Help!!HPS or CFL in this situation

Could someone please help me decide what lighting system to get? Im going to be getting a bubbleponics kit and sticking it in a closet. I will use a small fan for circulation/airflow and such. The closet is about 30x56x72 inches.
At first i was thinking i would get a reflector with 3 CFL outlets and use the following configuration of bulbs.

For the ultimate setup possible. Includes a total of five 105 watt light bulbs; two 30K Spirals, two 65K Spirals, and one 50K Tube style bulb. Can be set up to be used for both the pure vegetative and the pure flowering configurations. This setup is 315 watts and puts out 17,000 lumens.

I then saw that the same place was offering an HPS lighting system that would cost me about the same as the CFL setup because of the price of the bulbs for the CFL. The HPS setup is as follows

A 400 Watt HPS lighting system. Produces 45,000 lumens of light. Kit includes one 400W HPS bulb, an EcoStar reflector, remote ballast and a hanging kit.

Both kits will end up costing me about 590 dollars for the hydro system, lights , and all the accessories.

Would the HPS light blow away the CFL in terms of growth and final crop size? Or would it be close because the 17,000 lumens would be so much closer to the plant useing CFL? Also would the HPS light be ok in the closet by itself with maybe just a fan blowing in the closet or would i need a more advanced cooling system for it? It doesnt mention it being air cooled and they have an upgraded model that is air cooled so this one may run cool enough by itself??? not sure...

Thanks in advance

The HPS will need a much larger intake and exhaust fans.. I was debating CFLS or HPS for my first and current grow as well. I have DIY cab 3x4 and decided to go w/ the CFL set up due to Heat HAHA funny thing is I still managed to have light burn. I'm really looking to run both later on down the line. CFL for vegg and the HPS for flowering (easier to control the heat on the HPS during 12/12.) Well I wish ya the best on your grow.

i have advice, but i'm not as experienced as i should be to be giving advice.

i recently got a floralux hps lamp, it's only 150w but it gives something like 16,000 lumens, so for under $100 and for less than half the energy cost you could be right at the lumens you're getting with the cfls. i've been flowering for about 10 days with it and the heat has not been too bad, the plant is within maybe 6" of the lamp. also i built a very modest box to accomodate it and included a small fan, everything seems to be going fine.

i experienced a huge boost in growth when i switched from the cfls to the hps, but it could just be coincidence.

how large of an area will your system take up? if it's under or around 3x 3 ft i think you should check out maybe a 250w hps, theres a forum that sings the praises of it. i think 400w is too big but i've never used one personally, i've just seen how hot they get, and i would never feel comfortable with one in my closet.

there's also more to consider, the HPS doesn't work well for the vegging stage, so maybe the interchangable spectrum of the cfls would be better. you could get an extra bulb to remedy that, they have metal halide conversion bulbs that will go in your hps lamp, or vice versa. they're more expensive than the normal bulbs but you could get away with just using the one set-up. also i don't personally know if there are any pitfalls with the conversion bulbs, i'm just sharing my plans for the next crop.

last thing, i change the cfls in my veg box every grow or so because the lumens degrade, this ends up costly. i would use the conversion MH bulb but i need the two seperate areas to keep the machine turning.

i hope i've helped. good luck

Zoobear ... How well did your CFL grows turn out? Lots of product ???.. To anyone that reads this i have another question.. Can you grow any strain of bud with CFL's... like i know indica's are better for indoor but can i grow lets say.... G13 Haze with 317 watt 17,000 lumen CFL system? Or would i be better off growing something less fantastic??

hps or mh will beatthe shit out of cfl's every time

HID (MH & HPS) are the way to go.

Don't get me wrong, CFL growers have done some really nice things but they just do not compare to HID lighting. Professional growers use HID lighting, so that is why I do (on a MUCH smaller scale of course).

It's the next best thing to using the Sun

Ap0c0leS said:

Zoobear ... How well did your CFL grows turn out? Lots of product ???.. To anyone that reads this i have another question.. Can you grow any strain of bud with CFL's... like i know indica's are better for indoor but can i grow lets say.... G13 Haze with 317 watt 17,000 lumen CFL system? Or would i be better off growing something less fantastic??

Click to expand...

I am running 1 x 200watt 6700K
6 x 63W 2700K (Home depot bought)
2 x 42W 2700K I had laying around the house.

These pics are 5 weeks into Flowering w/ about 4 1/2 weeks of Vegg time.

I do not disagree that an HPS is the way to go, but I'm not looking to grow Ps, a couple Zs is find w/ me. Like I said in the earlier post, I would look at getting both at somepoint if your trying to grow some serious weight. Vegg w/ the CFLS and flower w/ a 400W -1k Watt.