rvk ?? Peace
 
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