So I only have a few grows under my belt and finally have enough space to do it right. I actually have more space than I need, so Im wondering if I should build some temporary walls to keep the plants and light contained? Based on what Ive read I should have an area of about 24x24 up to maybe 34x34 to get the correct lumen per sq. foot ratio I have a 400 watt hps. So should I just use the reflector with my cool tube to focus the light on the area I want? Or should I put up some plywood/foam board walls lined with mylar around my grow space to reflect the light that would otherwise be wasted back onto the plants? I have a fan and ventilation so heat shouldnt be a problem. What size area (footprint) would most people recommend for a 400 watt hps if Im more concerned with quality than quantity? Eventually Ill get a bigger light but for now just looking for input using what I have. Thanks in advance. PS I have 8 feet of vertical space to work with.
400 watt footprint questions....
- Thread starter gem-bob
- Start date
Bluediemond
Active Member
the more confined the space, the more light gets reflected back to your plants.
lonleysmoka
Active Member
Id go with like 3'x3' and enclose that. Thats just my thoughts on it.
Corbat420
Well-Known Member
my rule of thumb for lights is they can comferbly cover a 1x1 area/100 watts. 400 watts=4x4 area, maximum.
if i were you i would just mylar/panda film the whole room, use a reflector to center the light on your plants and add suplemental side lighting with CFL's. id say use 8x23w CFLs ($30 at homo depot), all 2700k and hang then around the area of the plants, thats around 75,000 lumens of 2500K light, you should be able to run 12-18 plants in flowering.
i would make a wall on one side of the room, so that it can be lightproofed from the other space and use it as a cloning room. i wouldn't keep mother plants, i would just take a small clone off of a clone ready to go into the flowering room, this way you can create a small continual harvest.
all the materials, the CFL's ($30) lumber+plywood ($50~) and light to power the cloning room (more CFL's, $60 for a 250~ watt set up) and all the miscilanious materials would probably cost around $150-$170, but that can ALL be made back in the first harvest. hell, you'll get that back off of one plant
if i were you i would just mylar/panda film the whole room, use a reflector to center the light on your plants and add suplemental side lighting with CFL's. id say use 8x23w CFLs ($30 at homo depot), all 2700k and hang then around the area of the plants, thats around 75,000 lumens of 2500K light, you should be able to run 12-18 plants in flowering.
i would make a wall on one side of the room, so that it can be lightproofed from the other space and use it as a cloning room. i wouldn't keep mother plants, i would just take a small clone off of a clone ready to go into the flowering room, this way you can create a small continual harvest.
all the materials, the CFL's ($30) lumber+plywood ($50~) and light to power the cloning room (more CFL's, $60 for a 250~ watt set up) and all the miscilanious materials would probably cost around $150-$170, but that can ALL be made back in the first harvest. hell, you'll get that back off of one plant
I don't really plan on ever having more than maybe 4 plants in flowering at once, so corbat would you still make the same recommendations? Seems like you would recommend plywood for the temporary walls also instead of foam board? When you recommend adding that much supplemental lighting, would that be something I could get a lighting strip for like vanity lighting in a bathroom, or would each cfl or maybe pair of cfls with a two way adapter need it's own dedicated socket and plug? Would I need to worry about overloading the circuit with those extra lights plus the hps and a couple fans? Isn't much else on the circuit, an old tv and a couple room lights, thanks again for the input so far
Brick Top
New Member
I think I would use PVC to make a frame of about 3 ½-W feet by 3 ½-W feet inside with a hinged door. I would wrap it in 6 "mill" thickness panda/poly, around the hinged door-corner to seal the hinging side and leave about 8 or 10 inches as a flap that would go around the opening/closing side of the door so it Velcro’s to the side around the corner completing the seal ….. and of course cover the top with it too.
　
PVC is cheap and easy to work with and with so many different fittings and connections to pick from someone can make almost any design they want or need including the cross pieces on top to hang their lighting from.
　
Reflectivity of panda/poly does vary from 75% to 90% but you research some and find some of the 90% and that would be pretty good. If later you thought you wanted or needed the 92% to 97% reflectivity of Mylar you just hang sheets inside your panda/poly using Velcro strips.
　
PVC is cheap and easy to work with and with so many different fittings and connections to pick from someone can make almost any design they want or need including the cross pieces on top to hang their lighting from.
　
Reflectivity of panda/poly does vary from 75% to 90% but you research some and find some of the 90% and that would be pretty good. If later you thought you wanted or needed the 92% to 97% reflectivity of Mylar you just hang sheets inside your panda/poly using Velcro strips.
Corbat420
Well-Known Member
in the case of you only needing 4 plants in flowering at any time, i would just use the one 400 watt light (around 50-60,000 lumens) set up in one corner of the room, make some small removable 6 foot walls to set up around the flowering plants for reflectivity, and make them easily movable. use the money you would of spend on lighting, plywood, ect and use brick tops idea for a small clone/veg room set off tho the other side of the room. you only need 10x23watt CFL's to run a very sucessful clone/veg room much larger than wats needed for your needs, so the extra lighting will just add room to experiment with the space/CFL ratio on the veg tent, and when it comes down to it 8x6500k CFLs is $30 and 2x2700k is $12, thats $42 for more lighting than you need.
if you do it this way you can take 2 clones every 2 weeks (just to garentee survival), take 1 strong and healthy plant from the veg tent and put it into flowering, and then harvest one of the flowering plants that has been in for 8-9 weeks. this way you can run a perpetual harvest, of a single plant every 2 weeks. that should cover your needs and give you alittle to save
if you do it this way you can take 2 clones every 2 weeks (just to garentee survival), take 1 strong and healthy plant from the veg tent and put it into flowering, and then harvest one of the flowering plants that has been in for 8-9 weeks. this way you can run a perpetual harvest, of a single plant every 2 weeks. that should cover your needs and give you alittle to save
I was thinking something similar to this last night - I think I'll try this set up. I already have a couple 2700k cfls, just need to upgrade my fan and i think this will work nicely. Thanks for all the repliesin the case of you only needing 4 plants in flowering at any time, i would just use the one 400 watt light (around 50-60,000 lumens) set up in one corner of the room, make some small removable 6 foot walls to set up around the flowering plants for reflectivity, and make them easily movable. use the money you would of spend on lighting, plywood, ect and use brick tops idea for a small clone/veg room set off tho the other side of the room. you only need 10x23watt CFL's to run a very sucessful clone/veg room much larger than wats needed for your needs, so the extra lighting will just add room to experiment with the space/CFL ratio on the veg tent, and when it comes down to it 8x6500k CFLs is $30 and 2x2700k is $12, thats $42 for more lighting than you need.
if you do it this way you can take 2 clones every 2 weeks (just to garentee survival), take 1 strong and healthy plant from the veg tent and put it into flowering, and then harvest one of the flowering plants that has been in for 8-9 weeks. this way you can run a perpetual harvest, of a single plant every 2 weeks. that should cover your needs and give you alittle to save