Fluorescent Light Mania. More Or No?

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by Littletoast, Jun 29, 2014.

  1. Ill keep it short and simple. 
     
    I have 3- 64 watt t8 lights and 2- 80 watt t12 lights all jammed into my 2ftx6ft closet.
     
    thats 192 watts of t8 and 160 watts of t12
    for a total of 352 watts
     
    right now i have 3 seedlings under them but i plan to add 1 more if it sprouts.
     
    would that suffice to keep 4 vegging for now? i have a 150watt hps i planned on using but my ambient temps are too high as it is. 
     
    i know its not ideal, but they are pretty tight together.  i also have 5- 23 watt cfts  i want to add after they get bigger, so thats another 115 watts...
     
    what do you guys think? should i just ditch the 2 80 watt t12s and run the hps? id be loosing 10 watts over all and the spectrum would be different. but it would probably be better intensity i think..

     
  2. im learning that fluorescent bulbs stretch my babies a good bit
     
  3. You need to define you intentions ...?
    this is what I would do , as a T8 user
    the T12 light goes back to 1933, and has been replaced by the T8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent-lamp_formats during the 1970-1980 it was replaced again by the T5, that is goddamn expensive with high running costs compared to the T8 at about 38 watts vs the T5 54 watts, per tube per hour.
    You should upgrade all you T12 lights, ballasts, and starter to at least T8 or shoplights standard, look to upgrading further to the T5 level, but it will get expensive, you decide?
    With T8's you get a very cheap indoor light that goes very very well for germing and early veg, with very little heat if at all, once you start adding more tubes, it gets a little warmer, and is great for mid to late veg, the best light is the 4 foot one at 33 watts and 3350 lux, thats not to be pissed at, although they say 33 watts I like to include a blast from the ballast at start up and round that  33 watts to 40 watts per hour burning very cheap indeed, adjust daily to avoid any hassles.
    Now that all your flouros are settled on one grade T8? you should also up grade the ballast, as many sparkies have been doing this in offices and factories all over, as the old ones produced the banned PCP's, they are the black tar paper ones heavy as.. too, so for your own health replace these..
    Should you intend to do the full grow under T8's or T5's, use and even balance of cool whites and warm reds to late veg, then once you hit budding reduce 25% of those cool whites for some extra warm reds, then remove all the lower leaves and stalks, the light is too weak to reach them anyways, this will improve ventilation in your grow space too, use those stalks you removed, as clones for your next grow?
    I'd avoid that small hps as its more heat than light, and get a 400w hps(digital) that you may dial up or down, and if money is tight, just use the 400w hps for the last 2 weeks before harvest, no in the same place as the T5/T8's
     
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp
     
  4. I would attatch your T-8s to your walls and have the 150 HPS up top. I have a similar deal going on. You need a fan blowing over your 150 and you can get it within 3-4 inchs.

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    I belive flourecents teamed with small HPS produce quality cannabis. The sodium will provide you with some larger buds on top than flourecents alone.
     

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