Will I have enough light?

J

jamjamjamjamjam

Member
I'm doing a closet grow with four SLH and finding HID lamps as well as a ballast for a moderately cheap price is hard where I live so I'm using CFLs. My seedlings are 2 days from germ and will get put under lights in the next few days.

For the vegetative stage, I've got 9 x 23W 6500K CFLs and 1 x 45W 5000K CFL.

For the flowering stage, I'm going to have 16 x 23W 2700K CFLs and 2 x 45W 5000K CFLs.

Do you guys think this will be enough light? It seems like the thing to do is buy one light with a large wattage but doing it my way, I can place the lights where I like to make sure the plants receive the most light they can.

What do you guys think?
 
lilrich11

lilrich11

Active Member
yes you should have enough, Light extensions can be key when using cfls.
Just remember a 23w cfl has more lumens per watt then the 45w cfl
 
S

Stemp

Member
jamjamjamjamjam said:
I'm doing a closet grow with four SLH and finding HID lamps as well as a ballast for a moderately cheap price is hard where I live so I'm using CFLs. My seedlings are 2 days from germ and will get put under lights in the next few days.

For the vegetative stage, I've got 9 x 23W 6500K CFLs and 1 x 45W 5000K CFL.

For the flowering stage, I'm going to have 16 x 23W 2700K CFLs and 2 x 45W 5000K CFLs.

Do you guys think this will be enough light? It seems like the thing to do is buy one light with a large wattage but doing it my way, I can place the lights where I like to make sure the plants receive the most light they can.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
That should be plenty. I guess it would really depend on how big your closet is and how many plants but for a 2x3 area it seems like most use 10-14 23-26 watt cfls when flowering.
 
J

jamjamjamjamjam

Member
@rangerj - with my setup i'll have ~1000 watts equivalent output during veg and ~ 2000 watts equivalent output during flower as well as the luxury of putting cfls wherever they need to be. also, i've spent $60 on all 26 lights which is much better than a cheap $200 HID lamp/ballast that'll bust in 6 months.

@lilrich11 - thanks for the advice. i thought i'd just throw the 45w in there because i had it anyway. i'm sure it's more efficient than 1 x 23W 6500K. but i could be wrong.

@stemp - my closet is about 2' x 3' and i am growing 4 plants so i guess i should be okay
 
lilrich11

lilrich11

Active Member
I believe its the way your lights are positioned, thats key.
The only thing I dont like about the 45w cfls. They are big, double the size of the smaller 23w.
So when you position your lights one will hang way lower then the other. Thats why i say light extensions are key.
Get a couple of 6" and 24" light extension and you can put those 45w bulbs in the right place, or you can lower your 23w bulbs to the same height
I may say the lumen per watts is greater on a 23w cfl but i still use a couple of 45w bulbs just cause.
 
J

jamjamjamjamjam

Member
illrich - this is my veg light setup, what do you think?

my light fixtures have a half sphere of rotation so i can get them pretty close and the size difference doesn't make too much of a difference



IMG_1117.jpg
 
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