150 hps or cfls? For new grow cab design

What's up guys got a few questions I need some help with. I grew before a in a pic case awhile back but now I'm officially back for my second grow want to get back into it. I haven't grown In like 3-4 years so I need some help. I purchased a small cabinet today for 10 bucks said why not looked perfect size for what I want disassembled part of it to rebuild a little stronger. But the dimensions are L.18" W.28" H.25" my question is with heat/ventilation being an issue (I can not create holes in walls to vent). What should I do for this size setup cfls or 150HPS? And could I even get away with venting the 150 watt HPS back into the same room without it getting too hot? If cfls what size/ how many of that size should I get? Would I bet better off doin a small amount of big wattage cfls or a bunch of smaller wattage ones. Thanks here a pic of the box in progress

Not sure about the lights, trial and error is most likely how its going to work out for you. I would try to make the hps work myself. I'd take a good look at this thread considering your grow space. https://www.rollitup.org/subcools-old-school-organics/542308-main-lining-thread.html

Good luck, Steelheader

you get more lumens per watt on the 23-26w CFL's. If the 150W HPS has the ballast inside the hood you might have a problem and I would recommend going with CFL's. My veg area is somewhere on those dimensions and I'm just using it for two plants, each plant with 4x 23W CFL's.

my opinion, a plant is a plant. if its 1 inch tall or 10 feet tall . its the same charge, fine fees. why dick around with that , shit. set up a room or buy a tent throw in a few thousand watts, grow a quality product,

do both. cfls for extra and 150 hps in a diy cool tube youll be screamin

kinddiesel said:

my opinion, a plant is a plant. if its 1 inch tall or 10 feet tall . its the same charge, fine fees. why dick around with that , shit. set up a room or buy a tent throw in a few thousand watts, grow a quality product,

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hmm but wich set up is likly to get you busted?the dicreet personal micro setup or the few thousand watt mega room ?and more watts doesnt grow you better quality just more yield

HPS , even the 150 with everything dialed in can produce a surprising yield. This guy at ICMAG yielded 141 grams DRY. That's 5 ounces. Look at those buds. That's a damn impressive grow for a 150 HPS and small tight space too.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=141135&page=3

i use smaller security lights from home crapo and blowes. the have like 70 watt hps and 125 m.h. and all types of others. my reason is for the smaller micro grows its a better way to a greater balanced light foot note i think is the term im looking for and there is so much more that can be done with smaller setups. its not about 5,000,000 c.f.m. and 150,000,000,000 watts of light just use what you have to the best of its ability thats the way to have the best plants

I'm in the same position. Personally I would shoot for the HPS over the CFL if you can manage the heat. If your concerned you cannot, I'd rock some 23W CFL simply because they produce so little heat but if your grow is in say your basement where it's naturally cooler... HPS and drawing in some of that cool basement air you would be able to control the heat better. But if your not going to the extreme and just planting 1 little darling, CFL is a simpe way to go. Maybe 4/5 23W = 6400/8000 Lumens... You'd be laughing.

You can ask everyone and anyone... Everyone has a valid and useful point... In the end, you already know what your thinking is best for you and your stealth box. GL and post the finished product

Kinddiesel has a wicked and valid point, I love your brain and I wish I had the balls to turn my basement into a fcking dungeon of dreams... Sadly ill stick to my two little boxes and live my dream through all you crazy cats journal entries lol

...in a box that size any HPS is gonna run HOT and even if you can vent that heat out of the box you're still gonna lose several inch's of height just maintaining a safe distance between the bulb and the plants.

...and frankly common CFLs won't be much better because they run hot too, and a fair bit of that heat is generated by the ballast's built into each bulb.

...another option you might not be familiar with is PLLs which are a newer form of remote ballasted CFL that also has the advantage of being straight so it delivers light more efficiently over a wider canopy.

...these are the 55watt bulbs i used in my clone/seed-start box along with the sockets and ballast and they are approx. 23 inchs long, the lower wattage bulbs are shorter too so if the 55's don't fit just use the 36's which are a few inch's shorter.


...and here's that box i spoke of, front and back.





...and just for shit's and giggles here's a couple pics of my first ever cab build which i use to house my mothers and have done so for about 6 or 7 years now.





...if you have the cake to spend i think maybe LED's would be the best option but it ain't a cheap option that's for sure, lol

anyway, good luck in your build.

peace, bozo

Bozo, you are a posting machine. Nice stuff! How many grows are you on to now a days and do you still come across pproblems from time to time?

Fultono said:

Bozo, you are a posting machine. Nice stuff! How many grows are you on to now a days and do you still come across pproblems from time to time?

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...honestly i couldn't tell you how many except to sound flip and say 'one at a time', lol. ...in my early days i ran a high-density micro-SOG on a ten week cycle meaning that i ran all the plants for 10 weeks and i did it in a cab that i built that held 55x 1liter 'pots' so i was pulling 10 plants every 2 weeks and i did that for more than 2 years so trying to figure how many grows is just not possible, ...a LOT, lol.





...and to your second question i'd say no for the most part, ...once you deal with the most common problems like fungus gnats and spider mites and powdery mildew a few times you quickly learn to deal with each and in a proactive way so you prevent problems rather than having to solve them.

...now i grow the lazy man's way that practically runs itself, it almost feels like cheating, lol.





peace, bozo

I produced a QP in a similar space using a 150w HPS and 4 23w Daylight CFLs. That space is tiny, so running a 150+ cfm inline fan exhausting outside the chamber is a necessity. running it into the same room is ok as long as the room temp is kept low and there is plenty of air exchange.