400 watt hps or over 2000 watt cfl?

I have a question, I have a 400w HPS light but was wondering if it would be better to use many CFLs that would add up to 2040 Watt for the same cost... do you think it would work?
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
2000+ watts of fluorescents will blow away 400 watts of HPS, TOTALLY. If you keep them close enough, plus have them around the sides, that thing will grow like crazy. If you go with something around 5000K color temp, that will work best if you plan to use the same bulbs for the whole process, because that is the color temp of the sun, and is the best balance between 6500K(MH) and 3000K(HPS). Any of those color temps will work though, if you're using that much power.

Even though a HPS light is more efficient(lumens per watt), those fluorescents will put out around 3X the light as that HPS, plus cover alot more area. You're yield will be twice as big, if done properly. :cool:
 

Secret Jardin

Well-Known Member
2000w of cfl would take up a massive amount of space.

even if you used 65w bulbs you would need 30 of them and the heat would be
much more than a 400w HPS.
 

hgkdehs

Active Member
im thinking he is basically saying he has 400w worth of cfls, but is getting 2040 or whatever from the packages "equivalent wattage". how else would it be the same cost? so NO WAY is 400w of cfl better than 400w of HPS. go with the HPS without any doubt
 

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
are you talking actual watts? you can get a 400w hps for under 125 lots of places online so i dont understand how you could get 2000w of cfl at that price........
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
are you talking actual watts? you can get a 400w hps for under 125 lots of places online so i dont understand how you could get 2000w of cfl at that price........

That's what i was wondering? Where the hell can you get 2000 watts for under $150? If you can, sign me up.LOL That would take thirty 65 watt CFL's. But, if you put them all 12" apart, it would fill a 4' x 8' foot space perfectly. Or, you could go smaller, and have them all over the sides of the plants too. I wouldn't mind having 2000 watts of T5's, if I had the choice of any type of fluorescents. I could make a hell of a growroom with those, too. :cool:
 

stelthy

Well-Known Member
Thats wrong... HPS is more lumen heavy however it is only high in the red band of the spectrum... leaving out orange blue and purple, it ok to leave out green cos your ladies wont utilise this colour, you can use a green bulb to work on your ladies at night, they wont suspect a light change...anyhow, cfl's particulaliy ENVIROLITES 150 watt or 250 watt are both 8 par. this means they have the best spectrum for growing and cover the bands that the hps doesnt, only at a lesser intencity, I would personally use 4x 250 watt 6400k (blue) ENVIROLITE CFLs and 1 x 250 watt (red) envirolite for vegging and then either reverse this for flowering... 4x 250 watt (red) ENVIROLITEs and 1x (blue) 250 watt Envirolite, or after veggin' then throw them under your 400 watt hps, this would work well because the blue end..(envirolite) would grow huge thick branches all ready and waiting for the lighting change over to carry huge huge hps/ reworked ENVIROLITE CFL bud try using CHA CHING or HAMMERHEAD as a supplement in the later stages for an extra thc n resign boost, also added weight, also if you wand more weight you can add sugar disolved in ph balanced water this method will super-size you budz and potential earnings :)
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Thats wrong... HPS is more lumen heavy however it is only high in the red band of the spectrum... leaving out orange blue and purple, it ok to leave out green cos your ladies wont utilise this colour, you can use a green bulb to work on your ladies at night, they wont suspect a light change...anyhow, cfl's particulaliy ENVIROLITES 150 watt or 250 watt are both 8 par. this means they have the best spectrum for growing and cover the bands that the hps doesnt, only at a lesser intencity, I would personally use 4x 250 watt 6400k (blue) ENVIROLITE CFLs and 1 x 250 watt (red) envirolite for vegging and then either reverse this for flowering... 4x 250 watt (red) ENVIROLITEs and 1x (blue) 250 watt Envirolite, or after veggin' then throw them under your 400 watt hps, this would work well because the blue end..(envirolite) would grow huge thick branches all ready and waiting for the lighting change over to carry huge huge hps/ reworked ENVIROLITE CFL bud try using CHA CHING or HAMMERHEAD as a supplement in the later stages for an extra thc n resign boost, also added weight, also if you wand more weight you can add sugar disolved in ph balanced water this method will super-size you budz and potential earnings :)

No, it's not wrong. You could pack all 30 CFLs around one plant if you wanted to, in which an HPS wouldn't even come close. A 400 watt HPS is best for a 3' x3' area, and if you packed all 2000 watts of CFL in that space, covering the plants on all sides, it would kick the HPS's ass. Just like i said. :wink:
 

Secret Jardin

Well-Known Member
No, it's not wrong. You could pack all 30 CFLs around one plant if you wanted to, in which an HPS wouldn't even come close. A 400 watt HPS is best for a 3' x3' area, and if you packed all 2000 watts of CFL in that space, covering the plants on all sides, it would kick the HPS's ass. Just like i said. :wink:

:wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall::wall:
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
^What, you didn't like my answer? :lol: I wasn't saying that he should do it, he'd be insane if he did. I was just saying that 2000 watts of CFL can definitely outperform 400 watts of HPS, if somebody was goofy enough to try it.LOL

The CFL's would have around twice the lumen output, maybe more(depending on the bulb type), so whoever doesn't agree with that, better get a brain transplant.LOL :wink:
 

hgkdehs

Active Member
none of that matters since he was asking about 400w of cfl or 2040 equivalent watts. Notice how he said they would cost the same to run?????? 2040w of REAL cfl would not cost the same as a 400w hps. Think people!!! I know you are stoned and all :) but think about what he is askin
 

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
none of that matters since he was asking about 400w of cfl or 2040 equivalent watts. Notice how he said they would cost the same to run?????? 2040w of REAL cfl would not cost the same as a 400w hps. Think people!!! I know you are stoned and all :) but think about what he is askin

You could be right, but I was assuming that he found some CFL really cheap, and was talking about them being them same price to purchase, not operate. The OP wasn't very specific:)
 

hgkdehs

Active Member
yea, i know it was a little vague but he did say "for the same cost" and if he was REALLY going to be running 2000w cfl, there is no way possible it would cost the same. 400w is 400w regardless of if it is cfl or hps
 
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