I'll be growing 6 plants from clones and I'll take 6 clones off them when they're ready. So I'll be vegging 6 plants while I flower 6 plants (eventually). I was thinking about getting three 250w HPSs, 2 for flower & 1 for veg.

I ran across a great deal on 400w HPSs, only $100 plus shipping for a new bulb, refurbished ballast (3 yr warrantee), 18" batwing reflector, and all cables.

I'll be growing in a walk in closet so I'll have plenty of room & ventilation. Here are my 2 questions.

1. I'm pretty sure that I should have enough light for my purposes though I might want to eventually add another 400w HPS for veg. Am I right?

2. Do 400w HPS bulbs have to be cooled by a fan?

I appreciate any help I can get. I should have had this room up & running already.

How big is your closet?
Do you have exhaust/intake/circulation fans already? If so what size are the intake & exhaust?
Are you planning on veg/flower in the same location? If so how will you make it light proof & ventilate?
I'm not a 400 guy, I run two 600's in a 2.5x7.5 closet & it gets freaking hot in there if the ventilation ain't right so I imagine those 400's are going to put off a considerable amount of heat. Cool tube might be the way to go, but then again we are back to the fan size question.
BTW, if your room isn't ready you can work with CFL's for a while, but IMHO they don't really promote the vigorous growth a couple of MH's do.
GWN

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Actually I did some research on CFLs. It is possible to get a pretty good yeild in 75 days by forcing the plants to flower early. Some plants more than quadruple in size when you force early flowering. However if you don't do it right you end up with light & fluffy buds and I can't afford to take the chance.

The closet is about 56" x 84". On the right there's a rod running the 84" length of the room with 2 shelves above it. On the left there's a short 23" rod then a set of floor to ceiling shelves start. The shelves run 37.5" long and come 10" into the room, then there's a 23" wall (plywood on one side of the wall, drywall on the other - on the other side of the wall is a small boiler room with one of those large round ducts for vent)

Basic shape of closet - 8 ft ceiling.....
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I'm going to flower the plants along the back wall in 2 rows, 3 plants per row. I'll be creating 2 more walls with that shiny black plastic so I can adjust the wall up & down, this way the light is always above it for better ventilation. And I'll be using 2 lights back there.

I have the rest of the closet for veg with that 3rd light.

I'll eventually cut a hold in the boiler room wall and run a vent to the boiler rooms vent. But for now I was planning on building a fan box at the corner where the plastic walls meet, I'll cut a hole in the plastic and attatch it to the fan box which I'll have pointed in so it vents out the top instead of pulling the lights heat down toward the plants. Not sure how big the fan will be, any suggestions would be great.

I'll figure out how to keep the veg light from reflecting off the ceiling back onto the flowering plants, I have plent of room to work with there.

At the closet door I have 2 house fans. One round floor fan that will be pointed in and one standing fan that will be pointed out.

Um, Hmm. Something happened to the little diagram of the closet that I made.

The strait lines on the left in the center are supposed to represent the shelves. I hope that makes sense

Oh, forgot to mention. If neccessary I can move the veg plants to my bedroom. So if three 400w lamps are too much for that closet I can move 1 out.

Sorry for writing soo many posts, but I think I finally have the set up that I want in my mind.

I'm going to set up a veg station in my bedroom with a 400w HPS, there should be plenty of ventilation for the one bulb.

In the closet will be my flowering station. The closet will be emptied and I'll be setting up in the center. Instead of building walls for reflection, I'll place each of the two 400w HPSs slightly on either side of the two rows of plants. Once I get the lights & hood, I can use my math to calculate the angle to hang the lights, and I'll make angled floor reflectors. Between the lights & reflectors, I should get good side coverage. Oh, and for even coverage I'll turn the plants 45 degrees per day.

I'm going to take the door off the closet and tape up velcro strips on the inside of the door jam, then I'll make a plastic door to hang. I'll cut a hole in the top right & bottom left of the plastic door and build a box for 2 fans. Probably simple fans to start, unless you think I might need more.

I'll keep improving my set up for the next few harvests and probably move to a commercial space eventually. But as long as there isn't too much heat I think this might work. What do you think?

you can do just fine with some cfls for veg

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http://www.rollitup.org/aerogardener...-new-grow.html <<<special kush#1 grow FLOWER

Nah, for 6 plants if I want to grow them over 20 inches I'd have to buy over 16 CFLs at about $9ea. If I can get a 400w HDS for $100 I'm getting a lot more bang for my buck.

The real question is the two 400w HDSs in the closet. I think it will be ok I'm just not 100% sure if I need fans for my hoods.

i use a simple 6 inch fan to cool my 400 watt hps i point the fan directly at the lamp works fine.

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I no longer grow weed only research out of interest!

Just found another good deal that might offer another way to go. I found a 1000w Switchable for just over $200. So the other way to go would be the 1000w in the flower room (closet) and the 400w vegging plants in the BR.

Would the heat from a 1000w HPSs be easier to manage than the heat of two 400w HPSs?