hid lighting also typically requires cooling, its sounds like your doing a smaller grow and maybe a first? hids are not cheap in comparison, and you WILL get quality buds with cfls provided there are enough, the cfl quad set up can provide over 100 watts and 5000 lumens per sq ft which is plenty for growing pot. a quad cfl set up is 20 bucs vs. a 400 watt hid that will be over 200 dollars, (ballast, bulb, reflector, & this doesnt include cooling, if reqd.) a cfl operates alot cooler than a hid. A 400 watt hps will give the same coverage as 9 quad sets ups, in which both will cover 9 sq ft. yes you will be running twice as much watts in cfls to cover the same area and thus more electricitry, and this is why people say bang for the buck, but as far as initial purchase cost the cfls are cheaper.
I just gone done running 9 quads in 9 sq ft and was able to produce almost 500 grams of dry bud, with one plant that was vegged for 9 weeks in a 5 gallon bucket to maturity and then flowered out, It looked like a little Christmas tree.
There is a misconception on many pot forums that cfls do not work in flower, and the only way to get quality bud is with hids. im not saying one is better than the other, they both have pros and cons. but if your on a budget, cfls will get those autos roaring with flowers.
Another misconception is what color band width to use, if going cfl get all 3 types that are sold at homedepot lowes walmart etc. they will be called soft white, daylight, and bright white
they will be from 2700k to 5500k, and if you use all 3, the plant will be getting a "fuller" spectrum of simulated sunlight vs. just one, for example going with 2700k the plant will think that the sun is setting all day, or vice versus the 5500k the plant will think its afternoon all day.
I had a plant that was outdoors that only got direct sun in the morning, which was a 3500k range and it flowered on only one side of the plant, (due to shading on the other side), but it still put out 8 ounzes dry of dense buds on the sun side & it was only getting 2 to 3 hours of direct morning rays a day(8am to 10 am)
every kelvin band will work, if you want to stick to one, but in my opinion let the plant think its getting hit with 3 different suns at once: morning, afternoon, and sunset, and at that point the plants energy absorbtion will be more complete thruout your light cycle
Unless your rushing for bud, stay away from autos, in the long run you will use more electricty running 18 hours of light a day to produce them. You can do just as well vegging 4 to 6 weeks from seed and then flowering 12 hours a day for 8 to 9 weeks.
The last auto ak47xlowryder2 I did, did produce an ounce of bud dry, but even the original seed pack says the thc content is a mere 15%.
get 4 quad set ups, get a 10 pack of a feminized strain that appeals to you, germinate 4, plant them in 3 gallon containers, wait until they get 12 to 18 inchs tall (4 to 6 weeks of veg) and then flower, you will end up with much stronger and more pot than autos
