panhead
Well-Known Member
check my sig for hilarious claims to the cfls!!1
That kills me every time i look at it,fruity buds
check my sig for hilarious claims to the cfls!!1
Well, not to quibble, but I meant that to agree with what you're saying, exactly. Compared to any HID, CFLs can't compete. Relative to the old-school grows people used to try using only standard output shop-lite tubes, CFLs certainly work a lot better. They may not actually be any 'better' or really any different (electrically speaking) but they are very flexible in terms of placement, mounting, adjustment, etc. They make growing in spaces/situations where even a 150W wallpack HPS wouldn't be manageable into a possibility, if an awkward one.This of course presumes that there is a such thing as a CFL (or combination of them) comparable in luminous output to any HID... but there ain't.
What's important, in the end, is that I have medication. Sure, I'd rather yield more per unit of work or cost--but something is better than nothing! To that end, I'm not making myself choose. I have my main 430W HPS grow, and am now experimenting with CFLs in a couple cabinets--mostly for cloning and veg but there is the one experimental cab intended to be a rotating scrog.True... but if you're going to go to the trouble of growing dope indoors and you're going to use a couple hundred watts to do it, wouldn't you rather get some decent quality for your hard work?
Yeah, I didn't mean it that way. In the fixture I built that's comprised of staggered row of CFLs, the layout is designed to allow the scrog's colas to grow up into the space between the bulbs. As I see it, you can't maximize intensity with CFLs, but you can maximize coverage and make sure that as much light at whatever intensity is reaching the plant from every direction. So far as I can tell, this is the big lesson GK is trying to teach people.That's the golden rule according to sellers of CFLs, but it's not terribly useful to you & me. As I have said many times, CFLs don't get brighter when placed side-by-side.
OK, but I'd add this:My revised golden rule of CFL growing:
1) use them on clones, seedlings and for slow vegging mums, they're great for those purposes
2) don't bother with CFLs for flowering, go buy a small HPS and cooltube it if you have a small air volume space to light.
Great point here, and all those following. Agreed fully.Relative to the old-school grows people used to try using only standard output shop-lite tubes, CFLs certainly work a lot better. They may not actually be any 'better' or really any different (electrically speaking) but they are very flexible in terms of placement, mounting, adjustment, etc.
Yes, CFLs will maintain the mums fine in a situation where you infrequently need cuttings. You won't have to prune back and discard the excess plant material not needed for cuttings as often as you would when using HID lighting to maintain them. However, over 8 weeks, even under CFL, your mums will need pruning back a couple of times.hey al, rule 1 of cfls. when you say slow veggin moms, do mean in a situation where i may be doin your setup on a four weeks rotation, or even if i just fill a whole room every 8 weeks and keep the moms under cfls for the 8 weeks wait?
Fytogreen do advise you to soak Fytocell in nute soln for 24h before use- that's the instruction as printed on the bag. However, I find that packing pots with wet Fytocell is a messy pain in the ass. I pack my pots with 25-50mm of RW floc then fill the remainder with dry Fytocell. I'll then flood the pots from the bottom in the flood trays and also from the top with a spare pump and hose, making sure the material is well saturated before plugging in plants.hey Al i found the last bag of fytocell and i got it. the question is should i soak it for 24 hrs. in the nute. solution? is that what you do? also my tap water is 250 to 320 ppm would it be best to use RO with this high ppm? thank you for your invaluable expertise.
Do they use chlorination where you are? I've been in U.S. cities where the chlorine in the tap water can be smelled in the glass.I've never had a problem in any hydro op (nor been advised of any) caused by municipal tapwater.
Very cool, but you may find that the local water department sites and reports linked to by the EPA has more comprehensive information. Mine has three pages of TDS readings from various checkpoints in the distribution network.thank god i havent cleared my history in 2 weeks....
thank god for the history and search function aye???
EWG Investigation | U.S. Tap Water Quality Database enjoy folks!
Chlorination is used in just about all modern municipal reticulation systems around the world.Do they use chlorination where you are? I've been in U.S. cities where the chlorine in the tap water can be smelled in the glass.
Also, with specific reference to tapwater:Pool Chlorine Smell
Many pool owners complain that the swimming pool water is not really clean, but they can smell the chlorine so there must be enough in the water to ensure disinfection.
Unfortunately, if you can smell chlorine, the swimming pool hasn't got enough - strange, isn't it?! What you can smell are chloramines. These are formed when insufficient levels of free available chlorine react with ammonia and other nitrogen-containing compounds (swimmer waste, sweat, urine, etc.), resulting in their only being partially broken down (creating halomethanes).
To confirm this, measure the free available chlorine and total chlorine. You will be able to calculate the unwanted, irritating combined chlorine compounds as follows:
Combined chlorine = total chlorine - free chlorine
You will probably find that there is little or no free available chlorine and too much combined chlorine. A chlorine shock treatment or other pool water sanitiser is necessary to complete the disinfection and dissipate the combined chlorine.
The combined chlorine in the pool water can also be destroyed with a non-chlorine shock if you prefer not to use large quantities of chlorine.
Chlorinated tapwater will not hurt plants. It is the indoor grower's friend. It suppresses pathogens in the pipeline and in your tanks, at least until it evaporates out of solution. If you can smell chlorine in the tapwater, there's more hazard potential from pathogens not killed due to insufficient chlorination than from the chlorine.My water smells like chlorine. I don't like it. Why does it have to be in the water?
Chlorine is a very effective disinfectant used kill any harmful bacteria that might be present in the water source. The amount of chlorine that is used is based on several things.
1) the amount of water being treated;
2) the number or amount of contaminants that must be controlled: and
3) the length of time the chlorine has to react in the water before the water reaches the first customer.
If the water has a chlorine smell, it may actually indicate that not enough chlorine is being added to the system. By increasing the amount of chlorine used at the treatment plant, different forms of chlorine are created in the water, which have less chlorine odor.
Now, that's interesting. I keep reading about how I need an RO system to remove chlorine, and that it will kill my plants. It's often suggested that if you don't have RO, you should leave muni water out in an uncovered container for 1 - 2 days if you can, to allow the chlorine to evaporate, and that you can aerate it violently to speed the process.....Chlorinated tapwater will not hurt plants. It is the indoor grower's friend.
he hit on that a few pages back...i think he said 200 plus is pushing it. Anything you wouldnt drink, you shouldnt be feeding to your plants perse.... especially with the tanish/bronzish/brownish tint to the water...yuck!Now, that's interesting. I keep reading about how I need an RO system to remove chlorine, and that it will kill my plants. It's often suggested that if you don't have RO, you should leave muni water out in an uncovered container for 1 - 2 days if you can, to allow the chlorine to evaporate, and that you can aerate it violently to speed the process.....
That's all superstition and nonsense? I'd be cool if it were. My tap water is 200PPM, not so bad, so I'd like to avoid buying an RO system if I can. (The city reports the chlorine levels at the sampling point closest to me to be 1.2 PPM -- it seems hard to imagine that little could cause an issue....chlorate levels, on the other hand, are higher.)
It's clear. And I do drink it.he hit on that a few pages back...i think he said 200 plus is pushing it. Anything you wouldnt drink, you shouldnt be feeding to your plants perse.... especially with the tanish/bronzish/brownish tint to the water...yuck!
wow!!! that took alot of searching!!!!It's clear. And I do drink it.
Yep, that's about it.That's all superstition and nonsense? I'd be cool if it were.
Haven't had to buy a meter of any sort in years (probably 7 years in the case of my Truncheon- it's branded NZ Hydroponics and the company has since even changed their name to Bluelab), just have replaced the probe tip on the Eutech pH meter every couple of years.and mannnn im just gonna try that hanna...ill report back to you on the quality...when was the last time you went meter shopping?