What do you think?

[luvchilln]

My new grow room is 7'x7'x8'tall. I'm wanting to switch from CFLs to HPS. I was thinking about getting 2 400w hps setups and putting 3 plants under each one... maybe scrog??? just wondering how you think this would do... any ideas appreciated Thanks

luvchilln Reviewed by luvchilln on 01-19-2012. What do you think? My new grow room is 7'x7'x8'tall. I'm wanting to switch from CFLs to HPS. I was thinking about getting 2 400w hps setups and putting 3 plants under each one... maybe scrog??? just wondering how you think this would do... any ideas appreciated Thanks Rating: 5

[pushit]

My new grow room is 7'x7'x8'tall. I'm wanting to switch from CFLs to HPS. I was thinking about getting 2 400w hps setups and putting 3 plants under each one... maybe scrog??? just wondering how you think this would do... any ideas appreciated Thanks

Youre look at around 2200 lumens per sqft. The closer you get to 5000 the better your results will be. I think you will get alot better results if you either shrink your area, add more lights, or rotate on a daily basis if you decide to stick with your plan. Be sure you take into consideration the extra amount of heat going from cfls to hps. You will need more ventilation. Im just stating just incase you havent thought about it. Good luck

[Farmer Rich]

I'd go with 2 x 600w HID systems with switchable digital ballasts (I use lumatek with 360/400/600/superlumen settings). I never use the superlumen setting as it's too hard on bulbs, though the lower settings are really useful if you're having a hard time maintaining temps in hot months, and if you need to slow things down a bit, especially during veg.

For reflectors, I'm having great success with medium adjust-a-wings..

FYI - I switched from 2 x 1k hps to 3 x 600. My room is 6.5'w x 13'l x 8'h. This has really improved my yields since I can get them much closer to the plants now. In addition to the 3 x 600 HPS, I also have 2 x t-5 (8 tube) placed at ends of the room.

Here's a pic of my setup to give you an idea.

Peace,

Farmer Rich

Attachment 281887Attachment 281888

[Skihigh]

You might want to think about using cool tubes with inline exhaust fans.
The heat is issue with HID lighting is something that should be planned out even before you buy your fixtures.
I run a 600 watt hps without enough ventelation and have a hard on warm days keeping soil temps below 80 degrees.
Good luck and welcome!!!

[luvchilln]

Thanks skihigh.... Not to worried about the heat so much, summer temps stay in the 80s where i live.. i have a bathroom fan on top to use as exhaust, hopefully it works lol

[Farmer Rich]

A bathroom fan won't likely provide enough exhaust on your space. Best approach is to calculate the cubic feet in the room and use an exhaust fan with a CFM (cubic feet per minute) rating large enough to exhaust the room in about 3 minutes or so. My summer temps stay in the 80's as an HID light system will definitely push your heat up more than you think.

[how2growsensi]

thats actually a good choice. use your cfls onr your seedling and when you use 24 hrs of light. now most people put 4 plants under 1 1000watt bulb coming to 250wats a plant to get a good grow so 800 is enough for 3. now i would recomend veging them for a couple weeks with 18hrs off light under the hps and you will be very happy with how fast they will grow.... then when they reached the height you want prolly 12 inches the you give them only 12 hrs of light and you will have massive colas

[luvchilln]

That sounds good to me.... Thanks how2!!!