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I'm now beginning to consider my first grow, I'm having a few dilemmas regarding lighting and accessories.
I'm looking at a small set up (4ftx4ftx5ft) with 1-2 lowryder #2 plants. I'm leaning towards using CFL bulbs for economics and simplicity regarding my set up, but my main issue is power usage. Would a 200w CFL be sufficiant for a single lowryder? If not, what reccomendation would people give for such a set up?
On top of this, I'm a little confused as to whether a Ballast is essential at this level of wattage or not.
Any help regarding these questions would be massively appreciated
Your space is more than twice the size of mine and I use 300 CFL watts. That being said, yes 200 watts of CFL will work great for a single plant even two plants. Everyone around here will tell you to get a 250 watt, 400, or bigger HID for that area, and they will be right. Still, CFL's will work great.
Your CFL bulbs have built in ballasts.
In my opinion it is best to build your own CFL fixture, or just use bowl reflectors. It's part of the fun of growing in my opinion. You can buy very nice flora tube fixtures, but you could get a small HID for the same price.
This is something I threw together in 30 mins. Cost $25 bucks. You would want to go bigger, but just one of the many ideas out there.
Good luck, be safe, and have fun.
-------------------- It looks like it's going to be another Gravity Bong type day...
I like the design muse.. I'm thinking of using an adjustable pulley on the reflector to maintain a short distance from the plant at all times, with plenty of room for adjustment
Aside from economics, I'm choosing CFL because the closet I'm using technically isn't mine to tamper with to any massive degree; so creating a proper ventilation system isn't really feasable if I chose to use hotter bulbs. Keeping it simple seems the better choice..
With that cleared up, I'm off to find a UK stockist of pro-mix.. cheers again