Cheap 4'x4'x28" Input please

[Dreadscale]

Hi All, I'm New and need some input.:dance:

I have a 4x8 closet 28" deep I plan to convert into 2 grow areas.
At this time I only have the materials for the upper half. The interior will be bright white. I have some salvaged fluorescent fixtures I plan on using, a 48"x24" 4 bulb T12 for upper lighting "adjustable height". 2 - 48" x16" 4 bulb T8 units stacked on back wall. And a single 48" T12 fixture on front floor area. These have a combination of 3000k and 6500k bulbs. I also have a 10,000 k bulb but am not sure if it is in a plants grow spectrum, so i probably won't use it. For Ventilation I have a salvaged Bathroom exhaust to vent into attic and 2 CPU fans for intake
in a lightproof configuration.

Will this be adequate for a good crop?:beatdeadhorse:

Attached is a little sketch, if you can make heads or tails out of it.

[Roughrider]

Welcome! First...yes, you've got plenty of room for a good crop. I'd make the following suggestions

My flowering room is 28 x 28...it's big enough for four decent sized plants (I use 3.5 gallon square pots that are about 9.5"). If you're going to divide your room into two grow areas (I can't tell from your drawing if you're able to do this, but I'll assume you can), you don't need as much room for vegging...I'd split it 60/40, so that your flower room is about 18" x 30", and your flower room is about 30" x 30". Those are great sizes; you can veg 6-8 plants, and flower up to four plants. Do NOT let your plants get much over 10" or 12" before you start to flower; they're going to double or even triple in size. But don't worry...a 10-12" plant at the begining of flower can give a very good yield. 3 or 4 of them will set you up well.

I think the biggest problem for you is going to be lights. In your veg cabinet, just go with CFLs. They're cheap and easy. Get a four bulb ballast for around $15 at Home Depot. Buy 4 y-socket adaptors for $1.50 each at Wal Mart. Get 4 two packs of 26w 6500k bulbs for $6-$7 each. You've got 200 watts and 15,000 lumens of juice for your 18" x 28" veg room...plenty to do a great job.

I think you *can* grow with the light setup you have but it's marginal. First, T12 fluoros are not very efficient...they put out around 50 lumens per watt. A high output 4 foot T12 will pull 60 watts; a regular bulb will pull 40 watts. So you're talking about 3000 lumens per bulb with HO, and 2000 for regular. T8s are better, but still aren't optimal. With the T8s on the backwall, you're going to get as much or more under canopy light as light on top, and you need light on the canopy. I figure that even with HO bulbs, you're going to have around 12,000 lumens on your canopy...and if your flower area is 28" x 30", that's 5.8 square feet. (And if you're using 4 foot tubes, some of that light is going into the other room. Not worth it.) You've got barely 2,000 lumens per sq. ft. on your canopy, at most. That's just not enough. You're also going to be sucking up energy. 4 high output bulbs will be 240 watts. If you've got 4 T8s to go with it, you'll end up with around 16,000 to 20,000 lumens, depending on if you've got high output bulbs. That's adequate for a grow...but you'll also be pulling 400w, which is a big waste. And the lights won't be hitting in optimal places.

That kind of flower space is perfect for a 250w HPS--I know from experience. It will put out 25,000 lumens. If your ballast is outside, the heat issue could/should be controllable with your ventilation system. If you're really worried about that, I'd think about a T5 system...something like this:

NGW New Wave T5 28 - 2 foot - 8 lamp (http://www.hydrofanatics.com/wave-foot-lamp-p-780.html)

Each 24 watt T5 bulb puts out around 2,000 to 2,200 lumens, so you're talking about 16,000-20,000 lumens while pulling under 200w. Add 5,000-8,000 lumens of under canopy lights, and you'd be in good shape.

A bargain alternative is double up what you did in the veg room...use two 4 bulb ballasts with Y sockets, so you've got 16 CFLS. Wal-Mart has 4 packs of Warm white bulbs for $7 bucks; you'd need four. That's about $80 for a 368 watt system putting out 26,400 lumens. CFLs won't give you the under canopy coverage of an HPS, and they aren't as efficient as a T5, but you'll still do well...much better than you would with T12s, IMO.

Bottom line: Don't skimp on lights. It's a drag to have a good space, and get a mediocre or lousy grow because you didn't want to spend $150 to $250, which is really all you need to set up a decent lighting system for your set up. Good luck!

[Dreadscale]

Thank You Roughrider for the quick reply.:thumbsup:

I will deffinately invest in CFLs. The space directly under
this Cabinet is a matching area I plan on using in the future.

I will use your post for a referance and invest in CFLs,
good calculations.

Thanks Much

[Dreadscale]

Well My cabinet was up and running fine.
(After some modifications)

Cabinet Has Bathroom exhaust fan venting heat to attic. 50cfm
Bathroom exhaust blowing cold air from house crawl space into cabinet. 50cfm
2 3" computer fans air intake
1 10" fan circulating air in cabinet
Temp is running a hi temp of about 85 deg.f and a low of 69 deg.f.
Humidity about 27%
400W M/H

Went to get a HPS conversion bulb for my MH ballast and for a little more I bought a 1000W HPS setup.

Question
Will the 1000W HPS work in this small area?
What problems do you foresee?

:hippy:

[DreamerGirl7]

Question
Will the 1000W HPS work in this small area?
What problems do you foresee?


For small area u didn't have to buy 1000 hps !

She can work in small areas but u will have big heat problems .

Find a way to blow heat produced by hps out of your garden .

easiest way is with cool tube . See if u have space for cool tube (hoses included ) but we are talking about small space so... i don't think u have .

[Dreadscale]

Well make sure you plan ahead it's a real pain to rebuild in the middle of a grow.
My cheap cabinet took on a life of it's own.

I had to make it taller due to the added heat of 1000W hps.
then had to build another area for cloning and 24/0 lighting.

Plants are doing pretty well now 26 days into flower.

[AllforMe]

Dreadscale, does that 400 wat mh have a glass lens? it seriously doesnt get over 85? I have a 3.5 ft x 2.5 ft x 6.5 ft cab and a 170 cfm exhaust fan throwing hot air outside, with a nice sized passive intake taking in very cool basement air, was wondering if I could throw a 400 watt hps in there and not need an air cooled hood. If that is not an air cooled hood (which I don't see any ducts), then your info makes it possible! Is your ballast outside the cab?

[Dreadscale]

Sorry AllforMe for not replying

My 400 W MH is enclosed and can be air cooled, I have no heat problems with it.
The light with the wing reflector is a 1000w HPS and I have heat issues with it.
I leave closet open during lights on with a box fan blowing cool air into cabinet. I also have a box fan mounted on wall in cabinet blowing below the light and above the plants. I need lots of air flow. I also exhaust out the ceiling into attic and bring air from under house and exhaust it in front of the wall mount fan.

1000W a bit much but i got a great deal on it.

Sorry for the late reply:hippy: