Lighting Question - expertise needed..

Ok,

So i ordered a hydrohut 2x4x5 the other day. I wanna get a lighting system, and i have a 600w HPS/MH digi ballast system picked out for cheap, but im wondering, is 600 too much wattage for the space i have? im gonna be growing either 12 or 15 plants, so i want as much light as i can get into the hut without doing damage to the plants. Should i go with 400 or 600w? i mean, when i move in february, im going to need either 600w or 1000w for my new growspace - so any advice here would be much appreciated.

im ordering lighting tonight so if anybody has any input i would seriously appreciate it

600 hps bulbs cost more and are much harder to find than 1000's.
If it came down to 400 or 600 for this tent, I'd go 400. Same reason.
If you go 600, it'd be wise to get an extra bulb or two with the package. Usually less expensive that way. My digi-600 24,000hr 95,000 lumin bulb blew at day 13 of 12/12 and the only reasonable way for me to go is 7-10 days away. Plant 5 weeks with pistils, now under fluros, waiting.

I'm finding this stuff out in real time, right now. Nobody mentioned what I'm telling you. If money's no big deal, I've heard the 6's are excellent. I've read that electricity consumption savings balance things out?

The bulb just aren't common yet, IMO.

yeh the package im pickin up doesnt come with name brand bulbs so im pickin up an extra MH n an extra HPS with the system

OPEN REFLECTOR GROW LIGHT 600 WATT HPS+MH 600W - eBay (item 380067810673 end time Oct-06-08 11:43:28 PDT)

The price for the setup is too good to be true, but the seller has 98% positive feedback, and im willin to take the risk cuz its so cheap. So 600 would be ok in such a small space as long as i keep everything sufficiently cooled?? The reflector isnt an inline coolable reflector, but i got 3 4" fans on the way - one for my ELF carbon filter exhaust, one for air intake, and one spare i dont know what to do with yet. Ill have two wall mounted fans in there blowin extra air all over the place, and ill probably put one blowin directly on the bulb to keep it relatively cool.

I dont know shit about HIDs so im just assuming this will work in theory. Any thoughts on how to keep a bulb cool without an inline reflector???

Wudaheo said:

I just got my 400w mh/hps set up in my 4x4x6 tent. My air cooled reflector hasn't arrived yet. So I just have my MH bulb hooked up and hanging in the center of the tent. The grow tent and even the room its in gets upto 90f degrees during day time! My room temp with lights off during day is low 70 when out door temp is 80+. And adding more fans don't seem to help me.

I think 400w is good enough you get to keep the lights lower. 600w will be too much heat so you have to keep the lights higher. Your lights will take up like a foot of height. Then u need maybe another foot from the plants to prevent burns. So you only have like 3 feet left of space for the plant.

Click to expand...

very good suggestion (wudaheo)mate. king in the space u have(4x4x6) a 400w hsp conversion ballast will do the trick for u my friend,otherwise u will get excess heat retained in ur tent.Good luck on what u choose to do though

That's a good deal from EBay. Too bad it seems there's no warranty? Period. Sure gonna suck if that ballast pops right away. Keep us posted. Had I not just had issues with my warrantied purchase, I very well may have bitten on this deal.
Best of luck.

I'm not familiar with hydrohut but for growing that many plants you are going to need at last that much light, I'd go for the biggest. Just need to know if you can ventilate the hut.

Yes you can, did you read the description of what you are buying ?????
Can be outfitted with T5 or HID lighting. Intake and exhaust vents,

You are good to go.


Customize the interior as you choose
Light-tight and waterproof
Easy assembly
Allows for intake and exhaust venting with blowers
Adjustable nylon straps to fasten-in the filter fan
Duct flanges are 4 inches in diameter (original) or 6 inches in diameter (deluxe)
Can be outfitted with T-5 fluorescent fixtures or high intensity discharge lights
All steel frame

600 watts is not overkill for a 8 sq.ft. area, just a little on the high end! But like others have said, it will get hot in there! I think the matter of choice should be left up to your own growing experience. If you are fairly new, stick with a 400 watter. If you've already handled a few problems, go with the 600 watter. My only real advice would be to be aware that "over powered" lights can kickstart the metabolism of your plants (make them require extra nutes, water and ventilation - maybe more than you are used to anyway).

This all sounds kinda like the old "Don't learn how to drive on the Freeway" speech doesn't it? Well - there's a reason for that! Good luck!

i appreciate the feedback guys. Heres the situation im in. The light i bought on ebay came from a dumbass. Once i bought it, i just had this gut feeling that there was somethin up cuz it was so cheap, so i called his store up, and he started backpeddlin, talkin about how it shouldnt say that the ballast was included, and it must be a typo, n alla this n that dumb shit. So now he has to call me back on monday and set somethin up with me cuz the typo was his fault. Basically hes gonna give me the 600w ballast for an extra 30 bucks.

Either that, or i could go back n just tell him to gimme a full 400w set with ballast n everything for the money i already spent. I have checked out my hut, and i know that if i went about it the right way with the cooltube i ordered i could inline cool the light with air intake on one side, ducting, through the cooltube, more ducting, and then out the other side of the tent. Hot air from thelight would never even have to touch the inside of the tent, but i know there would still be radiant heat coming off of it.

I got the weekend to make a descision on what i should do - i mean, i know i can always add lighting if its not enough, but i cant take it away if i burn the plants with too much light. And also, im probably not gonna end up havin 10-12 plants in my tent now. I might go hydroponic with this setup right here:

DripBucket6.2 Hydroponic System 6 Plant+ Control Bucket - eBay (item 110294896455 end time Oct-05-08 18:19:01 PDT)

But once again, the question would be, is this the right product. I dont got the time or patience to go DIY on everything im doin right now, and i wanna maximize the size of my grow any way i can. Will hydroponics do anything for my plants other than make them grow faster?? i mean, by switching to HIDs alone, im already taking like 3-4 weeks off of my grow compared to usin CFLs right??

I wouldn't deal with the dumbass, you'll end up with junk. Tell him to make it right, afterall he could have cancelled the auction or edited the description but he didn't so it is on him. He is just scamming you out of an extra $30. Take your business elsewhere and report him to Ebay. Personally this is why I don't deal with Ebay anymore, too many crooks, all the honest ones left long ago.

Go deal with someone that will treat you right from the start.

That is a super small resevoir...i have one plant growing with a 2 1/2 gallon reservoir and I have to add water to it every 2 days or it gets to low and nutes get concentrated...so i can only imagine the problem would be magnified if you had 6 plants using the same reservoir....