Resolute

Gidday fellow enthusiasts,

I'll try and keep it short, it's better I read and educated myself then badger everyone with questions that have no doubt been asked and answered many times over. Who ever liked the kid in school who asked to many questions? Not me, that's for sure

So I'm in the process of setting up a cab measuring Width: 25", Height: 33" and Depth: 11". Not the biggest, I know. I'm adament on using an HPS bulb, I would be going 250W if it weren't for the fact that 400W cost roughly half the price (for what reason, I do not know). I've looked around a lot, but with no success.

I'm located in New Zealand by the way, and we don't really have monolithic sized stores filled to the brim with a seemingly infinite ammount of Asian exports. Oh and, yes we have plenty of sheep. Roughly three per person. There is an unspoken fear that they will turn on us and take the country by force one day, possibly in alliance with our cattle.

So I'm going to go with the 400W overkill HPS bulb, what I am concerned about is this thing going nuclear on me. I know it'll be giving off a lot of heat and I am already thinking of using two 100cfm fans to cool it down, but I'm wondering if this is going to be enough. A cooltube seems cool, not to mention the suave it will add to my grow room, but I won't bother constructing one if it's nothing more then eye candy. So general thoughts and ideas towards my little prediciment would be much appreciated.

Oh and while I'm asking generic questions, here's possibly the most generic. I've read many varying answers about light distance from the top of the plant. Anywhere between 10-18" away from the tip of the plant when using a 400W uncooled HPS bulb. Given my limited space, I might to make use of it as best as possible. I'm looking at getting a 'Super Spreader' as it promises to deliver light more evenly and disperse heat over a wider area. Is this just a snake oil invention or does it actually have some merits? I havn't noticed any being used in the grow logs so far.

All advice is welcomed openly, thanks for taking the time to read.

afterburner

Hey, I enjoyed that read. Thank you!

Soooo. 400 w HPS in about a 2 square foot area. Hmmmmm thats about 25,000 lumens per square foot.

well. You might want to reconcider here.
Either the light bulb size or the cabinet size. Preferably the cabinet.

If your intent on doing it keep in mind that the sun is about 10,000 lumens per square foot. And to keep the plants happy at 25k L/sqft you'll need a fair distance between them and the HPS... And definetly some amazing ventalation, with aircooled hood/cooltube being a requirement. Probably a 265 CFM blower being the minimum as well.

Seeing as you've only got 33" for height. I'm not so sure if its a good idea to go with a 400w in that size of cabinet.

Just my thoughts
Lookin' forward to your jounal!

-ab

Skip Intro

I'll second what AB said. If you don't want to downsize on the HPS for money reasons, you might want to look into fluroescent lights for this grow. It's not the optimal way to grow but it can get you a decent harvest while mitigating the heat issues.

Is expanding the cabinet an option?

__________________

Resolute

Hey Guys,

Cheers for bursting my bubble of over confidence. I was simply waiting for someone to logically explain why my idea wasn't the best, however I was secretly hoping someone would double dare me to. My usual policy of blatantly ignoring facts in favour of fun probably shouldn't be applied to this grow, otherwise I'll juut end up with burnt hermaphrodites.

Money isn't much of a problem, I just found it ludicrous that I could buy a 400W setup for half the cost of a 250W setup. I havn't been able to track down and HPS/MH bulbs under 250W so far, so fluro seems the go, though I'm not to happy about it. I'm going to do a bit more research to see if I can find a HPS/MH under 250W. If not, it'll be off to the hardware store to stock up on 'Results' (I liked the sound of the name) 25W cool white bulbs, which is the highest W fluro with a bayonet fitting I've found.

Unfortunately I'm restricted by cabinet size, it's built into the wall, so I'm just gonna have to go with the flow. I'm planning on doing a scrog once I've got clones up and running.

Cheers for the input guys, keep an eye out for my grow journal.

afterburner

What about a couple of 70w HPS security lights... Do they sell those in the hardware stores over in NZ? Maybe look into the big EVL compact florescents... At 100w Apiece, a couple of those would do ya pretty well.

Then again, at that price your better off just payin the extra for a 250 HPS


-ab

milagro

Resolute,


In my opinion, you won't be able to keep that small space cool enough with any type of HID lighting no matter the ventilation.

Isn't there somewhere you could put a cabinet of a more appropriate size? Built-in is cool, and it's already there, but it's a crummy size for the grow you're speaking of.

You might consider flouescent tubes. I use them in veg and although folks will tell you they're no good for flower, there have been a few people here who have proved that statement wrong, although for the life of me, I can't come up with a single name right now....

Anyway, that's my for what it's worth.



milagro

__________________
man of shibumi






Reputation o How to Post Great Photos oSunday Morning o BuCkeTHeAdsoooseerooo BTGDooBTGD2ooBack To The Basics

Resolute

I've been doing more pricing. I'm simply adament on a HPS setup. It'll take long enough as it is using HPS but flourescent I just can't dig. Gonna cost more, but that's not much bother, web designers get paid a ridiculous ammount

So, I'm looking at a 250W setup with a Phillips Son T lamp, better for flowering from what I gather, which is good considering I'll have to start flowering rather quickly. As far as keeping the beast under control, I've found in axial in-line 254cfm which I will use in conjunction with a cool tube, oh and a 160cfm active intake. Bet it's gonna make a massive racket, bugger it, I run my stereo close to 24/7 anyway.

Do you reckon this is gonna cool things down enough to stop my girls from topping themselves?

afterburner

I reckon its doable That will produce about 11K lumens per square foot... With adequate ventalation,and a cold enough air intake. this is definetly pheasable.

Although I highly reccomend lookin into building a cooltube, in fact thats a requirement with that much light in such a small space.... Check out buzzed's design if you havent already in the mini

... best off doing a SOG type setup, to keep height low.

-afterburner

milagro

Nope.



milagro

__________________
man of shibumi






Reputation o How to Post Great Photos oSunday Morning o BuCkeTHeAdsoooseerooo BTGDooBTGD2ooBack To The Basics

Resolute

Hrmmm, who to trust. Straight pessimism or cherry optimism.

Yeah, I've seen Buzzad's setup, I'm gonna browse through it now. I seem to recall him saying he was having heat problems with a 150W using 400cfm exhaust, if I'm not imaging this, there is no choice but to use the dreaded flourescents.