Bulb v tube

[christian1971]

Is the light coverage between a grow bulb and grow tube very different?

[Scooty]

Depends on the bulb. A19? BR40? Also depends if either has a reflector. In general one A19 bulb isn't going to put out as much light as say a single T8.

[christian1971]

Originally Posted by christian1971

Is the light coverage between a grow bulb and grow tube very different?

I saw a hydro farm 6400k bulb(200 watt) 50 lumen per watt.
Then there are the grow light systems with up to 8 tubes.

[Scooty]

I use LED panels. It's about 120+ lumen per watt. I prefer better efficiency. I know some people still swear by HIPS. I would assume in colder climates it might save on heating in a greenhouse, since those bulbs can get quite hot.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Scooty

I use LED panels.

Are you buying them as a pre-assembled unit, or assembling the components yourself? (just wondering)

[Scooty]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Are you buying them as a pre-assembled unit, or assembling the components yourself? (just wondering)

Both. The pre-assembled are nice cause they have red blue mixed, and usually a fan. If you do it yourself, it's probably cheaper, but you still have to deal with cooling of the power supply if you really plan to go with a lot of lighting.

I saw that ChrisK uses light strips, which one way to go since they have so little overhead space required (unlike the pre-fab units). The downside is that replacing one led in a DIY config usually means you have to replace an entire strip or clip out the LED that is not working yourself in the middle and hotwire a new one in. Also, if something goes wrong, you're kind of boned, since its all DIY. No warranty.

Some of the better pre-assembled ones are build with all the LEDs in parallel, so one goes out, the rest of the LEDs in the panel are still working, so you can just ask manufacturer to send you that one LED to pop in.

One of the alternative routes is doing a LED T8 ballast. It's not as fancy has dedicated red and blue, but it certainly low power compared to regular T8. Instead of FL T8, it's a T8 made with LEDs. Hyperikon is USA company with a pretty good no nonsense 5-year replacement warranty. They use them in almost all the Cali government buildings. They have rotatable T8 light that is really cool. It's like a built in reflect and you can aim the light coming out of the tube.

[Gardeneer]

I like tubes; The reason being that they offer a more uniform coverage. Also very simple to use.

My four T8 tubes are covering about 40 seedlings in 4" pots. , or about 4.2 square foot.
@ 34w per tube that is 136 watt total usage.
With the CFL you have to come up wit a scheme to install and wire them.

Gardeneer