floro light question...worried

[Socki2ya]

i asked something like this before but now im kinda worried that the lights i got arent good for growing pot...i have 2 120watt General Electric house and garden flourescent plant lights, theyre coated with a blue substance and put out a decent amount of light and a just a little heat but are they the right lights? and if i were to use HPS lights how much wattage wattage would i need, HPS bulbs are relatively small correct? like just a few inches long?? thanks for the help

socki

[Wylde1]

these coloured fluros r basicly a normal fluro but with colorued filter cutting out some light which the plant cud use given the chance. at best they they just give the plant less light than a normal white fluro and at worse they dont give the light wavelenghs the plant needs so yeah they are a bad idea.


u have 240w of blue fluro, that cud b replaced with as little as 150w of hps and u wud get better results but id say replace with a 250w, only 10watts more but so so much brighter.
yes hps lamps are small for the watts. a 70w is hardly much bigger than a normal house bulb, a 250 is about 9inch long and a 1000watt globe is as big as your head

[earth girl]

High Socki2ya!
Those 'growlights' are only meant to keep yor average houseplants in veg, since most houseplants do not flower. The are also fine if you have an iguana. Flowering requires more lumens, so lumens are more important than Watts. And the spectrum is very important to growing pot indoors. You want as broad a spectrum as you can get.
eg

[celticweedlover]

Yep id agree!
If ya got the cash then get a hps definitely! ya wont regret it!
Just the best choice really!
CWL

[Vokal420]

Yes the HPS bulbs aren't very big but remember the ballast/socket/reflector all take up quite a bit of space and produce alot more heat than any floro...

[Socki2ya]

thanks for the help. I got a set of 3 100watt (26watts, 1600 lumens) CFL's for 10 bucks at Wal-Mart. i can use up to 3 lights inside my box no problem. would it be beneficial to arrange a bulb between a few plants so the light is directed upwards almost from below the plants where it normally wouldnt directly reach?

[Vokal420]

I wouldn't bother, I'd just make sure that your box walls are nice and reflective (painted flat white, dull side of tin foiled, or mylared). Then whatever light isn't used by the plant will get reflected back to the plant.

[Wylde1]

Originally Posted by Vokal420

Yes the HPS bulbs aren't very big but remember the ballast/socket/reflector all take up quite a bit of space and produce alot more heat than any floro...

watt for watt hps take up less room, give off more light and less heat than fluros.

[Wylde1]

Originally Posted by Socki2ya

would it be beneficial to arrange a bulb between a few plants so the light is directed upwards almost from below the plants where it normally wouldnt directly reach?

no, best placement for a multi light set up is with the lights slightly higher and to the side of the plants. lighting from below will not b a good use of the very limited light u have.

also u say "plants". u only have 78watts of poor fluro light to work with, mayb enough for 1 small plant but u wont get anything worth growing if u split that light between more than 1 plant. unless u just intend to start the seeds with them?

[Socki2ya]

i was actually planning on buying at least 3 more lights and having 2 plants.

[Socki2ya]

and i completely forgot...this box was my iguana's, really fancy setup, i always thought it would be perfect for growing, she just died and i thought that she would want me to put it to good use...anyway the top light setup also has a ballast for a 1 1/2-2ft flourescent tube as well as 2 regular light bulb sockets. could someone tell me how many watts a tube that size that uses?

[Wylde1]

bout 18 to 25 watts, if u look on the ballast it shud b wrote on it, if not on the outside then on the square magnet thing inside.

[Socki2ya]

ok i got that all set up. i should be cool for a while now, 4 floro lights and its pretty bright in there. ill definitely consider going HPS in a couple weeks, i already have it all priced out at the local hardware store. thanks for the help everyone.

socki