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New small grow. LED v CFL

G

GrnThmbBum

Member
Hellooooooooooooo. I am new here but have an experienced green thumb. I will be starting a new grow (look for the journal soon) as soon as my unborn children arrive (Liberty Haze, Dark Star, Heavy Duty Fuity in 2-3weeks) and was looking for advice/opinions based on experience.

I am running just a simple Ebb N Flow with 2 Rubbermaid like containers stacked ontop of echother. I cut holes in the lid to hang the pots in the "flood tray" to avoid root rot vs just setting them inside. I am currently using an old 125 w sunleaves cfl 6500K (supposedly outputs 10,500 lumens when new). I have 2 clamp lights with smaller cfls around the sides of the flood tray to light the sides of the plants. Now on to my question.

What would be the most cost effective and effecient way to provide more light to my grow? Looking more long term as I will be doing small scale throughout each year. HID's are out of the question due to the heat involved.
My thoughts are
-Purchase one more sunleaves 125w fluorescent fixture and bub
-The above option + a few more clamp lights with cfl's to supplement the sides.
-One really good, proven LED light.


I have been eye balling the LED lights over at hydrogrowled and am intrigued, but there is still way too many conflicting stories regarding the success rate of LEDS for me to just jump up and invest in one. If anyone has any experience first hand with these lights, or nay LED lights I would really like to hear your input.



-Everything I post is an elaborate work of fiction-
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
if its an elaborate work of fiction i think i will save my advice for someone whos not such a pussy.
i hate tags like that. dont be a puss if the government wanted you they would take you, regardless of your works of fiction or not.

honestly after much research i i where to go LED i would A) build it B) use mostly white lights and some red and blue

and in your case i would stick to CFL, the savings using LED would be nominal.
 
G

GrnThmbBum

Member
ow.douglas said:
I would think T5's a 2" four bulb should cover your tub.
Click to expand...
Ty for you non judgmental response.

To the person above, hit the bowl a few times before you respond. A forum having to do with marijuana should have no room for hateful attitudes. Shoulda saved your hatred as well as your advice.

Anyone else? LEDS still seem ridiculously over priced to really be worth it. Looking like I go with cfls again. Will start journal soon. Can not wait to find out if I get a good liberty haze
 
Straightjacket

Straightjacket

Well-Known Member
polyarcturus said:
if its an elaborate work of fiction i think i will save my advice for someone whos not such a pussy.
i hate tags like that. dont be a puss if the government wanted you they would take you, regardless of your works of fiction or not.

honestly after much research i i where to go LED i would A) build it B) use mostly white lights and some red and blue

and in your case i would stick to CFL, the savings using LED would be nominal.
Click to expand...
What a dick.

Anyway I would look into T5's also. maybe supplement with CFL.
 
er0senin

er0senin

Well-Known Member
you sure hid is out of the question? remember their are smaller hid to! 70w 150w and 250w is preatty easy to cool with a cooltube. just saying since you asked for the most sufficient
way to provide more light. also T5s are not a bad idea! would stay away from LED at least another few years.

i have 220w of cfl in veg/clone chamber and couldnt be happier.
tho i wouold recommend lots of small cfl's (20-30w) in different colours (some 2700k some 4000k etc..) insted of 1 BIG cfl.
i have 1x 200w cfl and its way to big and clumsy! more small light placed good = better spectra + coverage.
good luck!
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
i know im a hater. look i relish in the fact you guys felt the hate with that post.(not trolling either) feel free to ask me whatever you want, but just man up is all im saying, you know what i mean? all im saying is dont call your shit "fiction", just be real, do your thing get your advice and dont try to play the politics game.

yeah i probably should have hit the bowl b4 i went all hater on you. lol

also i am a dick ask anybody on here :) i dont really take it offensively im a pretty well known asshole.

so on to what you need your running a tote flood and drain setup? with a 125w CFL. maybe just replace that light and buy another like you said and add supplemental side CFL lighting in the red spectrum. this would be cheap, energy efficient and produce a fair spectrum.
LEDs are really only starting to make the leaps and bounds they have been needing for successful growing.

but like a said the saving for using a LED in your set up would be nominal. if it where me and i planned on flowering in your setup i would go 400w HPS in a cool tube. not the most energy efficient but will yield the most.
 
G

GrnThmbBum

Member
polyarcturus said:
i know im a hater. look i relish in the fact you guys felt the hate with that post.(not trolling either) feel free to ask me whatever you want, but just man up is all im saying, you know what i mean? all im saying is dont call your shit "fiction", just be real, do your thing get your advice and dont try to play the politics game.

yeah i probably should have hit the bowl b4 i went all hater on you. lol

also i am a dick ask anybody on here :) i dont really take it offensively im a pretty well known asshole.

so on to what you need your running a tote flood and drain setup? with a 125w CFL. maybe just replace that light and buy another like you said and add supplemental side CFL lighting in the red spectrum. this would be cheap, energy efficient and produce a fair spectrum.
LEDs are really only starting to make the leaps and bounds they have been needing for successful growing.

but like a said the saving for using a LED in your set up would be nominal. if it where me and i planned on flowering in your setup i would go 400w HPS in a cool tube. not the most energy efficient but will yield the most.
Click to expand...


lol. made me laugh that time :). thanks all.. I will be sticking with CFL's for now. The HID is out of the question as my grow area is a small walk in closet and heat would prove to be too big an issue. I have been scouring the forums for decent ideas on setting up cfls (building own fixtures/clamp lights/etc) I am having a difficult getting the clamp lights exactly where I need them. Have seen some people wire sockets together... Any thoughts? I am not very familiar with electrical work but I imagine there are some setups that require minimal wiring and are fairly easy.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/35691-humboldts-100-cfl-setup.html i like this but a little too elaborate for me, and a little too elongated.

Also my tool set is minimal... Razor, saw, screw drivers, hammer, fire.... no drills and no plans to buy one.
 
G

GrnThmbBum

Member
Thinking of perhaps getting an inexpensive power strip, putting the plug modules that turn an outlet into a socket, placing Y adapters into each plug module, and using about 8 small cfls...would have to devise an effective way to hang it and be able to adjust height.
https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/do-yourself/105763d1208818934-easy-cheap-dyi-cfl-setup-untitled_0006_0002.jpg
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/479266-new-cfl-setup-16-total.html another example I have come across...
https://www.rollitup.org/attachments/cfl-fluorescent-lighting/208707d1223091167-my-1st-grow-closet-cfl-s8000385.jpg


My girls are somewhere close... a few more days now.. I can sense them.
 
Txchilies

Txchilies

Well-Known Member
Go check out the LED growers here, I think you'll find there are some really good LED's out there, yes they might be expensive now but they are still new technology and not all the bugs have been worked out. Also the more smaller CFL's you use the more heat you generate. Depending on your needs for quantity the more light intencity the more bud this is a fact, with the right fan in place your small grow space would probably bennifit from a 100 to 250 watt hid and stay just as cool as you want or need.
 
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