cfls vs long fluorescents?

yeah... i know... i'm a flourescent man myself...i was someplace boring and i had access to a comp... so i lost my sense for a second..haha.... but yeah...

you can have the leaves so close to it and don't have to worry about your plant getting burned..(which is a great thing, especially if you're one of those people who don't keep up with your plants every move and your plant gets near the lights while you're not looking)

your pics are inspirational... look like you can use that stem as a weapon... ha, you got some strong looking plants... good job

Thanks hater-LOL.jk- I actually burnt 2 plants when I went away for x-mas a couple of days flowering made them monsters but the burnt ones were males anyway. I lsted the female. Wanted to lst in into a circle, next grow I will. I'll name it loopy.LOL

Sittinherebored- I think the longer ones are a little more watts, google T-5 full spectrum on like e-bay, thats where I got mine w/dwc tub-4gal 8 site,hydroton, rockwool, air pump,n stone. I think it was htg garden supply. All for like 130 shipped.

whats a cfl? [noob] i just started and all ive got are the little flourecent spiral bulbs. i need to save up some money and get a hps light

god420 said:

whats a cfl? [noob] i just started and all ive got are the little flourecent spiral bulbs. i need to save up some money and get a hps light

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Those spiral bulbs are cfls. Use the 6500k daylight bulbs for vegging and 2700k soft white bulbs for flowering. You will likely yield more if you flower with a hps, but cfls are just fine for vegging.

Howard I think you might have that backwards-The cool white bulbs are for vegg-and warm white has more red spectrum for flower. And you can run both spectrums for vegg through flower.

lol had the bulb i just didnt kno tha name but either way hps is the best for the plants

Yea mostly for flowering, Best to use metal halide for vegg, they sell conversion bulbs for a hps ballast. And change to hps for flower .

sweet i need to save up some doe so i can by some off these. how my much would it cost to get the proper hps light setup?

about 130-150. im trying to get one too

Check craigslist for your area, I got tent 400w light hps/mh conversion, and a bunch of extras for 300usd. You can find lights cheap sometimes, I would rec gettting new bulbs though.

I see a lot of *switch to HPS when you flower* . So since they make conversion bulbs.... Why not just use a MH and ballast then switch to HPS conversion bulb. it just seems pointless to go thru all the fluorescent effort to just stick a HPS on it later when the majority of the cost lies within the price of the ballast assembly.

Thats my main problem right there...Even I cant decide wtf I want to use. On one hand you can buy 150 bucks worth of t5 HO, then on the other hand...they sell 175 watt MH *security* lights (ballast included) at lowes for around 100 bucks.

It all kind of boils down to lumer per watt output. Doesnt matter if its a CFL or a tube. X amount of wattage will put out X amount of lumens. 26 watts on a 4 foot will put out the same as 26 watts on a CFL

Tube advantage - Larger surface area of the tube allows light to emit onto parts of plants that a CFL wont touch.

CFL advantage - Cheap as balls. 4 26 watt bulbs run 11 dollars :/ vs. tubes being 10 a piece for 40 watt 4 foot.

Ideally you want a tubes over the plants and cfls on the sides.....But when you cram 4 4foot fluros and 10 CFLS into the project....you might as well just get it over with and buy a metal halide bulb and be done with it <---once again...im still arguing this myself in my head.

since youre a n00b at it...start with a few CFL...if you decide to stick with it, get a low power metal halide (100-175 watt)
in the long run...youre either gonna spend 100+ bucks over time on fluros and trying to angle each one just right...or just spend 100 and get the MH. just my 2 cents. im sure the point will be argued lol.

when i posted this thread i had allready had my 9 5600k 26watt cfl setup with 9 plants. i put 4 40 watt 3000k tubes up now to flower. im just going to get a hps light and hope its worth it

they dont make hps conversion bulbs for MH ballasts. the only reason you can run a mh convo in a hps is because hps bulbs need an ignitor and mh do not. a mh ballast will not start a hps bulb.

and i dont know where you buy your flouro tubes but $10 each is like crack money...fuck that!

and T-5's smoke cfl's anyday.

u can get 2 40 watt 3000k tubes and white reflector for less than $20. walmart

sittinherebored said:

u can get 2 40 watt 3000k tubes and white reflector for less than $20. walmart

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yeah, fixture and everything. i use 3 of these(6bulbs) for veg and they work great. at $10 a bulb i can buy a new 400w hps bulb before i buy 6 tubes.

hm....You sure? becaause according to physics.... E = IxR so regardless of tube design X amount of power creates X amount of lumen.

Solid state electronics (new ballasts) are made to work with hps or MH.

See....I said 10 dollar tubes because if youre using cfls, youre broke. Im not going to rec. anyone getting a 150+ dollar fluoro setup when they are clearly just starting out. besides....its not economicly viable at that point...you might as well shell out 150 and get mh/hps

well...ill just go ahead and save a 2 day long disagreement...youre 100% right. lol. i swear i know nothing about electricity

i didnt JUST start out. this is what i have now exept now the clones are in a planter with 4 26-wtt cfls on them and there are 3 26-watt cfls on the big plants along with 4 40-watt 3000k tubes

WtfWhereAmI said:

hm....You sure? becaause according to physics.... E = IxR so regardless of tube design X amount of power creates X amount of lumen.

Solid state electronics (new ballasts) are made to work with hps or MH.

See....I said 10 dollar tubes because if youre using cfls, youre broke. Im not going to rec. anyone getting a 150+ dollar fluoro setup when they are clearly just starting out. besides....its not economicly viable at that point...you might as well shell out 150 and get mh/hps

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im not sure i understand the first part, could you please explain?

wouldnt these ballasts be considered switchable? you never mentioned newer electronic ballasts.(still too new for me to trust the technology, ill stick with my magnetic ballasts)