What Lights To Use For First Grow

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Reaper777

New Member
I am planning to do a closet grow as my first grow, it's a 75cm x 60cm x 1.4m (2 1/2' x 2' x 5'~).

So getting to my question, i am thinking of growing between 2-4 plants (Blue Mystic), and which lights should i use, 4-6 CFL lights, or 2 150-watt HPS(They will not be the sun system kind, as i will have my own fans installed in the grow 'room'). Or if these two ideas seem terrible, what should i use for lighting? (With a budget of around $80)
 
ColoradoDreams

ColoradoDreams

Active Member
Go with CFL for cheap. 6-8 CFLs required. Daylight Grow CFLs (6400k) . Less heat as well... also look up the lumens out put. You need to keep in mind that when you switch to 12/12, you will need bulbs with at 2700k. More the better with cfls and keep lighs close. 4-8 inches aways and side lighting.... :) happy growing mate...
 
ColoradoDreams

ColoradoDreams

Active Member
Reaper777 said:
Thanks for the quick reply :) And is it possible to use e.g. 5 (6400k) and 5 (2700k) throughout the whole grow?
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You bet... I mix spectrums with great outcome all the time... last 4 plant grow was 6 45w (6400k) with 12 18w (2700k) for flower... throughout veg, you can mix and match spectrums with high red and blue... :)
 
Jimdamick

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Welcome Reaper777 to the world of cannabis cultivation. You don't really have that much room in your closet, so stay with 2 plants. 1 good plant would be optimum, but do 2 in case 1 fails. I would use the CFL's, say - 65W each for the sides and rear and a central 90W above your plants. On Amazon they have some nice CFL canopy fixtures with reflectors, that can go as high as 200W for as low as $60. Good luck and have fun.
 
ColoradoDreams

ColoradoDreams

Active Member
Jimdamick said:
Welcome Reaper777 to the world of cannabis cultivation. You don't really have that much room in your closet, so stay with 2 plants. 1 good plant would be optimum, but do 2 in case 1 fails. I would use the CFL's, say - 65W each for the sides and rear and a central 90W above your plants. On Amazon they have some nice CFL canopy fixtures with reflectors, that can go as high as 200W for as low as $60. Good luck and have fun.
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Agree, you can do one fat plant or 2-3 small topped and maybe scrogged plants, if you want to go that route, and if you wan to do things right the first time and have equipment that will last more than a few grows, go Amazon and buy a big light with a reflector, or a good amount of smaller 45w-65w or even 85w bulbs.. :)... Jimdamick is correct, sides rear and central...
 
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Reaper777

New Member
Well right now amazon doesn't have the bulbs i'm looking for, hopefully some shops here do, would 5 42-watt bulbs be enough? (5 6400k and 5 2700k)
 
ghgou812

ghgou812

Active Member
Welcome!!!

I would agree with ColoradoDreams and Tip Top Toker.... the biggest and baddest CFL's you can find.

Reason, your space is relatively small. Throwing a 1000 or 600 HPS in there would be a bitch to keep cool. As you can see, ColoradoDreams has a similar size area and does very well.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
weedenhanced

weedenhanced

Well-Known Member
I just brought on ebay a 400w dimmable digital ballast and hood plus 1 hps 400w and 1 mh 400w tubes plus 1 timer and 2 yoyo hanger if u cant figure em out msg me I got a wicked way to use yoyo hangers all up cost me $160 australia including postage
 
Grow4myfriends

Grow4myfriends

Active Member
Lot of choices to be made. That is a low budget but maybe u can get some bits 2nd hand.

I think you will get better yields with a 250W MH/HPS setup but then I don't have much experience using CFL's so maybe if you have enough of them, it's as good as HPS...

With HPS you will have less setting-up to do - just mount ur light + reflector hood and you're good to go. However HPS will need a ballast too and they ain't cheap and you might have heat issues in that small area if using HPS.

CFLs will require more setting up and more adjusting during the grow but you won't need to buy a ballast and CFLs produce a lot less heat than HPS. You are wise to do research BEFORE making these decisions.

Get yourself clued up and you will make the right choices :) Good luck!
 
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Reaper1447

New Member
Grow4myfriends said:
Lot of choices to be made. That is a low budget but maybe u can get some bits 2nd hand.

I think you will get better yields with a 250W MH/HPS setup but then I don't have much experience using CFL's so maybe if you have enough of them, it's as good as HPS...

With HPS you will have less setting-up to do - just mount ur light + reflector hood and you're good to go. However HPS will need a ballast too and they ain't cheap and you might have heat issues in that small area if using HPS.

CFLs will require more setting up and more adjusting during the grow but you won't need to buy a ballast and CFLs produce a lot less heat than HPS. You are wise to do research BEFORE making these decisions.

Get yourself clued up and you will make the right choices :) Good luck!
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Yea, HPS/MH bulbs are quite cheap ($10ish) but its the reflector and ballast that are quite expensive.

But i am able to get 4-6 42Watt CFL bulbs (2700k and 6400k) so i think this path is better, especially since i can use both the 2700k and 6400k at the same time (say 5 6400k and 3 2700k for veg) which seems to be more than enough watts/ftsq (336~ watts, 2 1/2' sq)
 
larrybobkins

larrybobkins

Well-Known Member
its called a Neptune 6 its around 90 bucks you can check it out if you search blue moon 1 plant there shld be a pic in there. its a 6'' cooltube with a hood get a digital ballast and a $10 bulb is a sad bulb the ones I buy are around 40-60 up to 90
 
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Reaper1447

New Member
larrybobkins said:
its called a Neptune 6 its around 90 bucks you can check it out if you search blue moon 1 plant there shld be a pic in there. its a 6'' cooltube with a hood get a digital ballast and a $10 bulb is a sad bulb the ones I buy are around 40-60 up to 90
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Is this what youre talking about: http://newandusedgrowlights.com/shop/hoodsreflectors/neptune-6-cool-tube-reflector/
And will these bulbs be sufficient: http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLBULBH600-600-Watt-Magnetic-Digital/dp/B005HJJ7TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399661927&sr=8-1&keywords=HPS Bulb (Picked the 600-Watt because its cheaper than the 250-Watt, on sale :D)
http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLBULBM600-600-Watt-Magnetic-Digital/dp/B005HJKIRO/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_text_y

EDIT: Or would this be a better one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QKVV04/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2WRS4X4C0GMOQ
 
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larrybobkins

larrybobkins

Well-Known Member
Reaper1447 said:
Is this what youre talking about: http://newandusedgrowlights.com/shop/hoodsreflectors/neptune-6-cool-tube-reflector/
And will these bulbs be sufficient: http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLBULBH600-600-Watt-Magnetic-Digital/dp/B005HJJ7TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399661927&sr=8-1&keywords=HPS Bulb (Picked the 600-Watt because its cheaper than the 250-Watt, on sale :D)
http://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLBULBM600-600-Watt-Magnetic-Digital/dp/B005HJKIRO/ref=pd_bxgy_lg_text_y

EDIT: Or would this be a better one http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QKVV04/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2WRS4X4C0GMOQ
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actually no this is the crappiest bulb I would every buyhttp://www.amazon.com/Plantmax-PX-LU600-Pressure-Sodium-600-watt/dp/B0056IS1FW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1399662985&sr=8-2&keywords=ceramic+HPS+Bulb+600 and the Neptune is a lot more compact and I like it better
 
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