SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS......Ok, so I just purchased 3 sunblaze light systems.....two 8 bulb & one 4 bulb,(the 4 bulb will have the 6500k daylight blue's for so-called vegging 50 LOWRYDERS IN 18oz party cups)... what do u think about using two 4' 8 bulb each HO T5 fluorecsent 3000k warm red bulb systems for ENTIRE FLOWERING cycle??? (@ 5000 lumens ea bulb, using 16 blubs total for canopy, that would equal out to 80,000 lumens, which is also equivilent to a 600HPS, (80,000-90,000 lumens) I also wanna get SIX 4' single strip HO T5's, (warm red also) and lay those on the floor parallel to the plants in each row for additional side, between & underneath lighting..as well as SEVEN 2' HO T5 6500k daylight blue single strips in all four corners & sides, (vertically hanging) @ 2000 lumens ea. these will add an additional 44,000 lumens for a total of 124,000 lumens!!! [[I know, I know, @ 54 watts a bulb x 22 warm red bulbs, and 24 watts a bulb x 7 daylight blue bulbs = 1,356 watts!!...which I know and hate that it is more than a 1000HPS....., effiency wise, the 1000HPS would be smarter choice and get more lumens with just that 1 light source (140,000) BUT, "RADIANT HEAT & FLIR" is what i am trying to avoid right now!!!!]] which is the
"main reason" for using this type set-up...I am trying to have the
lowest "radiant" heat emmiting from my grow tent, (56" x 56" x 78.75" ie; almost 25sf) growing 20-30 autos in 3 gallon bags,(6.5"w x 7"d x 13"h) that will be in my garage! (btw i live in hot *** S. Fla. and the summer is approaching) and yes, I know HPS is better, and I know how to cool the lights, ect, ect, but security is #1 priority where I am currently renting/livin, and I want to go with a 1000HPS, but to cool the light, run ducting, ect is too much for now, plus I will still be using garage to park a car, and i dont want anybody to see ducting all over the place....REMEMBER, I'M GROWING LOWRYDERS IN SOIL, (MY GOAL IS 2OZ PER PLANT DRY) AND THEY PROBABLY WONT GET ANY BIGGER THAN 2'....OH, I WILL ALSO BE USING DUTCH MASTER PENETRATOR & DUTCH MASTER LIQUID LIGHT FOLIER SPRAY TO INCREASE THE LIGHT INTENSITY/PENETRATION OF THE CANOPY SINCE FLORO'S DONT HAVE THE AMOUNT OF LIGHT INTENSISTY/PENETRATION AS HPS...WILL ALSO USE CO2 BOOST....SO WHATTA YA THINK?? WILL THIS SET-UP WORK??
I ALREADY HAVE THESE LIGHT SYSTEMS,(BRAND NEW, STILL IN BOXES) SO I'M STUCK, I HAVE TO USE EM....
snowman- you can grow any plant under any light. its yield that will be affected. with a high par rated bulb at 3000k up to 10000k the plant uses 3-7000 lumens per square foot. 7000 being the most obviously. as long as you have a par rating over 75 and within that kelvin range 7000 lumens is the most that a plant can absorb. i would not use cfls as they are very inefficient producing great par ratings and excellent colour spectrum but low lumens. if eficiency is the most important thing than t8 flouros are the top producer making the highest par and lumen combination with kelvin temps ranging from whatever you want. t5 regular are the next most efficient with similar values but lower lumen output per watt. then comes t5ho with same specs and even lower lumen output. yes t5hos are less efficient than reguar 1s. its not a typo. lol. then t12 with same specs and lower lumens still. then you finally get to spiral cfls. same specs with less lumens than all of them. there are positives and negatives to each. but t5ho is the densess lighting flouro you can buy=smallest surface area of bulb relative to the lumen output. and the lumen output is only slightly less than the 2 kinds above it. the 4 bulb fixture you have will easily handle 7 small plants perfectly. my lowryders were grown under t5ho and have now turned around and are yielding quite well. but after 400 watts flouros seem to become warm and cannot be cooled so hps might be the way to go. but they will both yield the same under their ideal growing conditions.
if you take a 4x4 area and place 400 watts of t5ho over it and the penetrating power of the light is recommended at 1 foot(made up #) and you fill the area with plants no more than that tall you will yield however much. if you place a 400 watt hps over the same area with the same sized plants you will yield nearly exactly the same. the higher par rating on the flouros makes up for the slightly less lumen output compared to the hps. ut the prob with flouros is that the penetration is limited to small plants and therefore shorter grows to keep them small. the grows i just mentioned would be the same timeframe otherwise its not fair to compare. the reason why hps can outyield flouros much of the time is because most people dont grow 1 foot plants and therefore are not using the lighting properly. so if you are willing to do a longer grow with slightly larger plants the hps will win because the flouros cant compete with the height of the plants. i have that 1 pick still of a guy yielding 2 pounds dry off a 400 and it took 12 months. is that really a 400 watt grow? his power bill would still have been huge. so when talking flouros vs hps they are roughly identical when growing plants in the shorter penetrating lightsoures optimum range(flouros) once you get out of the range of flouros than the penetrating power = more bud. but also longer grow. good luck man
Pe@ce.. old pics though 
