300w CFL vs 400w HPS!?!?

300w CFL vs 400w HPS


  • Total voters
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Hey everyone. Im a legal medical marijuana patient. Im starting my first grow and have a Blue Dreams and a Critical Plus that needs to go into flowering today. and I also have a recently sprouted Big Bang (Green House Seeds). I bought a tent that is 5 foot tall. 4 foot wide and 2 feet deep. I also bought a 400w MH/HPS light. well I was about to start the flowering and realized it would need ventillation cause of heat issues. when I went to the store I didnt have much of a option becase my 400w light has a normal reflector. Not a hooded 1 or a cool tube. SO I would of had to buy a hood AND filter and fans and ducting and crap and would of been like 400 dollars. SO INSTEAD I just said fuck it and bought a 300w cfl and hood for 220 so I wouldnt have heat issues with my 400w but now im stuck with it. What do you guys think? did I make the right move? I didnt have alot of money and my girls needed to go into flowering. what kind of yield can I expect out of a 300w cfl per plant? any feedback helps! thanks everybody.:bigjoint:
 

CoffeeBreak

Active Member
I would have used the 400hps and left the tent doors open to deal with the heat isse till i could afford the fan
 

ROBSTERB

Well-Known Member
yes the 400 would of been worth the extra $ than the cfl, it would of more than paid for itself in 1 grow.
 

luciferateme

Active Member
400w as said would have been more beneficial, but with the heat taken into account you probably made the right choice, a grow room with heat issues and no ventilation can really affect your yield. that being said if you lived in russia you could have left a window open and you would have been fine!
lu
 

delvite

Well-Known Member
300w cfl vs 400w hps


Compact fluorescent grow lights

(CFL grow lights)

– In the old days fluorescent marijuana grow lights were pretty useless as they had low output for a large size. However, the new CFL (compact fluorescent lights) and T5 and T8 fluorescent grow lights with full light spectrum have made them a viable alternative. Efficiency at the high end ranges from 75 to 98 lumens per watt consumed. CFL grow lights emit very little heat and so can be placed extremely close to plants, a couple of inches away. This saves on space and heat extraction problems. Bulbs in the 2700k to 3000k range provide higher yellow / red spectrum which promotes flowering. CFL grow lights in the 5000k to 6500k range are full spectrum with a lot of blue light which promotes plant growth.

marijuana-CFL-300w.jpg
Above is a picture of a CFL 300w which is self ballasted, cool running 300w grow light and you can get it in a choice of light spectrums with high lumen output.
300w cfl around 24,000 - 25,000 lumens

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High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Grow lights

– High pressure sodium marijuana grow lights are another good choice however they emit a light that is stronger in the orange / red spectrum, around 2,200k, due to their inherent sodium content. If a gardener were to start a young plant under a HPS bulb, she/he would see impressive vertical growth.

Not only is this a great flowering light, it has two features that make it a more economical choice.
Their average lifespan is twice that of metal halides, but after 18,000 hours of use or 12 to 18 months, they will start to draw more electricity than their rated watts while gradually producing less light because they will require more energy to maintain the gas inside. HPS bulbs are very efficient.
They produce up to 140 lumens per watt.

marijuana-HPS-grow-lights.jpg

400 watt HPS
55,000 lumens or 137 lumens per watt

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:) i know what i would use, hope this restores your faith in R.U.I and dnt forget the rep lol :)
 
well now I have both lights. so ima do a cfl first and then later if I get enuf cash ill invest in a hood n stuff for my hps so it will be cooler on the girls. no biggy. how many is possible under a 300w cfl? i wanna at least do 4
 

delvite

Well-Known Member
In a nutshell…

Lumens per square foot:

Minimum amount of lighting needed is around 2000 lumens per square foot.
Mid range is around 5000 lumens per square foot.
Optimal is 7000-7500, or higher, lumens per square foot.

so lets say the 9u 300w dual cfl your using is giving off the 24000-25000 lumens its supposed to i would raise 4 - 6 plants per square metre :)
 

roboquaid

Active Member
hi everyone im a noob to the forums been checking them for a while and found some good advice , i have to say why not use the hps and cfl together , and does anybody have any views on this?? i personally would say why not go for it use a 600w hps and a 300w cfl together! i think the best bet would be to go with a dual spectrum 600w hps and a red 300w cfl for last 4 weeks of flower if you can maintain temps or use both dual spectrum ?? i mean surely you would have bigger buds this way? we all like bigger buds right???
 

calicatt79

Well-Known Member
your gonna need some side lighting to be able to keep some light super close to your girls. I can't imagine just 1 CFL regardless of wattage will be ebough for even 1 plant if all the light is inside a hood...seems like a waste of lumens. So get yourself some 26w for side lighting and mix up your spectrum a bit...it will help your yields. You basically want to surround your plants with CFL's.

Hope everything works out for ya ;) Happy Growing
 

budslubs

Member
300w cfl vs 400w hps


Compact fluorescent grow lights

(CFL grow lights)

– In the old days fluorescent marijuana grow lights were pretty useless as they had low output for a large size. However, the new CFL (compact fluorescent lights) and T5 and T8 fluorescent grow lights with full light spectrum have made them a viable alternative. Efficiency at the high end ranges from 75 to 98 lumens per watt consumed. CFL grow lights emit very little heat and so can be placed extremely close to plants, a couple of inches away. This saves on space and heat extraction problems. Bulbs in the 2700k to 3000k range provide higher yellow / red spectrum which promotes flowering. CFL grow lights in the 5000k to 6500k range are full spectrum with a lot of blue light which promotes plant growth.

View attachment 2036864
Above is a picture of a CFL 300w which is self ballasted, cool running 300w grow light and you can get it in a choice of light spectrums with high lumen output.
300w cfl around 24,000 - 25,000 lumens

.............................................

Where the hell can i find these?! Home depot doesn't have them and no hydroponic store around me
 

Sir.Ganga

New Member
Hey everyone. Im a legal medical marijuana patient. Im starting my first grow and have a Blue Dreams and a Critical Plus that needs to go into flowering today. and I also have a recently sprouted Big Bang (Green House Seeds). I bought a tent that is 5 foot tall. 4 foot wide and 2 feet deep. I also bought a 400w MH/HPS light. well I was about to start the flowering and realized it would need ventillation cause of heat issues. when I went to the store I didnt have much of a option becase my 400w light has a normal reflector. Not a hooded 1 or a cool tube. SO I would of had to buy a hood AND filter and fans and ducting and crap and would of been like 400 dollars. SO INSTEAD I just said fuck it and bought a 300w cfl and hood for 220 so I wouldnt have heat issues with my 400w but now im stuck with it. What do you guys think? did I make the right move? I didnt have alot of money and my girls needed to go into flowering. what kind of yield can I expect out of a 300w cfl per plant? any feedback helps! thanks everybody.:bigjoint:
You made the wrong choice IMO. Your 400 hps will produce more than enough to cover the costs of the additional equipment. Use that cfl for now until you can replace it with an hps. CFL's have come a long way but are nowhere comparable to the hid family, yet.

Good luck
 
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