$150/10 = $15Why not just spend the $150 and get the 400watt mh/hps combo on ebay?
You're going to spend way more than that doing a 10 bulb CFL setup.
I based it on 42 watt CFLs.$150/10 = $15
CFLs are not $15 a piece.
I've found CFLs are more like $2.50 a piece.
As for mounting, you can get a bathroom vanity lighting strip setup for < $10
You can also place CFLs around the sides of the plant, instead of just the one light hanging above.
That's why I went with CFLs anyways. I'm having trouble finding cool whites myself though. I got some GE 3packs at walmart, but I guess they are warm white, according to a PDF I found on GE's website. 1750 lumens for ~$2.50 is fine by me though.I need to find their cool white version, my walmart was out of stock of the 26watters. (The cool white versions are in a blue packaging and say Cool White on the front. Green packing = warm white)..
This guy right here knows whats up, I vote for just getting a 400w MH/HPS setupI based it on 42 watt CFLs.
They are roughly $6-8 bucks. (They just got 65watt CFLs in at the local home depot for like $16 bucks each)
Figure 6 bucks a bulb =
10 x 6 = 60 for cool/veg
10 x 6 = 60 for warm/flower
= 120 + roughly lets say 20 bucks for all the mounting....
$140 bucks roughly
42w CFLs put down something like 2700 lumens
Grand total of 27k lumens
vs.
HPS 400watt @ 55k lumens
Throw another 20-40 bucks onto the total price of the CFL's and booya MH/HPS light.
a dub of schwag costs $20 bucks. quarter is $40.
It's an investment that will make up for itself from the first harvest.
You don't need to go huge or crazy. but atleast do it right for the level you're going to grow. You'll probably end up picking up a HPS down the road anyways.
So that'd still be $100+ for bulbs if they were 5 bucks each.The cheapest I have ever seen 42 watt CFL (150 incandescent equivekant) is 4.97 at home depot... this was a special last year when PG&E was subsidizing the bulbs...
NOw the cheapest is about 8-10 dollars... I have never seen a 2.50 - 42 watt cfl..
here, you can see and learn how to use 8 - 42 watt cfls that grow 8 ounces of chronic...
How to grow marijuana - See More Buds - video DVD reviews
iloveyou
So that'd still be $100+ for bulbs if they were 5 bucks each.
There are other costs require to do such a CFL setup that I didn't include such as mounting/sockets/wire/etc that would also add up to roughly an additional $50 bucks.
That link is just an order form for a book that claims 8 oz on 8 - 42 watt CFLs...
yeah, okay.
I'll just stick with HPS.