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new grow tent, lighting?'s

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by tefp, Sep 20, 2009.

  1. #1 tefp, Sep 20, 2009
    I am building a new indoor grow tent. The dimensions are 5'wide x 1.6'deep x 5.5' high.

    That gives a grand total of 8 sqft of ground space. Probably fitting a maximum of about 10-12 plants, vegged till their about 1 foot tall or so then flowered.

    I am still deciding if I should get a 400w or 600w light. If i were to get a 400w it would most likely be the one from HTG Supply that is $119 about. It would only be HPS and i would have to use a converter bulb for MH.

    Using a 400w HPS that would give me about 50w/sqft and about 6250 lumens/sqft. Is this ideal or might it be too much?


    The reason i'm considering getting a 600w would be if i were to ever upgrade and build a larger grow box then i won't have to upgrade my lighting. Also, if i were to get a 600w i would probably invest a bit more money. Something like a lumatek digital ballast that would run both HPS and MH (what i really like about it).

    I am just not sure if it would kill my plants to have that kind of light on them. Would a 600w light in 8 sqft be suicide for my plants? Thats something like 75w/sqft and 11250 lumens/sqft. Is this ok. I just don't want it to negatively effect the plants.

    Thanks
     
  2. #2 Calehedron, Sep 20, 2009
    You want 5-7K lumens per sq ft for a good flowering. Sunlight is 10Kish. You could get away with the 600w if its air cooled and kept the proper distance from the tops. There are charts out there that show foot-candle output at every inch distance so that you can find out how far would be optimal.
     
  3. #3 tefp, Sep 20, 2009
    Thank you so much Calehedron, that is exactly what i needed. Answered all my question
     
  4. #4 bouldernugs, Sep 20, 2009
    whatever light you get make sure the hood is ducted on both sides and that you have a fan running through it sucking in air from outside the tent, blowing it through the light, and blowing it back outside the tent (so the hot air that touches the bulb never mixes with the air in the tent) or else there's no way you'll be able to keep that enclosure cool unless you run expensive AC.
     
  5. #5 tefp, Sep 20, 2009
    Yah, heat is the definite issue. I've been eying the following reflectors.

    euro reflector
    High Tech Garden Supply

    or the easy cool 6 reflector
    High Tech Garden Supply

    Should i have any problems getting lighting to the very ends of this grow tent? Are there any other reflectors that will help spread the light in a rectangle area. Most of the time people use reflectors for square grows that are like 4x4.

    If there are any other reflectors that you could recommend. I would like to keep it under $150, 200 being the max.
     
  6. #6 Calehedron, Sep 20, 2009
    If the tent is lined with reflective material you will be just fine. I use Reflectix that can be bought at Home Depot. The narrowness makes up for the extra foot in length.
     
  7. #7 darthbaker, Sep 20, 2009

    they dont make 600w MH bulbs except for hps conversions so getting a switchable 600w ballast doesnt seem practical to me.. :hide:
     
  8. #8 tefp, Sep 20, 2009
    Wow, that really makes me start to lean for the 400w HPS and then just run MH conversion bulbs. Do you know why they don't make 600w MH bulbs?
     

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