Hey guys I need your help. Do you know anyone that sells 200watt envirolites bloom bulbs that will ship to the US? For some reason they don't sell them in the US and a lot of UK retailers won't send them here. and i really really want !!! please help?
Do you have your heart set on the Envirolite? There are plenty of other brands that make 200 watt CFL's here in the goold 'ole US of A.
well if you can suggest any 200watt cfl that is 100% par, i'm willing to give it a try. i'm looking for seperate grow and bloom bulbs, no dual spectrums.
A quick search brought up these: 150w 6500k 200w 2700k You could also check places like 1000bulbs.com, lightbulbsdirect.com, your local hydro shops, etc etc
The problem with getting them from the UK is they use 240v A/C. U'll need a step-up transformer to use them. EDIT: I think in some US states you cannot use 240V A/C at all.
MAx, I think you are right about that 240V thing here. We can in our state. Happy, Try plantlightinghydroponics.com They have some good CFLs. Why not HPS? Reason I ask is that alot of people have different reasons on why they choose CFL.
the reason i don't want hps is, first heat, i have a good temperature going in my grow room so i dont' want to add any other factors, also i feel less heat make the setup more stealth. i also read that a lot of the light that hps has isn't useable by the plant. so wouldn't using the cfl that is 100% par be more effective? there was a guy that just harvested 2.5 oz off one autoAK using one 250 watt envirolite. (blue for grow and red for bloom) Thats about as much as anyone i've read using a HPS. and i decided to go with 4-125watt cfl at 8500 lumens each. that would give me a total of 35000 lumens of usable light, you think that will be better than a 400 watt hps? the price of the bulbs come to around 220shipped. Thats about the same price for a digital ballast 400watt hps + shipping , with out all the heat and i can have the lights real close which i cant do w/ a hps. I don't know if my logic is sound at all(this is my first grow afterall) but to answer your question, this is why i am choosing cfl.
There's no doubt - you can get good results with CFL. Are they as good as results from HPS? Well, most people tend to think not. 2.5oz from one plant using a 250 watt CFL is a dang nice yield No way to knock that. That being said, there's people here pulling in crazy harvests using a 400 watt HPS. One in particular is Rumpleforeskin. I coudln't find the post in a quick search, but I believe he mentioned that his 2 plant harvests averaged a little under a pound. So a bit below a half pound per plant, under a 400 watt HPS. Of course he has a very nice setup, and is very experienced, so that counts for alot. Also worthy of mentioning is that he is planning on adding a few CFL's to his grow as he's changed from 2 plants to 1 plant and is shooting for the same yield. Check out some of his threads, the man has given the city alot of information! For price, you can find a 400 watt setup for under $200 shipped. A quick search on ebay gave me this. Now they don't mention how many lumens the included bulb puts out. I checked my local hydro store for the cheapest 400 watt HPS bulb they sell (it's $19.99), and it puts out 50,000 lumens. I'm not sure how hot that specific unit will get. My air cooled 400 watt stays cool enough to the touch that you can hold your hand anywhere on the reflector without the slightest bit of discomfort. Without air cooling, I'm not sure, I havn't tried that. I'd also suggest you check craigslist. In my remote area of the country, I was able to find quite a few people wanting to sell slightly used HID ballasts, lamps, and hoods at pretty steep discounts. Inside of the cab I'm currently using, I had a bunch of CFL's - something like 9 26 watt 6500k's and 2 42 watt 2700k's. 4 2" passive intakes, with a 4" 170 EcoPlus inline fan running at full steam exhausting air from the cab. My temps stayed in the low 80's most of the time. The reason I went with HPS for my new cab is because I wanted more light, but an easier cooling solution. Cooling a bunch of CFL's, aside from having the AC unit on more, would have been more trouble imo. So CFL's can put out a fair amount of heat. Will the 4 you picked out put out as much heat as a 250 watt or even a 400 watt HPS setup? I don't know, prolly not. Maybe someone who has used those big CFL's can chime in about heat. The 400 watt all in one unit would prolly get pretty warm and you'd have to have some good ventilation. Anyway, I'm sure you'll have an amazingly successful grow with the bulbs you've picked out - they sound great! Maybe in the future you could do a side-by-side CFL vs. HPS in your setup
I am shooting for the stars with a near 2lb harvest dream in my cab, the numbers work out in my head and if done right will be more than a dream. I am using a 400hps, (as above, air cooled and can touch the glass) and it is doable, I promise (although it will take me 81 plants to do it). I bought the 400 econoline ballast from Discount-hydro.com i think it is a 5year warranty, along with their no plant left in the dark policy (or somthing like that) That ballast is way cool (so little heat it does nothing to my temps, and sooo quiet too) Ballasts have come a long way over the years. My first was a big huge 400 watt halide ballast. That sucker buzzed to beat hell and threw the heat. anyway mine was like $200. skip ebay, hit Discount-hydro.com for some good ballasts with a real warranty.
thanks for the suggestions/reply guys, the cfl order has already been placed. I am anxious to show you guys how it turns out pertaining to heat and final yield. i currently have 9 autoak and one autoBB, no gender shown yet at 14 days. i'll keep you guys posted!
Since you guys did such an awesome job with the first question, i decided to reward you guys....with more questions! enjoy! btw thx guys well now that the cfl are ordered... I will need some advice pertaining to these questions. Should my 4 bulbs be uniformily spread out among the grow area or bunched in the middle? Should they all be in relectors or should some of them hang low in between the plants for lower branch light? (which placement for best yield) What kind of material and method should i use to make a reflector and a light fixture? (i'm as noob as you can get in regards to home wiring)
As far as wiring, I must reefer you to Smokeitdown's thread here in the design forum. Also, will need more details as far as the size of the area, shape, and ventilation before I can give more answers.
Iuse them myself for veg, try visiting this site(my supplier) '3countieshydroponics.co.uk' and I'm sure you wont find any problems with shipping, good luck n keep on toking my friend. P.S If you encounter any problem's accessing the site plz get back to me as i,m happy to help as we all are in here I hope.
Don't have them bunched together, either in between or in reflector will work but I hang them in between my babe's, happy hunting.