250w HPS Club And Help Guide

Wretched420

Well-Known Member
Hello 250w HPS users,and browsers.
This thread is made to help 250w users to share pix, journals, or any information that helps a user in a 250w enviroment. Most information given is most likely from another source.This meant to be a guide to help and share problems and solutions.

ill start off with some basic information on a 250w HPS.

Lumen output on a basic 250w is around 25,000 - 35,000.this also varies on type's of bulbs.

Best amount of space for 250w is "3 x 3" but ive seen great grows in bigger areas though.

distance from tops of plant varies due to cirrculation of air in the room.
about 5" - 16" is a good range to stay in. the further you light is from the plants the lumen intensity decreases.so keep at a good distance.

also some 250w system's can have a cool tube set up to minimize heat.

250 watts are not as big or a hot as other system's so they can be used in small places great for stealthy grows.

all users welcome to share any information that would help a 250 watt HPS user.

ill share anymore information i find that will help.and please share any information you have..thanks



any please keep the drama out this thread.. thank you
 

kungpowking

Active Member
Nice to see you are setting this up. I'm sure there are a lot of folks out there that are thinking about using a 250w setup or currently are an could use/give some advice. I know I for one am on the fence right now between 400w and a 250w. If i knew how to give you what ever points this board uses I would :clap:
 

Gr8fulGreen

Well-Known Member
I sometimes use a 250 watt MH for early vegging for my 3 x 3 x 5 grow area. But once there is some substantial vegging growth to penetrate I switch to 400 watt MH / HPS. I'm sure 250 watt can do the job on a couple small plants, dwarfs of scrog, I just find the 400 watt works best in the space I use.
 

Mountainman86

Active Member
Hey guys, I recently got a 250 watt HPS bulb, reflector, and ballast. My grow area is small!: 1.5'x1.5'x4'. I'm planning on growing either 4 Lowryder #2s or one dominant indica. I really can't decide.

Anyway, I'll be using CFL 2300K bulbs for vegging and then the 250 for flowering.At first I thought my space would be too small, but others have told me it will be fine with good ventilation. I don't have much money.

Currently I was thinking of have 4 3" holes on the bottom sides of the box with screening over them. 2 on each SIDE of the box. Then putting 2 120mm 110CFM computer fans on the same side of the box near the top on the BACK side. Each fan will blow through its own carbon filter as stated on my post under Indoor Growing(swing by!). Will this be enough?

Also, will the smell of my sweet babies get out through the intakes? They will be kinda close to the plants.
 

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Wretched420

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I recently got a 250 watt HPS bulb, reflector, and ballast. My grow area is small!: 1.5'x1.5'x4'. I'm planning on growing either 4 Lowryder #2s or one dominant indica. I really can't decide.

Anyway, I'll be using CFL 2300K bulbs for vegging and then the 250 for flowering.At first I thought my space would be too small, but others have told me it will be fine with good ventilation. I don't have much money.

Currently I was thinking of have 4 3" holes on the bottom sides of the box with screening over them. 2 on each SIDE of the box. Then putting 2 120mm 110CFM computer fans on the same side of the box near the top on the BACK side. Each fan will blow through its own carbon filter as stated on my post under Indoor Growing(swing by!). Will this be enough?

Also, will the smell of my sweet babies get out through the intakes? They will be kinda close to the plants.

Nice Man, that is a great area for a 250 like you said as long as you have good ventilation youll be fine.. i dunno you would have to try it out. It gets pretty hot. My areais 4 x 4 and its pretty warm in there and i have 1 big 1 1/2' floor fan.
i would go with the lowryder #2.. if you do got with the 1 indica you should top and fim the plant and do a LST method. if you can your area is kinda small ... good luck
 

paddy510

Well-Known Member
theyre about 6 and 8wks old now, put em under the 250w on 12/12 about 3-4wks ago.
theyve only just shown hairs yesterday, so flowering is only just starting.
the big one has been topped the little one hasnt.
theyre 12" and 8" tall atm.
 

Mountainman86

Active Member
Nice Man, that is a great area for a 250 like you said as long as you have good ventilation youll be fine.. i dunno you would have to try it out. It gets pretty hot. My areais 4 x 4 and its pretty warm in there and i have 1 big 1 1/2' floor fan.
i would go with the lowryder #2.. if you do got with the 1 indica you should top and fim the plant and do a LST method. if you can your area is kinda small ... good luck
Thank you! Some say go 1 big indica, others Lowryder. So, I'm still in the market. I agree t is a small place and I feel ever one big plant would fill it up quickly even with LST.

I'll keep you updated and will be asking many questions I'm sure!
 

Wretched420

Well-Known Member
Thank you! Some say go 1 big indica, others Lowryder. So, I'm still in the market. I agree t is a small place and I feel ever one big plant would fill it up quickly even with LST.

I'll keep you updated and will be asking many questions I'm sure!

yea man no problem that what the threads for lol:mrgreen::blsmoke: yea i would go with whatever you choose yourself.
 

Mountainman86

Active Member
So I've come to the realization that I'm most likely going to need a cool tube for my 250 in my box.

Any plans or pictures of cool tubes on 250's that you'd suggest?
 

Gr8fulGreen

Well-Known Member
So I've come to the realization that I'm most likely going to need a cool tube for my 250 in my box.

Any plans or pictures of cool tubes on 250's that you'd suggest?
I thought the same thing when I was using my 250 watt MH, but didn't. I thought I might need one for my 400 watt MH/HPS, but with two 6 inch circulating fans and a scrubber running the major exhaust I have no problems keeping temps between 75-80. Its all ambient temperature really. If I keep the room the box is in around 68-70, no worries. 71-73 and temps can easily rise up to 82-86 inside the grow box.

To be prepared I went on ebay and won an auction from HTG I think for a cooltube, good price too. But I have yet to assemble it with the ducting. I have no exhaust fan for it and I really don't want to get into all that here as sound is an issue, and good inline fans cost.

Anyways, not trying to deter you, but I put my cooltube, unused, back in the box as I don't need it. Probably won't use it either, unless I decided to upgrade to a 600-1000 watt.
 

Mountainman86

Active Member
Interesting. Thank you for your knowledge. :-P

How big is your room? Mine is very small. My box will be in my closet. The intakes will only have aluminum screening so I don't want to risk keeping the door open (and letting light in when there shouldn't be) to keep temperatures good in the closet.

I supposed I could set up my box as if I werent going to use a cool tube. Then turn on the 250 hps with nothing growing, use the exhaust like I would normally and see what the temps are. If they're ridiculous I'll have to get a cool tube. I was told not to blow heat around in the box with other fans because that will disrupt the natural convection taking place.
 

Wretched420

Well-Known Member
yea i dont think you need a cool tube but you are wokring in a small box so your gonna need good ventilation .. i would try running them without the plants and see how things get in there and work form there
 

Wretched420

Well-Known Member
depending on how many plants and strain in good conditions you can easily yeild over 100 grams ive seen a 3-1/2 oz dry off 1 plant SCROG under a 250.
 

past times

Well-Known Member
i harvested 6 plants for 220 cured grams of weed with my 250...my closet is 4x2 but the functional grow space i used was about 3x2 ft.

i keep the bud right up almost touching the light...this gets maximum intensity...but also heat, so i have a lot of fans (some on base of plant and some across top and over light).

i only veg for 4-6 weeks...topping 1 week prior to flowering. this usually gives me 5-10 good shoots. also i lollipop like a mother. again this keeps the areas that are growing actual bud in a light region with optimum intensity
 
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