easy lighting question

hey all. ok im on my way to get grrowing lol. i just bought two 30 gallons rubbmaids and im gonna put one on top of another - with the lights suspended in the top one, obviously lol. i was wandering what type of lights to use. i wil prob. start with flourescent lights, but i went to wal mart and all they had was the bulb. this might sound dumb, but i dont understand how it works...? how do i plug in the florescent light? in a fish tank u have the little fixture that holds the light in place. but how would i do it without a socket inside my grow box? sorry for the dumb question but ima newbey at this indoor stuff. thanks alot.

also - would one flourescent tube be enough? is there a certain amount of lumens i want or whatever? just trying to get the best outta my grow, thanks alot yall

 

You need a fourescent tube light fixture. They're usually sold as "shop lights" and are cheap. You could also use CFL's, which screw into regular sockets.

MJ is light hungry, so you'll probably want more lights. I'm new, so I can't really be precise. Also, consider heat production because you're gonna have a oven if you don't get some venting in there.

 

Well you can pick up a flo fixture at the hardware store disassemble it and remount the ballast and fixtures. Run tubes vertically and hang some cfls up top. CFLs can use "work light" assemblies - includes clamp, reflector, cord, socket.

If you have the room. 2x4s and insulation board (white/mylar sides) just frame up a big cube and tape the seams for light leaks. A cross member in the middle top for a 250 watt hps or MH.

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=561674&fromPageCatId=132914&catNavId=133113

will these work? the first ones on the list?

 

I don't see a kelvin listed on there, but if i remember walmart sells 2700k which are good for flowering, not vegging. you want 6400K for that.

1000bulbs.com

 

im just new into this aswell and im using a tent like structure about 4'X2', the whole thing is lined with emergency blankets which are a lot more shinny than tin foil and can be bought at wal mart or canadian tire in the camping section for about 3$. we are planing on using it to flower max 6 smaller plants no more than a 1.5-2' tall. im currently using 2 4' fourescent grow tubes across the top and 2 40watt CFLs hanging just above each plant. they are just in the vedgetive state now and they are growing very nicely as far as i can tell. im hoping we will be able to flower the plants using more CFLs. i would deffinitaly recomend the highest wat CFL u can find the 40w cost us 10-12$ each.