Floro Tube vs CFL

[Guest]

Hey Ive just got a quick question.

Unfortunatly I dont have the budget or desire to buy one of those nice expensive lights. So for my veg and flower cab (seperate lights) what would be the best light. Further the version of it. Like CFL has natural light, warm white and cool white (probally more too) and Ive seen the above and Plant growing versions for floro, does anyone have some advice or details on the types of lights for me?

Thank you very much

 

[RoomRaider]

I love fluros for veg. These plants were grown under 2 4ft double fixture shoplights, one warm and one cool bulb each. 20 days old. I threw in the other one for the next batch of seedlings.

Everything is a bit haphazard at the moment cuz im about move out, its all set up to packed up quick.

I also have some CFL, but thats mainly reserves for side lighting, and to pick up dead spaces.

Although I would like to try and experiment w/ hanging them vertical around the plants, like w/ 600 and 1kw lights.

Also, the plants weren't rotated since being transplanted into the 1gal, so you can sea how the quality of light dies off (lights are too low anyways)

And the front row are stunted plants, just been transplanted from tiny foam cups.

 

[Guest]

wow those pics are seriously helpfull, my box is only 2ft wide 3flt long.. how wide is the good growth in those pics, thank you.

 

[NorCalFor20]

i didn't think i could afford an HID light either until I found this:

http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

400w hps with lamp, ballast and reflector (no assembling ballasts, just plug in and grow)

for 120$ plus 20 shipping so it was 140$

here what its doin for me.








keep in mind im using a 400w cmh lamp not the 400w hps that comes with it- but you should get similar results

 

[RoomRaider]

4 feet x 2 feet with 2 lights (4 bulbs)

If I were to rotate (and usually the plants will stretch up towards the light and be fine on the sidelines) It would be about 4.5x2.5ft maybe a bit more

In another two weeks or so, only about half will be albe to fit under 2 lights (about 15)

 

[RoomRaider]

yes, htgsupply is the best place, $300 for a 600w w/ a solid compact cooltube. $350 for a 1kw tubed. Digital too. I am a loyal customer. They are on ebay too.

But if you do not have the desire, you are just personal then CFLs will do you good (you will get to know the plant better)

 

[Guest]

Cool, its about the size of my space, I think I will go with the shoplight I found, going to run me like 20$ Thats a price I like, wish I shopped for lights first though, going to have to modify the light a bit, hopefully I can find about 3ft ones. I may have to augment with a cfl or two. Thanks for the info.

Oh and thank you for pointing out the low cost Super light, but I'm trying to keep this thing seeds and all under 200 (and probally will) I am just growing for myself and maby my wife... in that respect I am WAY over doing it (3xx2x2 veg -- 4x3x2 flower) I'm thinking thats probally 2 or 3 times to big

4 feet x 2 feet with 2 lights (4 bulbs)

If I were to rotate (and usually the plants will stretch up towards the light and be fine on the sidelines) It would be about 4.5x2.5ft maybe a bit more

In another two weeks or so, only about half will be albe to fit under 2 lights (about 15)

 

[RoomRaider]

If you are in the states and near home depot you can get a 4 foot double fixture light for $11, forget how much the bulbs are, I never changed em in over 8 months and they still do good (I will change em soon tho, could do better

Another route you could go is rubbermaids. Cheap to experiment w/ and takes up little space. http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=51381 about 4ozs per rubbermaid

You could actually have a few scattered around the house.

Rubbermaids are OK to veg in too, but I think its a pain to water that way, pc or desktop fans provide enough cooling.

*edit* you could also get the aluminum cone type reflector/fixture combo, cut a hole in the rubbermaid lid for just the bulb to fit through. The metal part above the box will get hot and can be cooled. With a good fan, they start to act as cooling towers, sucking heat from the bulb and inside the box.

 

[chosen]

I like the little veg fluoro setup Norcal. HTG does have some amazing prices. They also have some really cheap T-5 setups that I'm thinking of using for a veg setup.

 

[Guest]

I will definatly be looking for that 11$ light, unfortunatly I saw the rubbermaid after I purchased my wood, seems I also got a sub par stock of wood (ocb) Perhaps I will run the Rubbermaid if the wood does end up failing me. However I am happy with my Wood boxes, someday I will find a way to face them to become stealth, not that I really need it but I am a safty freak and if for somereason sombody does look in the house, hopefully it will be difficult to discover my boxes. Any ideas on a 3 x 2 x 2 or 4 x 3 x 2 object would be appriciated if someone has a bright idea.

so the current Idea is Floro veg, with maby a cfl or two for dark areas and a CFL flower cab

warm white for flower
cool white for veg

 

[RoomRaider]

with fluros its best to keep it mixed at all stages of growth. more cool for veg, more warm for flower

 

[MoeBudz^420]

100% CFL's for veg/cloning here, 6 warm whites (4 23w's, 2 45w's) + 2 (23w) cool whites. I've found they seem brighter than the 4' tubes, which I used in my earlier days. Both will work, but more CFL's can be crammed into a space than tubes.

Hehe if you lived near me & I knew ya, I'd give you a couple 4' shoplites I've had collecting dust in the basement for a few years now if you wanted 'em...but...

If your space is 3x2x2, you'd have a heckuva time trying to fit a 4' shoplite in there. I'd go CFL, 50-50 warm/cool with "y" adaptors for 2 bulbs per socket.

CFL's will grow a nice mother plant...

Peace

 

[Jayoharejee]

i think its an expensive hobby but also inexpensive. Keep doing your research, and you'll find you can grow with a flashlight if you look hard enough. Just take your time with it and plan it out!

With the amount ive spent on my first indoor grow i probably could have a REAL nice setup from an experienced grower.

My advice is to put it in their hands, your at the right sight. Lets have some more details and im sure you'll get some more imput

 

[Guest]

I'll take the offer on the more details
First I know ill be saving an untold amount over buying it, however I do have a budget that should be around 200$ seeds and all.

Currently I have 2 wood boxes painted flat white with latex paint. The boxes are 3x2x2 and 4x3x2 the smaller for veg, larger for flower.

Cooling, Lighting, Buckets, Seeds, ect all are unaccounted for.
This weekend I am going scrap hunting at my parents so I will probally have a handful of Sockets Wires and maybe some fans. So any fun advice is more than welcome. I'm currently looking at mandala seeds Cannacopia and Joeyweed. All there prices seem pretty reasonable.

 

[tehsmoker]

if you don't decide to go with mandala, Nirvana's seeds are all 25$ a pack too!!! judging by your measurments, it looks like your going to have to stick with 28" flouro's for your best option. home depot has some great options for 2light one rack for like 13$ with bulbs, so i would sugest 2xof those with a daylight or blue spectrum. and then run 3xwarm(red) spectrum and 2xblue spectrum in the flowering chamber, and those produce so little heat that no cooling is required!!! with a total of 7 fixtures thats still under 100 bucks so heck you could afford to prolly cover the roof of your grow area!! best of luck mayte!


(edit) HTG has a special right now for a 400whps for 95$ so i'd jump on that!!

 

[RoomRaider]

If you still don't have lights you could aslo look for the 65-100+ watt fluroscent floodlights too. They require better ventilation and possible some electrical experience (depending on what flavor you get, if you want to pull off all the extra shit so you have just what you need)

as tehsmoker said, you doin't really need much in the way of ventilation. for regular CFLs and tubes. Any flavor of electric fan will work.
.5-2gal pots. 1 gallon would probally be the sweetspot.

Try and get ahold of some bagseed and run it while your waiting for better seeds to get a feel for your new spot. Plus you can experiment with LST without worries. Learn how much manipulation they can take to keep em in check, and see how they react first hand.

FYI, just in case nowadays you can save the wepage as a single file, insteading having the webpage, and then a folder with all the images for it.

Makes it very easy to save a bunch of different information, and then keep coming straight back to it for reinforcement. You still gotta save the bigger versions of the images tho (for offline viewing)

You can also filter people on these forums, so only one person's posts show up, no one elses, good for instructional/ grow diaries. But some comments offer valuable information, so keep an eye out.