400w HPS for a 4x4x8 room ok for 20 plants? help me too on my list please

@topic
i got my seeds already Mandala Satori and Aurora Indica
my question is, is one 400w HPS enough for 20 plants? (not exactly 20 cuz i will be pulling some males out and transfer them somewhere else) i'm planning to veg them outdoors OR under a 400w MH
im afraid to store some seeds so im planting them all
im low on budget and i can only afford one set of HPS and one MH bulb

-intake and exhaust fans already installed
-a stand fan
-vinyl flooring, reflective sheets on walls installed
-still have to buy some pots - what size should i get?
-can i use worm castings+soiless mix+perlite - is this ok? these are the only available sterile stuff here, other than that they have some soil mixes but they have time release ferts already and they also have cocopeat and vermiculite
-already have a 50gallon reservoir with aerator pump, watering bucket, water sprayer/mister
-im gona make a diy carbon filter
-still searching for a timer

what else is missing for a poor man's indoor grow?

TIA guys!

i run a 400w hps and a 400w mh in a 2x4x4

For a 4x4 area you're going to want a 600w HID minimum.

Depending on the size plants 3 gal should work if you keep them short.

or you could do a humongazoid single plant in 5 gal then double pot in a trash can with a 1000w. man you could do 20 with a single 400 in that space but you can do lot really i would just get another light and stick with your plan hell just get the 400w hps and 250 or 150 metal halide and you will do alright.

Hmmm...you will have a small sea of green until you find out the sex. Bigger pots the better, those black three gallon pots at home depot are 10" circles, with them pushed against each other and/overlapping at he flowering stage might be a challenge. 400 hps or mh sure you can use it but the yeild will be lower. if you can have the light on hours during the day and expose some lights from the windows to the plant or stealthly move them outside for some real sunshine for afew hours and make sure you are aware of your surroundings and baby sit them, just incase the mail man comes by and decides he wants to look into your back yard.

sorry typo it's a 4x8x8 room
thanks guys keep it comin

Three 600s would be more like it. 400 is not nearly enough.

I'd keep your 400 and add at least another 600, preferably two. Let's put it this way, the third 600 would pay for itself in the first grow.

You're going to use worm castings in a soiless mix? why not just add it to soil?
If you only have 400w you need to use it effectively. Try starting with 10 plants and hopefully youll end up with 5 females.
This will be your best bet at getting a high yield from a small amount of plants.
You may also want to think about training them to stay short and utilize the light more efficiently.

@all thanks for the input guys keep it comin!

i have decided to plant 5 seeds from each strain.. will the leftover seeds be viable after 4 months? im currently storing them now in their orig packs in a jar and a small bag of silica gel and put them in my closet.. its very hot and humid here(tropical climate) so im kinda worried.. do i really have to put them in the refrigerator?(im afraid they might get wet from high humidity)

@jayjammer - cuz i had some bad experiences with the 'organic garden soil' that they sell here($4 for a 50kg sack! lol) i dont know what they put in, the places where i bought em didnt know either and the first one i bought, i noticed the whole soil was full of mites and other pests so i decided to buy another sack from another shop still the same crap all over and while i was inspecting the sacks, i literally found some garbage like plastic straws, plastic bags decaying matter, grass(still green), some kind of rat/animal bones in short the soil is really f'd up lol, but i have lots of free earthworms that came with those sacks lol so no choice im gonna buy some sterile stuff hehe

Sounds all ok mate,apart from one thing you had said you are gonna make your own carbon filter,BAD idea.This is one item that you need to have 100% use from.One cannabis plant in flower will smell your house or flat out no problem,i once lived in a flat apartment for our american friends.The plant's i was growing were blueberry,and i swear you could not belive the smell this grow emitted,I'm talking a building with well over 40 apartments in were stinking,it were no funny at the time but looking back,it was we was talking to the neighbours saying we are sick of this smell but there not hurting anyone by smokeing it,rather em smoke cannabis than have drunks in the flats.One night there wa a knock at the door it was the boys in blue,this is when god was looking down on me because they missed a 4ft x 4ft x 8ft tall tent,and a 4 ft x 5 ft x 5ft mother room they missed this too,never belive how they missed that to this day.So to the point do not skimp on a carbon filter they are not that expensive to buy and a must if you are gonna grow....

thanks bro! yea i was thinkin of investing on a nice carbon filter with a vortex fan soon if i already have the $$$ the problem is i cant find one here seems like all carbon filters i found were for water treatment btw what cheap yet reliable brand would you recommend?

I have a 400 HID. I have sprouts growing now under flourescent shop lights. I am going to transplant them into recycled square one gallon water jugs. Safeway has really good ones for 99 cents (plus you get a gallon of distilled water. Just cut off the tops and poke holes in the bottom (use at least eight holes). 30 one gallon water jugs take up just a little less than seven square feet right under the light - at 12 inches distance above the tops, that works out to about 3000 to 7000 foot-candles per plant.

As soon as I figure out which ones are females, I will cull them. With just 15 1 gal jugs under the light, I'll have about 5500-7000 ft-candles on each. Any more than 20 one gallon jugs under a 400 watt hps and the illuminance gets too low for flowering. 15 good females is plenty of weed for me; by mid-May I hope to get 8 ounces of good bud if everything works out okay.

btw guys what should i look for when buying a timer? and how many amps should i get?

budget = $35 or cheaper

TIA

I made my own carbon filter and it works way...way better then the one I paid good money for....it can be done and for much less $$.