cfl vs hps?

ok so im building a box and i was wondering if 4 cool white and 4 warm lights would be better than one 150 hps? i have no idea how much more or less heat the hps would be putting out but it'll save some money going that way

Hps is more efficient, it just costs more. you want all cool lights for vegging and all warm for flowering. If you can afford it steer clear of CFL's, they are not very efficient.

thank you very much sir. +rep

But CFL's can be fine for vegging. If you want to keep your power costs down. The plants dont need as much light in the vegetative stage, and if you buy 6500K CFL's your giving them the perfect spectrum the need to veg. But for flowering i beleive HPS is the only way to go. They really pay for themselves with the energy they save compared to the amount of CFL's you would have to run to get the same lumens.

Im running T5 lighing in week 5 of flowering, which is a type of Cfl. Plant is flowering wonderfully. However, the light fixture consists of 6 48'' T5 HO bulbs, 3 which are actinic (blue) and 3 which are 10,000k. Plant is doing wonderful. T5's produce barely any heat so plant is right underneath light.

purfict said:

Im running T5 lighing in week 5 of flowering, which is a type of Cfl. Plant is flowering wonderfully. However, the light fixture consists of 6 48'' T5 HO bulbs, 3 which are actinic (blue) and 3 which are 10,000k. Plant is doing wonderful. T5's produce barely any heat so plant is right underneath light.

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T5's are not a form of CFL's, they are fluorescent tubes. And the new one's tend to be right on par with small HPS bulb in terms of efficiency. But thats not the debate.

btw, since your running a T5 setup, can you tell me where you got your ballasts and fixture. I'm having a hard time finding a place with with a good selection of T5 fixtures.

iron joint said:

T5's are not a form of CFL's, they are fluorescent tubes. And the new one's tend to be right on par with small HPS bulb in terms of efficiency. But thats not the debate.

btw, since your running a T5 setup, can you tell me where you got your ballasts and fixture. I'm having a hard time finding a place with with a good selection of T5 fixtures.

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I was also looking into T5s but it seems it would run me almost as much as a HPS if i just craiglisted it.

m3snwbrder98 said:

I was also looking into T5s but it seems it would run me almost as much as a HPS if i just craiglisted it.

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High efficiency T5's are pretty incredible for vegging. Your plants can touch the lights without being burned. And they spread the light around so well, you plants can absorb it from every angle. Their design makes them even more perfect for a seedling battery.

autoflowers being used for a lil while so i think imma just go w/ the 150 hps. ive had great results using cfls for veg but right now im just trying to build a nice, efficient, decently priced dresser sized box for a friend. the hps is same price as the cfl set up, i was just a lil concerned w/ heat build up from the hps but im thinking w/ a lil ventilation i should be ok yea?

Think of it this way. If you put 150 watts of CFL's in a box, and 20 percent of that energy is converted to light, then you essentially have a 120W heater. If you then put a 150W HPS bulb in, about 30 percent of that energy will be converted to light since its more efficient. This leaves you with essentially a 105W heater in your box. The only difference is that the HPS heat is very concentrated compared to the CFL setup. However the amount of Heat produced total would be less.

CFLS can produce some very nice plants if you use enough of them. I have seen some amazing grows with CFL Bulbs, When it comes to flowering a lot of people tend to use HPS lighting. HPS is great for flowering but CFLS are also good for flowering if you use a good amount of them. alot of people underestimate the CFL,