20w Floodlight. Can I use it in my box?

Hey guys I've been looking at cheap floodlights, and they are very appealing to me right now as i have a tight budget. The grow box I'm planning is about 16" in height.

Now i have read about light bleaching, but I only really see it happening with powerful grow lights. The 20w LED light i'm looking at produces 1600 Lumens. I know this isn't much, but my space is small.

So can i have it right above my plant like 1-2" away? Or will that light bleach the plants? And what about low power LED grow lights?

T5 fluorescents if your plants are going to be growing that close to the lights.

Too big. I've been looking CFLs too, but those aren't as convenient. So would the LEDs be too intense at that distance even though they are relatively weak?

I would go with the 9 watt Cree A19 bulbs or the higher wattage Par38 floodlights. I'm using 2 floodlights, 4 A19s in a 4 square ft space. Could be better but it's working well.

Hmm think I'm going to try my luck with the LED's. I looked at some pc grows using LED's and it seems that 20Ws of LED should be fine with some LST.

I just want them because they will save me a lot of time and money. And I need to keep it super stealth so I can't get too DIY because it will end up either obvious or expensive and I can't have either right now.

1600 lumens at 20W isnt great. you can buy 14W bulbs that give you 1600 lumens for $4

FUCK IT IM USING CFLS

TrappinInNature said:

FUCK IT IM USING CFLS

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CFL's are even less efficient - typically 23W for 1600 Lumens.

nfhiggs said:

CFL's are even less efficient - typically 23W for 1600 Lumens.

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the day you plug it in.

80% of that 6 mos later

CobKits said:

the day you plug it in.

80% of that 6 mos later

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80% if you're lucky...

TrappinInNature said:

Too big. I've been looking CFLs too, but those aren't as convenient. So would the LEDs be too intense at that distance even though they are relatively weak?

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You can get t5's in all sorts of sizes, so they aren't too big. Don't waste any money on cfl's.