hps bulb or cfls??

furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
hi all, I am coming to the end of my first cfl grow, I am growing pineapple express auto and my lady is lovey, but because of a few problems after she is ready while appreciating how she looks after me because of my hard work I'm scrapping everything and going back to the drawing board, I have decided I no longer want to be stealth and I want to. join the supper elite rollitup forum posters/growers (YOU GUYS!!!) I have decided I want a tent and a carbon filter, but the question I just can't answer is hps or cfls can anyone help me please!! and remember there is no stupid answers.... just stupid people lol sorry I'm baked and just heard that, thanks for all the replys
 
bertaluchi

bertaluchi

Well-Known Member
Hey furious, I grow in a 3'X3'X5' tent. I have a 400watt HPS with a air cooled hood and a 4 in vortex type fan pulling air. I goes like this.
Carbon Filter--> Flexible Ducting---Air Cooled hood-->Flexible Ducting-->4in Fan Pulling air out the top of my tent. You are going to need some sort of setup like this if your going to run HPS lighting. I had to experiment for a bit to find what works best for me. I live in a very hot region and air flow is of dire importance in my grow. Wherever you live your going to have to take the heat created by HPS lighting into account. I get good yields in my tent and have been experimenting with hydro in my current grow and I love the idea of being able to get good yields while at the same time keeping things kind of small and low key. Depending on how big your tent is going to be, you could get anything from a 250watt HPS to a 1000watter if you can take the heat. Good Luck Dude!
 
snoyl

snoyl

Active Member
It depends how many plants you want to grow,but 9 3 gallon buckets fit nicely in a 120x120 tent under a 600,then you'd just need a small cupboard or whatever for cfls for veg
 
racerboy71

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
Mindmelted said:
hey furious check my grow in my sig.i was using a hps during veg and added a few cfls during flowering.
Click to expand...
there really is no comparing cfl's for hid's imo.. hids put out way more light, watt for watt compared to cfl, but with the added light, comes added heat.. if you have a big enough space, hid is the way to go ime..
or you can do as mindmelted did, and combine the two.. he killed it combining them in that linked grow, peep it if you want or need some inspiration.. :D
 
cc2012

cc2012

Well-Known Member
Comes down to many different reasons and different setups..
A 600w dual Hps setup can be got quite cheap off FleaBay(well 4 UK anyways) and from what I've read 600w Mh/Hps is the sweet spot for amount of light(Lumens) per $$ OR ££ Electricity used per Hr.

A Digital Ballast 600w setup would mean you could turn it up or down(Veg n Flower)

LED are the future though(But as with most *New Tech) Cost a Bomb...but some peeps swear by them and the results(others swear they are Sh*t,blah,blah..etc)

I'm happy with the Results of My 600w "Cheap" Ballast kit....and with the 250w setup going for 18hrs in GR1 and the 600w on for 12hrs in GR2 I'm burning about £2 a day Electric(inc Fans x 3 and Tv n kettle,fridge..etc)

Peace

EDIT: I know its about more than just Lumens & Par...the distance from the Bulb, and then you have Heat issues...etc

200w CFL = 10,000 L

600w Hps = 90,000 L

Like I said distance, usable Light, reflected Light...Heat and lets not forget the Leccy bill...

Peace
 
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furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
thanks everyone for the reply, it has been very helpful, I have found a complete kit on Amazon, it has a 80x120 tent, carbon filter 5m vent, 400w hps bulb/reflector/ballast and has a fan for breeze, would this kit be OK? the kit costs £160 I don't know about dollars, I am suspicious about the price, and as I'm only paddling in the sea of hps/carbon filters/tents. I would .only be growing 2 autos at first? I'm sorry I know it's off the subject, I would just like to have some lady's to be really proud of.
 
snoyl

snoyl

Active Member
If you're just growing the two autos at first I'd recommend getting a 250w hed setup like the 400 one you've seen.
Good man asking first before going ahead and buying,the wastage on this site is frightening.One fucking seedling under 1000w!?!?Come on...
 
racerboy71

racerboy71

bud bootlegger
snoyl said:
If you're just growing the two autos at first I'd recommend getting a 250w hed setup like the 400 one you've seen.
Good man asking first before going ahead and buying,the wastage on this site is frightening.One fucking seedling under 1000w!?!?Come on...
Click to expand...
ehh, i agree a 250 watt'er would be more fitting for 2 plants, the thing ime is, is that once you get a 250 and a few grows under your belt, you usually always end up going to a bigger watt lamp after a few grows.. mindmelted and the grow in his sig is probably the only person i've seen crush it growing strictly under a 250, in his grow, he pulls over a pound with that 250 and a few cfls in dwc.. :D
 
furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
okay thanks, I was reading one post and the guy was saying that Watt for Watt lumen to lumen and cost effectiveness that cfls were better off because the for the same price of running you would get say 9700 lumen off hps but with cfls 15000 lumen and where the cfls are blue for veg and red for flower hps sits in more of a non productive spectrum barely sitting in the orange/red spectrum, what he was saying made sense but hps generally have a better outcome and yeild, is this true? and if it is would a digital ballast be able to adjust the bulb to full red?
 
kagecog

kagecog

Well-Known Member
During veg your going to want to use a CFL or MH due to the higher blue spectrum levels of light which is optimal for vegetative growth but during flowering you're definitely going to want to use a HPS due to the high levels of red spectrum light which is necessary for optimal bud growth. If you don't want to switch lights during the growing process then I'd recommend using a HPS throughout the entire grow cycle, just be sure you can deal with the heat that HPS lights put off. If your grow space can't handle high levels of heat then i'd recommend going CFL throughout the grow.
 
bunnyfather

bunnyfather

Member
cc2012 said:
Comes down to many different reasons and different setups..
A 600w dual Hps setup can be got quite cheap off FleaBay(well 4 UK anyways) and from what I've read 600w Mh/Hps is the sweet spot for amount of light(Lumens) per $$ OR ££ Electricity used per Hr.

A Digital Ballast 600w setup would mean you could turn it up or down(Veg n Flower)

LED are the future though(But as with most *New Tech) Cost a Bomb...but some peeps swear by them and the results(others swear they are Sh*t,blah,blah..etc)

I'm happy with the Results of My 600w "Cheap" Ballast kit....and with the 250w setup going for 18hrs in GR1 and the 600w on for 12hrs in GR2 I'm burning about £2 a day Electric(inc Fans x 3 and Tv n kettle,fridge..etc)

Peace

EDIT: I know its about more than just Lumens & Par...the distance from the Bulb, and then you have Heat issues...etc

200w CFL = 10,000 L

600w Hps = 90,000 L

Like I said distance, usable Light, reflected Light...Heat and lets not forget the Leccy bill...

Peace
Click to expand...
I agree the 600w hps is king.
 
sunny747

sunny747

Well-Known Member
I'm like you. I started with a stealth grow and now I'm already into a tent, carbon filters, inline fans etc. I bought a 150 w hps which was fine for 2 plants in a 2 sqft space. Now I think I wasted my money. I want a 400w dimmable air cooled unit. The 150 w units are nice, but they run hot and you can't remove the ballast to place outside your tent.
Learn from my mistakes:) Get the better light because it seems like you are hooked like the rest of us.
Best of Luck
 
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