Grow cabinet, is this light setup ideal?

Hi guys I'm currently planning a cabinet grow, my grow room measures 4x2.5x2.5 (hxwxd feet)


I can't decide between cfls or hps, what do you think of this setup for my grow cab


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MH-HPS-Hy...arden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item3ccfa2eb5b


Is this ideal?


Will heat be a problem in my space? How much ventilation will I need? Thanks

If you are in that tight of space 4' high by 2.5 wide x 2.5 long you are pretty much stuck with CFL's if you had more height you could get away with a 250 or maybe even a 400 if you had proper ventilation. You could also look into LED lighting. Heat will be an issue in such a small area. I once made a grow box that was 5x2x2 and ran 4' (dual) CFL lights vertically in each corner of the box and then one at CFL bulb on the top. Used a couple computer fans for intake and outake ventilation. I could get one plant in there roughly 3 feet tall and it would fill up that space completely. Starting running into heat issue with those lights 85 degree average. At the end of the day the setup although worked ok was not ideal and inefficient.

Heat may be an issue. 250 isn't bad but still puts off heat. If you decide on the hps get yourself a good exhaust fan, not computer fans. I had a grow box just a little bigger than yours and dealt with heat issues most of the time. The DIY Lasko/Stanley method is ok but I ended up upgrading and using the Lasko strictly as my exhaust fan for my light.

One of the ways I got around the heat issue on my cab was putting passive intakes on the floor of the cab, then I would just place it over my floor vent in the room and when the house AC kicked on it would push the cold air into the cab. All my exhaust went out the window so the hot air wouldn't be in the room. Kind of ghetto but it worked for the summer time. In the winter I would close the vent and door to that room and it kept that room around 7-10 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

Thanks a lot for your replys guys,
sorry I should have gone into more detail in my first post my plan is to scrog in there, maybe even u shaped scrog for more net square footage?


And also I'm going to grow in a nft gt 205 (http://www.greensea-hydroponics.co.uk/shop/nft-gt205-250w-starter-kit.html) as its only 7 inch high, I researched for hours for what medium to grow in and the height of this tipped the decision in favour this way! So I can maximise the space I have.

what was the wattage on those cfl's you were using rwbrock? I was dead set on cfls but after more research I found I would need to total around 600w of those baby's to get me enough light to produce so hps seemed more economical, plus everyone slates cfl and say hps gives you better buds and better yield, I can't comment on this as I have experience of neither!


Do you think the light setup I'm thinking of will be enough? That 250 hps throws out 32000 lumens I think which should give me just over 5000 per foot in that cab, is that ideal or just passable? And also I'm undecided as to wether to use a duel spectrum hps start to finish or to use the mh veg and hps for flower, what will the plants like more do you think?


And also is an air cooled hood a necessity? I'm trying to keep cost down and have no idea exactly how hot hps will be in my cab! Can temps be controlled with reasonable ventage? I have no choice but to vent this baby in my bedroom, I'm in an apartment I own will this be ok? If I leave the heating off the place can be very cool plus the bathroom is right next door and if that window stays open it gets freezing in here so room temps could be controlled?


Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to learn as much as possible and get this right!


Thanks

With a 250 just grow less plants. I grew 1 under a 250 and it did alright.
You don't need an air cooled hood but if heat becomes an issue you may have to.
A good thing to do before you start dealing with plants is to set up your cab and run it for a few days to dial it in. Here is how I did some prep work for mine.

I used a wooden dowel to mimic a plant. then got an indoor/outdoor thermometer like this http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-Indoor-Outdoor-Thermometer/896347. I placed the sensor at the top of the dowel and the base unit on the wall above the light.
I lowered my light to the height I wanted and let the cab run for a day. I checked the high and low temp of the sensor area and the thermometer which took the ambient temp of the cab. I then raised the light until I got the temp around 75 at the sensor. once I got it how I wanted it I put the plant in. I did my best to get my cab running the way I wanted before I started growing so that I wouldn't have to tinker with it while plants were in it. I hope this makes sense, sometimes I don't type it like I am thinking it.

Makes perfect sense! Might as have your plants growing in optimum temps from the off!

Any advice on how I can vent this thing, I'm thinking of creating a negative pressure environment with passive intake, but I'm struggling with how much exhaust ventilation I'm going to require, I must have read a hundred different opinions on the subject! I could do with seeing something as I'm struggling to picture what I'm aiming to build, filter pipe fan, fan sits on side of box or blowing into black PVC elbow etc?

Also in a negative pressure environment do you need to keep fan and filtration on at all times as if they are rigged up with the lights when the lights switch off so does the fan and I'm guessing smelly air is going to seep out of passive intake holes?

thanks again!

the 250 will work fine i tried a 400 in a similar space and couldnt keep it under 90 degrees and that was with the light vented

Sorry my bad I was using 4' T8 (32 Watt) mounted vertically with a CFL mounted on top (also 32) so I had like 288 Watts total. Like I mentioned it still managed to get hot in that tiny space, prob could have used something better than computer fans for intake and outtake. Give the 250 a try, it will be more efficient and produce better for sure! I use MH for veg and HPS for flower...next grow I am going to try HPS through out. Keep in mind the HPS will run a little cooler and put out more lumes. I noticed about a 10 degree drop when I got my air cooled hood with 4" inline fan would prob been better to get a 6". So before I had that in my current setup I was about 85-90 which dropped to 75-80 now. Hope that helps! Also I recommend on your first grow to keep it to a couple plants....no more than 4 (prob 2 or 3 ideal) depending on how you plan to grow them.