Need help with lights

Im setting up a little grow-op in my garage attic and am going to do it bit by bit. im planning on buying a 400w hobby kit in a few months but i dont want to invest too much athe the moment in case i make a balls of the grow. The attic is floored and i have sectioned it off into an area 6'x8' and the ridge is 5.5'. Ive covered the walls and ceiling with therma-wrap insulation (its like 2 sheets on mylar with bubble wrap in between). the floor is covered in white plastic also. Ther are a few things im unsure of so any advice on these things is greatly appreciated.
I visited a few hardware stores for lights but all i could find was the following:

Flourescent tubes ( white, warm white & extra warm white)
U.V 2ft blacklight (20w)
L.E.D blue spectrum bulbs 0.8w ??!?
Various other halogen floodlights and low energy bulbs.
60W "fireglow" bulb. ( this had red glass but gave off a kind of orange glow).
Apart from the LEDs there was no more info on the packs about spectrum or anything so can anyone suggest a decent bulb out of these for a first grow? im not lookin for a monster harvest

i use the cfls cool blue ones are good for veg and the cheep brand general value is good for flowering the cool blue is 6700k the GV is 2700k both 100w ea

ye they dont seem to sell those in the hardware stores in ireland. all i saw was white, warm white and extra warm white. i might just go to the grow shop for the 400w HPS envirolite but its a bit pricey as its the only one in Dublin. Do u think i'll need both blue and red spectrum bulbs for veg and flowering or will u get pretty much the same results with just the blue

my bad dude i didn't even noticed the diff country thing
i dont know much about hps but there are alot of people on here that do
attic
texas grass
are a couple what ever they say its more then likely ture

good luck on the grow

ok

You say you have a space 6' x 8' that is 48sq ft that is very large, keep in mind light is everything, more light better the grow. The best way to figure this out is 400w hps or mh = 3'x3' or 9 sq. ft. 600w = 4'x4' or 16 sq ft. 1000w to big for your space NOT ENOUGH HIGHT you will burn your plants, for a space as large as yours you could put 2- 600w HPS and have a great grow room, CFL's or florecents won't cut it in this large of space, you will end up with medoker plants with small buds. LUMMINS determin everything, the more the better.

Also the investment in HID lighting is well worth it, one ounce will pay for it. Out of a space that big you could get 2 to 5 Lbs every 3 to 4 months.

also you could cut it in half, have one space for vegitive light and the other for flowering using 2 HID Lamps

don't know your climate, but garage roofs where I've lived, are OVENS in warm weather ... you're gonna need LOTS and LOTS of ventilation :smokin:

Image reaper is correct on the ventilation issue, in Ireland you may be able to do this in the winter months without much ventilation. But in summer forget it.

I have done an attic grow before with great results but it was done in the winter and the heat from the lamps prevented it from getting to cold.

Hope this helps. Also look on line for lamps you will find better pricing and most ship discreatly.

Hey Jerry Garcia.

I had the same problem as you.Couldnt get day lights in all the Hardware shops.

I tried them all.

But i was lucky i was passing a light shop.They sold all the bulbs for â?¬12.50 each.

You can also get them dleivered form England.â?¬5.01 on ebay if you want to use these i can post the links.

Im in Limerick

Thanks for that lads, that was a great help. I re-constructed the area so its now 2.5m/sq floor area and 1.4m high so i think 1 x 400W hps might do me for now.(its my first indoor grow so i dont want to invest too much and then end up with a shit harvest) I dont think it'll get too hot in the winter although i do have it well insulated with fireproof insulation board (I was gettin a bit paro about these infra-red sensor rumours). In the summer I'll probably go guerilla style if the venting isnt good enough. One other thing, I was thinking of buying silver-haze seeds (88 euro for ten) but i also got offered Jack Horror clones for 25 euro each. any advice?

I would take the clones if already rooted. If not, to risky for a beginer, I would use seeds. IMO.

One other thing depending on how cold it gets there you may need a space heater when lights are out, you idealy do not want it to go below 70F. not sure in centagrade. or above 95F. if it goes below 70 it will not kill your plants just slow the growth. below 40F will kill your plants.

ye the clones are well rooted, i think it'll save me a lot of hassle. i'll keep an eye on the night temperature aswell. u think any cheap little heater will do it? also instead of splashing out on an inline fan im thinking of making a home-made one by connecting a lamp shade to the back of an oscilating fan and connecting the ducting to that. its pumping in fresh air and circulating it, what do you think?:detective1: