Hey folks, I'm looking at lighting a cabinet (28"x19"x50") with two plants. I've decided to go fluorescent due to heat and sound constraints, but I have been debating between two approaches. It seems that fluorescent tubes are more efficient than CFLs. Here are my notes: 150W HPS = 96 lumens/watt 48" T5 High Output = 93 lumens/watt 70W HPS = 86 lumens/watt 24" T5 High Output = 83 lumens/watt 42W CFL = 67 lumens/watt 26W CFL = 67 lumens/watt 23W CFL = 63 lumens/watt 200W CFL = 60 lumens/watt I found the new wave 96W 2' 4 bulb fixture (http://i42.tinypic.com/14t7cqp.gif) which will fit into my cabinet really nicely. It outputs 8000 lumens which is equivalent to 119.4 watts of the 26W CFLs. Kamel's guide (http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/122824-kamels-cfl-guide.html) recommends 100W for the first plant and 50W for each consecutive one. That means, with this light alone, I'd be about 30W of CFL equiv. below what was suggested by Kamel's guide. I'm thinking that the high quality reflectors that the new wave fixture has will make up for this. Is that a reasonable assumption?
If the choice is between T-5s and CFLs, I would go with T-5s. I still love my CFLs, and they work perfect for my set-up, but T-5s give better light. The only down side is that they are more expensive than CFLs.
I did a little bit more reading and it seems that the output for the light is 8000 lumens for the entire length. ...That means that if my plants are in a 2' wide box and the light is 2' wide, each plant should be getting its own 8000 lumens of light. If this is a correct assessment, I am effectively getting 120 watts worth of CFL on each plant which means the output will be plenty. Is this correct?
for vegging that would be an ok amount of light, but if u want to flower with the same fixture, it won't be enough. You want atleast 10,000 lumens for flowering and u said u only get 8,000 per plant right now. However, u could easily fix this by adding a couple 26 watt warm white cfl's here and there.
Thanks for the input, NYC Diesel. If I understand lumen (as a measurement of light output) correctly, this would me more effective (in raw lumens) than a 150W HPS. A 150W HPS outputs about 15,000 lumens. If I were to use one of those to flower, that would give me 7,500 lumens/plant. This is because an HPS is a single point light source which means that whatever light is given off of it, you divide for the number of plants recieving light. That 96W T5 setup outputs 8,000 lumens, but it does so over two feet of space. That means if each plant takes up about a square foot, I will be getting 8,000 lumens/plant. I understand there are other benefits to an HPS, eg. light penetration. I am only suggesting that the T5 setup could possibily be beating the comparable HPS in raw lumens/plant.
Nope. You've got 8000 lumens total from your 2' T5 setup. If each plant takes up half that room, each one only gets 4,000 lumens. Along this same thought, plants need lumens to live, they have no idea what a watt is. Go by lumens (and correct color light). As for light not penetrating the canopy, this is what ScrOG is for. Put a screen on and arrange the buds so they each get light. Peace, Tex
If we are going to get technical, they really need Lux. That is where proper reflecting material comes in. The only reason I was using Watt earlier is because of the rule of thumb used in Kamel's guide. (100W CFL for the first plant and 30-50W CFL for each subsequent plant) Anyway... it looks like I'll have to work out some supplemental lighting. Thanks for the input guys. I won't let it go to waste.
I have the t5's and they work great. i also got some T12's... just cause their cheap deff floro tubes
if u have 8000 lumens being put out by ur lights, and the plants are about 2 feet away, the 8000 lumens is only for the first square foot of area around the lights. After that it starts to decrease very quickly(its like this with all fluorescents) So either move your plants closer or get some other lights in there now
T5's oubviously are more efficient that CFL's, but I like the flexibility of CFLs. If heat becomes an issue, you can unscrew one for a while. They are small so you can put them wherever you want them. They are cheap. I like them better than tubes for a lot of reasons. I can run mostly 6500K for veg and throw in one or two 2700k for balance without haveing to dedicate a lot of power. It really is up to you. For effeciency purposes, T5 ftw, but for flexibility, CFL's ftw.
You forgot the most efficient CFL there is. The 55w PL-L CFL. It's basically a T5HO bent in half. The main difference is that it outputs maximum lumens at only 75F ambient temp. A regular T5HO needs 95F (Which isn't good for plants, meaning more airflow or keeping them further away) I'm running 220w of them right now That's 4 55w Lamps (2"x22"x1.5") outputting 4,800lum. That's 19,200 lumens coming from a bank of tubes 22" x 24", perfect for a flat scrog or LST.
That looks amazing. Where do I find a fixture for them? Edit: After digging through -mu's guide to the PL-L 55 Watt systems, I've realized that they just don't sell fixtures in the US and I'm probably better off with the plain T5 HO setup. :\
Edit: Try this place for sockets And here's a 2 55w tube fixture I'm searching lighting sites for '2G11 Fixture' or just 2G11, depending on how good of a site they have..... There are several online shops that sell fixtures. Check aquarium shops for 2G11 sockets and hoods. Personally I picked mine up from 1000bulbs.com and wired them up myself with just sockets and the Fulham ballast. If you read my posts in that thread you can find the info on how to order the sockets. They're the cheapies. You can find more expensive, usually waterproof sockets for around $7 at some aquarium shops. I'm definitely going to look into those further when I upgrade my cab. Looking to build a hood since presently they're just mounted below stretched mylar. I've attached a pic so you can see them being used over 5 C-99 clones and one SweetTooth#3xPrincess Diesel cross( the shorter one in the front right foreground). The arrow in the upper left corner is pointing to the ziptie I have attached to the lamp and the wire that attaches it to the screw to hold it. The lamps never get anywhere close enough to being hot enough to even get the ziptie anything other than coolish/warmish. Those are two 5 gallon buckets, side by side, underneath that canopy. Just to give you an idea. I'm eventually going to build another cab, or two if I can, and only grow one plant in each bucket. (two per cab) They get big enough, fast enough that they'll fill it quickly on their own.
Just to clarify, the mylar is stretched along the bottom of a moveable shelf. (You can see the pegs in the corner of the photo) I just cut slots in the shelf above the lamps where the hottest air would be and built an odor scrubber on the top side of the shelf. The current 50cfm bathroom fan I'm using is a poor one but it keeps the cab about 7F below room temp. Yes, I'm definitely researching additional methods of construction a better hood and reflector for these types of lamps. They're excellent as is and can't wait to improve that. Edit: Some promising leads. Here's a single 55w ballast kit with reflector Good for a veg chamber. I'm curious if you can purchase them without the Actinic lamps they sell? At any rate, just the reflector itself is available and they have them in different sizes. Anyone have any experience with these reflectors?
I'm excited about these PL-L lamps, but I can't seem to find any bulbs in the right temperature for Veg with a reasonable price. I saw some talk about ahsupply.com/. I like their reflector kits, but their site looks pretty darn shady and what I really want is a 3 bulb setup whereas they only sell 1, 2 and 4 bulb sets. I suppose I could always get the kits and use my own ballast to power them. Oh well... enough research. Time for sleep.
j Anything in the 3000k to 4000k range is just fine for veg. They're really great lights and it won't make THAT much of a difference right now. Remember that you can always get more lamp types later
I found some 6400K bulbs here: http://www.htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=52661 ...and some 5600K bulbs here: http://www.1000bulbs.com/Full-Spectrum-55-Watt-4-Pin-2G11-Base-Compact-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs/ I'm thinking of just calling up the http://www.ahsupply.com place to ask if I can get three of the reflector kits minus the ballast so that I can run them with a single ballast. That will be 14,400 lumens at about 87 lumens/watt. That is in the easily in HPS territory without all of the heat. The expect the whole setup to be under $180 (including both red and blue bulbs). I'm excited. Thanks for turning me on to these bulbs, HydroGanic!
You're welcome Don't bother with 1000bulbs.com right now though, they're out of stock Do a search for 55w PL-L or 55w Dulux-L and you'll find a few local places. bulbs.com and a few others. I flower with 3000k Lamps for now. Would love to go 50/50 with 2700k lamps as well.