a couple light and fan questions +rep for help

alright. im considering starting construction on a box. im not sure how big it will be yet, im going to base that on the size of the light.
i cant decide on what wattage. im thinkin hps but if im wrong let me know, im thinking 250w im only planning on have 2-3 plants. 400w would make for fat buds though.
where is a good place to get lights at. a good price and good quality too idk if i want refurbished stuff. im pretty noob for indoor im mainly an outdoor man.

another question i have is fans. i was going to use pc fans, im not sure what size tho or how many. i would have inlet and outlet fans tho for sure to increase air flow.

if im not being descriptive enough ask away and ill answer questions thanks for the help

48 views no help?

...what's up bud? ...250 watt HPS would be just fine for your 2-3 ladies, depending on the size of your box and vent system a 400 watt could be a little too hot.

alright man heres what you need to do go here http://htgsupply.com/growlightsubcategories.asp?categoryID=1

that is a very trusted site here on RIU and they warranty everything and have good support it is pretty cheap and is decent quality if you get there own brand ballast and reflector (again WARRANTY!!!!).

I would definitely go with the 400 watt and use MH for veg and HPS for flowering because like you said fat buds, allot more of them then you'd get with the 250 watt. I just finished my first grow and got 3oz each off each using a 400 watt and some cfls.(23watters surrounding them)

Edit: And for the fan question you need to decide how big you want your grow box but remember you need at least 12 inches for the light to be away from the plants at all times. with a 400 watt id expect your grow box to be at least 2.5x4x5

HeavilyMedicated said:

alright man heres what you need to do go here http://htgsupply.com/growlightsubcategories.asp?categoryID=1

that is a very trusted site here on RIU and they warranty everything and have good support it is pretty cheap and is decent quality if you get there own brand ballast and reflector (again WARRANTY!!!!).

I would definitely go with the 400 watt and use MH for veg and HPS for flowering because like you said fat buds, allot more of them then you'd get with the 250 watt. I just finished my first grow and got 3oz each off each using a 400 watt and some cfls.(23watters surrounding them)

Edit: And for the fan question you need to decide how big you want your grow box but remember you need at least 12 inches for the light to be away from the plants at all times. with a 400 watt id expect your grow box to be at least 2.5x4x5

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...if heat isn't an issue, go 600....get a digital ballest, they are about the same cost to run as a magentic 400 or so...and you'll get really fat buds. That's all I grow with.

only problem is there isn't a 600 watt ballast to my knowledge that can run a MH bulb?

ok ive made up my mind i think im gonna build a 3 foot tall, 2 foot wide and one foot deep box.
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=48007 i think ill go with this light
i dont want to use a 400w or 600w because i really dont want to run copper wires straight to my circuit breaker thats too much for me and too much risk for fire lol. a 250w i can just plug in to a power stip with a breaker thing on it. i could also run a couple extra cfls if it ends up i need more light
im planning on running only one or two fans, one inlet at the bottom for cold air and one outlet at the top for the hot air. odor isnt an issue either.

what you should honestly do is buy the ultimate package it cost more now because you get both bulbs each a little cheaper but the thing is the ballast is a hps ballast so you are running a MH conversion bulb to veg(same thing as MH) but it losses about 3000 lumes.... soooo the exact same thing applies to the hps bulb the other way around if you were to have a MH ballast and use a HPS conversion bulb.... But those 3000 lumens are what we LOVE and WANT for our buds. after all MH is for vegging and stem and leaf growth HPS is where you want the extra power.

Dude you said it yourself. "3 foot tall, 2 foot wide and one foot deep box." Your light must accommodate your space. TO tell you the truth, for a small box grow like that, I recommend you invest in a 45w LED panel. Works superb for what you are doing and it's really cheap. If you're not investing in a bigger space there is no point in getting an HID such as MH or HPS. The light and the hydro bill will cost you the street value of your marijuana hands down. I'm growin 8 plants with 2 of these suckers and I friggin love em.

It will cost less and in such a small space the LEDs will be much better at keeping your space cool unlike HPS or MH lights.

Peace.

RoF said:

Dude you said it yourself. "3 foot tall, 2 foot wide and one foot deep box." Your light must accommodate your space. TO tell you the truth, for a small box grow like that, I recommend you invest in a 45w LED panel. Works superb for what you are doing and it's really cheap. If you're not investing in a bigger space there is no point in getting an HID such as MH or HPS. The light and the hydro bill will cost you the street value of your marijuana hands down. I'm growin 8 plants with 2 of these suckers and I friggin love em.

It will cost less and in such a small space the LEDs will be much better at keeping your space cool unlike HPS or MH lights.

Peace.

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cool man thanks i appreciate it ill look into that.
are there any drawbacks to using LED? i know they last long and are energy efficient. but 45w doesnt seem like alot to me.

the drawbacks are limitless there's so many. You'll get a pretty embarrassing yield. You CAN NOT do a whole grow with led's using a 45 watt you need at least 300watts. your plants will grow the thinest most whimpy stems that will literally break once the plant gets to be about a foot or so tall.... Also you have to get the led super close, so the amount of area that they really cover is pretty bad. Not to mention that most led's sold on the net are literally made for 20$ and sold for 250$ because its all usually fake leds that they put on 99 cent store toys.


Just look up led grows and youll see people have 2 ufos and a bunch of cfls in there grow ussually anyways jsut so that it can compete with a 400 watt setup. sure the electricity ussuage is way lower but your honestly just going to waste time and money. LED is not READY YET to be used for the small time grower.

45w of LED (I use GlowPanel 45) is equivalent in output to a 250W MH/HPS.

I haven't had any problems with them. They don't penetrate as far as MH/HPS, but it's a very decent light especially for smaller gardens. (hell of a lot better than CFLs) Growth is good and plants don't stretch. I do recommend you make the height of the lamp adjustable that way you can keep them roughly 6-12 inches above the plants. They typically come with a suspension kit.

After using 2 panels for my last grow, I can safely say that LED is not a ripoff for stealth grows like ours. I have used HID lights before and they are VERY good, but unless you're running a decent sized garden they're not worth it for the amount of lumens you get per W.

This is my second grow with LEDs and I am more than satisfied.

Pics here:
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/346698-mango-haze-x-mothers-finest.html

@HeavilyMedicated: But this guy is about to grow in a small box dude!

Tell me a 400W HID in such a space isn't a fire hazard. My space gets hot with my 2 LED panels, I can only imagine what a 400W would do to my closet!