Adding tube fluorescent bulbs to my cfl set up...

So here's a brief overview of what I am running now. Currently I have a small indoor box that I recently constructed that is housing 4 plants at the moment (all about 2-3 weeks old), I am running everything in standard soil with an organic nutrient feeding routine. My ventilation is good for my size and the lights I am using, I have two fans, one for intake and one for exhaust.

My current lighting consists of 6 CFL bulbs (not much... yet). Each one producing 34 watts of power at 6500k spectrum. This is what I plan to use for vegging.

However, I do want to add some more lighting. I only want to use Fluoro lights at they suit my needs best at the moment. However, I want something besides CFLs. I really want to look into getting at least 2 tube fluorescent bulbs just to use to line the grow area and add more lighting throughout the space available to me. But, I don't know what exactly I need for this?

I know how to mount a CFL, it's pretty easy. I've mounted fluoro tubes before but they were huge ones that you would use for lighting in a kitchen or something. Now I want tubes that are about 2 feet in length, and will put out decent wattage.

Can anyone help me out with these lights? Do I need a ballast of some sort to run them? Can I get all of this stuff at my local home depot or similar store? Also if I do end up getting some tubes, should I get more 6500k, or go for a "cooler" light to balance the spectrums?

Any help is appreciated. Ultimately I plan on running one box for veg one for budding. I don't really want to use nothing but CFLs because as great as they are, they don't put out light all across the box in the way a tube would.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Basically what I am asking is what exact pieces will I need to run these lights? I'm creative and can think of a simple yet effective to mount them once I figure out what exactly I need to run them.

My new grows are with CFL's and they are great. But my old grows I used a bank of 2 foot flourescent tubes, start to finish. Had a bank of 5 or 6 two foot tubes in the end. They worked, but not brilliantly, not a massive yield, and the ballasting for them made the grow cupboard very warm indeed. If you can afford CFL's like the ones in this pic I can tell you they work fantastic.. I use dual spectrum ones so I dont have to mess about changing them for veg/flower...

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-125-watt-CFL-6500K-GROW-LIGHT-Kit-REFLECTOR-/290461567280?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a0dbc930

note - these bulbs are physically huge not what i expected - i dont see dual spectrum available on ebay usa but can get them in uk

note - these bulbs are physically huge not what i expected - i dont see dual spectrum available on ebay usa but can get them in uk

Click to expand...

I just bought a 125w envirolite for flowering and the bulb is 10" long, If you go down the route of the bigger CFL`s just make sure you plan it out right for your grow area.

Maybe I'll consider just adding more CFL's then. I feel like I could space them out easily as well. Not sure what a good amount of watts to run for vegging is, but I plan on getting anywhere from 250-400 watts in there.

Then at least 400 for flowering.

You need a ballast, the end pieces that the bulb fits into, and some wire.

The ballasts are tiny http://www.specialty-lights.com/010495.html - you can find them cheaper than this but here is a for instance

The end pieces are around $1.

Gastanker said:

You need a ballast, the end pieces that the bulb fits into, and some wire.

The ballasts are tiny http://www.specialty-lights.com/010495.html - you can find them cheaper than this but here is a for instance

The end pieces are around $1.

Click to expand...

Hmm.. Thanks for the info man! I definitely will have to consider it when more money comes my way. I took out one of my 27 watt bulbs today and replaced it with a 44 watt. It's a 2700k lumen bulb though, but I want to try mixing spectrums SLIGHTLY. That will be the only bulb I will be running at that spectrum in my veg box.

Once I get my ventilation system complete I'll get pics up. My plants are doing well in there and it's a very simple set-up yet rather effective it seems.