newbie needs help. :(

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions hopefully someone can give me some advice. First off I'm working with a 450 watt HPS, I know that the bulb is old and I'm having trouble findind one. The home depot store had a 800 watt and it looked similar in size to mine, could I use it if it fits into my ballasts? Right now the space I'm working with is 3x2 1/2 in all reality I'm not gonna puul and weight out of that closet. What's to much space for my light to cover? Also, I've only grown outdoors, i be never used nutes, some pointers into the right direction for some food would be very greatful. Thanks all!

PanHandleMan420 said:

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions hopefully someone can give me some advice. First off I'm working with a 450 watt HPS, I know that the bulb is old and I'm having trouble findind one. The home depot store had a 800 watt and it looked similar in size to mine, could I use it if it fits into my ballasts? Right now the space I'm working with is 3x2 1/2 in all reality I'm not gonna puul and weight out of that closet. What's to much space for my light to cover? Also, I've only grown outdoors, i be never used nutes, some pointers into the right direction for some food would be very greatful. Thanks all!

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NO!...450 is the "MAX" bulb watts. Your bulb is out there...google the name. What is the brand? Can't be that old

450 is fine for that space. As for nutes it depends on your media - soil, soiless, or hydro.

Its all about heat. I am using a 400 watt in the same size space, have my cooltube hooked up to my fan and filter so temps are fine. I am throwing a 600watt in today and cooling the cooltube seperately with cold intake from outside. I have seen someone use a 1000watt in that small of space, he of course needed t use an air conditioner tho. He had no light bleaching on his plants either so.

Nutrients, ya man depends on what you are growing in. Being that your used to growing outside id assume you are going to grow in soil. Don't go using soil from outside tho. You dont want to mix outside with inside you can bring in a lot of bug problems. I use "soiless mix" (Promix HP) which has no food in it so I can choose what and how much I am putting into the plants. It is a "dead medium" meaning there is nothing in it. Just like distilled water it is "dead water". So if you went this route, then I would just grab something very simple for nutrients. Like a 2 or 3 part formula from General Hydroponics.

Cheers