As the title says. I want cfl's because of the low energy and heat but all in all I would say yield is most important. If cfl's aren't the way to go what is the best grow light with reasonable electric usage. How much would 400w raise my bill?Thanks a lot in advance.
400 Hps with a few fans and/or proper ventilation you wont have much heat . And only a small insignificant jump in your electricity usage .
If yield is important, then you want HPS. If you air cool it heat will not be an issue. Out of curiosity I put my temperature gauge inside my hood to see how hot it was and it was only like 95 degrees just a couple of inches from the bulb, inside of the enclosed hood with the fan on. So needless to say at the proper distance of 16" outside of the hood there is negligible heat (1-3 degrees). The key is to pump out the heat so it doesn't recycle, like blow it out a window or into the ceiling or someshit.. Oh and I was worried about power so for a month I didnt watch TV while the lights were on. (52" plasma) and my power bill dropped. As an added bonus I hardly ever watch TV anymore at all.
generally speaking how many plants and how much could you expect to yield? I feel like there was a sticky a long time ago with this info along with grow box blueprints and instructions.. anyone know where that went?