add more light Hmmmm

[Camk]

Hello people
im thinking of adding more light to my grow Im running 3- 65w cfl's now but acquired a 400w hid fixture and was thinking of adding it
growing just 2 plants mystery seed i also have more cfls i could use any advice my first grow indoors

thanks

[Jason]

Add the 400 W. Check for the suggested distance and deal with the heat. (3) 65 W CFL's seem pretty weak compared to what many people use.
I use (2) 300 W LED and (1) 315 CMH for my two WaterFarms. The girls love their photons.

[Camk]

65 watt cfls are 200 watt equivilant

[Jason]

So, add the 400 and you'll be rockin'.
I forget why my clone guy canabis expert told me not to bother with CFL's. Light comparisons leave me feeling like I'm reading a foreign language. Between poor copy, intentional confusion added in, bad translations, etc. I just don't try to crack that nut.

[Mr.furley]

Camk, cfl equivalence don't matter actual draw does. You are only running 3x65w= 195 watts so don't get confused you do not have 600 watts off 3 cfl if I am hearing you correctly.
I would definitely suggest you put those plants under that HID light for flowering you won't regret it, your CFLS won't do want that 400w light will do for you buds, cfls will do a decent job of vegetating them.

[D.A.A.S.69]

I with MrFurley add the 400, there's several folks on GWE that's grown some beautiful bud with cfls, but they use 23 watt, not equivalent, and they use about 10-12 of them, they actually do better than those 65 real watts you are using ,those 65s your using put out lots of heat, several of them would put about as much heat as your 400.

[Camk]

ok ill put it in
should i wait till flowering or add it now

oh! and im down to one plant i found out today one is a male

[Mr.furley]

Do you have a metal halogen(veg)or a high pressure sodium(flower) bulb for it or both?

[Camk]

i only have the one metal halide grow bulb

[Mr.furley]

So that bulb is for a the veg stage. Can your ballast and hood take a metal halogen and high pressure sodium bulb?

[Camk]

i dont believe so

[Mr.furley]

Double check it does and get yourself a HPS bulb for flowering

[tyler_ hobbyist]

For the extra 30 bucks buy a 600w hid but make sure u have an ac or enclosed hood!!!! Hids have very high temp levels! In a 4x4 a hid will raise the temp 30 degrees! Unless u have an ac or enclosed hook with a inline fan. When buying an hid bulb do not cheap out! They make a world of difference I personaly use solistek 10 mh to veg/ last 2weeks of flower then the rest of flower I use a eye hortilux hps! theres a huge difference in yeild if u cheap out! Trust me iv tryed it. If u dnt have much funds u can grow from start to finish with only one of the 2 bulbs. Metal halide will produce shorter bushyier plants with a small amount lower yeild or hps will grow tall skinny plants that need extra suport for buds bigger yeilds a little less thc but still amazing buds! Hids are amazing but I might recomend leds bestva or vipraspectra. There a bit pricer but will cut ur power bill in half and without any extra heat.

[Camk]

thanks for all the advice!
Im going to put in the 400w mh today my room is 4'x4' x 8'
i only have the one plant now so
Question
how far away from the plant for the mh and should i leave the cfls in

my room is built under a vent hood with a chimney and a power duct fan
and a fesh air fan

Cam

[Mr.furley]

I'd start at 16" From the top of plant, if you put your hand under the light and hold it there, if it's hot for your hand it's to hot for your plants

[tyler_ hobbyist]

I agree start at 16 and u can move it 1-2inchs closer each day and look for any signs of stress, if u see stress move it away a couple inchs. I currently have a mag ballast thats 400w so im running the same 400w mh and my bulbs are 6 inchs from my plants without any issues but im also giveing them 1000ppm of co2. Without co2 u could get that close. I also have a fan blowing direcly at that plant and bulb so I dnt over heat the plant

[Camk]

well i tried the light in the room but had to take it out way too hot
for my first grow ill just use the cfl's i have like nebula's first grow
i have about ten of these lights so ill add as needed

[D.A.A.S.69]

Adding 4-5 of those big cfls your probably gonna have more heat than with your 400. Any way you get a fan on them it will cool down, whatever you decide good luck.