HPS 250 whipping my 26 wattx8 6500k cfl's

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Guitarantula

Active Member
Howdy folks. I had been veging under 8 26 watt 6500k cfls. 6 of them in the round metal reflectors you get at wallmart and the y splitters. Day before yesterday my HPS 250 came. I set it up about 12-15 inches above my plants. 33,000 lumens. I turned off the cfls. They were miserable to try and ove around, bumping the fixtures up against each other, no where to clip them, it was a miserable experience. The 5 plants have been under the hps for about 35 hours, and the growth in that time has been STUNNING to say the least. They have risen over an inch, nodes comming out, it's incredible. I would guess they are 12 inches below the relector. One light up above, no trying to akwardly shift those goofy fixtures around I had on the cfls. The cfls are now stored. The HPS 250 is veging these babies just fine. I will tie the plants down later to even out the canopy and move then even closer to the light when I flower them, and maybe then I will add a couple 42 watt 2700 cfls bulbs to supplement.

I gotta say, to me anyway, the HPS people were right on the nose. The heat doesn't seem as bad on the 250 hps as it did with the 8 26 watt cfl's. I am stunned at how they have taken off in just the last 30 hours, it's remarkable. I love the HTG garden 250 watt light. The ballast is wonderful, cool, and ten feet of cable to set it outside my closet. I am SO GLAD I bought it.

Anyone want to buy my 8 26 watt 6500k bulbs? 10,000 lumens of veg light there. I will throw in the socket splitters as well. email me if you do.
 
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drock101

Well-Known Member
i have been determined to grow under only flourescent for the effeciency and the challenge but last night a friend sent me home w/ a great bag of smoke and a complete 250HPS setup to try if i wanted to. Sounds like a no brainer. I just ordered 2 of the Flourex 65w CFL Floodlights which havent even arrived yet. I also have a 42w CFL. Anyone know what mix of lights i should use for flowering approx 2-4plants in about a
2-3sq/ft space? Will (1) 42w CFl be enough supplamental blue light
 
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Guitarantula

Active Member
I got the 250 hps setup at HTG garden. many folks here use them. The 250 is absoluetly the perfect choice for a small closet. My space is small, only about 2 feet by 2 feet, with mylar around the walls. The proportion of light and heat is absolutely perfect for a small closet. I could have gotten the 400 watt for only 3 dollars more, but I was afraid of the heat. The 250 was the perfect choice for a small closet grow, less heat than the 8 cfl's, 232 thousand more lumens, one light hanging above the plants, no moving those inconvenient fixture all over, having them come unclipped and falling, knocking my plants over, it's just incredible. The hps 250 whips the crap out of using those cfl's in every way I can think of, light, heat, convenience, grwoing power, it's just shocking. My god, I only paid $137 dollars total, shipping and everything for the 250. Now, i see HTG has a Hortulux 250 bulb that is enhanced with more veg light and gives off 35,000 lumens instead of 3300 on the one I got. I'll be grabing that one soon. To all you growers out there, sell some stuff on ebay if you have to in order to get a hps 250 for your small closet grow. For god's sake, I sold a little Roland microcube amp, and an old midi keyboard i had laying around, made $140 total on both, and the hps cost 137 total, shipping and all. HTG had it shipped the next morning. I am so thrilled with it that I am just giggly. The 400 watt would have been a little too much heat for my small closet, but later, I will flower when the weather changes here (Tennessee), and then on ebay i see HPS 150 setups for 89 dollars. I might grab one of them to add during flowering, but really, I probably won't need it. I will probably have a couple males, so i will only be taking 2 or 3 plants deep into flower, and as i said, my space is really only 2x2 feet, so I am going to tie the plants, trim the lower leaves and the 250 will be plenty. I only need about 5 ounces a year for personal smoke, so the 250 should get me there in two grows a year hopefully. All i can say is, do what you have to do to get a darn hps folks, of your closet is 3x3, then go for the 400. If you are in a space smaller than that, 2x2 small closet, then the 250 is absolutely perfect, fits like a glove. $137 dollars, $140 for 400 watt, GET ONE, you won't regret it.
 
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Guitarantula

Active Member
drock101 said:
i have been determined to grow under only flourescent for the effeciency and the challenge but last night a friend sent me home w/ a great bag of smoke and a complete 250HPS setup to try if i wanted to. Sounds like a no brainer. I just ordered 2 of the Flourex 65w CFL Floodlights which havent even arrived yet. I also have a 42w CFL. Anyone know what mix of lights i should use for flowering approx 2-4plants in about a
2-3sq/ft space? Will (1) 42w CFl be enough supplamental blue light
Click to expand...

Jeeze, just read the thread you posted to. The 250 hps will be all you need in that small space. My plants are absolutely jumping out of their skin. I have two 42 watt 2700k cfl's i could use for flower with the hps, but when you get HPS, it makes you not want to use the cfl's just on principle, because you get such a low lumen per watt. If I out the rtwo cfls in, then I will be using 84 watts extra, but only getting about 5 thousand lumens for that 84 watts. If I get a 75 watt hps, I would be getting an extra 8 thousand lumens, and using 9 fewer watts than the cfl's. See what I mean? Once you use an hps, you don't even want to fool with cfl's because it almost makes you sick to think about the low lumens per watt, and you can get way more punch for fewer watts with hps. If I need extra for flowering, which i doubt I will on just 2 or 3 plants, I will buy a 75 watt hps and get roughly 8 thousand more lumens. That would put me up over 40,000 lumens for flowering 2 or 3 plants in a small closet. The cfl's are just not worthg it in my book, for heat reasons, convenience reasons (clip on fixtures everywhere, coming unclipped, in the darn way) and lumen power for your money spent. I won't be able to bring myself to plug another one in knowing I could get some much more punch for the same watts with hps.

That 250 is all you need for you small closet, put some mylar around the walls and that little space will be just glowing. I left my closet door open a little lastnight to let them keep getting air, and the glow looked like a darn forest fire was going in there. Three cheers for HPS.
 
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ich1

Active Member
Do you all tend to prefer the 250w hps or twp 150w hps, given price is not an issue and a similar amount of space?
 
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Guitarantula

Active Member
Probably doesn't make much difference. i thing hps 150 gives 16,000 lumens. i don't know if you can get the overdriven bulbs for them. My 250 gives 33,000, and i can get a bulb from hgt that puts 35,o00 lumens, so probably just as good as two 150's, and probably more convenient since there's only one ballast, one light to hang.
 
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drock101

Well-Known Member
i think i was writing mine as the other was being written.
Great info Guitantula...... thanks and good luck
 
Lord Dangly Bits

Lord Dangly Bits

Well-Known Member
WOW, the more I read from this site, the more I think I do not know.

Why are you all useing HPS for vegging?

I use a 400 watt HPS, and (6) 43 watt CFL's for side lighting, When I am in flowering stage. You all complain about moving the CFL's on the clamps. I make it so I can have (6) strings that hang down, these stings can be moved along two different axes, and I can move the lights up and down in seconds. it works nice for me. I can get those lights to shine in on the bud sites that would not get light other wise.
 
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