Heat advice, HPS in a VERY small area

I'm looking to set up a new grow box out of an old cabinet roughly 2'x2'x2'. I was thinking of carrying on with CFLs but i want to see some dense bud as opposed to light fluffy ones. I am considering switching to 150w HPS system. I figure more lumens per watt and its a lot easier to set up than organizing cfls. I plan on 12/12 from seed although i might try and make it so the hps system is quickly removable and to be able to swap in some 6500k cfls for a few weeks of veg. My only issue now is heat. Now the setup im looking at one ebay for ~$60 advertises "Vented ballast housing allows heat dissipation" which is nice but i obviously need to get air in and out of the box as quickly as possible. I have 2 x 120mm computer case fans with advertised 74.48CFM. I was going to do an intake on the bottom and the exhaust with carbon scrubber up top inches away from the lights. It will also be in a cool area so ambient temp wont increase much over summer. Would that work or would i still get burned out?

2 cubic feet w/HPS .. sorry. CFL is the only option.

Regardless of source, if you want a certain amount of wattage heat will become something you need to address in that space. HPS though, I believe would be the most efficient in that space, and properly vented I do not see a reason you could control temps within range.

What is the ambient temp of the growing area? I have a rather small tent, 80x80x140 for a 600w ups, but my ambient in the loft is around 8c, so I can keep my room to around 22c.

The only way to know for certain is to try, and a 150hps is not a huge outlay, probably similar to 150w of CFL

Good luck

cool tube would be the obvious choice wouldnt it?

dimebag87 said:

cool tube would be the obvious choice wouldnt it?

Click to expand...

A cooltube in a 2x2x2ft area. assuming it could fit (it can't) .. where do the plants go?

Moebius said:

A cooltube in a 2x2x2ft area. assuming it could fit (it can't) .. where do the plants go?

Click to expand...

haha yeh i just thought that. you will need a bigger cab man or cfl it.

A similar thing to a cooltube can be made with the Pyrex bake a round and smaller inline fans. Although For such a small are CFL makes more sense.

three weeks of veg as well? unless you're growing autos in there you will overgrow your space.

just get a small tent guarantee after you do a grow in that box you will want to upgrade to a tent anyway will save you money in the long run and you can get those dense buds youre looking for

Okay here's the actual plans so far:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/C-A-P-Valuline-SLHPS150-150W-HPS-Complete-Mini-Sun-Light-Grow-System-w-Lamp-/230891878054?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c23a76a6

To save your time clicking it the dimensions of the light is : 15.25'' x 7.5'' x 4.25''

Box size:

17" deep, 23" wide, 25.5" tall

So i have roughly 21" of height to work with. I figure its ideal for indica 12/12 from seed and anything else i plan on using a lot of LST to keep it all short.

Turns out i wont be able to keep it in a basement, it will have to be in a loft with extremely poor insulation. So ambient temp will reflect the outdoor temp. Boston area.

Would two more of the same fans keep the temps at almost ambient? Thats 148.96 cfm. I'm really looking forward to transitioning to HPS but if its going to get too hot im not sure if its worth it. Maybe cut a sqaure out of the top of the wood box and have the hps external to the rest of the box? keeping the heat outside the box and more volume inside?

^^ you will have 21 inches of light if the plants are touching the bulb. in reality you will have to give them at least 4-5 inches from the top and also soil underneath so figure another 6 inches. That leaves you with just about 10 inches to work with. sounds like you need a tent or lst and top like crazy and hope that they stay small.

You can train them to grow horizontally and keep them safely from the lights.

Have you thought about using an LED light source instead of HPS?

I haven't done much research on led lighting. I know they're fairly new and I see some pretty high prices but again I need to do my hw. I don't mind cfls but I read they're good for veg but not as good for flower. If I'm doing mostly 12/12 from seed hps seems the best choice. Maybe ill order a few more case fans and give it a shot. If not ill start researching a bigger box/tent since I want to turn the page on cfls.