250w HPS Club And Help Guide

[Skryptz]

im growin in a closet but not that big mines only 8 ft. tall, 4 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep, my babys r doin okay, could be better prob. but first grow also, an the shower cutrain sounds fine, i personaly dont know considering im a noob at indoor but the shower cutrain sounds great, make sure its white to, im sure others here will def. help you, but i wanna say a 250 is best for a 3x3 area, expierment is the only thing to do!

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Need to get a reflector for the light but the 250 covers. a 3x3 area very well. Make sure your either paint the walls a fat white or hang Mylar or Panda Film. There are many varieties of reflective materials available. I grow in one hydro set-up at the end of a 4x7x7 room. Think one light per grow area. Is your 250 MH or HPS or both?

 

[Skryptz]

^^^forgot, u could hang mylar instead of shower curtain, i seen 25x5 roll on ebay for 17.00$

 

[xm177e2]

Need to get a reflector for the light but the 250 covers. a 3x3 area very well. Make sure your either paint the walls a fat white or hang Mylar or Panda Film. There are many varieties of reflective materials available. I grow in one hydro set-up at the end of a 4x7x7 room. Think one light per grow area. Is your 250 MH or HPS or both?

Maybe this picture will help.. I hope this thread is okay for these questions, if not I will kindly go elsewhere. This is my grow space. I am planning on hanging the light from the shelf, which limits height to about 5 feet. the area above the shelf is going to be used for my ventilation, carbon filter etc.. mind you there is 6ft of dead space between where I took those photos and the end of the closet where my setup is gonna be. The door is in the dead middle of the left wall. Is a 250 going to work in an area this size? i was thinking of maybe just attempting to veg the plants under it, I have a MH conversion bulb. Then once they started to grow (and I saved up enough money) buying either another 250w fixture to run parallel or a 400w.

 

[Skryptz]

id hang mylar from the shelf an get busy, 250 i think will work, whats the dimensions if u put a piece of board making the inside of the closet its own room? 5ft tall x ???

 

[xm177e2]

id hang mylar from the shelf an get busy, 250 i think will work, whats the dimensions if u put a piece of board making the inside of the closet its own room? 5ft tall x ???

If you mean from the front edge of the shelf down... its 5x4x2

 

[Skryptz]

im growin in a similar kinda space, except mines at 8x4x2, that would work for a 250, u could improve yeild by adding cfl's for side lighting, i think ull be fine, check out my grow, thats 250 with no side lighting, in my lil room, could do better but liek i said its my frist, i say start em, an if u feel you need more then sidelighting hit that 400 up an you will be fine

 

[xm177e2]

im growin in a similar kinda space, except mines at 8x4x2, that would work for a 250, u could improve yeild by adding cfl's for side lighting, i think ull be fine, check out my grow, thats 250 with no side lighting, in my lil room, could do better but liek i said its my frist, i say start em, an if u feel you need more then sidelighting hit that 400 up an you will be fine

Thanks for the advice.. I'm gonna try it. My concern wasnt really sidelighting as much as it is penetration. I was under the impression that a 250w light will have trouble penetrating the top of the plant. I suppose if that is the case then I can work around it, top my plants or LST or something. thanks again

 

[Skryptz]

yea just keep em at max 4 ft. if u can, light penetration is 3 or 4 ft. im pretty sure, once doobious or mindmelted gets on, you will get a legit answer, g'luck any help just ask in here youll get an answer

 

[AlteredBeast]

Ok, I may as well join the club since I'm workin with a 250w. I'm a total noob and I was wondering... is it neccessary to utilize some type of enclosure when using a low wattage light like a 250? My grow closet is pretty damn big, and I am now having doubts about a 250w being enough for me to grow with in there. I see most of the grows in this thread are in small boxes or cabinets. My closet is 9ft long, 4ft wide and 8ft high. I am gonna grow the plants in one end of the closet. Does the size of the room in which the light is placed make a difference? Will there be a massive amount of dissipation causing me to lose light? I am not going out and buying any type of enclosure or grow box, so I am gonna have to make do with what I have for now.. I may have to upgrade to a larger light eventually, but I'm gonna start with what I have. I am thinking of maybe just putting a white shower curtain in front of the plants going across the width of the closet just to kinda section em off and contain the light. Any suggestions??? thanks

As I was reading this I was thinking you should get something to hang at the open end to reflect the light back to the plants then you mentioned the shower curtain. I think that would solve any light loss problems. A 250w hps covers roughly a 3' x 3' area max.

 

[Doobieus]

yea just keep em at max 4 ft. if u can, light penetration is 3 or 4 ft. im pretty sure, once doobious or mindmelted gets on, you will get a legit answer, g'luck any help just ask in here youll get an answer

Bingo, a 250's light penetration generally stops at 3-4ft or so. Every foot higher you go, the more light penetration/lumens you're losing.

Good job Skryptz .

 

[Doobieus]

Ok, I may as well join the club since I'm workin with a 250w. I'm a total noob and I was wondering... is it neccessary to utilize some type of enclosure when using a low wattage light like a 250? My grow closet is pretty damn big, and I am now having doubts about a 250w being enough for me to grow with in there. I see most of the grows in this thread are in small boxes or cabinets. My closet is 9ft long, 4ft wide and 8ft high. I am gonna grow the plants in one end of the closet. Does the size of the room in which the light is placed make a difference? Will there be a massive amount of dissipation causing me to lose light? I am not going out and buying any type of enclosure or grow box, so I am gonna have to make do with what I have for now.. I may have to upgrade to a larger light eventually, but I'm gonna start with what I have. I am thinking of maybe just putting a white shower curtain in front of the plants going across the width of the closet just to kinda section em off and contain the light. Any suggestions??? thanks

The white shower curtain will shine too much light through, you need to get a black shower curtain to put in between the two white shower curtains that would separate the room.

My best advice would be to hit up HTG (Hightech Garden Supply) for supplies, soil, nutes, etc, as far ducting you can get that at Walmart or Home depot. I recommend getting yourself some panda film or mylar like Crazy said, panda film has a little more reflectivity than mylar. The choice is yours, but you will get better results, also you don't know if the shower curtain will emit a toxic gas when heated, like some Pvc materials can tend to do, which isn't good for your grow at all.

Light leaks are not good, veg you can get away with it a little more, but with bloom you will risk hermie-ing your plants.

As far as size 3x3 like the rest of the club said, you can also do a 2x4.

Make sure for ventilation to have outtake fan high up (Heat rises) and intake fan (Cool sinks) low down. Also you're going to want an oscillating fan inside the grow cab for the plants as well.

You'd be surprised what a 250 can produce, keep your temps at 78F max, 68F low, keep your light 4-6 inches away from the top of the plants, get some decent nutrients, decent soil, and you should be fine.

Hope this helps.

 

[xm177e2]

The white shower curtain will shine too much light through, you need to get a black shower curtain to put in between the two white shower curtains that would separate the room.

My best advice would be to hit up HTG (Hightech Garden Supply) for supplies, soil, nutes, etc, as far ducting you can get that at Walmart or Home depot. I recommend getting yourself some panda film or mylar like Crazy said, panda film has a little more reflectivity than mylar. The choice is yours, but you will get better results, also you don't know if the shower curtain will emit a toxic gas when heated, like some Pvc materials can tend to do, which isn't good for your grow at all.

Light leaks are not good, veg you can get away with it a little more, but with bloom you will risk hermie-ing your plants.

As far as size 3x3 like the rest of the club said, you can also do a 2x4.

Make sure for ventilation to have outtake fan high up (Heat rises) and intake fan (Cool sinks) low down. Also you're going to want an oscillating fan inside the grow cab for the plants as well.

You'd be surprised what a 250 can produce, keep your temps at 78F max, 68F low, keep your light 4-6 inches away from the top of the plants, get some decent nutrients, decent soil, and you should be fine.

Hope this helps.

I already got all my stuff from HTG. I won their auction for a 95 dollar 250w off ebay and they sent me a 190 dollar one so I'm happy with that. I got a 4in inline fan and carbon filter, fox farms ocean and the fox farms nute package. Today I'm just gonna go out and get some pots, chains, fan, and hopefully something to close off the area with. I'm not too worried about light leaks because the closet has a door, and Finding 3 different types of shower curtains maybe somewhat difficult, I'll have to keep brainstorming as far as closing off that portion of my room.

 

[Mindmelted]

Thanks for keeping watch at the post Doobs.
Been slaving all day so far.F+++ is sucks working in the sun.
Just got done raining too,so now it is really going to sticky and hot.
Oh well,i will just smoke a fatty and get over it.

 

[Doobieus]

I already got all my stuff from HTG. I won their auction for a 95 dollar 250w off ebay and they sent me a 190 dollar one so I'm happy with that. I got a 4in inline fan and carbon filter, fox farms ocean and the fox farms nute package. Today I'm just gonna go out and get some pots, chains, fan, and hopefully something to close off the area with. I'm not too worried about light leaks because the closet has a door, and Finding 3 different types of shower curtains maybe somewhat difficult, I'll have to keep brainstorming as far as closing off that portion of my room.

Sounds like you're pretty set up.

HTG has panda film/mylar, the shower curtain can emit toxic fumes, which will affect the plants.

If you're looking to go cheaper with the reflective material, I'd advise getting mylar gift wrap from walmart or something, use the side without the design. Until you can afford/have the time to get the panda/mylar film from HTG.

You might want to get another can fan/vortex fan for intake as well, also an oscillating fan.

1 gallon pots to start off in.

3 gallon pots for a 3 ft. plant, general rule is 1ft of growth per gallon.

You can find a decent tow chain at walmart too, I use that chain for my 250, along with carabiners, and metal S hook links. They all help with hanging the lights and fans and stuff too.

 

[BurnDatShit35]

how many plants can i fit under a 250 watt im trying to go for a sog type grow

 

[Doobieus]

how many plants can i fit under a 250 watt im trying to go for a sog type grow

Depending on height 9 plus in the smaller square pots should be fine, just don't exceed a 2x4 or 3x3 area and you should be good. A 250's light starts having a hard time penetrating 3ft plus.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

Whatever will fit at maturity with a light that covers 3'x3'

 

[xm177e2]

Sounds like you're pretty set up.

HTG has panda film/mylar, the shower curtain can emit toxic fumes, which will affect the plants.

If you're looking to go cheaper with the reflective material, I'd advise getting mylar gift wrap from walmart or something, use the side without the design. Until you can afford/have the time to get the panda/mylar film from HTG.

You might want to get another can fan/vortex fan for intake as well, also an oscillating fan.

1 gallon pots to start off in.

3 gallon pots for a 3 ft. plant, general rule is 1ft of growth per gallon.

You can find a decent tow chain at walmart too, I use that chain for my 250, along with carabiners, and metal S hook links. They all help with hanging the lights and fans and stuff too.

Got the oscillating fan covered.. My only problem is the mylar is so thin that its gonna blow around if I try to use it as an enclosure. It will not stay in place. There has gotta be something heavier that I can hang I'm not too worried about intake as the room is certainly not airtight. Besides, the one 4 inch fan already makes too much noise and I'm gonna have to figure out a way to make it quieter as not to disturb my family in the next room. They've been pretty supportive of my project but they dont wanna have to hear a loud inline fan when they try to sleep. So now I gotta figure out a way to muffle the sound of the one 4 inch fan, I certainly cant have another running in there. A buddy of mine grew some nice buds under a 1000w in a very small space with exhaust but no intake and it came out fine. So now I am stuck, gotta figure out some way of closing off the area and I dont think a think sheet of mylar is gonna be structurally sound.

 

[MostlyCrazy]

I'd recommend the panda film. Tough stuff and water proof. Easy to wipe down after the grow to ready for the next one.