Cfl Or Hps???

I had a lot of luck with 6 weeks of veg with CFL's and T8's, this from my current grow (in siggy). Last day of veg before flipping into the flower room.
 
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They were/are lush and healthy. If I had gone 6 weeks under MH I know they would be bigger, so I probably doubled their grow time just because of CFL's but I still had the equivalent of ~ 800w of 6500k light in there on the 4. I had the larger 200w/100w bulbs though. My point is, from personal experience I believe there are better and cheaper ways of getting the girls off the ground and through veg, without using a traditional MH light.
 
I've been on board many grows, this is my first solo grow, so I've used LED's and HID's before but never CFL's in a grow. Most people would have laughed, at least on the scale of the people I grew with. I'm saving my CFL setup, I think in my next closet grow I'll veg the next set of ladies the same way. Hell I didn't even need ventilation, they never got hot enough. Can't do that with MH!!!  But there's no replacement for HPS, at least not a cost effective one. So I burn my 1000w proudly, from 9pm-9am

 

Dude, no. You've got way too much grow space to be fucking with so few wattage in CFLs. CFLs CAN be good, but, mostly in true micro grow settings. If you've got the space, you've gotta throw up an HPS/MH. If you're dead set on using CFLs, use them as side lighting, BUT, you just HAVE to get an HPS. The difference will be fucking ridiculous! I've got a 600 watt HPS/MH up. Oh, and go for an air cooled hood over a cooltube, way bigger spread of light. 

 

I hate changing bulbs too, vegging with Eye Hortilux super hps 1kw. Works great!! I'd like to try the Hortilux Blue for a full cycle but damn they're expensive ($200+ just for a 1kw bulb), I don't think the cost is justified. Greners has 1kw super hps bulbs for $66, fucking excellent price. http://www.greners.com/i/bulb-blowout/hortilux-super-hps-enhanced-spectrum-bulb-1000w.html
 


 
If I was OP, I'd get a 3x3x5 tent, 400w hortilux, cooltube, etc.
 
Best way to go about this is to choose your light first, then build your enclosure around that. Rectangular tents are best used with lighting that efficiently covers a rectangular area, such as T-5's or 2x HID's. Square tents are best used with lights that have a square footprint, such as a single HID. So if I wanted an extra veg area with a T-5, I might pick a rectangular tent to distribute the light as efficiently as possible.
 
Of course, that's a huge generalization and there are a lot of exceptions. You can certainly flower and veg in either one, and some people are limited to a single rectangular tent. Using a rectangular tent with a single HID is not optimal, and it wouldn't be my first choice, but it can be done.
 
That being said, I wouldn't flower with anything less than HPS. Best bang for your buck.

 

 
How can you say there are cheaper alternatives than buying a £20 MH bulb to screw straight in to the ballast and reflector that he would already have ready for the HPS bulb? 

 

 
 
I get major stretch when I veg with HPS. I usually  veg with a 250w metal halide but recently bought an LED that uses the same amount of electricity. Growth has slowed to a crawl. I should give it more time before I judge but it's got nothing on a metal halide. Heat output is the same too. I must add with my current plant I have been getting bad stretching with the MH as well as the HPS. I thought an LED would be the answer but it just hasn't got the penetration that HID has 

 

 
Because I spent half that on my CFL's.
 
Also, make sure you're using a 'switchable' ballast. They still make 'em without that feature, OP.  That is, if you are going the MH/HPS route. If you don't have experience, and in the unlikely chance that your grow isn't successful past the veg stage, it's a lot easier to swallow $20 in CFL bulbs than it is an entire MH/HPS setup.
 
Also GG, not raking you over the coals...but it's only a $20 purchase assuming he already has an entire HPS setup. But yes, you're right...growing under MH is better than CFL. Nobody argued that. Even me, in the post you quoted me from. I said it took me 2x the amount of time to grow mine in veg, than it would under an MH. But looking at the thread title, nobody is really bringing up MH, except you
 
So far all that OP has said he's going to do, is buy a 150w HPS light. If you're referring to him using this built-in ballast type of lighting with an MH bulb, that isn't really par for the course for success. I can outdo a 150w MH or HPS bulb, with 1 CFL....you already saw what I did with my 8.

 

 
Yeah I mentioned using a MH, I recommended it to be used with the 400w HPS that I also recommended. Then you said there are cheaper ways to veg than a metal halide. Vegging an area of 3'x2' would require a lot more than £10 worth of CFLs, but even if it didn't, would it really be the best option to save that £10? 

 

 
Yeah there is way less lumens from a MH over HPS of the same wattage a 600w HPS puts out 90,000 and a 600w MH puts out 45,000 . So you finding MH's aren't as good makes perfect sense

 

 
I think MH has a better PAR per lumen than HPS so even though they put out just half the amount of lumens I think they are a bit more efficient than half, but still not equal to HPS

 

I tried flowering with a 250w HPS and a 250w MH on the same plant once. People said the different Kelvin temperature would be good, more variation and all that.after a week there was an obvious difference between the two sides of the plant. I changed the MH back to an HPS after right away.

 

I think my big concern is long term running costs with mh. I just run one HPS with a magnum xxxl hood and fan. I wouldn't want to run another mh because of the additional kilowatt hours. Plus my goal is always even canopy growth. I think having a nice even spread of light from an 8 bulb T5 without cooling fans and additional heat makes it way better. Spend a little up more up front and lower running costs.


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How much electricity does that use?