designing my perfect Cfl grow cab

ahh so the smester is drawing to a close and i find i have time and money available to design my perfect grow cabinits. they will be a pair one for veg/ mothers and the other for flowering using a SOG.

the dimentions that both of the cabinits will be are 41in high by 19in wide by 27in deep i want to have some where in the neighborhood of ~250 watts Clf but the more the better. i have some information to gather before i put pen to paper so any help would be greately appreciated.

1. how much space should i leave between each of the bulbs. ideally id like to be running 15 Cfls at 20watts each
2. how many CFM would i be looking for to keep this space at around 70-80 F.
im sure ill have more as time progresses

Hi 7

I recommend using 43 watt (150 equivalent) cfls... they cost about 5-10 dollars a piece.... you can use 3 lights er plant and get a great harvest with a HIGH yielding strain..

here are some pictures from a grow that used these lights...

but how far apart should the lights be spaced. should they be so close there touching one another or should they have a couple inches inbetween them

As long as they do not make each other too hot they can be fairly close... And hanging them upside-down will shorten the life of the bulb... But everyone does this... Including me...

The hotter the ballast gets the shorter the bulb life...

I would not recommend letting the glass part of the bulbs touch... Just makes it easier to accidently break one or two...

the spacing of the light depends on the size of the plant...

Hi there.,,,,
I was wondering if you could help me, i have recently bought seeds and am collecting 20w daylight cfls to begin my first grow, but im no electrician so how do people connect them up or wire them in strips and what is the limit? ie number of cfls you can put on one plug? is it complicated? im not one for experimenting with electricity if you know how or have any wiring links or pictures i'd be grateful to hear from you...

THANKS

Garden Knowm said:

Hi 7

I recommend using 43 watt (150 equivalent) cfls... they cost about 5-10 dollars a piece.... you can use 3 lights er plant and get a great harvest with a HIGH yielding strain..

here are some pictures from a grow that used these lights...

Click to expand...

For 3 bulbs are 2 blue spectrum and 1 red spectrum for veg, then the other way around for flower? Or just all red for flower? Would reflectors for these lights greatly enhance they're lighting power?

titanium3g said:

For 3 bulbs are 2 blue spectrum and 1 red spectrum for veg, then the other way around for flower? Or just all red for flower? Would reflectors for these lights greatly enhance they're lighting power?

Click to expand...

reflectors wont increase the power of the lights ,but it will greatly increase the amount of useable light that hits your plants . think about it like this ... the lamp next to your bed ,even if small lights up the whole wall correct? if you put that same light in the middle of the room it would look much dimmer because the wall was acting as a reflector! so in closing when using artificial light a reflector will get more of said light to the plants instead of just lighting up your grow space.

WINKDOGG