250 watt HPS/MH Conv or 400 watt HPS/MH Conv?

[Ganjabot]

I am hoping that someone can offer me some experienced advice. I am currently torn between putting one of these 2 systems in my cabinet.
250 Watt
http://www.htgsupply.com/productdeta...?productID=283
400 Watt
http://www.htgsupply.com/productdeta...?productID=282

My cabinet's dimensions are 3' wide x2' deep x4' tall. I am planning on using a 6" vortex fan for my regular exhaust/carbon filter setup, and whichever light I choose will be in an Air Cooled reflector with its own 4" axial fan (Inductor deal from Home Depot).

Which light should I go with???? I know that more is better, but am just afraid that 400 watts may be too much for this area. Do you think that the 4" fan will be enough to keep the light cool and not heat up the rest of my cabinet too much?

Thanks in advance.

[LOTE]

i say go with the 400. that way if you decide later on to get a bigger cab the 400 will be of use and you wont be kicking yourself for not having gone with the big one in the first place. Take it from me, just about everything i bought was wrong the first time around, too small. and about the fan. id get the 6in one from home de pot, it moves more air and i think that most all cool tubes run on six inch ducting, by the time you bought the two needed reducers you would have spent more money for far less cfm.

good luck

[Ganjabot]

Thanks for the reply and for the idea on going with the 400 watt in case I upgrade later. Very good point.

On the fan, I was actually thinking of a "glass lensed reflector" with a 4" flange, instead of the typical cool tube. Mostly because of space constraints. I do have a 6" Home Depot fan that I will be upgrading to the 6" Elicent Centrifugal Inline Duct Fan. So thats even better since I won't have wasted my money on that otherwise crappy fan. Do you think the HD fan will be enough to keep an HPS or MH conversion bulb cool enough to not add to the ambient temp?

I am really worried about heat due to my experience with that 6" fan in my veg area. I am using CFL's only (65w x 2 and 26w x4) and the temps are getting in the mid 80's to 90's. I have 2 x 4" passive intakes as well, and haven't even put on a carbon filter. I really hope the Elicent fan fixes that problem...

[purplegrass]

go with the 400 watt hps my old setup was similar to that but it was 6 ft tall instead and i was using a 600 watt hps got a pretty nice grow out of it. 1/4 lb from 2 plants that was 2 ft tall it was my first grow and now i jump into something bigger that i shouldn't have done. guy with big ego.

[LOTE]

is the cool tube you are talking about a bake around? The cool tube i have, and most that i have seen are about 22'' give or take a few, that should fit. but if you dont want to spend the money a DIY is a simple and fun project. Isnt it funny how everyone raves about how cool cfl's run, but when you actually use them they are hot. i had 4 42 watters and my box was over 109. I cant imagine how you could keep good temps without a cool tube on any HID. so too me it is a must! as im sure you have figured out. good luck and start a journal!

best of luck

[ISTANDALONE]

with an air-cooled reflector you could go as high as a 600w without issues. plus you have a vortex for exhaust? your all set. get the 400w for sure, 600w if you have the $.

[PurpleStuffed]

400Watt for sure!

[Ganjabot]

Thanks City!!! I have been reading (obsessively) on this forum for a couple of months and know that I have gotten some grade A+ advice. I am placing an order for the following system tomorrow:
http://www.htgsupply.com/productdeta...?productID=229

LOTE - I really like the ideas on the DIY pyrex tubes and will probably do something like that for my veg area using a 100-150 watt MH or something. I originally did like the idea of the CFL's, but I am just not real happy with the rate of growth I am seeing. I planted 2 sprouts (first grow) on Jan 1, both I have started to LST (6-7" overall length???) but it seems like they have stalled out or something (I know some of it is my newbie mistakes and impatience), plus the heat is another issue that I am not real happy with.

At this point my plan is once I get this new light, I will move those 2 up to the flower chamber for additional vegging under the MH conversion, and then switch it to flower on the HPS (fingers and toes crossed for 1 female!!! - if not I have a few other smaller sprouts that I am working on as backups)

I'll defiantly get some pictures posted of my cabinet and a grow journal started once things settle down a bit in my life (work/family). I posted some preliminary plans of my cabinet a couple of weeks ago, but have tweaked it a bit since then. I am pretty proud of my cab so far, as it was a DIY project based on those $2000 all-in-one stealth kits that you can buy (except I am doing it myself for around $600 total).

Overall the cabinet is 6.5' tall x 3' wide x 2' deep. I have it sectioned into 3 areas:
bottom = veg/clone area - 1' 10" tall
middle = additional veg/final flower stage - 4' tall
top = storage area/vortex fan/ballast/misc B.S. - 8" tall

I ran 6" rigid duct into both the veg area and the flower area and plan on having the one 6" vortex fan sucking the air from both areas out of the cabinet (currently using the Home Depot Inductor fan for this, but I really don't think its going to work once I put the carbon filter on). The HPS/MH lights will be on their own self contained vent system so that it hopefully doesn't heat up the rest of my cabinet too much and I can get the lights close and have as much usable space as possible.

Sorry if I am rambling... I'm pretty baked right now