CFL Light Tutorial

[Purple Goose]

Roseman Was wondering If I were to consider hanging 42w cfls throught my flower space which is 7 x 5 or 35 square feet how many bulbs would you recomend to get even coverage throught the room ? would 8 of them dispersed evenly give an even enough coverage of blue light to make a noticeable difference or would It be more economical to do as suggested in the earlier post and switch my mh bulb back in for the last 2 weeks ? I just cant afford to waste money so need your opinion on which would be the best overall way to go in the terms of quality ,quantity and cost as I have a switchable ballast and all but if adding cfl's will give me much more potent bud over switching to the mh for the last 2 weeks then Ill go that way but if you have tried both and there is no major difference bettween the 2 choices then I would put the money into co2 enrichment.

 

[SkooterClowns]

Thats a great addition to the thread, thank you very much.

If you could find time, please come back and post more details, like number of bulbs and watts and construction details.

That information can be found in the first post of the first thread in my signature. As for number of bulbs? There are 5 of them (as can be seen in the picture posted here).

 

[Roseman]

Glad to help out, Woodsman!

 

[Roseman]

Roseman Was wondering If I were to consider hanging 42w cfls throught my flower space which is 7 x 5 or 35 square feet how many bulbs would you recomend to get even coverage throught the room ? would 8 of them dispersed evenly give an even enough coverage of blue light to make a noticeable difference or would It be more economical to do as suggested in the earlier post and switch my mh bulb back in for the last 2 weeks ? I just cant afford to waste money so need your opinion on which would be the best overall way to go in the terms of quality ,quantity and cost as I have a switchable ballast and all but if adding cfl's will give me much more potent bud over switching to the mh for the last 2 weeks then Ill go that way but if you have tried both and there is no major difference bettween the 2 choices then I would put the money into co2 enrichment.

To start with 7 X 5 is BIG, and I wonder if it will be 35 sq ft of plants???? or is that just the room area???

In the Nug of the month contest, this month, CFL grower named Leave Weaver said he grew his great buds with 3976 (say 4000) lumens per sq ft.

Your 42 watt bulbs = 70 X 42 = 2940 lumens per bulb. For math, say 3000 lumens. You would need 1 and a 1/4 bulbs to equal the lumens that he has.

I also like the rule of thumb of 50 watts per sq ft. That would be close to one bulb per sq ft, but again, t hat is for plant space, not room space.

IF I had a mh light, I'd go with the mh light and only a few extra 42 watt CFLs.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Sounds like an excellent plan to me. Those cfl's can later be used as side lights as the plant gets bigger and bigger! I've got a 38k watt MH over about 8 plants (6 fems expected 4 fem seeds and 50-50 split on the regs.) in about 7 sq ft and that 5k per sf is more than enough for veg. Where you really want to light it up is when it gets to flower. I throw everything that fits at 'em then. CFL's definately have their place in any grow. I vegged with cfl's only for 7 grows. The MH bulb is new and I only used that because I have my venting tuned in.

 

[Woodsman]

To start with 7 X 5 is BIG, and I wonder if it will be 35 sq ft of plants???? or is that just the room area???

In the Nug of the month contest, this month, CFL grower named Leave Weaver said he grew his great buds with 3976 (say 4000) lumens per sq ft.

Your 42 watt bulbs = 294 lumens per bulb. For math, say 300 lumens. You would need 13 bulbs to equal the lumens that he has.

I also like the rule of thumb of 50 watts per sq ft. That would be close to one bulb per sq ft, but again,t aht is for plant space, not room space.

IF I ha a mh light, I'd go with the mh light and only a few extra 42 watt CFLs.

Are you sure that your not misprinting something concerning lumens? From Wikipedia: The luminous efficacy of CFL sources is typically 60 to 72 lumens per input watt of electric power.. Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Roseman]

Are you sure that your not misprinting something concerning lumens? From Wikipedia: The luminous efficacy of CFL sources is typically 60 to 72 lumens per input watt of electric power.. Or am I misunderstanding something?

Opps, 70 X 42= 2940 lumens, not 294.

I had a Fluro bulb is 60 o 70 lumens per watt on the first page of this thread. I'm just stoned. Let me correct that, man, thanks alot.

 

[Woodsman]

Opps, 70 X 42= 2940 lumens, not 294.

I had a Fluro bulb is 60 o 70 lumens per watt on the first page of this thread. I'm just stoned. Let me correct that, man, thanks alot.

We are all of the human persuasion! It happens!

 

[Woodsman]

I really enjoy your tutorials. You make it very easy to follow along. When you explain a 'how to' or a 'reason why' topic, you teach it in a very easy to follow way, 'step by step'.

For those of us that used to be 'intelligent', but are no longer capable of it, and for those of us that just like 'easy instructions', Mr Roseman, I thank you!

 

[Roseman]

This is sweet. Just switched my clone box to CFL's. Working fantastic so far.

Let me or any Deep Water Culture know how we can help or advise you.

 

[Light-1-up]

What's up Roseman

I've really enjoyed reading this journal, it has helped me out alot. In my 2x3 area, I use 9 clf bulbs total, (4) 42 watt (4) 13 watt and (1) 32 watt. They are all 2700K bulbs, total watts used is only 252 watts per hour but it equals 1,135. My ladies seem to love it.

Thanks for doing a journal like this to help us all out!!



my friend

 

[Roseman]

Thank you very much, Light 1 Up. I tried to give you some REP but it says I already passed too much out now.

 

[Purple Goose]

To start with 7 X 5 is BIG, and I wonder if it will be 35 sq ft of plants???? or is that just the room area???

In the Nug of the month contest, this month, CFL grower named Leave Weaver said he grew his great buds with 3976 (say 4000) lumens per sq ft.

Your 42 watt bulbs = 70 X 42 = 2940 lumens per bulb. For math, say 3000 lumens. You would need 1 and a 1/4 bulbs to equal the lumens that he has.

I also like the rule of thumb of 50 watts per sq ft. That would be close to one bulb per sq ft, but again, t hat is for plant space, not room space.

IF I had a mh light, I'd go with the mh light and only a few extra 42 watt CFLs.

Ok I think you missed what I was meaning I already have a 1000w hps/mh switchable ballast and was going to use cfl's as supplementary blue light for a flowering space of 35 sq' but when flowering time comes I have found that the canopy probably covers at least 90% of the area.
I am looking for a cost benefit opinion of adding the cfl's or switching in my mh bulb do you think I would see a very noticeable difference over using cfls for the whole flower cycle over switching to mh at the end?

 

[MostlyCrazy]

There is a reason that they add "blue" to those high end HPS bulbs. I would augment my HPS with 6500k cfl's if you can for a better spectrum balance. The goal is to approximate the sun as best we can because we know that works.

 

[Purple Goose]

There is a reason that they add "blue" to those high end HPS bulbs. I would augment my HPS with 6500k cfl's if you can for a better spectrum balance. The goal is to approximate the sun as best we can because we know that works.

But what I am getting at is I do have a budget to keep and I am trying to figure out if there is a very big difference in the quality of the bud and yield by adding say 400w of 6500k cfl's or switching to my mh for the last 2 weeks.

I need to justify the extra hydro costs as well as the cost of 25 sockets wiring and what not to hang them amongst my plant. See I was going to make 5 4' long rods with 5 sockets on each rod then hang them between the rows of plants, the total cost for everything would be about $65 to build them the additional power cost as it is all my equipment is running about $50 per month in power and I figure the cfls will increase it another $10. So if the difference in bud between them isnt to big then its no big deal really but if there is a massive difference in the bud then its worth it to me.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Is your current 1k hps equipped with a little extra "blue"? It's really hard to say exactly what the difference would be. The extra blue provides a more balanced light which can help with general plant health which can lead to a stronger plant which can lead to bigger buds.

If your plants are in good health and producing good bud then it may not be needed but CFL's can be used for the bud growing under the main canopy and that would result in a larger harvest.

 

[Purple Goose]

Is your current 1k hps equipped with a little extra "blue"? It's really hard to say exactly what the difference would be. The extra blue provides a more balanced light which can help with general plant health which can lead to a stronger plant which can lead to bigger buds.

If your plants are in good health and producing good bud then it may not be needed but CFL's can be used for the bud growing under the main canopy and that would result in a larger harvest.

Ahh yes it is actually it does say it produces 25% more blue.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Then I would leave it alone on this grow if things are progressing well. You will learn something new on every grow and this gets on the list for futures.

I use a 400 on top and cfl's on the sides only and that works for me but I've only got about 16 sf in the current grow area and it's easy to move around and position my cfl lights exactly where I want them.

 

[Roseman]

Cateros,
I didn't respond to your question because I don't have any experience with any HID lights and MC knows what he is talking about for sure.

 

[Snuggs]

I finally got to read through most of this & decided to share my cheap effective diy reflector.

It consists of a 5x24 vent piece, a dual light socket, electrical plug, two Y adapters & some wood. I just cut of the end of the vent that was crimped mostly for aesthetic reasons, cut some wood for the ends & nailed in place with finishing nails. Center your dual light socket and drill a hole, bolt it in, wire it up and put in some bulbs.

Seems to be working great! At the moment I have 4 42W 6500K 2800 lumens on the inside for a total of 800W equivalent & 11,200 lumens per reflector. Under $15.00 without bulbs anyway.