So i made my own grow box but ventilation wasn't that great as i had to keep it in my closet but now I have an open space to actually put some good lights and make a nice set up. What I need is your opinions on what to get, I want to get either a 600 watt hps or a 1000 watt and i don't really have all that much money to spend so i need to do it on a budget. With the high wattage hps lights i will need a ballast and the fixture correct? Any good websites that is fairly cheap and has good products that could be recommended to me would be great, thanks.
Need grow room, need advice for lights
- Thread starter nMkjordon
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Stinkmeaner
Well-Known Member
if your on a budget and only plan to grow one or two plants, i suggest CFL's
my avatar was grown with a 125 W blue spectrum ( wrong lighting for bloom) . it works fine
a you WILL need a ballast etc with a high wattage HPS bulb. plus the generate heat like a muh fuckah. your choice
my avatar was grown with a 125 W blue spectrum ( wrong lighting for bloom) . it works fine
a you WILL need a ballast etc with a high wattage HPS bulb. plus the generate heat like a muh fuckah. your choice
I only plan on growing a couple of plants and have a process going like that, my last set up consisted of about 6 26 watt cfls but i didn't really like those that much as the growth was taking longer that it should have and i put them outside for the moment and the growth has accelerated but i have a few jack herer seeds that i would like to start indoors right now, what would be the best option for cfls? 46 watt? Should i go for the highest wattage cfl i can find or should i go with more and a little lower wattage like a 46 watt?
So i have come to the conclusion that this - http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-GrowBright-2-Foot-4-Lamp-High-Output-T5-With-Choice-of-Bulbs.asp is what i am going to get, comes with 4 bulbs and the fixture and a 2 year warranty and it a very fair price.
4 the love of ganja
Active Member
600 watt will grow max of 6 or 7 wonderful plants but your gonna need very good ventilation in a small area like jack ripa said, stay away from nextgen ballasts mine gives me so many problems they are terrible go with a quantum or a phantom ive heard good things
hoagtech
Well-Known Member
Your gonna hate what that t5 does in bloom. T5's are great because they cover a large area with bright light, but they have very little penetration vs HID (HPS/MH). So when your plant gets taller than 2 ft. that light is gonna be worthless
If you want more power on a budget, ask your local hydroponics guy to wire a 600w hps ballast for you. You can get away with a 600w hps kit for around 85 bucks
4 the love of ganja
Active Member
what do you mean wire i would love to get another one for 85 bucks
Jeffdt1966
Active Member
and if you really want to grow the buds the on the cheap n easy - click my journal and just follow the link to my grows ( perpetual ) I dont just talk the shit ... I do it 
The top light may be useless when it starts blooming but i also have a lot of CFLs that can be placed all around the plant and add that much extra light to all areas of the plant, I do not live anywhere near a hydroponic store as i live in georgia and we highly frown upon that kinda stuff unfortunately. I searched around and i couldn't find any deals that great on hps so thats why i got the t5 setup, and i have seen plenty of very nice grows from seedling to harvest with the t5 set up and as I will only be growing a couple plants at a time it seems like the right one for me.
sk8disgruntled
Well-Known Member
4 the love of ganja
Active Member
miracle grow sucks its to acidic i would say just to order the fox farm thats all i use mix 50/50 ocean forest and light warrior.
hoagtech
Well-Known Member
Even with the cfl's your gonna have penetration issues with your taller plants because your cfl's aslo dont have any penetration. You should be able to find a hydroponic store within 20 miles of you. Just type in the nearest city and the word "hydroponics" and you'll be off to a great start.
You can find 600w ballast kits at hydroponics store for around 85-90 bucks. Ask the store owner to wire it for you.
rasvial
Well-Known Member
I found a great Electronic Ballast+Vented Reflector 600w MH/HPS package on Ebay.. I guess just look around. My light setup cost ~155 with S&H.
While you can nominally save a little money with CFLs, you need bunches of them to grow satisfying plants. I had 2 grows under 4x45 CFL in addition to ~200 watts of HID light- it grew decent bud but I was always trying to find ways to squeeze more light into the setup.
That cfl setup (excluding the HID parts) was around $60.
If you like puzzles and DIY'ing you'll have more to do with a CFL grow, and some people on here have found some really creative, effective solutions. If you're more stuck between 600 and 1000, I recommend getting the 600. If you want more you can get another 600 later, have more total wattage, and more flexibility to cover a wider area.
While you can nominally save a little money with CFLs, you need bunches of them to grow satisfying plants. I had 2 grows under 4x45 CFL in addition to ~200 watts of HID light- it grew decent bud but I was always trying to find ways to squeeze more light into the setup.
That cfl setup (excluding the HID parts) was around $60.
If you like puzzles and DIY'ing you'll have more to do with a CFL grow, and some people on here have found some really creative, effective solutions. If you're more stuck between 600 and 1000, I recommend getting the 600. If you want more you can get another 600 later, have more total wattage, and more flexibility to cover a wider area.
Well i have a fairly small cabinet that i am growing in now so i think the t5 will be good enough for now, and just for starters i got some moisture control mix Jungle Growth soil earlier at Lowes along with some perlite, says that it prevents over and underwatering so i thought i would give it a try and if it doesn't do well ill order some fox farm. Also I don't see why it seems everything that is not a 600-1000 watt HPS is any good.
TheBoozer
Member
As said in earlier posts T5's do not penetrate well. I use T5's in early veg and that's it. The T5's keep the internodal length incredibly tight in early veg but they don't do crap for plants more than a foot or two tall.
In a tight space with a budget you should be more concerned about ventilation than wattage. You need some type of HID lighting but more importantly you need to keep the temps down. I started in a small closet with a 400W MH hooked up to a 4" ecoplus exhaust fan. It was fine in the cold of winter but when the temps picked up so did the closet.
What is your space like? Do you have room for an air cooled 400W MH and portable A/C? If you do go that route, if your budget allows a bigger light great but remember the bigger the light the more cooling you have to do and I would not do a 600W or 1000W without it being in air cooled hood (even with A/C). The cooler you can get the light the closer you can put it to the plants.
In a tight space with a budget you should be more concerned about ventilation than wattage. You need some type of HID lighting but more importantly you need to keep the temps down. I started in a small closet with a 400W MH hooked up to a 4" ecoplus exhaust fan. It was fine in the cold of winter but when the temps picked up so did the closet.
What is your space like? Do you have room for an air cooled 400W MH and portable A/C? If you do go that route, if your budget allows a bigger light great but remember the bigger the light the more cooling you have to do and I would not do a 600W or 1000W without it being in air cooled hood (even with A/C). The cooler you can get the light the closer you can put it to the plants.