Well, I actually have to rewire and put in new breakers, very touchy at the moment, luckily the wires aren't getting warm.

The power is great - HPS is good if you have the room, can handle the heat and dont mind using the extra power for wasted light. IMO having your light 18"+ above your plant is just a waste of lumens.

Now, I'm expanding my grow area soon in another state - At which point I will be switching to DWC and HPS, however, for my current grow needs and space, Im a hard core CFL guy - In all honesty if I had the patience to setup the new grow room like I've done my current boxes, I would go CFL, however, setting up that many CFL's in a 20x30 area would take me a few weeks if I was smoking! Setting up the HPS is a higher overall cost considering cooling requirements and ventilation, however it wont take me as long to set those up vs wiring all the CFLs.

My current budget is 22k and that includes:
(3) 4x8 solar panels
(8) Battery storage
(1) 5.5k generator
(2) 12k BTU Air Conditioners
(8) 8" 80 CFM inline fans
(8) 12" oscillating fans
(4) 25' 8" ducting
(4) Watering Timers
(1) 175 gallon reservoir
(8) 600 w HPS lamps w/ digital ballasts
(8) Raptor hoods (not sure which yet)
(1) 8" 125 CFM turbo fan
(1) 6'x3' Carbon Scrubber 8" intake
(2) 300 gph pumps
(2) 60 watt air pumps
(32) 4" air discs
(32) 5 gallon buckets w/lids
(2) 400 sqf 2mm mylar
(2) 400 sqf 5mm lining (floors)

The Air units will all be ran off the power grid while all the lighting will be solar powered. 1 of the inline fans is for a fresh air intake, while 1 is for the AC units. The carbon scrubber will be placed under the grow room and will be recycled into the home heating ducts. I'm building the carbon scrubber much like a machined silencer for a firearm, so it will be a self contained unit rather than venting out the sides, it will vent out the end.

I'm starting with 4 plants per 600 watt light, I'll be focusing primarily on 2 strains until my strain is stable to breed. My current setup will be used for vegging only and placed inside this room, using less than a 10 sqft footprint. In the vegging area I'll be using a 20 watt pump and a 32 site dwc utilizing 2" netpots

The plan is to run the pumps from the 175 gallon res for 2 hours per day (lights on) and let the airstones do the work from there. Each 5 gallon pot should only have roughly 2 gallons of water in it, the measurement won't be exact because I'll be doing the holes myself, and I don't really care how accurate I am, within a quart or two.

Without the solar equipment, this can be built for about 6k buying in bulk - However I know the light bill would be roughly 800 per month, and it is much more sensible to spend extra money on the battery system/generator instead of having a huge bill month after month. The AC system will only be used to keep the temps at a steady 72 degrees, which shouldn't be an issue unless I have a fan out or the outside temps reach 75+ (Should only be about 30 days out of the year at over 75)

So yes, HPS is good if your lazy
low_rdr Reviewed by low_rdr on . First Grow - 2600 + watt CFL!!!! Greetings Everyone, and especially myself. I'm using this as a true grow log, a step by step to my successes and failures using a CFL Cabinet. Before I get too in depth, I'd like to point out that the main reason I decided to use CFL's was heat - It was not cost. Originally I thought CFL's would be 30-40 degrees cooler in a cabinet, and my heat issues would be null and void. Where I'm growing, I have no need for carbon filters, no matter how bad the stink is, I'm covered. That being said, Rating: 5