Lighting T12 Fluorescent Lumens ???

[Standup182]

I have a t12 4' 40w daylight 3 of them 6500k 2325 Lumens. My question is when I hold a light meter (cheap one) against the bulb it reads 200 if I hold it right up to a CFL 23w it reads over 1k what gives? is that a normal reading are the Lumens cumulative? meaning because the 23w is compact the meter is reading all of the lumen output where on the 40w I can only get a small sampling?

 

[namvet25]

T12 bulbs are not very good for growing because there lumen per watt is very low.CFL bulbs put out a lot more lumens per watt and that is why there used a lot for growing.T5 florescent bulbs are used for growing but they need a different fixture than reg bulbs.