Starting my first Indoor Grow!

[princedapimp4]

i need some advice. i was reading up on lighting and came across a few sites that said in order to harvest "good" marijuana you need to provide around 45,000 lumens. right now i am using only about 12,000 lumens. i'm aiming to get very dense buds. i was also debating about downgrading from a 400 hps system to 250 hps system to flower so there would not be such a drastic increase in temperature and electricity usage. right now my electricity bill is around $50 a month including the lighting of the plants (currently using about 200 watts for lighting right now). if i use the 400 watt hps system will i have to buy an air conditioning unit or is there any other way to reduce the temperature without purchasing an a/c. please give advice!!!

[twoguysupnorth]

good ventilation and fans? right, an ac and a 400 might make a jump in the bill but i dont know how much. use the 400 if at all possible. what is the length/width of the closet? it might be better to get a 250 but what is the area that you have?

[princedapimp4]

im currently growing in the closet but have a spare bedroom available to grow in. the dimension of the closets is about 10 feet high by 3 feet wide by 4 feet long. the dimensions of the spare room is about 12 feet by 15 feet.

[twoguysupnorth]

first, if you are already using 200w for lighting a 250 wouldnt make a diff in the cost but would be alot better, and a 400w would be twice the cost to run the lights. my 150w and fan only made a difference of about 5$ a month. so if you figure the numbers out it would only make about 10$ difference than what you are paying. other people say around 50w per sq ft to grow plants but i have read that it can be as low as 30w per sq ft and still get good solid budding. i did mine right in the middle, 40w's, thats why i asked the size of your space. if your 400 does get too hot all i can say is good ventilation and air movement. your closet should hold your 4 plants and the 400 light easily enough. otherwise use your spare room, sorry im not being more help it just seems that you can do it in a closet of that size without to much trouble. especially if you are going to get a fan and carbon filter, exhaust it into your spare room instead of letting it run inside of the closet.

[princedapimp4]

thanks alot for the help! i think ill try the 400 watt and see how it goes.

[princedapimp4]

how much of a rise in temp. should i expect by running this thing 12/12 during the day?

[princedapimp4]

anyone know what the rise in temp will be if i leave open the window in my grow room and open the top door that leads into the attic and use a large fan to circulate the air?

[princedapimp4]

also very bummed out the large blueberry plant (shown in the indoor grow pics in the middle of the overshot) turned male. i still have 3 other plants but they are still much smaller than the male. i chopped em down today and started LST the others. will include pics within 24 hours:wtf:

[twoguysupnorth]

i cant really say about the rise in temps with your 400w but two different posts here mentioned that they had an 8 deg rise in temps in their closet/boxes with the light. it depends, will opening the window let in hotter air than what you have in the room? it sounds like a good idea to open your attic door since heat rises. hope this helps. i cant really be specific about this because my light is smaller, most of this i just found out buy reading others posts and magazines. sorry about your BB. sometimes seeds are good.

[princedapimp4]

thanks alot man. that really helps me out. i've been slacking off posting pics so i will have some up soon. The LST is going very well!