http://www.ahsupply.com/index.html This is where I am headed Buuudy. Good reflectors with them too.
Awesome. Thanks. I am going to have to buy it in the U.S. But that shows me about how much I am going to pay and what exactly I need.
I have a few questions....if anyone doesn't mind answering.
1. Do these produce a lot more heat than a normal CFL?
2. What are your opinions on doing a vertical grow with these?
3. How many lights and how many watts should be used for about six plants in a small space?
Buuudy,
- No, they produce a lot less, generally
- Hell yeah. I have big plans when I move to somewhere I can really get busy with powertools (landlord lives next door)
- How big is the space?
Hephaestus
Member
I'm using 220w (4x55w) in a 25"x25" space - getting pretty good results - depending on how you set yourself up, there's always the option of upgrading a bit... Using ballasts like the fulham workhorse 8 - will let you upgrade to 80w pll's if you so feel the need to get more lumens into that space 
Basically - plan to fit as many bulbs as you can in your space
Basically - plan to fit as many bulbs as you can in your space
Thanks for the response. Just finished reading every page of the thread. Learned a lot. The results look far superior to CFL's.
The space is about 2ft wide. 1.5ft deep. And Plenty tall. Thought-Lining up 3 plants in the back and 3 in the front with 1 light vertically in the middle? Or, maybe just buying this one from htg http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=51907 and doing a regular grow. Unless, someone can point me to a cheaper place where I can buy the ballast and the light already wired. When it comes to stuff like that, I am useless.
There is a a 400w HPS, but due to heat and the bill, wanted to switch to cfl (which I was not happy about), until finding this thread.
Just saw this. Thanks. 2 55watters is the same price as on HTG. I have heard HTG is great. So If its going to cost that much I would rather stick to HTG.
Buuudy: Probably 4x55w would be the best bet. You'll love 'em.
Interesting. as long as i can hang them.
gonna do a small grow in small space, and dont wanna set off any clues, Ive got the parts, the ballast, bulbs, and such.
Gonna be fun. and organic, straight from rooted cuttings.
thanks for the insight, i saw no reason why i couldnt, just didnt hurt to ask.
And thanks for the chart, thats nice to know.
gonna do a small grow in small space, and dont wanna set off any clues, Ive got the parts, the ballast, bulbs, and such.
Gonna be fun. and organic, straight from rooted cuttings.
thanks for the insight, i saw no reason why i couldnt, just didnt hurt to ask.
And thanks for the chart, thats nice to know.
Jbonez: Sounds like a great plan, man. What I did was mount a fan directly under the 24w bulb, blowing upwards. I let my plants smother the bulb so I did add an extra fan on the base (at the top) but if you're training the plants away from the light at all, there should be plenty of flow just from the floor fan.
615: I don't think heat shields are always the answer for PLL, at least not in winter. Aside from the glass's lumen loss (reported as 3 to 5% with proper reflector glass) and the extra distance that the plants are kept away from the bulbs (#1 rule of fluoro growing - keep plants close to the bulbs), look at the chart I just posted. If you have a PLL in a cooltube or similar, and your intake air was 20º C (68º f), then bam, you just lost around 10% of your lumens in addition to the previous factors. Canopy temps can go a lot higher than people make out anyway, I've found, and it's not hard to cool a bare bulb, especially the lower wattages, and extra especially in a vertical setup.
If we work those losses out with a 55w bulb @ 4800 initial lumens, the low temp takes it to 4320. Then take off 4% for the glass and I get 4147.2 lacklustre lumens. (not good at maths so by all means check that)
I would've been losing many lumens on my first run (hot weather). I've been taking some temps lately and by the time this run is in full flower, I should have pretty good lumen output, not to mention a much fuller canopy.
Please, spare a thought for t5 growers.
615: I don't think heat shields are always the answer for PLL, at least not in winter. Aside from the glass's lumen loss (reported as 3 to 5% with proper reflector glass) and the extra distance that the plants are kept away from the bulbs (#1 rule of fluoro growing - keep plants close to the bulbs), look at the chart I just posted. If you have a PLL in a cooltube or similar, and your intake air was 20º C (68º f), then bam, you just lost around 10% of your lumens in addition to the previous factors. Canopy temps can go a lot higher than people make out anyway, I've found, and it's not hard to cool a bare bulb, especially the lower wattages, and extra especially in a vertical setup.
If we work those losses out with a 55w bulb @ 4800 initial lumens, the low temp takes it to 4320. Then take off 4% for the glass and I get 4147.2 lacklustre lumens. (not good at maths so by all means check that)
I would've been losing many lumens on my first run (hot weather). I've been taking some temps lately and by the time this run is in full flower, I should have pretty good lumen output, not to mention a much fuller canopy.
Please, spare a thought for t5 growers.
Yo scrub, Im building something similar with a few bulbs, gonna run about 120w vertically. I was gonna make a small circular tube made of chicken wire just to keep em from getting too close with a pc fan blowing up.
its going to have a thermostat, active carbon scrubber, passive intake. All the wiring will be in the box.
its going to have a thermostat, active carbon scrubber, passive intake. All the wiring will be in the box.
Yea, I was gonna say, use chicken wire or armor cloth and let all the lumens thru. AHsupply.com has some really good 55 watt units with great reflector on them.
I have an LED grow going and am thinking of pll's with it, maybe in corners vertical.
Jbonez: Cool cool. A few others have done more larger vert setups btw, but they don't post their grows that I've seen.
Intel: They grew just like you see. There was no cage and no wires. I only supercropped them when they got too high. The short answer is that there's no damage. In the long term, fan leaves will change position and block flow here or there so there was a small amount of burning at the top, on the opposite side to the extra fan. Nothing to panic about though. They genuinely are a lot easier to cool than CFL thanks to the linear, un-spiralled design more than anything.
I'm in the southern hemisphere so that was grown in a hot room, in a hot house, in the tropics in summertime. No AC etc. It was only 24w so I can't comment too far on the heat thing. But very easy to cool with that one fan underneath if you keep the plants away a little.
That first run I did with the large The Pure was very hot. I got my cab running around 2ºf over ambient which means ambient top of cab temps were generally mid to high 80's, and the canopy temp was just too scary to measure regularly. I think it was mid to high 90's. So in terms of the chart I posted, the ambient temp around the bulbs probably would have been 100º plus, with a significant drop in lumens.
Edit: Oh yeah, if you are placing a fan directly underneath, I used a fan which has solid, curled fins mounted on the front, so the blades push the air through that and the fins keep it in more of a straight, contained flow. If you feel the flow of a normal axial fan without directional fins, it blows a large funnel shape outwards, so I doubt they would work as well.
Intel: They grew just like you see. There was no cage and no wires. I only supercropped them when they got too high. The short answer is that there's no damage. In the long term, fan leaves will change position and block flow here or there so there was a small amount of burning at the top, on the opposite side to the extra fan. Nothing to panic about though. They genuinely are a lot easier to cool than CFL thanks to the linear, un-spiralled design more than anything.
I'm in the southern hemisphere so that was grown in a hot room, in a hot house, in the tropics in summertime. No AC etc. It was only 24w so I can't comment too far on the heat thing. But very easy to cool with that one fan underneath if you keep the plants away a little.
That first run I did with the large The Pure was very hot. I got my cab running around 2ºf over ambient which means ambient top of cab temps were generally mid to high 80's, and the canopy temp was just too scary to measure regularly. I think it was mid to high 90's. So in terms of the chart I posted, the ambient temp around the bulbs probably would have been 100º plus, with a significant drop in lumens.
Edit: Oh yeah, if you are placing a fan directly underneath, I used a fan which has solid, curled fins mounted on the front, so the blades push the air through that and the fins keep it in more of a straight, contained flow. If you feel the flow of a normal axial fan without directional fins, it blows a large funnel shape outwards, so I doubt they would work as well.
NEARTHEBEACHBOY
Member
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Marijuanasaur
Member
