help with choosing cfl lamps for veg. cabinet

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leelow

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hey,
i am in the procces of building a new veg/ clone/ mother cabinet. I have no experience with cfl's yet "compact flouresants". so i am looking for recomendations for brands, types, and wattages? I am under the impression that these lamps do not throw of to much heat allowing real close plant placement, this is true i hope?
i plan on stacking the cabenits residents vegetating/bottom mothers/ middle/ clones on top. the clones will have there own mini daul t5 setup, which is all taken care of, this is what i usaully use for my clones, the lighting for the mothers andthe veging still has to be figured out. i dont want to use another HID settup,since the bloom cabinet is attached and i have the temps in there just were i want them,with my 400w vented cooltube with lumenex ballast"awesome" ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE for cfl lamps types, which ones are the best for veging..//:D :D :D
 
I'm no CFl expert but you are correct about placement, they can go way closer than HID.
 
But in an enclosed cabinet it'll heat up fast... (learned that one the hard way)

on another note.... is MH lighting more efficent then flouros?
 
Can you fit 4 foot fixtures? I use a mix of 'daylight' 6500k bulbs and 'soft white' around 3000k bulbs. Look for tags on packages for spectrum and try to find bulbs with at least 3000+ lumens. I understand t8's are brighter or more efficient than t12's but the added cost is not worth it IMO. keep them 1-2" away.

I have overdriven mine, and though it will add more heat, still will not be anywhere as hot as a hid. Plants are stable at 3-4 inches away.

I would like to answer KADE's question, because I have been wondering the same, but I am still reaearching that. I have some info though.

I have 4 overdriven t12s at 128 watts a peice. They should put out about 6000 lumens a peice at 200% overdriven (roughly).

Of course this is not anywhere close to the lumen output of a 400 or 600 watt HPS (50,000+) I would be curious to know how effective my setup is at 4 inches away, as opposed to an hid that is 24 to 36" away.

Since these lights went into a cabinet, choice on lighting was easy, and with only adequate ventilation, temps are staying 3 degrees above room temp. I will be using hid in veg and flower rooms though.

There are a few recent posts in the 'lights' section on overdriving if you are interested in how it is done.
 
I dont mean which is cheaper.. i mean efficency.
 
Mind if I jump in.
Lets see. a t12 40W tube flo=3,000 lumens.
So (2)=80W. producing 6K lumens.

70W MH Hid produces 5500 lumens initial and 4400 mean lumens.

54W T5's produce 4600 lumens.
So 2 would be 9200 lumens @ 108W

100W MH produces 8500 mean and 5800 mean

The HID bulbs were generic.
Seems to me Flos win, except on penetration. Also the tube flo lumens are spread out over a 4' length. Where the Hid is more concentrated. I think for veg. Flos work best. IMHO. I have a 70W MH and still use flos. So much easier to deal with.

but if I had a switchable ballast I think things would be different. ;)
 
KADE said:
I dont mean which is cheaper.. i mean efficency.

Me too, lumens per watt. Can't forget the additional cooling hid will require.

Overdriven, my t12s should hit 6000 lumens EACH. But thanks Stoney, I forgot to figure in the 4 foot length.
 
yeah i have some 2 ft single lamp t5's that can be daisychained together, they come in 2' 3' and 4' , but there hard to find , but are great 2' sells for 27 dollors each. i going with the flos in the new veg/ clone/ mother area soley because i believe it will be cheaper to set up and will be easy to ventilate and keep kool.
i have a 400 w cool tube with a lumatek digi, i think these two things are the best thing since sliced bread . with the cooltube i can practicaly have the plants touching the glass with no ill effects, and of course the digi ballast, handles hps, mh , and its quite cool and supposadly burns brighter and more effieciently, again worth the investment.

but here i am with limited funds (spent to much on my lighting and cooling system for my flower cab) looking for the economical way to light the veg cab.
what brand cfls, what wattages please help?
 
Still really didn't answer my question... I'll look it up.
 

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