Fluro question.

[colliefish]

Hi people,

I decided to go with fluro's for the veg stage of my next grow to cut a few costs (electric bill) and also so I can make a seperate flowering room with my hps in it.

I have bought 4 4 foot fluros at 40 watts each.
The bulbs that came with them just said white on the boxes. I know I need warm and cool white but is there any way to tell which I have ie colour as I know some are pinkish and others are blueish.

Cheers :D

[DojaDave]

Hey Colliefish!,

Cool whites are blue/bluish

Warm whites are pinkish/reddesh

Have a good one!

[IthoughtIknewitall]

Why would you want warm whites during Vegetative growth? A metal halide is better for vegetative growth than an HPS and it puts out blue. An HPS puts out red.

[llamaman666]

having both is fine, and an mh using alot of electricity which is why the man's using floros.

[colliefish]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your help.
IthoughtInewitall; Does that mean I can grow with just cool white. That is the colour of the bulbs I got with the units.
The reason the original question arose was due to a video called "lets grow cronic" whe "MR Green" says he uses both warm and cool for his veg stage.

Cheers again guys :D

[IthoughtIknewitall]

I have only grown with cool whites. And from everything I have read it is the preferred method. You can grow with warms if you want to though. Its kind of like you can grow veg under a HPS just fine but it is recommended you use a Metal Halide. Or you can grow awesome buds under a metal halide but an HPS is preferred because the red spectrum of light is better for flowering. Also, an HPS 400 Watt will put out more lumens than a MH 400 Watt.

[colliefish]

Hi IthoughtIknewitall,

Thanks for your help. I will save myself a few £'s and just use the bulbs I got with the units.
The exact type of bulb is "t8 white 3500^k halophosphate"
and they are 36 watt each and not 40 watt as I previously posted.

Cheers :D

[slipknotpsycho]

this should help..... (http://weedfarmer.com/growing_marijuana_with_fluoresce.htm)

[colliefish]

Thanx slipknotpsycho

[Bspectral]

Thanx slipknotpsycho
............even better is a mixed variety of 48'' tubes from actinic blue,full spectrum, to red. see pics.........

[altwnyguy73]

where to get the red spec fluoros in NY usa though...went today looking for them, as I have heard also that combining 2 lights gives better uv light...very benificial in all stages of growth...peace

[Bspectral]

where to get the red spec fluoros in NY usa though...went today looking for them, as I have heard also that combining 2 lights gives better uv light...very benificial in all stages of growth...peace
;;;;;;;;;;;;home depot---phillips makes them,C4 and L4---GE too---and sylvania

[SPLIFFBUILDER]

i use three 40w floro's(cool white's) in my little veg room,does the job nice.it's empty right now but will be starting more seed in a few week's,can't wait..hope this helps..love an respect..spliffbuilder.

[IthoughtIknewitall]

Colliefish,
I would really like to know how those T-8 bulbs do. Have you ever seen those tiny flourescent tubes which are extremely bright?

[notanovice]

floros will not save on electricity, hps and metal halide are more electrically efficient.
after the initial start up of these high output lights, they draw less electricity than floros

[colliefish]

ithoughtinewitall
I will keep all informed on how the new grow go's

notanovice,
when you say I will not save on electric, do you mean in a watts to lumens ratio. I am using 4 x 36 watt bulbs = 144 watts.
Last time I used a 250 hps.
Do you think I will notice a big difference in veg time.
Cheers,

[notanovice]

ithoughtinewitall
I will keep all informed on how the new grow go's

notanovice,
when you say I will not save on electric, do you mean in a watts to lumens ratio. I am using 4 x 36 watt bulbs = 144 watts.
Last time I used a 250 hps.
Do you think I will notice a big difference in veg time.
Cheers,


i`m talking about operational costs, the floros work fine for veg. stage if used properly.
this is just an example to help show you what i mean:
electric kilowatts used by floros will cost about the same as a mh or hps light.
the difference is the light output
the high powered lights are more electrically efficient, using less electricity to power the light, thus costing less to run than floros.
dont get me wrong, floros work fine
just was informing you that floros cost about the same to run as the hps and mh lights

[IthoughtIknewitall]

Notanovice are you saying 400 watts of flouro tubes would cost the same to run as a 400 watt HPS?

[notanovice]

Notanovice are you saying 400 watts of flouro tubes would cost the same to run as a 400 watt HPS?

it would cost more in eletricity to run 400watts of floros than a 400 watt hps

[lordsoth666]

That statement seems to defy logic... 400 watts is 400 watts isn't it? I mean if the power company charges by the kw/h how can one 400w item cost more to operate than another? It does not make any sense. I would agree 100% that the HPS or MH is more efficient than the floros for the wattage used compared to lumen output, but there is no way that 400w of floro costs more to run than 400w of HPS or MH.

L0rdsOth :D

[notanovice]

Notanovice are you saying 400 watts of flouro tubes would cost the same to run as a 400 watt HPS?
yes

[notanovice]

it would cost more in eletricity to run 400watts of floros than a 400 watt hps
this is wrong, sorry :(

[notanovice]

i`m talking about operational costs, the floros work fine for veg. stage if used properly.
this is just an example to help show you what i mean:
electric kilowatts used by floros will cost about the same as a mh or hps light.
the difference is the light output
the high powered lights are more electrically efficient, using less electricity to power the light, thus costing less to run than floros.
dont get me wrong, floros work fine
just was informing you that floros cost about the same to run as the hps and mh lights

sorry bout the faux paus :o

[colliefish]

Ok how about this question on lighting.

I have a 250 hps but would like more for flowering.
What would be better, Buying another 250 hps and running both (500 watt) or buying a 400 watt hps and running it on its own.
Logic tells me go with the 2 x 250 hps.
Cheers peops.
ps. getting a bit on edge, my lady is not far off. The trichones are still clear but think I can see the occasional cloudy one.

[lordsoth666]

Get the 400 if you can, the 250 does not have the intensity to penetrate the canopy as well as the 400 will.


L0rdsOth :D

[SPLIFFBUILDER]

hi colliefish,if you can afford to buy the 600W hps growlux it's the most economic lamp on the market,i went from a 400W hps to the 600W hps,what a difference in bud production!!!!not noticed much of a difference in the eletric bill either..hope this helps..love an respect...spliffbuilder.

[colliefish]

thanks both of you.
Your help is much appreciated.
Cheers

[redeyed]

First of all, useing 400 watts of fluros. would cost a hell of a lot more than useing 400 watts of hps or mh. The best way to explain it is to look at the amps require to run the fixture its self , higher the amps the high the cost. In turn if you have a 40 watt fluro fixture look at what the amps are on that fixture, you would need 10 of those fixtures to equal the same amount of watts as one 400 watt hps. If your concern is cost of electricity than you shoul look at your lights and see if they are what we call in the electrical trade a multi-tap ballast. this meaning you can run your lights at different voltages, higher the voltage lower the amps less cost to the consumer. Unless you have a friend who is an electrician that you trust to know what you are doing with these light forget it. I don't recomend trying that your self. Hope this helps you in any decitions you need to make as far as cost vs. effect, GOOD LUCK.

[colliefish]

Hi redeyed,

Thanks for the tip.
Although I am quite handy on the home improvements I will give this chance of electicution a miss, I dont know a sparky I could trust well enough to play with my balast. Looks like I will have to go with a 400 or 600 hps for flowering. As for growing I am going to stick with the fluro's because I have already got them.

Cheers :D

[bruiser]

dudes I have 6 shop lights full specrum throwing off about 30,000 lumens I have went full cycle begining to finish with 30,000 lumen's of flourecent lights and my yeild was great! I guess if you can bring the flourecent lights up to a HIGH enough lumen,you could do just as well with your harvest! of course it may cost a little more in the long run but I used many systems and I found not much of a difference over all other then a couple of hundred bucks over a 2 year period............not a big difference.....not in anyway am I saying that mh is not as good of course I be a fool to say that infact mh is much better for growth plus much more,just wanted to make clear that you can pull off some good grows with flourecents!..............30,000 lumen's is 30,000 lumens not matter what lamp's you have......correct? if not please correct me.

[lordsoth666]

The intensity of HID lights allows them to penetrate the canopy, floro's don't do this very well. The problem is that floro's have poor lumen production per given arc area. For example: If you put 4 150w HPS lights up, they will not match the intensity of 1 600w HPS, the difference is that the higher wattage arc burns hotter and far brighter if compared, the same area of the arc on the 150w bulb is dimmer than the exact same area on the 600w bulb (by area I mean like square mm or whatever) The HID is also MUCH cheaper than the floro for a lumen to wattage ratio.

I have seen some good looking crops grown under floro's, so I'm not saying it can't be done, only that the HID will give greater yields; and faster, bigger growth in Veg.

Best of luck

L0rdsOth :D