Too much negativity?

I am seeing a lot of comments from people like:

• That's a horrible light, can you get your money back?
• That was a waste of money.
• Those boards are CRAP and have no penetration.

Comments like that are not helpful. There is a balance people make between the cost to procure a light, the power it will output, and the effectiveness of that light. It's like a drag car... sure you can turn a 10 second car into a 9 second car, but it will cost $40K. Just because you can spend twice as much and get 1% better growth, doesn't mean people want to. Sometimes, it can be better to spend less and get "enough" out of your plants.

Instead of being negative about someone else's purchase, let's try to be helpful, positive, and supportive. This site, by its nature, houses a LOT of connoisseurs that spend crazy amounts to get the best out of their plants. Most of the time, this results in spending a LOT more than it would cost to purchase retail. There are also people who want to learn or want to just do their thing and talk to like minded people.

So, it doesn't matter if you build your own lights, buy Apollo Horticulture, buy Timber Growlights kits, buy HLG Quantum Boards, or just use CFLs... welcome to the site and thanks for being here. I look forward to seeing what some of you unconventional people can manage to squeak out of some of the things a lot of people would think wont work at all.

What would you recommend to help out a 3100k philips 315cmh in a 4x4?
8 citizen 1212's @15-25w a piece?

Unfortunately I am not that good with combining lighting systems. If it was all COBs or all CMH, I could tell ya, but I have no experience with mixing them. I have a nanolux CMH 315W, but I had to swap it for COBs because my grow area is too small for it and was reaching 110.

Now, that being said, I can parrot what I have seen others say, and most people seem to like doing between 4 to 8 Citizens with the CMH. I would probably personally try doing six of them. That way you get them evenly distributed in the area outside the CMH (assuming you are placing it in the center). Let me know what results you get with the setup you end up using. I would be interested to see how the mix works out... I may try it in the winter when temps are lower.