How much light do I need for my box?

T

TheGreenThumbNewb

Active Member
Hi,

I built a box that is 40" wide, 48" tall, and 20" deep and am not sure which light to get. I am looking at the Sunburst 250 MH/HPS and the Sunburst 400 MH/HPS, both with cooling options.

I want enough light to handle about 6 plants in this grow box and hopefully not create too much heat. I will have some kind of air ventilation setup but not sure exacts on that yet.

Which light do you think is best for this size box and to grow about 6 plants? Thanks!
 
greensister

greensister

Well-Known Member
Well. You know that the 2 main stages of the life cycle requires 2 types of light and 2 types of photo period.

Vegging, thats when the plant is growing, needs around 18 hours of 6500K light.
Flowering, thats when the plant grows buds, needs 12 hours of 2700K light and 12 hours of complete darkness.

That being said. Your chamber is good for one plant in both stages(you will need to partition your chamber) or 4 plants(max) in one stage. 4 being the max because plants get really big when they flower.

Get another box, put one on top of another. The one on top would be the flowering chamber as the heat from the veg chamber would keep your plants warm when the lights are off.
 
T

TheGreenThumbNewb

Active Member
greensister said:
Well. You know that the 2 main stages of the life cycle requires 2 types of light and 2 types of photo period.

Vegging, thats when the plant is growing, needs around 18 hours of 6500K light.
Flowering, thats when the plant grows buds, needs 12 hours of 2700K light and 12 hours of complete darkness.

That being said. Your chamber is good for one plant in both stages(you will need to partition your chamber) or 4 plants(max) in one stage. 4 being the max because plants get really big when they flower.

Get another box, put one on top of another. The one on top would be the flowering chamber as the heat from the veg chamber would keep your plants warm when the lights are off.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up and good info. I should have mentioned that I am using the Aerogarden for my first grow since I'm a newbie. I plan on sitting 2 units side by side in this box since I already bought them. Was going to take off the top light off each Aerogarden and use it as a side light, then add the main light.

I may build a similar box and partition it as you said and see what I can do with that. :bigjoint:
 
jwop

jwop

Well-Known Member
greensister said:
Well. You know that the 2 main stages of the life cycle requires 2 types of light and 2 types of photo period.

Vegging, thats when the plant is growing, needs around 18 hours of 6500K light.
Flowering, thats when the plant grows buds, needs 12 hours of 2700K light and 12 hours of complete darkness.

That being said. Your chamber is good for one plant in both stages(you will need to partition your chamber) or 4 plants(max) in one stage. 4 being the max because plants get really big when they flower.

Get another box, put one on top of another. The one on top would be the flowering chamber as the heat from the veg chamber would keep your plants warm when the lights are off.
Click to expand...
you can fit a hell of a lot more plants than 4 in your box, that's just nonsense

edit: i forgot to say 400 watts would be perfect if you can keep it cool
 
Hawk

Hawk

Well-Known Member
Agreed on 400w with good ventilation. A source of cool(ish) intake air helps too.

My space is almost the same at 20.5" x 39". I started with 250w w/ air cooled hood and have upgraded to 2 x 250w in the same SuperSun II hood. I'm using a 440cfm 6" EcoPlus, carbon scrubber, and an unusually long ducting run. Temps have been good. It's not that much different from my first time around with the single 250w. The wind really wips through my hood though. Luckily, duct insulation calms the roar.

On the other hand, my single 250w did a darn good job for me (0.65grams/watt) all by itself.
 
TheMightyS

TheMightyS

Well-Known Member
400w with GOOD ventaltion.

Plan the venting first, because if you get a light, shove it in there, then some bogof venilation system your gonna regret it cause your plants will get too hot and they'll stress and generally the whole yield will be effected.

If this is your first grow i wont bother mentioning looking into Scrog because its good to have a grow or two on your belt before you starting tinkering, just let mother nature do her thing on this one. Or keep any males you have to play with, learn to top using them, prune etc etc.

But yeh, VENTALATION first, then sort the light to go in it.

Hope this helps.
 
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