First Grow Room...Need Advice! 400w, 600w, or 1000w?

homer28110

Member
Hello all in RIU land! I am in the planning stages of upgrading my grow setup. Right now I have a 1 and 1/2 ft by 3ft and 3ft tall box with 3 ladies. Right now I am growing with CFLs with decent results.

I am thinking of using that box for clones and a mother making another veg contains. The veg box will use T5s.

Now for the part I need help with. I am going to build a 5' by 5' by 5' room in my crawl space to put and HID but am not sure what kind of light I should use. I can get a 1000w hps for about $200 but will that be overkill for a 5x5x5 space? I have been reading that I will have heat issues with that many watts. Will it be enough to air cool 1000 watts? I have also heard people installing an AC unit to keep it cool. I want to get the most out of this space so please advise! :peace:
 
If you get a good air cooled hood and a nice inline fan with air tight ductwork... the 1000 can eaisly be cooled to a acceptable temp. I have seen 2x1000 in a 5'x8''. While the 1000 will provide much more lumens (you can never have too many lumens) "strangerdude" is right that a 600 is perfect for that size. At the same time if you read anything by jorge his books will show you charts proving how a 600 is more effecient when it comes to "Lumens per watt". I wouldnt use anything smaller than a 600 in a 5'5' tho... hope that helps
 

homer28110

Member
I can get a 400w dual ballast with fixture and bulb for $75 and a 1000w kit for $85 or $100 from a local guy. All I would need to buy is a hood/reflector.

This is why I am partial to those types of HIDs.
 

litljohn

Well-Known Member
I can get a 400w dual ballast with fixture and bulb for $75 and a 1000w kit for $85 or $100 from a local guy. All I would need to buy is a hood/reflector.

This is why I am partial to those types of HIDs.
get the 1000watt and a cooltube w/ a reflector.i would get a good inline fan for the light and another for the room hooked to a carbon scrubber.but if smell isnt a issue then leave out the scrubber.htgsupply.com has all youll need and pretty good prices too.
 

homer28110

Member
Well, I got a deal on a 430w ballast so I jumped on it. Got a ballast, air cooled reflector, and to Phillips Son Agro bulbs for $170. I just build a flower room that is 5 by 6 and 4.5ft tall. I know i wont be able to light the whole space but i figure I can light around 16square feet. We will see though! This is my first time using an HID so I think this is a good place to start! I will start a journal when I start a grow using this flower room
 
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