Hey all. This is my current set up. The lights are 2x 125w (625w equiv) dual spectrum CFLs. I was having a temp being too low issue during colder winter nights if I turn on the 6" fan, so I decided the best way to heat the place is to add more lights! Now, anyone with Google can tell you that you can't go wrong with mh/hps if you can control the temps. If I wanted to avoid using a cool tube set up, would temps get too hot with a 250 watt Hid in a 2 ft by 4ft space with just a 6in ocliatitng fan and exhaust fan? If this would work perfect, I'm most likely going to go with this as im im least likely to screw it up. Unless of course a 400w LED would be even better! The first benefit to LED is that they look awesome! The draw will be less, so the actual consumption will be similar to the 250w Hid. The thing that I couldn't find was how the light penetration was for led vs hid. Also, I've seem comments about them being loud. My tent is in my bedroom, would the LED bother me or even be noticeable? My plan is to use the new light as primary lights and use the current CFLs as spot lights.
Led's can be noisy, mars hydro make good cheap ones(If the fan doesn't bother you I doubt the led will). In that space I'd go for a 400w mh/hps. Get a digital one and you can always dim it.
Hey Bee Yeah I think a 400w HPS might prove a bit too toasty for that size space really......but like Andy said, with a dimmable ballast you could always crank it down to 250. As far as light penetration for LED's, I used to think they could never match what HPS can produce, but recently I'm seeing a lot of experienced growers switching over to LED's, so there must be some decent units out there! Pokesmot is about to run a side by side HPS/LED grow and record the outcome, so I'm gonna hold off until I see his results.......kinda hoping for LED to come out on top actually, a couple of those units instead of my HPS lights would save me a fortune on electricity.
If I could afford a high end led id get that because of heat issues My journal http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1337855-Nonfiction%27s-Adventure%27s