New CFL Grow Box

[frankcosta1]

Built my first grow box last week and it seems to be doing well so far. It's a 4' x 2' x 4' layout that fits 5 4.5 Gal buckets of soiless mix. After reading cyberquest's CFL Lighting 101 post I went down to Home Depot and picked up 4 of these 65W 8905 lumens Florex Flood Lights
hxxp://www.yinyanghome.com/Products/LOA/9266c.html and mounted them to a simple wooden frame, along with 10 spiral CFL's for a total of 51,400 lumens, 6425 lumens/sq. ft......or 4497 PGL's/sq. ft. Combining this with my "turn key" shed for flowering, I've begun my first SOG.

 

[time4tokin20s]

Very nice.Running any ventilation?

 

[frankcosta1]

Very nice.Running any ventilation?

There's a 125 CFM fan in the upper left/back corner sucking the warm air out of the box, and another fan in the bottom right/front corner that I turn on during the day....it's been pretty warm around here lately. I've also got a HEPA filter running in the room for good measure. The box seems to be maintaining 80-85 during the warmer parts of the day.

 

[cuzigothigh]

FrankCosta1,

Nice setup! Congrats! :aok:

What is the temperature of your cfl's?
I think your flood lights are 5600k... i did a setup using those ligths about 1 month ago. Any idea on the temp of the bulbs on ur spirals?

The "cooler" the bulb the best results you get for vegging. Shoot for a 14000k bulb... I don't know all the available sizes but mine is a 130w. They come with their own litlte ballast... al you do is install a Mogul Socket (a bigger light socket) replacing your regular bulb socket amd plug your CFL. Changing my setup to the 130w 14000k bulb is doing wonders in my veg area.

For flower you should use "warmer" bulbs. 2700k will give you best result for flower.

If money is your concern, then go with the 5600k. You will have a middleground temperature bulb between vegging and flowering... you will get good results... but far better if you use different temps for vegging and flowering.

Kind of MH and HPS... Mh is "cooler" and HPS is "warmer".

Regardless what you decide to do.. Lots of Green Mojo your way!!

CIGH
:ccc:

 

[frankcosta1]

FrankCosta1,

Nice setup! Congrats! :aok:

What is the temperature of your cfl's?
I think your flood lights are 5600k... i did a setup using those ligths about 1 month ago. Any idea on the temp of the bulbs on ur spirals?

The "cooler" the bulb the best results you get for vegging. Shoot for a 14000k bulb... I don't know all the available sizes but mine is a 130w. They come with their own litlte ballast... al you do is install a Mogul Socket (a bigger light socket) replacing your regular bulb socket amd plug your CFL. Changing my setup to the 130w 14000k bulb is doing wonders in my veg area.

For flower you should use "warmer" bulbs. 2700k will give you best result for flower.

If money is your concern, then go with the 5600k. You will have a middleground temperature bulb between vegging and flowering... you will get good results... but far better if you use different temps for vegging and flowering.

Kind of MH and HPS... Mh is "cooler" and HPS is "warmer".

Regardless what you decide to do.. Lots of Green Mojo your way!!

CIGH
:ccc:

Thanks for the info!

The flood lights are 6500K bulbs. The rest are a mixture of 2700K, 3500K, and 5500K. They are what I had around. The flood lights were a chunk of change...on top of the cost of building the box. I plan on replacing the spiral bulbs with 6400K full spectrum ones. They're pretty cheap here hxxp://www.1000bulbs.com/26-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents/30933/

I've got a seperate setup for flowering....400W HPS turn key unit from here hxxp://s178454875.onlinehome.us/turn_key_units.htm The Caddy is my setup...I removed the hydroponic setup of their's in favor of a soiless mix. Seems like a lot less maintenance to me....not to mention I'm sick of carrying 40 gallons of RO water jugs back and forth every week.

 

[BagSeed]

why not use smaller buckets so the plants can get bigger. that small of plant doesnt need that much dirt. you should use some 4 gallon rubbermaids to take advantage of all your floor space and to give you more vertical room...

 

[frankcosta1]

why not use smaller buckets so the plants can get bigger. that small of plant doesnt need that much dirt. you should use some 4 gallon rubbermaids to take advantage of all your floor space and to give you more vertical room...

The big 4 1/2 gallon white buckets are just to catch the draining water. The plants are potted in 3 1/2 gallon pots. I take them outside for watering/flushing. If I'm short on time I let the plants drain for a bit then put them in these buckets so I don't get water all over the place. :hubba: