Need confirmation on a few lighting options help appreciated :)

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to help me out!

I have some rather interesting dimensions for my grow space...

L - 4ft 6in
W - 2ft 1in
H - 3ft 6in

Sq Ft - 9.66 (roughly)

I've been planning on growing 4 plants in a closet with these dimensions ( the dimensions are half of the actual closet since theres a shelf half way that can't be taken out) and I'll be building a box around the actual space to keep light from coming in or going out. I was originally thinking about using 2 150 watt MH and 2 150 watt HPS, for veg and flowering respectively, I'll be vegging and flowering in the same space and just taking the MH out to put in the HPS. The top half of the closet I'll be using to dry and cure the plants.

I've done plenty of reading and research but haven't found anything close to my odd ball space haha. After reading as much as I have though, it got me thinking - will 2 150 watt bulbs of each be enough? So now I'm torn between 150, 250, and 400 watt bulbs.

What would work better? I'm leaning towards either 250 or 400, if so would I still need 2 bulbs of each for 250? and would I need 2 bulbs of each for 400? If I went 400 would one bulb of each work for 4 plants? I'll be using SOG for all 4 btw :) Sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out the best lighting set up to maximize my yields and done too much reading that its making my head spin!

Thanks again for the help :)
 
PSUAGRO.

PSUAGRO.

Well-Known Member
With your height restrictions you can basically scratch off any HID option imo, maybe cooltubes would work but i don't recommend them. Even 12/12 from seed/clones with indica doms your gonna have issues with that height , can you find a better space????

Indagro 420 par fixture would fit your odd area and puts off less direct heat, some led panels may fit the bill as well.........idk, tough call with a 3 ft ceiling

http://growershouse.com/inda-gro-pro-420-par this wattage in your room won't be easy to deal with though

http://www.bonsaihero.com/index.php/ledgrow-led-panel-80-w 2 of these in a 4x2, way less cooling load than the indagro

If you have a 4ft T8 fixture laying around? or buy one for around $60(4 bulb) and stick some philips instafit led tubes @ home depot in it.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-4-ft-T8-12-Watt-Cool-White-4000K-Linear-LED-Light-Bulb-453852/205807273 133.3lm/w of directional lighting should work for some personal stash.



DIY soft driven bridgelux vero 18(v2) 4000k bars would be the best......if you have the skills:wink:
 
autochillin

autochillin

New Member
Cfl's are much more efficient then most people will give credit for, but there always a good choice for small space grows as they produce little heat and cost barely anything , definitely worth looking into
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
psuagro, those are nice! Just a few hundred dollars out of my range haha. I say the shelf can't be removed, it can but gonna be a bit of a bitch to do. Only the edges are connected to the wall (by about an inch really weird) with a bar connected to rails that are screwed into the shelf. Only road block is I'd have to cut through the edges though :/ I have 2 T8 or T12's that I let my cousin borrow to light his living room with, so I could use those.

If I removed the shelf I'd have easily 6ft+ in height. If I do that what watt of bulb would you recommend from the ones I was looking at? And how many?
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
autochillin, before I decided on the HID's I was planning on CFL's actually. I've seen some crazy grows with them! I saw one that had 14 42W cfl's that produced 2,600 lumens for a total of 36,400 lumens and the finished product looked NICE. They'd be a bit out of price range for me since I don't have any of the items to use that many CFL's and I'd have to buy everything for them.

I'll be buying the soil, nutes, etc. Soon so I figured buying a HPS ballast(s) to switch from MH to HPS would be more bang for the buck. I added everything up including a DIY carbon filter and I'd be pushing my limit of $350 to about $400 with everything for a CFL grow. If one 400W interchangeable HPS ballast will work for 4 I can cut my prices down drastically :) I do agree though! CFL's can work wonders!
 
JimmyIndica

JimmyIndica

Well-Known Member
Philip.J.Fryed3000 said:
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to help me out!

I have some rather interesting dimensions for my grow space...

L - 4ft 6in
W - 2ft 1in
H - 3ft 6in

Sq Ft - 9.66 (roughly)

I've been planning on growing 4 plants in a closet with these dimensions ( the dimensions are half of the actual closet since theres a shelf half way that can't be taken out) and I'll be building a box around the actual space to keep light from coming in or going out. I was originally thinking about using 2 150 watt MH and 2 150 watt HPS, for veg and flowering respectively, I'll be vegging and flowering in the same space and just taking the MH out to put in the HPS. The top half of the closet I'll be using to dry and cure the plants.

I've done plenty of reading and research but haven't found anything close to my odd ball space haha. After reading as much as I have though, it got me thinking - will 2 150 watt bulbs of each be enough? So now I'm torn between 150, 250, and 400 watt bulbs.

What would work better? I'm leaning towards either 250 or 400, if so would I still need 2 bulbs of each for 250? and would I need 2 bulbs of each for 400? If I went 400 would one bulb of each work for 4 plants? I'll be using SOG for all 4 btw :) Sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out the best lighting set up to maximize my yields and done too much reading that its making my head spin!

Thanks again for the help :)
Click to expand...
area51 rw150s -2 of em! don't go cheapo and if u use led? no heat maintanence! If u cant afford 2? but 1 and then add another if ya like! U will be happy! they can grow right up to the light! Its just veg is key7to10days and spreadem out!Although me personaly would use 3 of! but that's me!
 
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Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
I'd love to go with some of those Jimmy! Sadly my budget is $350 - $375 max though :( I'll try all the different lights one of these days to see what works best with my grow style, for now I'm looking for some HID's so I can have some nice buds soon :) any HID ballast brands you could recommend me that are 250 - 400W that would work? I'm willing to tear out that shelf if need be! I'll have roughly 7-8ft of height looking at my closet without it. This is the only closet I can use, as I rent and the closet is in the back room so it's the perfect spot.
 
BeastGrow

BeastGrow

Well-Known Member
with the height restriction i would say HPS is out the window. I would go with the cree 2700k 18 w home depot bulbs. get as many as you can afford. 20 dollars per bulb. i think anything over 20 bulbs would be too much. i would probably go for 5 fixtures of 4 bulbs each or a total of 360 watts and will cost you about $450 to set up this light system. i would use 1-3 gallon containers depending how often you are willing to visit your plants. if 1 gallon you can probably stuff 12 plants in there otherwise if 2 gallon probably just 8 and if 3 gallon i would just do 3-5. i would go with the higher plant count due to height restriction
 
personal lux

personal lux

Well-Known Member
Philip.J.Fryed3000 said:
Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to help me out!

I have some rather interesting dimensions for my grow space...

L - 4ft 6in
W - 2ft 1in
H - 3ft 6in

Sq Ft - 9.66 (roughly)

I've been planning on growing 4 plants in a closet with these dimensions ( the dimensions are half of the actual closet since theres a shelf half way that can't be taken out) and I'll be building a box around the actual space to keep light from coming in or going out. I was originally thinking about using 2 150 watt MH and 2 150 watt HPS, for veg and flowering respectively, I'll be vegging and flowering in the same space and just taking the MH out to put in the HPS. The top half of the closet I'll be using to dry and cure the plants.

I've done plenty of reading and research but haven't found anything close to my odd ball space haha. After reading as much as I have though, it got me thinking - will 2 150 watt bulbs of each be enough? So now I'm torn between 150, 250, and 400 watt bulbs.

What would work better? I'm leaning towards either 250 or 400, if so would I still need 2 bulbs of each for 250? and would I need 2 bulbs of each for 400? If I went 400 would one bulb of each work for 4 plants? I'll be using SOG for all 4 btw :) Sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out the best lighting set up to maximize my yields and done too much reading that its making my head spin!

Thanks again for the help :)
Click to expand...
Id go with a 40,000 lumen 4ft HO T5 light. best to stick to flouro since your heigt is so short
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
BeastGrow said:
with the height restriction i would say HPS is out the window. I would go with the cree 2700k 18 w home depot bulbs. get as many as you can afford. 20 dollars per bulb. i think anything over 20 bulbs would be too much. i would probably go for 5 fixtures of 4 bulbs each or a total of 360 watts and will cost you about $450 to set up this light system. i would use 1-3 gallon containers depending how often you are willing to visit your plants. if 1 gallon you can probably stuff 12 plants in there otherwise if 2 gallon probably just 8 and if 3 gallon i would just do 3-5. i would go with the higher plant count due to height restriction
Click to expand...
Beastgrow the height restriction isn't much of a problem to solve but it'll be a good amount of work to get undone! $450 is pushing my budget to the extreme haha. I'm not worried about taking my shelf out though, but the house was built in the 60's and the shelf hasn't been touched in years, and the screws are set in pretty good on top of monkeys painting them over doesn't help much lol. I just measured from floor to top bar and it's about 6ft 5in. If I take that middle shelf out will HID's be back in the window? :p I'll post pics of the closet and a link to a 400w HPS ballast that comes with both a MH bulb and a HPS bulb to see what you think. Thanks for the insight! It's definitely appreciated! I should note that I'll be growing a fairly short strain, it'll only grow to about 2 - 2 1/2ft :)
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
personal lux said:
Id go with a 40,000 lumen 4ft HO T5 light. best to stick to flouro since your heigt is so short
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestion personallux! I'll check that out if what I asked of Beastgrow doesn't work out. Take a look at the pictures I'm going to post, I'd appreciate any feedback I could get!
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
Here's my grow space, had these buckets on hand that I never got around to using, I've already sterilized them and the closet. Without that shelf could I use this ballast?

http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK400GW19-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B004YXDHX6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1434673521&sr=8-2&keywords=400+watt+hps+ballast

I'll be building a box from the floor to that very top shelf, and plastering mylar all the way around. I'll be cutting out a few spots for intake fans and one for an outtake to my DIY carbon filter. There's no bulb socket in the closet but there is an outlet right next to the closet with about a half inch clearance under the doors to pull the cords under. With the box I'll be able to leave the doors wide open to pull air circulation in and outtake it without losing much light.

Suggestions on how to get the most out of this would be great :) got a better idea? Let me know so I can put it to use! :)

20150614_140757.jpg 20150614_141018.jpg 20150614_141041.jpg
 

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BeastGrow

BeastGrow

Well-Known Member
HIDs don't work well in closets. Heat builds up and you will need to modify the closet for it to work.

If you want the setup for a grow tent let me know your space restrictions and your budget and i'll suggest some products that I use or that I would get for that budget
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
Heat build up was a concern when I started looking, I figured 1 or 2 6in fans on the wall blowing the bulbs from the right would help cool and place my outtake fan at about the same level as the lights on the left to vent the heat out. Wasn't sure if that'd work or not though.

Thanks beastgrow :)

Space restrictions? Like my LxWxH? They're 4ft 6in X 2ft 1in X 6ft 5in (with the shelf removed thats my H) (also idk if it'd matter too much but the L and H have 1/2 extra length to them, just omitted that to save a bunch of jumbled numbers, W is a full 2ft 1in from wall to carpet)

If the grow tent comes out of the closet just a bit that's fine as well :) with a grow tent I could probably rearrange a few things in the room to fit it elsewhere too if need be. My budget is gonna be $350. $375 would be pushing it, but it's certainly doable.

I haven't read up on grow tents as much, I figured the closet would do and did more research on that. Could you tell me how the ventilation works and if smell would be a problem? Would I still need to have my DIY carbon filter for it? Also what kind of lighting would work best in one?
 
Philip.J.Fryed3000

Philip.J.Fryed3000

Member
BeastGrow said:
you might be able to squeeze a 2x4x5 tent into there if you remove the lower shelf.
Click to expand...
I did some research on grow tents last night, it's definitely what I was looking for! This may be a dumb question, but I'm gonna ask it anyways haha. Could I use a hydroponic grow tent for a soil grow? If not what would you recommend? I couldn't find any soil grow tents that matched the 2x4x5 :/ I did however find a hydroponic grow tent that size that I really like which is why I'm curious.

This'll be my first (hopefully successful) grow that I will try my hand at. I would love to try a hydroponic setup but not sure how well that would go over.. Done plenty of research on soil grows and quite a bit on hydro, I'd feel more comfortable starting with soil before I tried my hand at that!
 
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