lighting question

i was just wundering if anyone had any luck with the energy saver light bulbs.....the ones im useing are said to be equal to 100W but are 25W and is "daylight" in color. i have 3 of them covering a 5 square foot area. Any suggestions would be great...im new at this

i would not bother, if somethings worth doing etc etc

i disagree, i have successfully used them they are cheap and cheap to run but i would use at least 4 if you can. and only for the vegetation stage aslong as your temp is between 20c and 30c i think you will be ok hope thishelps

Energy saver is just a marketing name given to compact fluorescents as they give out many more lumens per watt than the incandescents used widely for household lighting.
Cfls are used to good effect for indoor growing, although yours are quite poor if 25w is equivalent to 100w, the ones in lighting my house are 11w, equivalent to 100w.
On the box should be the amount of lumens given out by each bulb, you want at the bare minimum, 3000 lumens per square foot to grow plants. Optimum levels are 7-10,000 lumens/sq ft, the sun provides about 10,000 on a clear summers day.
Daylight is the correct spectrum for vegetative growth, with a colour temperature of 6500l. For flowering you need the warm white, 2700k bulbs, a mixture is good, say 2-3 daylight per 1 warm white for veg, and vice versa for flowering.

hey thanks yall. really i apreciate it i need all the help i can get.

Sorry, forgot to proof read my post above, where it says 6500l, it should be 6500k. K stands for kelvin, the scale used for measuring colour temperature of light.

Those 3 bulbs are pretty much at the threshold for minimal lighting(15w/sq ft). 25-50w sq foot will do much better. Actual watts. That equivalent shit is superfluous, except when replacing incandescent lights in your house. A 23/26 watt bulb is very bright(100-105W incandescent equivalent). A 11-13 watt(60w incandescent equivalent) is probably more desirable for most medium/small bed rooms.

well what i have at the moment is 4 6inch pots with only 3 daylight bulbs 1600 lumenbs a peice.....but today imma doubel that and add 2 of the warm light bulbs for the mix

how far should they be placed away from the plants.....right now they are at about 1 foot away

Make your palm flat, finger together, about 3-4 fingers for an adult male hand(include the pinky, or not) should be the minimal distance to avoid shocking or damaging the plant. This is roughly 2-3 inches.