Hi I have this 4ft tall, 4ft wide and 2ft in depth box that Ive made that i plan on having 3 plants in. My question is, I have this "Hortilux 1000 watt Super HPS Grow lamp" and I was wondering if I got a grow light reflector hood with a cooling tube if I could use this light in such a small space, or would it be too strong??? Thanks!!
I assume youre talking about a vented hood? In my experience using a 4x4 x7 tent a 600w worked just fine as long as it was winter and 15-20 degrees outside. Ive got 1200w going now in a room about 8 times that size and its always 90 degrees and 50 percent humidity and thats 8 feet underground in a basement that stays 50 degrees. If youve got ac and a room a 1000w is fine, otherwise youre in for a ride.
You should use LED or CFL in a space of that size. The height simply isn't there even if you do autoflowering varieties. You need space between the canopy and the light when you do HPS and with such small height you will not have the spacing. There's nothing wrong with using CFL or LED, you can still pull high yielding, high quality bud.
A cool tube would definitely be nowhere near enough cooling on that bulb to allow it to function in that size cabinet. It would literally fry your plants. You MIGHT be able to get away with 250w HID lighting with a proper cool tube, or 200-300w CFL. If price is of no issue, go LED+CFL... At least in my opinion. Remember though, that I am an amateur grower.
I use 600w cool tube in almost double the space and have to use multiple fans to keep it at 80. And not to mention for grow that little a 1000w will rape your electric bill.
Don't grow in a box and run the 1,000w. In the winter a couple 1,000's in the basement heat my whole house. Boxes are for low power small grows, good place for an LED.
make sure you buy a cheap LED! or at least one with no secondary lenses. if you get a good one you are going to need at least 20 inches between the fixture and the canopy.
Hmm, I'm not sure I would recommend just any cheap LED.. do your research first, there is a lot of misinformation out there and companies who straight up lie, hide info, are cheaply made, etc. In my opinion it's worth it to spend a little extra on good quality. But you're right in that they don't HAVE to be expensive (I've heard good things about the Mars II series as far as going cheap that is probably your best bet, but def check out Area 51 lights as well.. there are also other good brands other folks on here can recommend). I just got the Area 51 RW-75, I think it was about $250, using it in a smaller space as yours (2' x 1.5' x 4' flower chamber) but had planned on adding 2-4 of those Cree floodlights to the top corners as well for extra light. Maybe some CFLs placed directly around the canopy, out of the path of the other lights (if I can even rig that up haha.. might try them just on the sides or something like that, but the RW-75 + Cree bulbs should be plenty of light for that space. Hell I believe the RW-75 is even enough for the space (they have larger panels as well) but I would like to just pile in the lights, especially with LED and a high air flow, I won't be worrying too much about heat issues)