whenever possible go with more watts.... 1000 watt hps bulbs kept at 12 inches from flowering plants produce buds that are not even comparable to 2 - 400 watt bulbs...

yes 1000 watts gives off more heat... but you will just need to address that... and I think you will be able to handle the heat very easily if you are dedicating an entire room for your grow...

you can grow 12 plants in 3-5 gallon pots... you can simply use water trays from any nursery under each pot...

ideally you will plant the seeds into rockwool cubes or peatmoss pellets until they germinate and then transfer the rockwool/pellets into the 3-5 gallon containers...

for the first 5-7 days after germination you only should use fluorescent lighting... it takes a very observant and highly AWARE grower to start with a 1000 watt bulb on seedlings... I strongly strongly recommend you start with some form of flourescent lighting...

then introduce your hps on the 5-7th day.... start with the hps at 36 inches from your young plants and each day move it closer a few inches...

have fans blowing on your plants at a slight angle upward.. blowing the heat up and away from the tops of your plants...

every 12 inches you light looses half of its power.. this means smaller buds...i'd guess that at LEAST 90% of all growers keep their lights to far from their plants...and suffer dramatic yield losses... sad but true


use the hand test... put your hand at the top of your plants... if your hand can stand the heat , so can your plants.. if it is to hot, don't raise your light... instead figure out a way to cool down the room/area between the tops of your plants and the light..

iloveyou