thats me.

THE Roseman · 08-04-2007, 11:16 AM

CFLs are the lights of the future, but they have not evolved as of yet to equal HID lights.
At any local BUILDING store like Home Depot or Lowes, you can puy cheap 23, 42 and even 65 watt spiral CFL bulbs, cheap. They only offer the "soft white" or "cool white" which is ideal for FLOWERING or BLOOMING stage. At StealthHydro.com they have 85 and even 105 watt bulbs. CFL bulbs come in two "spectrums" called red and blue. It takes both to masqurade as the sun's spectrums.
The biggest advantage is they are cheap, easy to find, and can be moved easily. AND you can touch or hold a 85Watt bulb in your hand while it is on, it gets warm, but not very hot. Growers like them for "STEALTH Growing" saying they can not be detected, and they do not run up a power bill like HID.
They do not equal HID lights, especailly for BLOOMING. BUT if you use enough of them, placed just right, well, I am a 100% CFL man, myself.
At StealthHydro.com they just introduced the 105 watts, which two months ago did not exist. They offer them in a set of three, which can produce 20,000 lumens, which is what the SUN produces, per square foot. BUT, you have to use them in their reflector, and at that wattage, they do get warm, and are not as portable. I have not used them yet, but I am going to use them individually in a single reflector, along with the 85 watt ones that I already have.

btdt · 08-04-2007, 11:58 AM

Much respect Roseman. you ARE the CFL wizard my man!

I had a Hydrofarm hood w/CFL reflector for awhile. the lamps I used were 125 watt and 200 watt... like these:

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=115

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=117

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=125

I used em to grow lettuce in my hydro shop...and later..for a few males in a cab I built once to collect pollen. My only real problem with them was that they are EXTREMELY fragile. Over 1/2 of them came to my store broken in transit and I broke a few myself simply screwin' em into the fixture! I've since moved on to t-5 lamps...which I feel are alot alike but the t-5's cover a far wider area. I have 2- 4 ft -4 lamp fixtures and an 8 lamp fixture. The 8 lamps rivals a 400 MH in lument output.

I might have a fixture here that can be used vertically...it's just an 8' cord and a mogul socket...but I'd be happy to toss out there if someone wants it. It's only about a $15 item..but I'm not gonna use it and it's just takin up space. US folks only. Wouldn't be worth it to ship it otherwise.

FWIW...my own personal opinion is that CFL will never come close to rivalling HID. Of course, I could be wrong..but when I take into consideration that HID is also ADVANCING in it's technology...and that HID is more efficient from the get-go on a lumen per watt basis..and the figures out there currently listed for lumens per watt are not yet representing the electronic ballasts that produce even MORE lumens from these lamps with the same or less wattage powering 'em. I also take into account the "compact" part of the equation and feel that CFL's will never become large enough in wattage (aka, lumens) to rival the wattages found in the realm of HID. In addition, once/if the CFL's get that large, they too will put out ample amounts of heat...just like an HID.

But NONE of that matters here in the long run...what matters here is that each person does what they can in the space they have..always MAXIMIZING their lumens per watt and always reaching for a higher "gram per watt" figure on each successive grow.

let's ROCK THIS PLACE! "Plug IN, Plug ON, Drop Cord" (GP's version of "Tune in, Turn on, Drop out")

peace, love, marijuana....

btdt