light combination help please..

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by b18cGSR, Jan 11, 2012.

  1. my main lights are fluor. tubes, but i also have clfs around my plants and 2 60w GE Reveals to mainly keep my box warm...is combining different lights ok to grow or does it mess up spectrums or something ?
     
  2. Get as much light as possible, I was using 60w reveals for a while lol, the plants like them but they're super hot! I just saw reveal CFL's at walmart the other day. I'd try to pick some of those up and replace the regular bulbs
     
  3. When providing the same amount of light, a single bulb is usually better than many smaller ones because its light would be more intense & reach further.

    That said, some of the best color spectrums for growing can be had by mixing two or more lights that produce more of different parts of the spectrum. They can combine to create a more complete spectrum of light for growing. Before enhanced spectrum bulb technology progressed, using one HPS & one MH together produced the best growing spectrum possible for indoor growers. The HPS produced the reddish light while the MH produced the bluish light and together they'd create a more complete color spectrum.

    Unfortunately, the more variation you have with stationary light sources, the less likely it will be that the different colors of light fully blend together before reaching each plant. You need to either alternate between different bulb colors mounted close together or use a light mover. If two different spectrum bulbs are too far apart, their lights won't blend & you end up with one plant getting light from one and a second plant being lit by the other, instead of both plants being lit by a blend of both lights.

    But no, it shouldn't mess anything up. There's a chance that plants under certain lights will grow faster than others but that can be delt with through plant rotation.
     
  4. Remember too that the sun puts out every spectrum, it's just that growers have found that plants favor 6500K during vegging and 2700K during flowering.

    I THINK that you can give a plant as much light as you can, it's just the heat that becomes an issue.
     

  5. Dump the GE Revels. There nothing more then blue coated incadesents. If you read the box all they do is make your plant appear visually better. They will no zero for your grow.
     
  6. K, I now got 4 fluor. tubes 40w a piece..on top of plants, and 3- 26w cfl's and 1- 55w cfl...i noticed the 55w cfl is a 200w replacement, it gets a little warm, will this burn the plants? if so how far should i keep the 55w away from the plants..also does 200w replacement mean its pushing about the same amount of lumens(k) as a incandescent bulb?..
     
  7. That should do nicely! I have a 55w CFL as well and I have a computer fan pulling the hot air away from it and have it about 3 inches away. The plants are gonna LOVE all that light.
     
  8. #10 b18cGSR, Jan 13, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 13, 2012
    do you let ur plants sleep ? when its time to flower should i add three more 26w cfls?
     
  9. 24/0 is gonna promote fastest growth but you can let them sleep if you want and yes the more light the better
     
  10. thats what i been doing 24/0
     
  11. #13 b18cGSR, Jan 13, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 13, 2012
    This is my first indoor grow so Im just learning lots of things. Basically my light puts out as much as 960 watts but half the energy?..cuz the 6- 26w cfls are 100w each replacements, the 55w cfl is 200w replacement, and my 4- 40w fluor. tubes ? right...
     
  12. There are some simple guides here to light cfl, you should be able to get the plants very close to the cfl's, but try to keep at least several inches. But, you never confirmed if you are using the right light spectrum bulbs. What spectrum are the bulbs you are using right now?
     
  13. [quote name='"b18cGSR"']This is my first indoor grow so Im just learning lots of things. Basically my light puts out as much as 960 watts but half the energy?..cuz the 6- 26w cfls are 100w each replacements, the 55w cfl is 200w replacement, and my 4- 40w fluor. tubes ? right...[/quote]

    You go by actuall wattage, the replacement wattage is a marketing tool companies use to make buying cfls a easier choice for average consumers.

    With cfls the general rule is a minimum of 100w actuall wattage for the first plant and 50w each additional plant. That a minimum though. The more the merrier with cfls.
     
  14. the 26w and the 55w cfls are 2700k soft white.. thinkin it will be good.
     

  15. Forget the equivalent value. Its for stupid consumers that are buying CFLs to replace there incadesents and are not used to buying low wattage bulbs. It has nothing to do with anything in terms of a grow. All you should care about is the actual wattage of the CFL. Don't get wrapped around the other number just tune it out.
     
  16. thanks for advise for sure. the 55w cfls are pretty bright, how does 3-4 sound on a couple plants?
     

  17. Good. Remember you have to have CFLs close 2-4 inches. There grow spectrum is very limited in area. You'll have to adjust them from time to time and depending how big your plant gets its easy to add more as there dirt cheap.
     
  18. thanks man, ill get them hugged up close and keep adding in time
     

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