Quote Originally Posted by Lit Up
Not trying to hijack but......

I was in Menards the other day and was wandering around the lighting section. I came upon some HPS bulbs and was looking around. I found some bulbs where the wattage went from 35w up to 250w I believe.

Here is my question....say I have a friend who used 6 - 4ft. flouros for their last grow. Well, I was thinking he could buy 4 - 100w HPS bulbs to use instead. I asked the lady working and she said the bulbs can be used in a regular light socket. Being how they are only 100w I didn't see why not.

Cause obviously 4 - 100w HPS would put out more lumen's than the flouros, correct? His basement stays cool and ventilation is good. The area is 5ft x 2 1/2 ft and about 3 ft. tall.

What you guys think since we are on the topic?
personally, I've never thought of that. it would save all the money needed for a ballast and lamp setup. you'd also be able to get more control over the lighting with individual bulbs (you wouldn't have to have all the light centralized). but I still doubt you'd match the 400 Watt bulb lumen for lumen, although you could probably come pretty damn close. HID bulbs are very efficient when it comes to comparing energy consumption against lumen output, and their efficiency increases in higher wattages.

of course the difference in lumens could be made up for by adding a single 20 Watt CFL. so in reality you'd be operating at 420 Watts (huhu, what a coincidence :420thought: ), but you'd probably be exceeding the lumen output of the 400 Watt bulb.