OK so I looked through stra8outtaWeed's setup. Woah. That is awesome. But the $$ are a bit beyond me. I'm strictly hobby here and although the long life low energy costs appeal, I'm not sure I'll be growing in 10 years. Actually, strike that on account of the last 20 years...

That said, I'd be very interested to know what it would take to light my room with LED. My dimensions are considerably smaller than stra8outtaWeed's. 3'6" x 3'6". I could go to 4' x 4' or downward to 3' x 3' or rectangular or whatever. I'm building for scratch with few restraints. My goal is to get 3 or perhaps 4 good size plants per grow.

What kind of LED array would this require? What would you estimate the start up costs for the lighting (done right). Note that I could build my own array if it results in significant savings but would prefer an off-the-shelf solution. I would still vent but only for odor which is certainly appealing. Thing is, I can do my entire setup for $500 - $600 using an HID. I'm guessing an LED setup will be considerably more (at least in the short term).

Sell me on this setup. I'm half way there. Would I need side lighting? How do you light the bottom of your plants or do the LEDs penetrate far enough? If I go this route I'll do a good grow log and noob tutorial for the community here. Thanks for support!