Need help with lights!!!

interms of lumen output, more lights with a lesser wattage will be more effecient.

For heat though, id imagine fewer bulbs at higher wattages would be best...

Gotta try and find a balance my friend, if you have your box built and exhaust fans installed then you can start testing the lights. Leave them on in the box and watch the temperature until it stays constant...

You box is small so it might get hot fast.

 

i would do this set up of lights seems like its a better mix for the heat and lumens you would need. you might have answered this but how many plants are you planning on growing?

 

I have had initial success with my new micro grow with only 4, 23watt CFL's, was originally going to go with six, but cost was a factor and the bulbs came in 4 packs, so, hey what the heck.

Going with 6 would allow you to use a variety of different CFL's to tailor your light spectrum. Like using daylight bulbs during veg and softer bulbs for bud.

I want to go to six lights and use a combo of 2700K and 6500K during veg (2 of each) then when I flower add two additional 2700K lights, or something similar.

I have two 92mm fans one brings in air , passes it across the plants and the other exhausts. I have not had any heat issues, actually, I would like to raise the temperatures as right now I am running at the same temperature as the room. I am going to put a couple filters on the fans, hopefully that will solve a couple problems and nominally raise grow chamber temperatures. Adding a couple extra lights couldn't hurt, so I think you are right to go with 6 smaller wattage bulbs. Also, the better we can "shape" the light spectrum the less wattage/lumens we require. In theory.

Also, on the heat issue, it really depends on the bulbs too, I have other CFL's that are really hot (which I don't use in the grow), Right now I am using Philips 23 watt, 1600 lumen energy savers.

 

it's possible to use the same lights as long as there full spectrum cfl's.

 

Full spectrum light better represent natural sunlight. Using a variety of smaller CFl's allows you to control the spectrum without having to buy specialty bulbs, but if you can find full spectrum lights in your area at a reasonable cost then, thats an option.

The issue with full spectrum representation is that the plant actually only uses light within certain wavelength ranges (blue and red and some orange), Green for example is useless to the plant as they reflect green wavelengths (hence their green colour). In a low wattage grow you are really better off trying to focus the spectrum to useable wavelengths. IMHO.

 

yea i was using one in my grow. if you dont have a multi wattage outlet, it's only going to use the minimum amount of watts.

 

The "colour temperature" rating on bulbs is a general representation of the colour of the light being emitted, rated in Kelvin.

The verbage (soft, daylight, cool, cool white etc) should be completely ignored. Check the bulb manufacturers web site for a spectrograph of the light you want to buy, that'll give you the most accurate information on the bulbs output. Failing that, go with the temperature rating 2700K is in the Red (600nm) range where 6500k is in the Blue (450nM) range.

 

It's like in a room lamp that has 3 brightness settings. Turning it on is the lowest, turning it again is the middle, etc etc.

You can get the fixture at any hardware store. I just don't see any benefit in a grow.

 

I suppose it will have to do, just don't expect great performance in terms of plant growth. Go with whatever you have and then upgrade as its possible.