400W too much for my space?

My grow cab is 35"(L)17"(W)5.6'(T). I want a 400W HPS but am thinking it may just be a fire hazard. I WILL be running a cool tube light, but I still wonder. The fan running the cool tube is only a 4" 190cfm connected to my scrubber. I am only looking to grow 2-4 plants. Would a 250W be a better choice? I know more light is always better, but in such a small space I worry about the heat. Thanks for ANY help!

the old rule of thumb is 50- 100 watts per sg foot so a 400 would put you at almost 100 watts per sg so if you can control heat......
instead of running a scrubber & cutting airflow,if you get your air from outside the grow & vent outside,the air wont need to be cleaned. use the scrubber for the air coming from the grow itself.

Do a sealed venting setup for the cool tube and heat will not be an issue. You have plenty of space for a 400 watt.

Cubieman said:

My grow cab is 35"(L)17"(W)5.6'(T). I want a 400W HPS but am thinking it may just be a fire hazard. I WILL be running a cool tube light, but I still wonder. The fan running the cool tube is only a 4" 190cfm connected to my scrubber. I am only looking to grow 2-4 plants. Would a 250W be a better choice? I know more light is always better, but in such a small space I worry about the heat. Thanks for ANY help!

Click to expand...

I run a Air Cooled Hood, Carbon Filter on my 400 watt HPS with a 190 cfm fan.

When running the lighting in my grow box (3X4X7ft) the temperature raises about 2-4 degree over the ambient temperature.

That should be a great area for 2 well grown plants.

Good Luck

Thanks guys. I am also looking at different way to hook up my inline fan/scrubber because there is so little precious growing space. This is an apartment grow, so smell MUST be under control, if it starts to smell it will have to be pulled. I am wanting to get the scrubber and the fan OUT of the grow cab if possible but it seems the "best" way is to go Scrubber->Inline->Cool Tube->Out. And If I place the fan out side the box the ducting would have to snake out of the cab once running from the Scrubber to the fan, then back into the cab for the cool tube, then back out of the cab for exhaust. I want this sucker lightproof so that would be a bitch. I know I can cram it all in there but the Scrubber and Fan will take up a LOT of space. Again my cab is 35"(L)17"(W)5.6'(T). Any ideas for the scrubber/fan/tube setup?

Check out my signature. I have a 400sw in about the same space. Have it in a cooltube adn decent fan and temps are perfect

As long as you can control the temps, stuff as much light in there as you can. The more light the better.

Just get a cheap inline fan for the cool tube, run it separate and sealed. Then you are left with just a filter inside your box.

HTG Supply sells inline fans for under 30 dollars.

You can also get away with Filter>Cool Tube>Inline>Exhaust
..............................................................^Exit cab

Its not perfectly efficient but it gives you the space you want. 1 400 watt lights heat is not going to kill a blower.

go w/ the 400w system that would work out great for the size of space you have

Cubieman,

FWIW - I run mine like this:

Carbon filter -> Ducting -> Air Cooled Hood -> Ducting -> Exhaust Fan

Works Great in my 3 X 4 X 7 grow box, it would be hard to fit in yours.

Exaust/ Airflow/ Intake/ Ambient Temp/ All four of these are your most important factors for a well maintaned grow room. You should be sure that you have enough of a created vaccum in your room to pull in fress cool air from your surounding space (ambient room temp) if you are using a filter do not forget to allow for the loss of CFm's being exausted..Keeping goood air flow around your plants a good 8" fan is normally enough for this.Be sure that your exaust is at the top of your grow area and your intake is at the bottom some have them on opposite sides of the box as well to run the cool air up through the whole grow area or across it..This is what i run for my 400, my box is 2x3x5 it is an amiore i have a simple set up that goes like this. I have 2 x home depot 6" fans that are used for exaust only running out the top of my box placed right above the HPS..I have 1 8" circulating fan for obvious reasons inside .. I use a simple passive intake at the bottom of my box on opposite side of exaust.. Now here is the tricky part, getting the proper size for the passive intake to be effective.I used a 1" drill biit for the job and i drilled 10 holes one set on the left one on the right and then set my box up and gave it a trial run over night was still a lil hot with my ambient room temps at about 72 deg..So i new that my i was not getting enough cool air intake so i added 4 more 1" hole so each side of the intake and tried it again and walah it was oerfect as long as my ambeint room temp is under 78 deg. my girls are just fine by the way i keep my central air summer and heating winter set for 70 deg constant bills are low plants are happy wife ? well two out of three aint so bad. lol I hope this helps you out i'll be back if i can find this great air flow circulation chart i had before and share it with you on exaust and passive intake setups ..Peace

Here are some pic's of my setup..beautiful amiore i got from thrift shop for 35.00..Peace

sorry bout the pic's.

Those pic's are not working right..So here you go..

Thanks guys! I may try to run the inline at the end and OUT of the box like a few of you suggested. But I really wanted it to be blowing into the cooltube. But sucking away heat hopefully will work for me. If not I guess I can put it in front of the tube, but really don't have room for the damn thing in my cab. Once I get my light I will post some pics.