Kamel's CFL Guide

[KushKillah]

I'd hate to ask this, but how high above the plant should the daylight bulbs be during vegging and how high should the 2700k bulbs be when flowering? Thanks! Great thread by the way

[Jamrocknw89]

Lol, another question!

How do you tell if the CFLs are soft white or daylight? I never found anything on the box that says what it is. I'd really appreciate the help, my friend and I are growing 10 plants on 4 Cfls. They're doin good but we're wondering what we need come flowering time?

you can check a couple of ways. One look at the temp # it will be a number with a K at the end of it. Daylight is like around 6500 K and the soft white is around 2700K the numbers might be different but around those numbers is good. The other way is to check and see if there is a spectrum thing on there. Showing like a color line. If you look earlier in this thread it tells you which is which I can't remember right now. Other than that it is hard to tell I have found. I know you can go to either home depot or lowes, they can tell you for sure. Also if you are growing like 10 plants under CFLs what watts are you using? Because I have two plants right now under 7CFLs at 27 (actual) watts each. I would get more lights if I was you, IMO. If you read earlier it says that 30watts per plant is bare minimum, and so I figure try for more, it cant hurt. But thats my peace hope it helped some.

[aggregatebuzz]

is wonderful having access to a knowledge base with the good info,thanks

Hey man I have learned alot on here too! Didn't know there was this much info out there on this subject alone!!!! it's great

[Jamrocknw89]

Originally Posted by Buddha27

you can check a couple of ways. One look at the temp # it will be a number with a K at the end of it. Daylight is like around 6500 K and the soft white is around 2700K the numbers might be different but around those numbers is good. The other way is to check and see if there is a spectrum thing on there. Showing like a color line. If you look earlier in this thread it tells you which is which I can't remember right now. Other than that it is hard to tell I have found. I know you can go to either home depot or lowes, they can tell you for sure. Also if you are growing like 10 plants under CFLs what watts are you using? Because I have two plants right now under 7CFLs at 27 (actual) watts each. I would get more lights if I was you, IMO. If you read earlier it says that 30watts per plant is bare minimum, and so I figure try for more, it cant hurt. But thats my peace hope it helped some.

Thanks dude. That was really helpful. Right now we have the 4 bulbs and they're all 60 watt. We want to upgrade cuz we're not getting the results we expected. I'm thinking we just need more and possibly some new head lamps to project more light. That and possibly some extra cash cuz we're both pretty spent for cash at the time being.

I know at wal-mart they have those clamp light setups for like 5 bucks, and I think home depot has them for like 8 bucks (home depot was the only place that had enough for what I needed). I know the feeling man, I bought a lot of things hear and there and have just finally got to where I might be a little ahead for now. Also you can see the difference in one day of changing my light set up and using the reflectors in my grow journal if you are interested in seeing. But glad to hear it helped out man. Sorry can't help with the cash flow though, haha

[Jamrocknw89]

Those are actually, exactly what we got. At work, they gave me a free light fixture that's about 4 or 5 feet. I just need to find a better light for it.

[woof]

Here are a couple sources for large cfl stuff. This one has the best price on 105w crls, $25 each and avail in 6500 and 2700. A nice setup is three of these using 2 6500 and 1 2700 in veg and then reversing that for flower. This is also a good buy on the reflector because it has the socket and power cord built in, most don't.

Grow Wurks - Fluorescent Grow Lights and Systems

If you really want to light it up, here is a steal on 200w cfls, unfortunately (as of last check) avail only in 6500k. I got 2 of these for $68 shipped!

Complete Light Kits

The clamp type reflectors have less use for me. CFLs put out much more light from the sides than from the tip. So it is desirable to have the sides facing the foliage. If over the plants, use the dome reflector above. If on the sides just hang them down sorta into the foliage, and cover nearby walls with mylar.

I use about 300w of mixed light on a 2 sq ft bubbleponics like this and figure I get 8-9000 lumens per sq ft which is only a bit less than the sun puts on the earth's surface. I know people using much more but I really question whether the cost in money, and heat is worth any advantage.

[kavika68]

Great post... sooo useful... learned a ton here and I thought I knew a lot from other research.

Noobish grower here with first stealth attempt. Definitely learned a lot for the next. Germed 10 bag seeds (unknown variety collected over years but mom and dad got me high so I figured WTF) and planted in small starter cups under home-made 4X24" flourescent tube set up (4X20watts). After three weeks decided something was wrong and thought not enough light. I have weeded down to the best four and now have them under 300W of CFLs. Doing better after just a few days. They are a bit stretched but seem to be healthy otherwise. Hoping for two females and that I now have the right light....

[woof]

Originally Posted by kavika68

Great post... sooo useful... learned a ton here and I thought I knew a lot from other research.

Noobish grower here with first stealth attempt. Definitely learned a lot for the next. Germed 10 bag seeds (unknown variety collected over years but mom and dad got me high so I figured WTF) and planted in small starter cups under home-made 4X24" flourescent tube set up (4X20watts). After three weeks decided something was wrong and thought not enough light. I have weeded down to the best four and now have them under 300W of CFLs. Doing better after just a few days. They are a bit stretched but seem to be healthy otherwise. Hoping for two females and that I now have the right light....

Just remember to have a mix of 6500 and 2700 light. Glad that was helpful, if so hit the scales above!

[kavika68]

Worry not my man... hit the scales big-time. I hope to be hitting the real scales big time in a couple months with my first LR2 harvest!

[Show]

Was at Home Depot today and noticed some CFL's that were called "bright white" and was in the middle of te spectrum. They were 23w and put out 3500k. Does anyone know if these will be effective in growing and/or flowering?

Was at Home Depot today and noticed some CFL's that were called "bright white" and was in the middle of te spectrum. They were 23w and put out 3500k. Does anyone know if these will be effective in growing and/or flowering?

I would stick with the DAYLIGHT for veg and SOFT WHITE for flowering. Go to Lowes (if there is one) They have a brand called, I think, BRIGHT IDEAS, the 23wt DAYLIGHT one are great, they also have the color temp on them and a spectrum showing the kind of light they put out. Also they do have (at least at mine) so 300wt replacement, actual watt is 65, big mother fuckers, but they give the exact 2700K light, and they say soft white on them. And all else fails and you can't find them, just ask for DAYLIGHT and SOFT WHITE bulbs. Hope that helps.

[kavika68]

I have read that you should do a mix of 6500 and 2700 throughout. What is the proper mix? 50/50?