How many plants with this light system?

Hi I plan on growing G13 Labs Midnight Kush using bubbleponics.
It'll be in a closet 6 ft wide, 2.75 ft deep, and 7 ft. high.
I plan on using a 4ft 6 bulb t5 set up that pushes out around 30,000 Lumens
and 40 watt CFL for supplemental lighting where needed.
I have grown some pretty good Lowryder 2's with just CFL's but they are much smaller and
I don't have much experience with bigger strains. Also I'll be using the
Sensei line from Advanced Nutes if that goes into account.

My main question is how many plants can I grow off of this lighting sytem in this space

Please no comments about HPS or MH. I Don't want the heat in this small area.

If you are growing autos, I would say 6....That gives them about 1.5ftX2ftX7ft.

If I were you, however, I would buy 2 or 3 feminized seeds of a proven strain, veg for a while, topping or lst. Your yield and quality will be much improved. Just my advice.

20k lumens from flourescents = 1/2 a plant. That isn't 1 or 2 plants, that is .5 of a plant.

I know you said you don't want comments about mh/hps but honestly you would be better off with a 400 in that area. It's much larger area than my tent and I run 400w hps with a 4' 4bulb HO t5 and temps aren't excessive. My tent is 4'L x 2'W x 4'H and with a regular 15$ fan from Walmart pulling air in my temps stay around 78-85 depending on what setting my ballast is set to. You would be much happier to add in even a small hps with your set up in that area especially since my t5 set up runs pretty well the same temps as my hps without the fan on and it's almost double the lumens.

Actually it's more like I don't have the money for hps and allready have the t5, with time I will upgrade.

And how is 20000 lumens .5 of a plant. the sun pusheses out 10000 per sq ft. I've grown autos with just flourescents. These kush plants won't be Autos though hence why I'm wondering how many i could adequately grow with this set up. I Also have up to 6 40 watt cfl as supplemental lighting if needed and they put out about 3000 lumens each so I have 45000 lumens available.

Get a PL-L fixture with 55w bulbs. Look at the TEK4 from HTG supply.

Alright your only option than is to make that grow area smaller. Maybe knock it down to 4' wide and 4' high and add in your cfls.

So in other words you want someone to pat you on the back and tell you nice job?

Well, you aren't going to get that here. You are going to get, you need A LOT MORE LIGHT.

You have around 18sq feet 7 feet high... You need atleast 5k lumens per square feet. 5 x 18 = 90k lumens and with a t5 they need to be within inches of the top of the plant...

Now, you see why you have nowhere near enough light? 400 watt hps puts out about 55k lumens. So even a 400 watt MH/HPS is too small for your box. You need atleast 600 watts....

You do realize that if you put enough flourescents in that grow space that it is going to be ONE HOT BITCH in there. Flourescents put off heat as well, the more wattage, the more heat.

its hard to give you a straight answer man, no one person will be right. it comes down to how big you wanna let each plant get. as for growing with fluorescence lights most old school growers used scrog so they could keep the light as close as possible to a perfectly flat canopy, minimizing lumen lose. hope this helps

I've been looking at Digital Ballsts for HPS.
How many watts of HPS would suffice for this area?
And do they put out less heat than a regular HPS Ballast?
I've never grown with HPS just fluro

buster8813 It's a closet so it's kinda set at the size it is.

never top that is a plant really bad idea. Depends on how many lumens you use per plant. You could use 5000 lumens per plant or 7000 lumens. 6-4 the thing that worries me is not 6 plants under under 30000 lumens vegging. It is when they start flowering I might add some extra lights to generate more lumens but that is just me.

the ballast itself will run slightly cooler but the bulbs will remain the same. like stated above a 600 would be more suited for your space intensity wise. however depending on the air exchange of your closet a 400 may be more feasible due to heat.

3 plants, and you'll get airy bud. Any more plants than that and the weed will be so airy it'l be pointless.

It may be a closet with a set size but you can always add in false walls to reduce the size of the closet. I'd recommend some mylar, it's cheap and you can set it up anyway that you'd like, plus it's reflective so you'll utilize all your lumens. This way you can remove this stuff easily for when or if you decide to get the hps set up. You can easily use a 400 or 600 for that space and with a fan blowing in cold air the heat will not be an issue. If you don't want the 400 you could keep using your t5 and add in a small 150 but I'd still say you should make that closet area a little smaller. It isn't hard at all and will greatly improve the lights you currently have.
Maybe after this grow you can check out some tents that will fit into that closet. I got my tent for the same reason and at first I was worried about heat as well but now I run 600+ watts in 32 cubic feet. I could have easily gone with more light too but then I'll start having issues with temps. I've got my tent stay at a good temp range but with so much air being pulled in I have to keep my humidity up with a spray bottle twice a day, once in the morning before work and once when I get home. By doing this I got them at a healthy 40-55% rh and when flower comes I will only need to spray once a day.
Anyways my point is, you can work with what you've got or you can add in more lights now or as you go. The quickest and cheapest way for you now though is just to make that area slightly smaller.

Oh and I can also tell you that I myself have always grown with fluorescent as well till my last grow when I started using my 400. You will see a very big difference and you will be extremely happy with the addition! I still swear by t5 for veg though, which is why I decided to keep it running even with the hps on.

How much airflow would be needed with a 600 HPS?
How close do you keep the lights? I figure they can't be nearly as close as a fluro to the tops or they'll burn
Sorry for all the questions. everyone has been really helpful. All my other grows were small autoflowers
in a small space with cfl so I'm just not sure what to expect with heat from bigger light sources

balls to autos...

For my tent I use an 8" fan on the top of my tent that blows cold air in. It's a basic, cheap fan from Walmart which cost less than 20$. I would assume a slightly larger fan would be perfect for you. It also depends on the temps outside the closet because that is where the cold air will be pulled in from.
In comparison, I'd say that your t5 setup will be almost the same temps as the 600, maybe a few degrees cooler but not significantly different.
I believe a 600 is best to be kept about 16" above the tops of your girls but if you put your hands above the plants and it's to hot for your hands than you know it's to hot for your ladies as well.
Also, if your used to autos and your doing a photo period plant now, you're in for a huge difference in potency