What is the best lighting for the money/situation.

idk are you planning on using the wholes pace to grow? if you are i think your best bet would be a pair of 400's or you could use a light mover.. that may be just the ticket for what you have in mind.
a hps 600 is good to about 4-5' room but 9' is way too much space for the light to get to.. and if you are not gonna use the whole space you hava to think about how you are gonna stop the light from leaving/entering the flower space or you will get hermies..
just the thoughts off the top of my head man.
hope this helps you in your search for 'free' meds
-J

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Originally Posted by mainegrown

idk are you planning on using the wholes pace to grow? if you are i think your best bet would be a pair of 400's or you could use a light mover.. that may be just the ticket for what you have in mind.
a hps 600 is good to about 4-5' room but 9' is way too much space for the light to get to.. and if you are not gonna use the whole space you hava to think about how you are gonna stop the light from leaving/entering the flower space or you will get hermies..
just the thoughts off the top of my head man.
hope this helps you in your search for 'free' meds
-J

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I would like to use most of it. I think with a couple of the 300 equiv. CFLs on the sides I could at least introduce vegging plants on the sides. I like the idea of 2 400s but I think I would rather start bigger and add another 400 or 600 later.

I know there will be a couple feet at the ends of the space that aren't going to get a lot of light...that's ok.

Your end CFL's will need to be within a foot of the plants at all times to really make any difference, just keep that in mind(make them moveable). Also I believe the point in having a cool tube is so you can have your light as close to your plants as possible, thus having much better light penetration.

Good luck:)

edit - oh yeah how much are those CFL's you are planning on using? You would probably be able to save dough if you bought 23w CFL's and some 4 light vanity bars, and a cord to hook it all up. Makes the light more spread out and not focused at one single point. Just a suggestion though, do what feels right to you.

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Originally Posted by bonedaddy420

Your end CFL's will need to be within a foot of the plants at all times to really make any difference, just keep that in mind(make them moveable).

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Are you sure about this? It would seem like the higher wattage bulbs would diminish in radiation further out than the lower wattage bulbs.

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Originally Posted by bonedaddy420

Also I believe the point in having a cool tube is so you can have your light as close to your plants as possible, thus having much better light penetration.

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How close exactly? I would think there would be a good combination of not crowding the light and placement for intensity that would be ideal. I can't see going much closer than 8 or 10" without blocking the light off to the surrounding plants.

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Originally Posted by bonedaddy420

Good luck:)

edit - oh yeah how much are those CFL's you are planning on using? You would probably be able to save dough if you bought 23w CFL's and some 4 light vanity bars, and a cord to hook it all up. Makes the light more spread out and not focused at one single point. Just a suggestion though, do what feels right to you.

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I like it, it's just a little complicated. I would rather just hang a couple bulbs in there and like you said, keep them moveable.

I like the modular array idea though, I may just build some of those for the veg chamber.

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Originally Posted by jakester

Are you sure about this? It would seem like the higher wattage bulbs would diminish in radiation further out than the lower wattage bulbs.
How close exactly? I would think there would be a good combination of not crowding the light and placement for intensity that would be ideal. I can't see going much closer than 8 or 10" without blocking the light off to the surrounding plants.

I like it, it's just a little complicated. I would rather just hang a couple bulbs in there and like you said, keep them moveable.

I like the modular array idea though, I may just build some of those for the veg chamber.

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I am 99.9% confident that you want to keep florescent lights within 12 inches, the closer the better really. As long as its not too hot for your hand, its not too hot for your girls.

As for the cool tubes, doh:stoned:, I kinda forgot about the room size, you're right, you wouldn't want it right up on em if you have all that room. Have you considered a vertical setup? This one looks pretty nice, and I know there is a few more around the forums(search function is your best friend).

And the lighting arrays, I'm pretty sure you should be able to make them for ~30 bucks or less, and I'm pretty sure those big CFL's are at least 30 bucks each, plus you need a high watt socket, plus good quality wiring. But yeah hanging works too.

Hope that helped:)

Damn I was hoping I could add an edit to my last post, but I thought you might be interested in LoafyBoys grow log, as he is using a cool tube, but in a much smaller space. Should give you a good idea of what the deal is.

Thanks Bonedaddy, I have been watching the "mega lumen" grow...very nice stuff.