Scored some Fluors, need opinions.

Ok, so thanks to the local growers i found someone's fluorescent fixture and tubes!

Gotta love garbage day near colleges.

So I checked out the ballast and tubes, tried it all out. Great condition.

it's tubes are :

2
Philips Daylight F20T12/D
20 watt/6500K/1075 Lumen

The spectrum seems right.
My plants are all under 2 1/2 weeks.
Would this be good for veg growth?

I was gonna replace my CFL's that my buddy broke the other day when i got paid, but this is free so i'm not complaining any.
The spectrum seems right.

How hot might that fixture get with 2 20 watt tubes. I don't feel like burning/metling anything.

Thanks for the help everyone.

That won't get hot at all. You will need to keep it right on your plants (1inch) or you will not get much from the light.

Awesome thanks! They are loving the fluors. I just set them up in a cabinet, gonna get some mylar and line it tomorrow. Right now it's flat white walled.

I have them all with in at least 2 inches but i'll check just to be sure.

If you were going to get the mylar instead of replacing the broken cfl's, I would get the cfl's. Getting more light in there will help more than better reflection of the light

Well im doing a cabinet grow.

23" High(but there's a removable shelf 11 1/2 " )
42" Length
12" Wide

Right now im using the top shelf with the two 20 watt fluor tubes, i screwed the fixture in to the top of the cabinet, and i have them between 1- 2 inches of that light.

It's all white walled right now. You don't think that would be enough? i'm only looking to do 4-6 right now (more are sprouting, but since im using bad seed im gonna *weed* out the weakest most likely).

Each of those tubes are suppose to be 1075 lums so i was hoping 2150 would be enough with the mylar on the walls.

I'm going to work out a vent system soon, it's not that hot in there currently so i have a little time.

Let me know what you think.

I am no expert, but from reading the threads on here you do not have near enough light. you would get 3000 lumens just from 1 40w flouro.
You are going to need more hight (23" will not cut it) even with just flouro tubes you have 3-4" for the light and probably at least 6" for the pots that only leaves you with 13" for total plant growth. And the flouros won't cut it for flowering (not the amount of them you are using). And you will need to vent your cabinet.

You are way short on light. You've got 23 x 42 = 966 sq. in. Divide that by 144...you've got over six and a half square feet of grow area. That's enough room to grow 4-6 plants...but you'll need at least 30000 lumens of light; 35000 would be better. That's the type of space that most people would use a 400w HPS for.

I really can't afford anything more expensive would it be smarter to go the CFL way then?

Yes, you're better off with CFLs. T12 tubes are the least efficient tubes. T8s are better; T5s are the best. CFLs are almost as good as T5s.

You've really got two problems, though. First, you don't have enough light. Second, you're trying to grow too many plants. If you're serious about growing, you need put up the $$ to do things right. It costs more if you've got more plants. And you can only go so cheap on a grow. The thing is that if you try go cheap beyond that, it's lose/lose. You'll lose all your money, and you won't grow a damn thing.

I'd suggest the following set up. This is about as cheap as you can go.

2 10 1/2 inch reflector/clamp lights from Wal-Mart (about $10 each)
6 Y-socket adaptors (about $1.50 each)
Four two packs of GE 23w (100w equivalent) Daylight bulbs (about $6 each)
Two four packs of 23w (100w equivalent) Warm White Wal-Mart brand bulbs (about $8 each)

Total--$75

That will let you veg 5-6 plants, and get 2-3 plants all the way through flowering. You can cut that in half, and have a setup to take one plant through flowering for a little under $40. You can't/shouldn't really go cheaper than that. My advice is if you can't afford $40-50 dollars (you really something for testing pH too, and may have to buy water), you probably shouldn't try to grow. Like I said, that's cutting too many corners. You're better off waiting until you can get afford a workable set up.