Quick light suggestions.

I have a 4ft sungrow 2x40watt florescent light and i plan to use that from when I plant my seeds until I switch to 12on/12off for the ten days to see the sexes, then back to it again. #1. Is that a strong enough light for veg for about 8 babies?

And also, I plan on getting between 3 and 8 50-100 watt mh bulbs for the flowering. I'll prolly have 2-4 females by then.#2 Is THAT strong enough and #3 should I use those mh bulbs and #4 how close can I put them to my plants?


I'm in a 3ftx41/2ft closet

couple issues i see with your lighting...
Is that a strong enough light for veg for about 8 babies?
im assuming you are talking about 2-40W FL bulbs fueling 8 plants. This will work fine for the begginging, it all depends on how long you want to veg them for. if you are going to do any veg time (meaning not 12/12 from seed) then you will probably need to up your lighting. I would suggest a 400W metal halide (around 120 USD on ebay for a knock off brand).

Is THAT strong enough and #3 should I use those mh bulbs and #4 how close can I put them to my plants?
a 400W HID should be sufficient for 2-4 females

the typical lighting structure is
Seedlings- FL (CFL) or low wattage HID (blue spectrum(MH))
VEG-400W or higher MH
flower-400W or higher HPS

the best lighting to run is both MH & HPS throughout the whole cycle, emphasizing on the blue spectrum for veg and the red/orange spectrum for flower. but if you are a normal person and can't afford it the guide above is what we use.

as far as how close they can get, that is all according to your grow area (meaning, ventilation (cool tube or not) and other variables) you will have to experiment with it.

hope this helps, if you need anything else...ask
-Natty

I meant to type hps bulbs not mh. I want to get like 2 or 3 100-200watt hps bulbs and move them around the plants daily when flowering. 1. Does that sound ok to you?
2. What do I hook those hps bulbs to? I need something so that I can position the bulbs on the sides of the plants AND on top. Like with a chain.
3. How much is my electric bill going up roughly if I use 2 or 3 100-200watt hps lights?
4. Can I get away with using my 2-40watt FLs until they loom bushy enough?
5. After weeks of vegging at 18/6, they say to do hps bulbs 12/12 for about days to see if they're male or female??? Then take the males and then just go back to the 18/6??

Thank you so much! It's nice to see someone that has useful info to give! I would share if i knew. I WILL share info when I do know!

Also, I'm going to be now but tomorrow morning I will be on here first thing. I was wondering if I could tell you my little setup tomorrow morning and if you could maybe help me through a couple things???? If you could that would be perfect! I've been waiting patiently for 11 years to move into a place where I could do this and my girlfriend being fine with it and my time has finally come! I want to do it right the first time. Lol too much wasted time! I need to catch up! Haha thank you again!

Hopefully I get a response to in the mornin

for your size area a 400w mh or hps will create ALOT of heat. to cool that you will need an inline fan, ducting and somewhere to exhaust that heat.
if that doesnt seem like to much then do it, its ultimately better for your plants.
BUT if those are all issues for you then i think all CFLs would be your best bet.
im actually about to build myself a 10 socket cfl fixture for 3 plants in my closet. i have 300w mh and 600w hps but i live in an apartment and the noise of the inline fan and shared electricity became a problem. Sooooooo cfls will do just right for me.
this link was very useful https://www.rollitup.org/cfl-growing/57813-advantage-v-disadvantage-cfls.html

Cfl's are not a "bad" thing if you know how to position them and such. I have used them before as well.

I meant to type hps bulbs not mh. I want to get like 2 or 3 100-200watt hps bulbs and move them around the plants daily when flowering.
1. Does that sound ok to you?
In theory is sounds like a great idea, i have never tried it but I think with 8 babies in such a small area 2 or 3 light fixtures are gonna take up more space than you can afford to lose. if you think you can rig up a chain system to effeciantly rig the lights and hoods reflectors to where they are useful and not torching your plants then go for it. it will take a little engineering on your part, but it could be worth it. if you do go that route they make 250W HID security lights that you can buy at big Box hardware stores. but again for the price that you will pay for 2 or 3 of those you could have bought multiple 400W or 600W systems.
2. What do I hook those hps bulbs to? I need something so that I can position the bulbs on the sides of the plants AND on top. Like with a chain.
See above answer for my view on chains. (they work excelent and are secure if you use them correctly) No worries on smashing your plants.
High Intensity Discharge = HID lighting systems require:
a ballast
a ceramic socket
and the bulb (HPS or MH)
Looks like prices have gone up since the last time i bought a lighting fixture from ebay but
http://cgi.ebay.com/400-watt-HPS-MH-DIGITAL-BALLAST-400w-GROW-LIGHT-SYSTEM-/320677633842?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa9e05f32
That looks like the system I had. If you can find a system with a cool tube and hook it up to an inline fan you should have ZERO issues on heat and you could put the light closer to the babies.
3. How much is my electric bill going up roughly if I use 2 or 3 100-200watt hps lights?
Depends on where you live and what the rate is per kWh. after you find that you can google "how much does my applaince cost to run" and it will pop up with some calculators for you to input the info you need to figure that out. Mine was 9c/ kWh and it raises it about 20 bucks a month (i think) but i ran it on 12/12 and 18/6 and at one point i was using 2 400W systems so I don't know how accurate that dollar amount is. Once you start growing top quality bud, you wont care if its a 50/month cuz it will out weigh the cost of buying the bud from some sketch dealer.
4. Can I get away with using my 2-40watt FLs until they loom bushy enough?
read matatans link, that is a great reference for CFLs. I would just reccomend getting them as close as possible.
5. After weeks of vegging at 18/6, they say to do hps bulbs 12/12 for about days to see if they're male or female??? Then take the males and then just go back to the 18/6??
not that there is anything wrong with that, i just won't ever do it again. I had 3 hermie on me, idk if it was from the light stress or what but it sucked.
you have to think about it from the plants perspective i guess, you tell them to buck up and start producing buds, then you fuck with their heads and tell them to start growing again and put away your pussy hairs. lol... i would just veg them for as long as you want. flip the swith to 12/12. weed out the dicks. and let them bitches flower.



sorry about the late response. I don't check this but at night when im stoned lol... ill be glad to help out as best i can. Pics tell a thousand words my man. it would be alot easier to help if i knew exactly your whole set up.

If you wanna keep it simple but effective, use a Ceramic Metal Halide Bulb in a magnetic HPS light.
It has the best light spectrum of just about any light available today.
You would use it for both veg and flower.

I'm in a 3ftx41/2ft closet

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What about height? I was guessing you meant 3ft wide by 4 1/2 ft. wide ... was that a correct guess? If so, the height and how tall of plants do you hope to grow?

you are bringing a whole nother aspect into this. there is more to CMH's then slapping them into a socket.

not to say your post is wrong, but for someone who is looking for simple and effective. I wouldn't reccommend it

brick top is here!

actually I completly missed that aspect of his OP. you would definitly need some ventilation system in there if you brought in HIDs to the mix.

nattyhead357 said:

you are bringing a whole nother aspect into this. there is more to CMH's then slapping them into a socket.

not to say your post is wrong, but for someone who is looking for simple and effective. I wouldn't reccommend it

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Based on what exactly? You say there is more to it than that. Like what? It's my understanding that all
you need is a standard magnetic hps ballast. What else do you need specifically?
It is said to run cooler, and have the best light spectrum. So you can use 1 bulb for both veg and flower.
It doesn't get any more simple than that does it? What are the down-sides to CMH if any in your opinion?
If there is a downside, I'd like to know, because I just ordered one of those bulbs myself.
Or are you just "blowing-smoke"? HeeHee!

well i guess my only issue with them would be running a magnetic ballast. unless you can put the ballast far away then heat may become an issue.
other than that. i guess just personal opinion?

nattyhead357 said:

well i guess my only issue with them would be running a magnetic ballast. unless you can put the ballast far away then heat may become an issue.
other than that. i guess just personal opinion?

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Yes, ballast heat is of-course a concern.
However, I think that is easily rectified.
I am going to keep my ballast outside of my tent.
Other than that, I don't agree that it is a matter of "personal opinion".
I already stated the info concerning CMH bulbs.
That's not based on personal opinion.
Those datapoints are well documented if you desire to look into it.
I'm not interested in personal opinion per se.
I'm interested in keeping it as simple and low-heat
with the highest quality plant yield possible for both the op and myself
and for whoever else is reading this.
I do appreciate your concern though.

nattyhead357 said:

I meant to type hps bulbs not mh. I want to get like 2 or 3 100-200watt hps bulbs and move them around the plants daily when flowering.
1. Does that sound ok to you?

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No, that does not sound good. First, maybe they make a 100-watt and 200-watt HPS but I have only seen 150-watt and 175-watt and 250-watt.

Second, HID lights with that sort of wattage have very little light penetration and unless part of your moving them around would include lowering them to use for side lighting to the lower portion of your plants, which would then for that period of time be robbing the upper portion of your plants where your major production would come from, moving them around would do little.

At the minimum purchase a 400-watt digital ballast light so you can burn both MH and HPS bulbs and spend the money for a high quality large reflective hood so you get a large light footprint and equal distribution of light.

People tend to way overestimate the power/intensity/ability of lower wattage HID lighting. Even with a 400-watt when you get down about two feet from the bulb the plants are only receiving about as much light as from a 150-watt HID light.

Read up on the inverse square law of light and that will tell you to go higher wattage rather than run multiple lower wattage lights.



As one of the fields which obey the general inverse square law, the light from a point source can be put in the form
where E is called illuminance and I is called pointance.

How much is my electric bill going up roughly if I use 2 or 3 100-200watt hps lights?

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That will depend on how much your electricity company charges but think about it .. you are talking about burning maybe three 200-watt lights (that I have never seen offered for sale) but if they make them you will be burning 600-watts ..... you would be MUCH better off with one single 600-watt digital ballast light with a high quality large reflective hood. When it comes to lumens to watts used a 600-watt light is the most efficient wattage HID light you can use.

Wow! Some great info from all! Thank you soooo much guys? Natty, for you to take time and write all of that means so much to me! For someone to do that, I need to be friends with you.

Btw I went out and bought 3 100 watt equiv. Cfls and I have them hanging by extension cords around my 8 day(from seeds) old plants. I've figured out that watering is proly going to be the hardest part about this. Lol Ill prolly save up and get some cfls in soft colors(2700k) for the flowering just for my first time.

No Problem man, we were all once in your shoes.

listen to Brick Top's advice on the lights. don't go out and buy the low wattage lights unless you are willing to move them around your plant every so often.

If you are going to use CFL's don't think that 4- 100W equivalant CFLs are gonna be the same as a 400W HID. If you are going to use CFLs. Pack as many as you can into the space while keeping your temps in order. Throw them theings everywhere. But also by the time you buy enough CFLs to really produce some top quality (and quantity rather) bud you probably could have bought a 400W electronic Ballast with a MH and a HPS bulb. just to put that in your head. Growing can become addictive, if you wanna due it, don't be afraid of the start up cost. It will end up costing you more if you try to cut corners. (trust me, from experience)

nattyhead357 said:

No Problem man, we were all once in your shoes.

listen to Brick Top's advice on the lights. don't go out and buy the low wattage lights unless you are willing to move them around your plant every so often.

If you are going to use CFL's don't think that 4- 100W equivalant CFLs are gonna be the same as a 400W HID. If you are going to use CFLs. Pack as many as you can into the space while keeping your temps in order. Throw them theings everywhere. But also by the time you buy enough CFLs to really produce some top quality (and quantity rather) bud you probably could have bought a 400W electronic Ballast with a MH and a HPS bulb. just to put that in your head. Growing can become addictive, if you wanna due it, don't be afraid of the start up cost. It will end up costing you more if you try to cut corners. (trust me, from experience)

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It takes 5.3 125-watt (actual wattage) CFL grow lights, not the pigtail home lighting CFLs but actual CFL grow lights to put out an equal amount of light as one 400-watt HPS. That means you would be burning 662.5 actual watts to get the same amount of light as one single 400-watt HID HPS.

If you are going to be using that much wattage you might as well just get yourself a 600-watt HID and have a lot of light and save a little money on electricity or save more electricity costs and get yourself a 400-watt HID rather than burn so many watts with so many CFLs ... that or just accept that you will be providing your plants WAY less light.

i think he's talking about the spiral lighting. I may be wrong tho

nattyhead357 said:

i think he's talking about the spiral lighting. I may be wrong tho

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Maybe I missed something, but who is; "he" and by; "spiral lighting" I am assuming that you are talking about CFLs designed for home lighting that so many people use to grow with but are not CFLs designed for 'agricultural' use, as in actual CFL grow lights, right?