What is the best lighting for the money/situation.

I am really excited to be in the position to get a legal grow up and running soon and am now looking at lighting. I will be growing on soil in a smallish closet. I will have a max height of 5' the light can be at with walls at about 5' deep by 9 foot wide. Ventilation will be very good and temps wont be an issue. I am thinking the best fit for me would be an air cooled 600 watt HPS with a digital 220v ballast.

I used to grow a hydro setup about 15 years ago with a 250 watt MH and it would grow the greatest looking and smelling plants that had no real density.
I think 1000 watts would be overkill while a 600 centered in the closet with maybe 4 68 watt CFLs @2700k filling the dim ends of the closet would be plenty for a small perpetual harvest type of grow. I could introduce new plants toward the outside and move them into the main light area as they mature.

Any problems, issues, ideas or suggestions?

Definately a 600 watt, i think 1000 would be overkill. If there is space try and have a veg and flower room so you can put clones from the veg straight into flower with no delay and see a nice yield every couple months. I also hear air cooled lights are the sh*t ! If i were you id grow them to the end inside as you can easily control the plants variables, temp,water,pests, nutes.

Charbud

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Charbud

Definately a 600 watt, i think 1000 would be overkill. If there is space try and have a veg and flower room so you can put clones from the veg straight into flower with no delay and see a nice yield every couple months. I also hear air cooled lights are the sh*t ! If i were you id grow them to the end inside as you can easily control the plants variables, temp,water,pests, nutes.

Charbud

---

I will have a mother/clone chamber made from a cardboard box with 2 computer fans, 2 68watt (300watt replacement) CFLs and a 100 watt MH spotlight. I have done something similar before with a 2 chamber grow and semi perpetual yields. I will be starting with much better genetics this time and a little more patience.;)

i dont know about others and dont seek to speak for them but the general trend that i have seen is to use a high pressure sodium- HPS for flowering and MH for for vegg..
but the MH might work for you i read somewhere that it helps to produce tons of trichromes and such to make potent but not very heavy buds as 'red' light is needed for flowering to take place.. well not really needed but it helps a lot!!
hope this helps
-J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mainegrown

i dont know about others and dont seek to speak for them but the general trend that i have seen is to use a high pressure sodium- HPS for flowering and MH for for vegg..
but the MH might work for you i read somewhere that it helps to produce tons of trichromes and such to make potent but not very heavy buds as 'red' light is needed for flowering to take place.. well not really needed but it helps a lot!!
hope this helps
-J

---

I want some of what you are smoking.:hippy:

I did say I was looking at a 600 HPS for flowering and CFL MH for veg.

Multiple CFL's on multiple 1/4 inch 4x8 plywood surrounding your plants. Way less money and way less heat. Your plants will look like the plants in many Walt Disney shows. Just a thought for your concerned questions posed.

I did this many years ago when my situations were the same. Medicine came out great.:thumbsup:

I have a hard time believing that CFLs alone will pack the density or weight.

They won't, you can get the quality but not weight. HID lighting has far more lumens per watt and a much better range. I'd go with the 600 for your setup, sounds like a perfect fit (except maybe the height).

Sounds like ya got a good plan there my man:thumbsup:







:rasta:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by redtails

They won't, you can get the quality but not weight. HID lighting has far more lumens per watt and a much better range. I'd go with the 600 for your setup, sounds like a perfect fit (except maybe the height).

---

From what I understand a 600 gets about 18" of light penetration @ 18" distance from the bulb. So if I keep my plants under 30" or so I should have plenty room to optimize yields with that light.

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

Quote:

---

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

---

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.

Quote:

---

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).

---

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

Quote:

---

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.

---

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.

Quote:

---

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.

---

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.

Quote:

---

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.

---

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.