CFLs or fluorescent tubes?

[TheStranger]

Hi,

I'm doing a stealth grow, and I've decided to use fluorescent tubes/CFLs due to the low heat output, high light output, and low cost.

Since I am growing in a small space, obviously the most compact solution would be best, which points me towards fluorescent tubes instead of CFLs (because CFLs contain circuitry, which takes up space).

To save space further, and to reduce heat in the box, do you think it would be best to keep the starters and ballasts outside the box?
This leads me to another point that I can't seem to find any information about; can multiple tubes be paralleled and connected to a single ballast and starter, or does each tube need it's own starter and ballast?

I'm thinking of just mounting the tubes and end connectors in the box, and running the wires out to the circuitry.

Because my box is tall and narrow, It seems best to run the tubes vertically, around the edges of the box...
I'm thinking of using a lot of them, maybe 10 or so, to give light all around the plant (lots of low power ones rather than one high-power one), but the cost would soon add up if I need a separate ballast for each tube.

Will it be problematic to have all the lights around the sides and none at the top?
I could put some at the top as well if that is needed for the plants' proper growth.

Thanks for your help

The Stranger

 

[TheStranger]

Ok so I did a bit of research, it turns out that each tube has to have it's own ballast-starter combination (or just the ballast without a starter if it is an electronic ballast)

I decided on using multiple tubes instead of a single CFL for a few reasons:
If one of the tubes fail, the cost is much less than the cost of replacing a 300W CFL
The ballasts are external, so they can be kept outside, reducing the heat.
Tubes can be put all around the plant rather than just above it as a CFL would be

I found some 24W T5s pretty cheap (<£1 each), so I've ordered 12 of these, and some 36W ballasts from China (fire hazard! )
Not sure if 288W is going to be too much, heat wise, for my small space, but if so I can just use some of the tubes and keep the others as spares.

I realise that this is going to overload the tubes a little, but the correct rated ballasts were much more expensive, and, as far as I can tell, overdriving tubes doesn't decrease their lifespan significantly (just generates a little more heat), so I think it should work out okay.
The tubes are 6500K, so I'll get lower color-temperature ones for the flowering stage.

I'm going to put the ballasts outside the box, and just run the wires (going to be a lot of wires, 4 wires for each tube), but that should minimize the heat inside the box.
The tubes are going to be mounted vertically around the sides of the box, so this should get light all around the plant.

The Stranger