EXTRA EXTRA!!!!!!! Im buying a light in the morn. I need advice!!!!!!

I have 7 plants in a dormer I have access to one outlet and about a twelve foot by twelve foot and 6 foot high space its cold in the dormer its not finished. I have pics in my grow journal but Im about to spend some money this weekend and I want some good advice on what size,brand and set up HID I should buy I have a veg setup this will be strictly for flowering. I am an outdoor grower I have no knowledge on HIDs Im thinking of a 600w HPS if so where should I buy it, how do I hook it up and how about cooling the room or heating it its fuckin cold in there I gotta keep the tent buttoned up and it still gets to 69f HELP PLEASE I dont wanna throw money away

1 what type are growing
2 what was your old set up and are up planning to combine in with it
3 are u hydro or soil ................note the cold with hydro is partly a good thing


first is the area 12x12x6 .........to cover that correctlly u are looking are 2 1000 watt system

next is the hood type are u running ducting to vent or are going with a open reflector (looks like ones they use in photo shoots.....this will increase the rooms temps by 10 to 20 degrees)

finally how much cash to do u have ..........are u keeping it small due to one plug

The medium is Fox Farm original I had them under 30600 lumens CFL half red / half blue. Im not using them for flowering they are moving to my new cabinet Do you think it would be better to buy a hood or open reflector seeing how the dormer is only about 45-50 degrees outside of the plastic and mylar tent that I have set up? They are Afghanistan and haze/kush hybrid.

Oh I forgot I was thinkin 1x 1000w or even 600w if I could get away with it. I have 300-500$

do u want to vent it out ...........or use the heat it makes to warm the area some

i can show u several set ups from amazon that are about 250......but u will need good venting for them so it means a inline fan or a booster

the set ups come with hood u pick/ 2 lights (MH HPS)/ timer/hooks to hang/1000w ballast

Im gonna use a surge protector but I think im gonna need at least 1 or 2 fans to circulate the air. I could probably keep the temp ok as long as I keep the top of the room open IE without plastic. the temp is very cold in the winter up there. Im gonna try it with just the light first see how much the temp rises. but what else can I plug in to one room besides the light? fans? Timers? I only have a little brinks lamp timer i bought it for like 5 bucks

ok here are some links for u

this is stuff i am using your numbers the 12x12x6 for the cfms for the room and all that good stuff ..............the stuff i link will be for a set
light with open reflector (1 light) ...........214 bucks ....u have to pick the 1000 watt and one light choices
carbon filter with matching fan ..............144 bucks......stink control and the air movement u need this will do your whole area u can use a passive intake system and this will keep it at negitive pressure so the smell is not a issuse (u can use a speed controller if u like but not needed the ducting u want it to be flexie not rigded)
the tower of power ..............................32 bucks..........this will allow u to plug in timers and all that good stuff into one socket it is better then a power strip

the rest of the money u said u had will go to hose clamps and ducting ......................if u got left over and want something worth spending on .......get a brewers bucket a 2 inch air stone and a nice air pump ....................when u get water dump it into that the air stone adds Oxygen to the water and u drawl it out the tap to fill the bottles u use to mix the feed up (and for flushing) it helps the plants and reduces the drooping factor and time

I've owned several types and flavors of HID...my take after all the experience: whatever you get, make sure the reflector/hood is good and likewise air cooled....

yes, you can get a decent inexpensive hood for under 100 bucks so long as the geometry/light spread is good... I like the Chinese copy cat types...or get a Raptor or sumthing, remembering you can always keep & use the same hood with multiple combos


ballast: I got mixed feelings here; depends on your budget & tolerance for failure...me, another cheapo new one is 2 days away w/Amazon prime so I have a $100 on hand AND a extra old school magnetic ballast anyway...basically go cheap or go quality/expensive, buying "mid-grade" stuff isn't a good strategy IMHO

Bulbs: I always used to buy expensive bulbs, that is until I used these cheap ipower (or whatever) types and see they almost do just as good if you accept the fact they are cheap and need replacing sooner...I think both schools of thought work here

...also remember while I haven't done all the math & research but at a glance; relatively speaking 400W bulbs are the cheapest/watt followed by 1000W followed by 600W and then 250W ..... and conversely my understanding is the 600W are supposedly the most efficient/watt

Those are some nice choices there bro and excellent prices too. I've often wondered how good those Apollo ballasts are cause thats half the price of a Lumetek.

i showed him apollo ..............for one reason i have it

the makers of apollo offer a 3 year warrenty on the ballast....rebuild or replace ..................i have not looked at all the ballast but they had the longest warrenty period i sawl when making my choice

i currently have 2 600 watts .................so far so good 6 months of 20/4 and did 2 months of 24/0 ..................no issuses

i been working on light bulbs .................sir if u are getting a 1000w look at a horlilux dual arc bulb............(one light has 2 bulbs a 400 mh and a 600 hps) this is the full light spec u need for flowering minus the UVA/UVB

if that is not your style look at digilux bulbs they are made for digital ballast and they have a higher lumen output 600w MH is 75000 lumens instead of 49000 like avg


oh side note ...........if the reflector that is open gets to warm u can buy this .............this gives u the cooltube with the most area of coverage.......(i own this one).........all your other stuff will plug in and work with this just has to have the same Connection to the ballast i think this is the S plug .....but i know this works i did it

You gonna light the whole 12x12 area,justugh is telling you right,if you gonna use less than half all that area a 6oo would be hard to beat.

he is growing in a cold area with no heat retention........it is why i said the open reflector (that good one not the simple metal wing thing) that will cover the whole area very well and should maximumize the results for him

600 watt is great for a 4x4 area good for a 6x6 area..............1000 watt is great for a 6x6 and good for a 8x8

i am tring to earn some good karma and save the guy from some of the mistakes i made ...........the 2 600 watts i have are in a 4x4 (running 140k lumens) i am pulling 4 oz off auto plants seed to smoke 72 days other autos my best is just short of 8 oz one plant (this round i should beat it if not then the next heavy feeders dailing in amounts is tricky)..........i did it becuase i did not get 1000 watt and use the dual arc bulb ...........now that i have broken even and even made a few bucks is upgrading the whole system and learing about hydro to improve my game

pics becuase i know some of u will say bullshit that is insane
candy kush from auto seed is the big one .........2 weeks untill cut.......by the way 3 gallon air bag was what i grow that out of 63 days ago it was planted
trans siberian is the shorter one on the pots............5 to 7 days before i cut her down
the other ones are getting ready to go to get moved to the back and the hydro staies under the MH plus the 2nd one comming out of seed going into veggie

All of your advice is greatly appreciated I ended up going with the 600w HPS with raptor cool tube I hope this will heat the tent. I built a veg cabinet and moved it to the basement where the power is on a different circuit the only thing im gonna want is a fan to circulate and a low cost timer. If you are interested in seeing the cabinet its in my journal its a DIY and my 1st one at that but its alright the girls are also in there im gonna post for this week right now but thank you again it was helpful I actually ordered from the HGT site

The light will heat your space fine when it is on but you need to cover the night period also. Get a space heater and play around until you get your day/night temps in an acceptable range. Then at the end of your flower period turn off the space heater all together and let it get cold at night and maybe you can pull some colors out.