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6500K 3K Lumen Fluorescent vs 6500K 2.3K Lumen LED. Which is the better choice?
I plan on growing lettuce/kale hydroponically.
----- Was curious what you all think might be sufficient for my purpose. I'm also looking at it from a long-term price perspective as well. It basically comes down to these options: fluorescent: 6500k - 3050lumens - 86CRI - 32w - $1.59 per bulb vs led: 6500k - 2300lumens - 80CRI - 22w - $10.16 per bulb ----- Will be using 3 hydroponic raft setups (all a mixture of lettuce/kale). This comes to 3 fixtures per raft (2 bulbs per fixture). 3 fixtures x 2 bulbs = 6 bulbs per RAFT x 3 RAFTs = 18 bulbs total. ----- Pricing Long-Term ~Fluorescent Upfront Costs: $39.75 for 25 bulbs (I only need 18, but it's required that I buy a case (those can be backups I guess)) Monthly Energy Costs = $34.21 Yearly Energy Costs = $410.57 $450.32 = first year costs total for energy and bulbs. ~LED Upfront Costs: $182.88 for 18 bulbs Monthly Energy Costs = $23.52 Yearly Energy Costs = $282.24 $465.12 = first year costs total for energy and bulbs. $15 more than the fluorescent, but more efficient/last longer, and end up saving $128.33 in energy costs the next year + years after that. So the LEDs pay for themselves in the first year and save much more in the upcoming months/years. ----- QUESTION: What would you all choose? Is the lose in lumens really all that bad considering what I'm growing? I tried researching the importance of lumens and only came up w/ a sq ft lumen number that didn't seem to have much confidence behind it. |
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