NoNorthAmericanUnion
Active Member
I've got a-400 HPS ballast , Ive got a sunleaves sunspot 6 reflector ,but have had trouble with heat going up to like 78-80 degrees,(and I keep the ballast OUTSIDE the closet) I don't like my temps being above 74 degrees, my closet dimensions are 3.5 ft. wide x 8.5 ft. long x 7.5 ft. tall,I know thats a huge walk in closet, but I only use no more than a 3.5 x 3.5 space at the most, and all walls are mylar, I have the door to the closet cut down to 6 ft. tall and the top of the door frame theres a 10" board thats 28" wide with 2 - 5" round holes cut in it I put in to feel up the space , one hole is for the fresh air which shoots in via-the 265 cfm-squirrel cage thats on the outside and the other hole is the exhaust which air comes out by way of a hi-powered inline 5"can-fan that also has the can-fan 9000 charcoal filter connected to it which is on the inside,also have a 12" oscillating fan that blows continuously inside the closet, and the door when shut/open is totally light/dark proof.I know that if I get a 250 watt HPS to replace the 400 that my yield will suffer, but I could also run some fluoro's in another closet to keep a mother plant alive where as I had no mother before, and that would speed things up and balance out the difference,everything before was from seed. I've seen a lot of people impress me with what they could do with a single 250HPS , and another thing is, I live in a region where hot weather comes in around May and stays till Oct. and have to run the A/C nearly around the clock, where $300 electric bills are the norm and thats no growing anything! So it makes sense to down-size.I don't fool with hydro, I prefer a soiless mix called Metro-mix 300 by SunGro mixed with about 30-35% perlite for a good simple airy-draining mix and using 3 gallon containers, with FoxFarms GroBig and TigerBloom, I believe in keeping things basic and simple and using the Lolly-pop method for a big main top bud, though if I go with a 250HPS I will cut down to just 3 budding plants and top and bend them,and keep 1- mother in another closet under just enough fluoros to keep me in clones. My main concern is the heat but I thought I would give more information so you could understand the whole set-up, I regret having gotten a 400HPS , especially 2 of them ! yeah I bought 2-400s one in case of a back up! Ive got a spare reflector too, a sunlight supply sungro reflector,both of my reflectors have glass lens, I feel like I wasted a lot of money. The 400 really adds to the bill in the hot months and its too much of a struggle to keep the heat down, I want to go with a single 250HPS , I feel like I can balance out the harvest because this time Ill have a clone mother so I can always keep plants in flower where as I always had to veg from seed earlier. I can afford to run a 250HPS 12 hrs. a day while running just enough CFLs continuously to keep a single mother plant producing clones. If a 250HPS will yield me HALF of what I used to get from my 400HPS then I will be well satisfied . I have no plans of using a 400HPS anymore, a lot of people on here run 250s and are satisfied, Im not a big consumer and I damn sure dont sell shit, what I yield is just for me only. I'm sure I can deal with the heat
