Tutorial to Growing with Cfl's
- Thread starter Dr.Chronic
- Start date
skunkpunk13
Active Member
i just bought another 55 watt cfl im now offically over 400 watts for flowering with cfl and thats just 2700 my next grow im gonna add a couple of my bigger 6500's so have some nice mixed spectrum im getting pretty excited hoping all goes well with my order grom attitude so i can get this show on the rroad lol
Scrap that, managed to find some online cheap enough. Any idea what 5 x 42w 6500k and 5 2800k+ mixed bulbs could get me if done with good nutes etc. Only looking to do one plant at the moment, maybe 2 tops. Will be addin more bulbs but will start off with 8-10 42w. Using bagseed which is currently only gettin sunlight
Lyghtsout
Member
Can someone tell me if a standard 150w max light fixture can handle the equivalent CFL wattage(150W) or the actual cfl wattage (42W)......thanks, I think I know the answer, but I wanna be certain before I split (I wanna split a 42 and a 23W via "y" splitter in a 150W max fixture).
-Lyghts
-Lyghts
Bluejeans
Well-Known Member
I couldn't find a fixture I liked and really didn't want to run a thousand cords around my little area so I decided to make my own. What do you think?
I got the sockets at Home Depot for 27¢ each and built an 8" box out of 1x4x8. I then wrapped the whole thing in aluminum tape (or some such...silver stuff not duct tape), wired it up to 14g house wire, soldered a plug on the end and voila! For about $2, I have a nice 8-bulb fixture. It is filled with 42w 2700k bulbs at the moment, as Alice is on day 18 of flowering.
I got the sockets at Home Depot for 27¢ each and built an 8" box out of 1x4x8. I then wrapped the whole thing in aluminum tape (or some such...silver stuff not duct tape), wired it up to 14g house wire, soldered a plug on the end and voila! For about $2, I have a nice 8-bulb fixture. It is filled with 42w 2700k bulbs at the moment, as Alice is on day 18 of flowering.
smokinhaze25
Member
how many babies should i have under my 125 watt cfl, anyone?
Lyghtsout
Member
The fixture looks awesome man....how about a pic when you get it goin in the grow area?
Xaselm
Well-Known Member
I'd say one, ideally.
Bluejeans
Well-Known Member
It doesn't photograph well, but I tried to get a few pics. It is really working out great and I have design plans for a few more fixtures for my next grow. For now, here's Alice under her new lights. I slapped some tinfoil over the top for a reflector until I got something else made, but this seems to be working out fine so I didn't bother.
The Dawg
Well-Known Member
WOW What A Thread I Give 5 Out Of 5 Bong's.I Just Read It From Front To Back A Couple Of Times And I Have 1 Question.I'm Building A Box That Will Be 64"H 27"W 23"D I Will Line It With Reflective Diamond Insluation On All Sides Top And Bottom.From What I Understand I Need 2000 Lumens Per Foot And If My Math Is Correct I Have 11 Square Feet To Light Which I Would Need 22,000 Lumens To Give My Soon To Be LOVEYS Enought Light To Grow.I Will Be Using 23w And 26w Cfl's To Achive This For More Point's Of Light And To Keep The Heat And Enegry Bill Down.Now For My Question.To Give The Bottom Of The Plant Enough Light Will I Need To Run Light's Down Both Sides? My lighting System Will Be Able To Be Raised And Lowered To Maintain Proper Distance From The Plant's.
TEARGASKUSH
Member
I got 2 4ft 6500k and 2 4ft 2700k 40w each how many 23 or 42w bulbs should i buy. I have a 3x3 closet. So i got them angled with 4 plant.
dq5e
Member
i'm using three 23watt 2700ks for flowering my one plant and it seems pretty good but i used a combination of the sun (during the day) and one 13watt 6500k cool daylight cfl and one 15watt 6400k sunblaster cool daylight agri-bulb (at night) i kept her under a strict 24 hour light cycle and she grew to be 3 feet in three months i'll post some pics of her but as for how many lights if you have four plants get at least two lights per plant preferably more if you can afford it and have the space i would put more but im pretty low on space! good luck
DoobyBrewster
Member
You fine folks are some smart sons of bitches. I just read this entire thread from beginning to present, and have a way better idea of what the shit I'm doing now. Much appreciated.
whitewidow1969
Member
I got a 4' lamp with 6 tubes.I got a mix of 4 of 6,500k and 2 of 3,000k for vegetation and im planning to change to a 4 of 3,000k and 2 of 6,5000k for flowering.
My question is...
- Should i mix them like im planning to do or just go 6 of 6,500k for vegetation and 6 of 3,000k for flowering ???
Thank you guys for any help !!!!
WW
My question is...
- Should i mix them like im planning to do or just go 6 of 6,500k for vegetation and 6 of 3,000k for flowering ???
Thank you guys for any help !!!!
WW
sinkingstone
Member
Sorry guys, I've been reading for quite a while and I hate to ask repetitive questions but I didn't retain a solid answer after my reading. My question is about wattage. The tutorial said to ignore the 'equivalent', so my question is, understanding color and lumens, do I use CFL's considering actual wattage. For example, I always do well with a 400w MH, so using cfls do I have to compile 16 23w cfl's to acomplish something similar to a 400w MH? I understand that it's apples/oranges, I'm not looking for a super tech answer. Right now I'm trying to flower 2 smallish plants with 12 23w 2700k cfl's and thinking this is only 276 actual watts and maybe more is needed. It seems to be doing fine thus far.
Some other factors are, this is 12/12 from seed, this is my first soil grow, first stealth cabinet and first cfl flower.
Some other factors are, this is 12/12 from seed, this is my first soil grow, first stealth cabinet and first cfl flower.
johnmcsuave
Member
Tidy. I'm a c**t-hair away from starting my very first/stupidly ambitious tomatoe crop. Iwill be using cfl's and would very much appreciate any and all advice that anybody may care to give me. JOLLY BOY JOHN IS FOR REAL! CHOCOLATE BANANA!
drbudwannabe
Well-Known Member
Hey doc tut is great i used to be winkdogg on here now im drbudwannabe glad to see the cfl revolution is evolving and i also posted a thread about getting the most from your cfls to share what ihave learned in hopes of helping out a newb or two and im sure this thread has helped thousands of riu'ers already!
Great work , drbudwannabe aka winkdogg
Great work , drbudwannabe aka winkdogg
Dont Fear The Reefer
New Member
Yes definitely it can... The actual wattage used of the cfl is what counts.... You could run 3 of those 42 watt cfl's in a 150 watt fixture.