Things to Know About Lighting

ganjagoddess said:

When they say that what they mean it is the equivelent to a 250 Incadesent Light bulb.

If you study the intensity of the red and blue spectrum of a HID you will find that although the HID r +B spectrums are only 10-20% of the actual light emmited the intensity of it far surpasses the intensity of any number of CFL, LEDS, or Flouros.

think of it like this.

a 1000 watt HPS outputs 150,000lumens directly 0" below the bulb

following the inverse square ratio of light law.

One foot below it is 75,000 lumens

and two feet below (recommended distance for a 1000 watter) 37,500 lumens

So you have 37,500 Lumens hitting the plant canopy of all the spectrums light.

So lets say that 10% of that light is Red and Blue, that means at that distance you have 3,750 lumens of JUST red and blue light, or at 20% 7500 lumens of R+B light.

If you do the calculations on CFL's which are allowed to pratically touch the plant
you start with (on the CFL you posted)

3600lumens

Now Cfls have at most 25% of thier spectrum emmitted R+B so

at 0 feet 25% of 3600lumens is 900lumens of R+B spectrum

So you are waging 900 R+B lumens vs. 3750-7500 lumens on a HID

and since Lights cannot combine into a bigger Intensity of light you cannot add another CFL to get to 1800 lumens of R+B.

Your entire CFL light fixture will be putting out a Max of 900 lumens as per this example.

Marijuana in its flowering phase Needs MAD MAX light, in fact If you calculate the R+B from the sun, a 1000 watt HID light doesnt even come close.

thats why Outdoor Indicas can be 6 feet tall and Produce as much as a 1 lb of bud, vs a indoor under a 1000 watter will not come close unless seriously vegged to twice the size of its outdoor counterparts.

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ganjagoddess said:

well I am gonna assume you have a single 1000 watt HPS based on your question above.

So with a 2'X8' configuration you are gonna have some problems.

This is because the light from a HID light travels roughly (depending on reflector) the same distance in both direction meaning it is best suited for square shapes.

BUT lets say you get another 1000 watt, you are GOLDEN.

1 1000watter to cover 2x4 and another to cover the other 2x4

In there I would fit 100 plants roughly, 50 for each light.

using smaller 1 gallon sized pots or for the cheap solution GRO bags.

Also I would veg them for about 2 weeks then switch to flowering.

You could yeild about a half o a plant. maybe given Ideal conditions.

Just remeber Garages are not good places to grow, they have extreme temp fluctuations, and are easily spotted when You go to park your beemer in the garage by nosy neighboors, AND that is assuming you place to build some kind of 2 foot by 8 foot box to house all of them.

If you do plan to build a box to house them check out my diary I am starting tommorrow it will be full of DIY's, including, How to builb a professionaly framed Grow Box, How to Wire up new Outlets and install breakers, and How To HIGH DENSITY SOG.

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ganjagoddess said:

Flouro bulbs come in the following varieties:

t5
t5HO
t8
t12

and many more but these are the only important ones

a t5HO (High Output) is capable of putting out up to 5000Lumens.
It is the Brightest Flouresent tube produced. This makes it ideal for growing and is capable of actually producing decent and viable plants on its own.
They have also been tweaked to produce usable spectrums for veg and flower.

These fixtures and lights are extremely expensive fixtures and bulbs, in alot of ways I think they are ripoffs or should only be bought if you intend to use them as your flowering light because you want/desire to use them Instead of HID's (HPS).

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the next most predominant is the t8 flouro.
These are capable of outputting close to 3000lumens, and generally come in 5000k and 6500k (k stands for kelvin or the color tempature of the bulb) flavors.
They are very suitable for vegging, however, only IMO are the t5's even capable of flowering.

IN fact these are GREAT for veg lights

They are cheap, in abundance and found at you local home depot.
you can get a 2 light 4 foot fixture for $8.32, and a two pack of 6500k bulbs for $7.

I RECCOMEND THESE FOR SEEDLINGS AND SMALL PLANTS, and if you cannot afford a MH (metal halide HID light), then these are the best next bet for cost effectiveness, and quality..

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The t12

The t12 is the predeccessor to the T8, they are bigger, bulkier, and output less light than the t8.

They generally output around no more than 2500lumens.

I do not reccomend these although they will work fine for seedling and rooting clones.

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Now for your original question, yes your 4 T12's will be fine for your baybe seedling and for a little while longer than that.

However I would use your Lumatek ballast, and HPS bulb for vegging past a certain point and I reccomend if you can afford it to get either a MH bulb, or a MH conversion bulb as this would be better for vegging.

The t12's will be fine for getting your babys going as long as they all fit under the 4 bulbs.

Cheers.

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powerplant said:

thats crazy.
so whats the best light i can use that doesnt use as much electricity to run?

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gtownfunk said:

Probably the best you can do right now is the Procyon 100, which runs at about 125W total consumption and is equivalent to about a 400W HPS setup. This is American made and uses CREE (also American made) 3W LEDs. There are other products on the market like UFO and e.Shine which do not quite measure up to the Procyon yet.

A good site that has done independent reviews is: Experiments with Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and LED Grow Lighting

You can get more information about the Procyon at: Buy LED Grow Lights, Procyon 100

gtownfunk

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pete said:

can anyone help i am garbage at maths so dividing and multiplying and takin away all these lumens hurts my brain i have a 4x4 set up with reflective sheet around three sides i use 400hd for veg and a400hps for fowering at the moment i only put 4 plants in there cos i was told if they touch each other the plants will just keep stetching is this true if not how many could i get in the growspace ive been smokin years but am fairly new to growin i welcome all comments as i have never been on a more informative site thanks all

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kagenical said:

Technically, a Metal Halide (at least 50w per plant, more if you can deal with the heat) for vegging, and a HPS for flowering (same wattage recommendation)... But a HPS works for both really.

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