Metal Halide vs cfls - some questions

I've got a pretty decent grow box going using cfls, and it fits my immediate purposes, but I'm building a new vegging cubicle and I'm really wondering if cfls are worth it.

Right now I have 11 - 26watt and 1- 125 cfl. Cost of the 26 watt cfls, with the socket and lampcord, were about $7.50, $82.50 total, and $75 for the 125 watt lamp and reflector. So that's $157.50 for the lamps I have, and I'd need at least twice as many lamps for the new vegging area, or a cost of about $315.

I can buy two 250w MH lights in cool tubes for around $145 each, or a total cost of $290.

With the cfls I would be burning around 800 watts to produce approximately 51,000 lumens.

With the two metal halides I would burn 500 watts to produce 44,000 lumens.

The vegging area will be approximately 28" deep x 6' long x 42" high.

Could I mount two - 250 watt m/h's in a permanent location at the top of the veg cubicle? Assuming a 5" tall clone, the lights would be about 22" above the clones when they started vegging. Is this so high it would cause them to stretch?

If I let the plants grow to within 8" - 10" from the lights (cool tubes), is this enough clearance?

what are you using for flowering?
flouros can be cheaper than a hid for vegging purposes all you really need is enough light to keep the plants from stretching and have decent compact growth and flouros can do a decent job of that.
would probably make that a flowering box and hang a couple of 250 hps in it and use your existing box for vegging and you could probably get by with alot less flouros if you used your existing box for veg purposes alone
you should have no trouble keeping your plants 8 inches from the cool tube with a 250 and probably be able to get within a 3-4 inches if you have decent ventilation without burning the plant tops.
a hid isnt 100 percent efficient and you would be pulling more than 500 watts but it would be less than the 800 watts of cfl and if you went with hps you would be well over 50,000 lumens

bejay - Thanks for your response, but here's the thing. I live in California and I'm growing for my sister and me. Both of us have prescriptions. I can grow 12 plants for me and 12 plants her - so I want to grow large plants.

In addition to that, I'm kind of a curmudgeon and little inconveniences tend to irritate the hell out of me. CFLs tend to present a lot of minor inconveniences and I just don't want to screw with them, at least not as a main source of light.

So I'm building this one veg cubicle right now and when it's done I'll build a flowering room. The box I have now will be for mothers.

And that brings me back to my original question which is, if I have 2 - 250w M/H's in a 3' x 6' area, is 22" is too far away from the MH lite for the young plants.

My reason for asking this is that in this small space it would be easier to mount the cool tubes stationary. But, I will do whatever is best and if I have to make the lights movable up and down, I will. Obviously, moving the lights up and down is no problem, it's the venting that's kinda tight.

22 inches is a liitle to far away you could either mount the cooltubes to where they can be adjusted or move the plants up to the lights.

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Originally Posted by bejay

22 inches is a liitle to far away you could either mount the cooltubes to where they can be adjusted or move the plants up to the lights.

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Thanks, bejay, that's what I needed to know. I'll make the light adjustable.