85w 6500k or 105w 5000k? + more questions

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by aguy, Aug 28, 2006.

  1. Hey guys, been lurkin' here for a while, but now that I'm thinking about starting my own grow it's time to post :p.
    Anyways, I'm starting off with a CFL grow since I'm not sure how much room I'll have in the new house and I figure if I move up to HID I can always use the CFLs for seedlings or clones and whatnot.

    So back to my questions... I'm thinking about getting 2 85w 3000k and 1 of either 85w 6500k or 105w 5000k. Which would be preferable? Or do I want 2 of the 6500k/5000k and 1 of the 3000k? Also, the CFLs on 1000bulbs, those screw right in to normal light fixtures right? Just making sure I'm not buying the wrong stuff.

    I'll probably have more questions once I move up for the school year and get this thing underway, right now all I can do is prepwork and research.
     
  2. well those sounds fine to use, but if you want to save money pick up 23W 2700K CFLs, worth it to me in the long run because of low wattage usage, yes those CFLs screw into normal sockets, if you have more than 1 , give y-sockets a try
     
  3. yes get 2 85w 3000k bulbs and 1 105w 5000k bulb... use all three the whole time u grow it will act like a mh/hps system would do (red+blue spectrums)... and anything 105w or below screw into normal fixtures (150w u might need a special fixture... im not sure)
     
  4. So I was looking at those 23w 2700k lights. They do have higher (supposed) lumens to watts than the 85w (66 vs 49.5). You don't think shipping is going to get jacked up if I buy like 6 or 8 of those (obviously never ordered from 1000bulbs)?

    And the 5000k will be just as good as a 6500k? Or will the difference be small enough that the extra wattage will be more helpful?

    There's no downsides to using a bunch of smaller lights rather than a couple of large ones is there?

    Also is 250-300watts of CFL going to be enough for 2-3 nice females?

    Sorry for all the questions guys, just trying to get as much info as possible before I start.

    Edit: Was just looking and noticed the 27w are actually even cheaper.. questions are the same though...
    Edit2: After looking somemore I see the 26w 6400k are cheaper than the 105w for the same amount of watts. Think I should go with a bunch of low watt lights? Or just a few high watts? I'm about to go to walmart to see how much a bunch of socket splitters and light fixtures will cost, to see if it's even worth it in the long run.
     
  5. Personally I would opt for the bluer spectrum of the 6500k on the optional bulb. I would not use the lower wattage bulbs in place of the high wattage ones you are considering. You can always get 23w CFLs at Wally World dirt cheap, like $8 for a 2-pak to supplement your grow.
     
  6. I have 158 watt in low 2x30watt, 2x26watt, and 2x23 watt ones. It's not a huge concern yet, but space may call for me to upgrade to a lesser number of higher watt ones. 6 bulbs over 2 plants, with 3x8watt 13" floro and 1 20watt 24" inch floro in the front back and sides of the box, when the plants start getting bigger I might have to start trading bulbs.
     
  7. Hi, depending on the light fixture, maybe not the ones you are using, but I had a desk lamp to start, and the bulbs wouldn't crew all the way in deep enough because of the outer socket frame :rolleyes: . At first I thought the bulbs for already broken until I found that I had to that piece off the lamp. The brighter cfl bulbs can get wide at the base.
     
  8. Thanks for the feedback guys, I think I will go with the higher watt ones. It'd probably cost about the same by the time I bought all the sockets and splitters, and this way is a lot less of a hassle.

    Last question for now.. 255 watts, how many plants should I try to grow with that? Assuming I can get my hands on some seeds, I'm thinking about germinating about 6 or 7, and keeping 2, maybe 3. I probably wont grow very high, plan on LSTing pretty heavily though. What're your thoughts on the number I should aim for?
     
  9. 2 plants would be optimal... 3 would be the max
     

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