I'm a first time grower and am just wondering as it is the cheaper option, is it alright to grow with CFL's,

Was looking at 250's with dual 6400k/2700K.

I'm not wanting a huge grow maybe just a few??

Cheers.

ya might be better lookin at lower wattage hps bro,...dual spec too but way more lumens.

you will find most folks who start usin cfl's turn to hps pretty quickly,..but sayin that there are lots of real decent grows about cfl wise.

If at all possible you want to use HPS, if you do not have the space available or the startup costs then CFL will get you by.

I agree, clf's are great for one or two smallish plants, but hps will give better results.

Dont belive the shite they say about Cool running ect, get 2 or 3 ov em in a confined space & the temps soon creep up.

hps & cool tube, thats what ya want

Watt for watt CFL gives off just as much heat as a HPS, so if you can keep your CFL cool then you should be able to keep your HPS of same wattage cool.

However, HPS will burn plants that get too close, so if your space is not sufficient to keep the plant tops away from the light then CFL is your best bet as they won't burn plants unless they physically touch the light.

If you have a metre or so total height then you should be able to squeeze in a lower wattage HPS, any less height than that and it will be very difficult growing decent sized plants while keeping the tops from burning. In this situation you will be better using CFL as you can more efficiently use the space available.

Thats bollox, Use a cool tube for the hps, CLF 250w x3 = alot of heat, cool tube, decent fan & 600w hps runs alot cooler.

Watt for watt, a hps pumps out FAR more useable light

at 45-50 quid a pop, cfl's arnt that great, their bloody brittle too.

man thats a load of shit m8 i had 1000watt of cfls and never as much heat as my 400watt hps

Bollox, A cool tube with a 600w hps in it attached to a fan is cooler than cfl's equal to 600w.

I know this from experience, I used to use clf's, 300watt'ers, the glass tubes produce heat & the ballasts produce heat.
These still burn plants if they get too close

example:
x2 300w clf's = temps around 28 deg in a small space, in same space with 600w hps, a fan attached to a cool tube, temps seldom go over 24 deg.

You do the maths.

plus as i say, at 40- 50 quid a pop, cfl's arnt worth the money.

Plus, sodiums give far better results, watt for watt, 90,000 luminums with 600w hps.

Isaac Newton, James Joule and Albert Einstein just spun in their graves.

I blame the drugs myself ... either that or you're trying to justify vast expense and wasted electricity.

¿Not true - HIDs are more efficient than Enviros, so how can Enviros be cooler?

his post was funny enough but that made me fire tea from my nose!

Well thats not even a similar setup as your using blowing air over the HPS and not over the enviros. If you stuck an enviro into a cooltube then you wouldnt have temp problems either.

Yes its alrite to grow with cfl's m8

maybe when you find out how addictive this hobby can be and you want to improve your yields you can upgrade to a HPS.

hope that helps

Everything I wanna say has already been said. A 250w HPS produces the same amount of heat as a cfl, its just dispersed in a different way. I use HPS for flowering and a 250w CFL for vegative growth in a small tent so cant use my 400w MH. I choose HPS for the light spectrum and the lumens. A CFL will do fine though if on a budget or not enough space.


At the end of the day were all growing for ourselfs and nobody else cause were not scummy dealers. So what does it matter

Exactly this man has it spot on

Would also like to take this moment to say that cooltubes r SHITE, worse light cover ive ever seen, even thought I had set it up wrong at first! Cant believe peeps are still using them.

Have you ever tried fitting a 300w envio lite inside a 6inch cool tube???

IT WONT FIT

not to mention the fact ya cant fit 2 enviro's in one cool tube!!

600w hps all the way

I agree, cool tubes are no good for larger area's, but there great for closet grows, point to note, cfl's are shite at lighting large area's too, You would need loads of em.

cfls are ok

They have there uses thats for sure,, like keeping seedlings/young plants node spacings closer together,, this can be a big help in controling the overall height of the plant. Of course I would only use them to a point then introduce the HPS because after a while and a couple of "pot ups" its tricky to keep all the plants under the light because the light has to be sooooo close. At this stage i introduce the HPS for better spread of light and more lumens of course.

However if you want to use CFL all the way then good luck to you. You will probably need it if you think you are going to yield big

totaly agree