Is a CFL cabinet @ 525w (actual) 30,000 lumen in a 18"x22" cabinet too many lumen?

Catchin22 said:

I haven't argued anything you've said except for the fact that HPS is better. I think what you don't seem to understand or want to because of "YOUR religious CFL belief" is that Lumens DON'T ADD UP. Hence, 2 lights that put out 2800 Lumens next to each other on a plant, the plant still gets 2800 lumens, no more! In fact if you were to take a CFL and measure the power produced by a photo cell under it, you would get the same for 1 same watt CFL as you would get for 5 above it (nearly). This doesn't take into account that Lumens are really a measurement of intensity for us and not plants, but still to argue that CFLs are any wear on PAR with an HPS is ridiculous. Give me one 400W HPS over 600W of CFL any day!

What matters is that intensity your plants get hit by. And a 400W HPS putting out 50K lumens at a foot away is going to be much stronger than any amount of 2800L CFLs you cover that plant with.

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Im sorry buddy if you gave me 600w of CFL and you had a 400w HPS they would have a pretty even end result, just the lower buds on the plants under the HPS would be really airy only the top buds will be dense because the light is only at the top. With CFL you main colas might not be as tight and dense as the HPS colas but the cfl lower buds wont be airy because 600w would completely surround the plant. The yeild from HPS would end up being the same or maybe a little less than the yeild from CFLs. I agree a 400w HPS will produce is easier to move up and down, and produces less heat than 20-26w cfls, to be honest I would rather have the HPS over CFL anyday but in the end a lumen is a lumen and a watt is a watt, as long as the spectrum is right you can grow dope with it.

IgrowUgrow said:

Im sorry buddy if you gave me 600w of CFL and you had a 400w HPS they would have a pretty even end result, just the lower buds on the plants under the HPS would be really airy only the top buds will be dense because the light is only at the top. With CFL you main colas might not be as tight and dense as the HPS colas but the cfl lower buds wont be airy because 600w would completely surround the plant. The yeild from HPS would end up being the same or maybe a little less than the yeild from CFLs. I agree a 400w HPS will produce is easier to move up and down, and produces less heat than 20-26w cfls, to be honest I would rather have the HPS over CFL anyday but in the end a lumen is a lumen and a watt is a watt, as long as the spectrum is right you can grow dope with it.

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Yes, a 600w CFL will out perform a 400w HPS. BUT, a 600w HPS will spank a 600w CFL. Watt for watt, HID lights are the MOST efficient. I'm not making this up. The universe does what it wants, regardless of weather or not we want it to.

Not that you're arguing or anything.

glockdoc said:

well im telling you i found a medium base 150 w hps bulb were i live they sell both mogul and medium base at a local store so back to my question. at only 150w would it require a ballast?

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Your electricity circuits in your house speak german. CFL's speak german. HPS and MH speak japanese. In order for your 150w HPS to work, you need a translator. Enter the ballast. Mr. Ballast speaks German AND Japanese!

Get it?

afrawfraw said:

Your electricity circuits in your house speak german. CFL's speak german. HPS and MH speak japanese. In order for your 150w HPS to work, you need a translator. Enter the ballast. Mr. Ballast speaks German AND Japanese! Get it?

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gotcha thx. suxs cuz everyone sells more replacement packs then actual ballast , then the ones that are straight are quite costly.

IgrowUgrow said:

Im sorry buddy if you gave me 600w of CFL and you had a 400w HPS they would have a pretty even end result, just the lower buds on the plants under the HPS would be really airy only the top buds will be dense because the light is only at the top. With CFL you main colas might not be as tight and dense as the HPS colas but the cfl lower buds wont be airy because 600w would completely surround the plant. The yeild from HPS would end up being the same or maybe a little less than the yeild from CFLs. I agree a 400w HPS will produce is easier to move up and down, and produces less heat than 20-26w cfls, to be honest I would rather have the HPS over CFL anyday but in the end a lumen is a lumen and a watt is a watt, as long as the spectrum is right you can grow dope with it.

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I am not so sure 600w of CFL would be better than 400 HPS. I am almost certain it wouldn't. You can not force the light to penetrate further no matter how many CFLs you surround your plant with. And if you have to surround the plant with that many CFLs you are pushing a ton of heat right near the plant, likely burning/drying out leaves not to mention restricting air flow. Higher wattage CFLs such as the 105w that total up 600w or so might work out to be about on par with a 400w HPS but I still have my doubts.

glockdoc said:

gotcha thx. suxs cuz everyone sells more replacement packs then actual ballast , then the ones that are straight are quite costly.

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True. The good news is once you acquire a magnetic ballast, they last forever, and repairs are cheap. I'm not sure I've ever seen a stand alone 150w ballast. But these guys do nicely. They go for seventy bucks or so. And it includes the reflector and bulb!

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/p-12136-sun-system-hps-150-grow-light-fixture.aspx

UPDATE: the cab caused too much heat and humidity even with a 6" vortex @ 400 some odd cubic feet a min... so I ended up with a cab FULL of foliage (3 plants were too many) and Powdery Mildue. That is where the 400w HPS and 3x3 tent came into play. =) and my god 400w HPS vs 400w floro is no joke. Also the 400w HPS runs MUCH COOLER than the floros did... The top of the aircooled hood is maybe 80 tops (you can rest your hand there all day... ) and tent temps struggle to go over 78 with the same fan being used for exhaust...

I had kept up on the PM with baking soda but that ph locked my soil and now the ladies are hurting bad. Started using Green Cure. I flushed with ph 6.5-6.3 water and added some MG to a small watering. Still look bad. into 5th week of flower and the mid to top fan leaves are all pale or yellow and wilting. I hope the flush and added mg will cure it. I dont want to do too much... so IMO after being bull headed and thinking I was saving $$ by going fluorescent... it caused more problems and $$ than if I had just done what I did and got a large tent and 400w HPS/MH (with bulbs) for $300.00 shipped. But now I have the fluorescents for my tomatoes instead of my meds. =)

Hey guys,just thought I would throw these in here, first plant is chemmy jones,done in a 1 liter pot,did 3/4 of an oz, sea of green under a 600 watt hps it is meant to do 1/2 oz to 2/3rds, so if CFL are crap how come I pulled that off with a 125 dual spectrum, also the chronic,which was a clone that was maltreated by a mate,yeilded just under the 3/4 mark,again under the same light,please refrain from spouting utter nonsense about buds not being tight,or not being as potent or any of that b/s light is light,oh and a dual spectrum CFL produces more PAR than HID or HPS, PAR is the better way to measure light as its Photosynthetically active radiation plants use,lumen is the measurement of light a human eye sees,both are very different things

dankerous said:

Hey guys,just thought I would throw these in here, first plant is chemmy jones,done in a 1 liter pot,did 3/4 of an oz, sea of green under a 600 watt hps it is meant to do 1/2 oz to 2/3rds, so if CFL are crap how come I pulled that off with a 125 dual spectrum, also the chronic,which was a clone that was maltreated by a mate,yeilded just under the 3/4 mark,again under the same light,please refrain from spouting utter nonsense about buds not being tight,or not being as potent or any of that b/s light is light,oh and a dual spectrum CFL produces more PAR than HID or HPS, PAR is the better way to measure light as its Photosynthetically active radiation plants use,lumen is the measurement of light a human eye sees,both are very different things

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No one said you cant use CFL, it is just that HPS is so much easier and efficient to use. Less heat, (I used to be under the impression that HPS would put off too much/much more heat (NOT the case with an aircooled hood). After doing a side by side comparison with MY OWN EYES and equipment with no hearsay or "my mate said" to influence my opinion, I would not ever go back. The plants were much stronger once under the HPS, I put them under HPS after 2 weeks of flower, they took off immediately. You could see the new 1/4th inch growth of the buds after an 8hr time period... which would have taken at least a full day or two under the CFL.
The CFL was actually 4x105w = 420w @ 24000 lm and the HPS is only 400w but puts out MUCH more light (@50,000 lm) over a much larger area and reaches those nugs under the canopy that the CFL's left dark. Now, the small under nugs are almost the same size as the tops =) so IMO 420w of cfl is not worth it if you can get a HPS. If you are growing a little plant or two for fun and were given cfls, I say go for it. Otherwise if you are growing for your own meds and need quality look no further than a HPS. I wish I had gone HPS from the beginning and saved myself a lot of headaches and brainstorming when the answer was right there in a nice pretty package.

dankerous said:

Hey guys,just thought I would throw these in here, first plant is chemmy jones,done in a 1 liter pot,did 3/4 of an oz, sea of green under a 600 watt hps it is meant to do 1/2 oz to 2/3rds, so if CFL are crap how come I pulled that off with a 125 dual spectrum, also the chronic,which was a clone that was maltreated by a mate,yeilded just under the 3/4 mark,again under the same light,please refrain from spouting utter nonsense about buds not being tight,or not being as potent or any of that b/s light is light,oh and a dual spectrum CFL produces more PAR than HID or HPS, PAR is the better way to measure light as its Photosynthetically active radiation plants use,lumen is the measurement of light a human eye sees,both are very different things

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where do u get them bulbs and do they plug into a standard light bulb socket or are they mogul?

electronug said:

No, my 125W bulbs are WAY hotter than my 23W or even my 42W.

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yeah the bigger the cfl the more heat it seems. ALSO maybe its just something ive noticed but 6500k bulbs seem hotter than 2700k now i know this probably isnt true but could it be?

afrawfraw said:

Your electricity circuits in your house speak german. CFL's speak german. HPS and MH speak japanese. In order for your 150w HPS to work, you need a translator. Enter the ballast. Mr. Ballast speaks German AND Japanese!

Get it?

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dude usually this is true, i bought a cfl from home depot the other day that didnt have a ballast. i went fricken crazy they wouldnt let me return it cus i had already screwed it in which "left marks so it was now used" is what the girl at the desk said. then had enough nerve to tell me "oh well we sell the ballast for that bulb" yeah thats why i bought the bulb. to spend another 10 bucks...

lagarrettBLUNT said:

yeah the bigger the cfl the more heat it seems. ALSO maybe its just something ive noticed but 6500k bulbs seem hotter than 2700k now i know this probably isnt true but could it be?

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idk, that could be true, never noticed.

lagarrettBLUNT said:

dude usually this is true, i bought a cfl from home depot the other day that didnt have a ballast. i went fricken crazy they wouldnt let me return it cus i had already screwed it in which "left marks so it was now used" is what the girl at the desk said. then had enough nerve to tell me "oh well we sell the ballast for that bulb" yeah thats why i bought the bulb. to spend another 10 bucks...

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yea that shit must suck