Few Questions for someone more knoweledgable

Im going to start growing again since I bought a new house and the basement will be for my ladies. Previously I've only used CFLS to grow and have a few questions about HPS/MH lights, i was thinking of using 2 600W Lumatek ballast in the flower and 2 in the veg room or 1 1000W ballast in each room but i need to know how much space they should cover proportionately. Or if i will have problems with an 8in inline fan to the hoods keeping the plants cool. CFL's were easy but switching to HID's is making me wonder if I'm putting to much power into to small of a space. If i have the measurements right it will be a basement where i build a dividers and have two 8'X8' rooms (one for veg one for flower)

The other question is under HID's how many plants is to many for the light spectrum,I want the maximum yield for the space since it will be a constant cycle

For flowering 400 will cover a 3x3. 600 for a 4x4. 1000 5x5. You can usually use around 25% of flower wattage for veg. For example a 250w veg room can fill a 1000w flower room.

That said in my flower room i can run a 1000W ballast to veg and in flower i can run 2 1000W bulbs for an 8x8? will an 8" inline fan be enough to cool in an air conditioned basement? or will it be to much light for the space?

grobofotwanky said:

For flowering 400 will cover a 3x3. 600 for a 4x4. 1000 5x5. You can usually use around 25% of flower wattage for veg. For example a 250w veg room can fill a 1000w flower room.

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this, lol.. also, i think 2 600s is the way to go over 1 1k lamp as you get almost the same lumen output, but are able to spread the light out better since it's coming from two sources rather than one, plus 600s are the most efficient wattage hid made, not to mention the decrease in heat..

That said, will an 8" inline work to control the heat well enough? Thats something i didn't have to worry about with CFL's at all unless the plants spurted up and actually touched the bulb. Want to make sure my experience with HID's is as pleasant as CFL's since I'm going to invest significantly more into a permanent grow room

the diamter of the fan is not as important as the cfm that fan can push imo... you could get an 8 inch fan that is only rated for say 100 cfm and get a four inch fan rater for 500, and obviously the 4 inch would be the better choice for a bigger sized grow...

These were the answers I was looking for. Thank you both of you for the help. i hope to build a fantastic grow room for the permanent growth of the good stuff all year round.

grobofotwanky said:

For flowering 400 will cover a 3x3. 600 for a 4x4. 1000 5x5. You can usually use around 25% of flower wattage for veg. For example a 250w veg room can fill a 1000w flower room.

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This is exactly right. I would maybe say 50% wattage in your veg though. Also, if you use 1000w bulbs you will actually save money becasue you won't have to buy as many bulbs, ballasts, hoods, and maybe fans. Plus, not 100% sure but I thought I saw a thread where they showed that 2 600w bulbs gave off more heat than a 1000w.

you want a min of 25 watts per sq ft you can go more you can go less but less you wont maximize your space. Now are you gonna do hydro or dirt. imo i would go hydro like 2 4x4 trays with a 1000 over each tray and run a sog if you have the strain for it. also when you go hid you will get alot of heat from 2 1000s (never used 600s) i would go with a centrifigal fan not inline cuz if u need a carbon filter u have a fan big enough to push one. also roughly for ever 1000 ur temp goes up 10 degrees. if you wana see a comparison look up mr blue goo led experiment he runs l.e.ds, 1000s an 600s side by side pretty cool stuff. but ne ways cant think of ne thing else to say but good luck keep us posted an have a growtastic day.