CFL vs T8 flours

[jwb87]

Just wondering if I could get away with 4x T8 24" bulbs in a DWC growing 4 plants.

Looking at the "Zoo Med Coral Flora Sun Plant Growth Bulb T8 17 Watts, 5500k, 24-Inch" combined with the "Zoo Med Ultra Sun Trichromatic Super Daylight 6500K Fluorescent Bulb T8 17 Watt, 24-Inch"and run two of each (one in each fixture).

Versus running 8 CFLs of mixed Kelvins (still unsure a good amount).

!!!

 

[CocoJoe]

Mix up the spectrum.

cocoJoe

 

[jwb87]

but would I be good to grow 4 DWC plants with just 4 T8s or should I go with CFL. I know optimally it would be best to go with both setups, using the CFLs as side lights, but living in an APT. Im kinda limited

 

[Hash Hound]

4 of either one is a little on the low end for 4 plants depending on the size.

You need to look at the lumens of the bulbs and also you didn't say which size cfl you plan on using. Most of the smaller ones are 23w, so right off the bat, you are probably gonna get more lumens than a 17w bulb. I'm not sure of the lumens in the t-8's. 2 42 watters might be your best bang for the buck lumen wise compared to 4 17w

If i am not mistaken, the minimum you can get by with is 1000 lumens per sq ft.
and your probably close to that with the t-8's

I think the 23w cfl's i used to use are close to 1500+ lumens. So of course the 4 23's would be better than 4 t-8's

I have grown decent bud with cfl's but needed a lot of them. I think I used 16 of them in a 3x3 room. You need to keep the plants short the cfl's or t-8 dont penetrate to deep. ANd you will need some 2700k for flowering, so maybe 2 65000 and 2 2700 from the start unless you want to buy multiple bulbs for veg and flower.

I do like straight bulbs though. I think a lot is lost on the curly q bulbs. and you have to start rigging multiple socket setups and a bunch of splitters etc.

Many moons ago I used a regular 4 ft 2 bulb t-12 shop light and grew a great plant.
I split it once and trained it under the fluro with a bamboo stick sort of like t shape. So all the bud was right under the light.
like this

 

[jwb87]

I ended up ordering up a 4 bulb 2' T5 fixture, comes with the vegging bulbs. Now I can use my two T8 setups on the sides for supplemental lighting, or go with some 23W CFLs (already got some 2700ks). Hopefully Ill get that light tomorrow from fedex and ill have some finish pictures of the setup by the end of the weekend.

 

[Hash Hound]

good choice and good luck

 

[jwb87]

kool man thanks!