Hi all! I have a 12 gallon dwc system with 4 plants in the veg phase right now. I'm getting nervous that the light that I have won't be enough for flowering. Here is what I have right now, I know it's kind of ghetto but it's what I had and I'm kind of on a budget. I have two 40w LED panels hanging over top of them. About 4 inches away. On one side I have a Aerogarden CFL hood with 3 26 watt lights and on the other side another Aerogarden hood with 2 26 watt bulbs. I also have a 12 watt led light on one end. So all in all I have 222 watts on my girls. Will this be enough or should I upgrade to this HPS for flowering and use what I have for veg. This is what I'm thinking about purchasing. I just nervous about heat output, the room I'm in has no windows or AC. So an exhaust system is not an option. I don't want to waste my money if what I have is fine. I also don't want to get something that still isn't powerful enough to get some awesome buds. I've attached a pic of my current setup, and the link is to what I'm thinking of getting. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Apollo Horticulture GLK400GW19 400 Watt Grow Light Digital Dimmable HPS MH System for Plants Gull Wing Hood Set http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK600GW...
It's hard to say for sure from the pic, but it looks like you have enough CFLs to cover the top of the canopy and that your CFLs are brighter than the LEDs. If that's the case, I would put the CFLs, being the brightest light source available, above the canopy and the LEDs around the sides and go through flower like that. EDIT: Looking at that nice compact growth you have, I'd say they're getting enough light and you could probably just let it rip as is and be just fine.
I don't think what you have is going to be powerful enough to flower off 4 plants. I run 1,000 watt lights for flower and 4-6 is the most I put under one of those...and even then I have to be very careful about making sure my plants are getting ample light. The LED's are the least problematic as far as heat goes (with the flowering lights), but even they produce some heat. I know you say you have no options for exhaust/intake in the area you're growing in, but there's no way you can run a light strong enough to flower 4 plants without having some air movement going to pull the heat away from the plants. Heat will kill a healthy plant as fast as anything will. You have the option of backing down on the number of plants you're going to flower which will not require such a big light to flower with. You can actually harvest more off one well-taken-care-of plant than you can get from a bunch shoved into a space that is too small and depriving them of what they need. But if you intend to flower all 4 of those and want a decent yield, you're going to have to find somewhere else to do it where you can manage the lighting or figure out a way to create some cooling in the room you're using currently. If I were going to try to flower off 4 and chose hps/hid, I would get the biggest one I could afford. The more light you have, the bigger and healthier plants you have...thus, a bigger harvest. Good luck and let me know if I can help you out. TWW
I have 3 fans, 1 large and 2 small blowing. And the room has been averaging about 78-80 during the day. Do you think the fans will help enough?
Thanks for the feedback! I think you're right, I'm going to switch them out. I also ordered an addition aerogarden hood off of ebay last weekend, so that will be 2 extra 26 watt bulbs over top. I think this is turning into one of those situations where I should have just spent a little extra money at the beginning and done it right. But I already had the 2 hoods, so I went with it. I think that space might start to become an issue as well. They are so full, but not very tall, I rotate them everyday so the inside gets light but I think I'm going to have to get a bigger container and space them out more. This is my first real grow and it sure is a learning experience!