400 watt Ghetto style?

[Mendojoe]

I have a closet space that is 2ft. wide & 4ft. long.The closet it's self is a standard 2'WX8'L & 8' high,but I only plan on using a 2X4 ish space to grow in & keep the rest empty.
I want to use one 400 watt HPS light in this space to set my girlfriend up a small medical grow at her house. Would this get too hot to just let run or do you think it is ok? Problem is,I don't have a good way to vent this space,I could leave the door open with a small fan blowing when I a home,but don't want to have fans running all the time. I had a similar setup with a 250 watter a long time ago & it did fine without duct venting,just wondering how much hotter the 400 will be.

I plan on buying a SunSystems 400watt with enclosed ballast,or would a seperate ballast unit disperse the heat better?
How would you set this up without extensive venting & keep it from being a fire hazard?

Right now I have a few clones in there under shoplights & plan on doing most the vegging with flouro shoplights,then switching to 400 watt MH conversion bulb for a 2-3weeks just to beef them up little,then flowering with the HPS. I am hoping for a half pound+ yield,will this be doable in a 2X4? I can also go wider,like 2X6,but not sure if the 400 will cover this,I plan on putting in some reflective surfacing on the walls soon.
I was also thinking of supplementing the 400 watt HPS with a few CFLs,is this worth it? Do they put out enough lumens?
Thanks.

 

[Fred el Gato]

Hey Mendo, I've got a cab with a 6sqft footprint, a little smaller than your setup. Running a 400 it can get into the high 90's with a 170cfm fan pulling through a filter. I end up opening it up during lights on and placing an extra fan blowing at canopy level, brings temps down to mid 70's. Don't know if having extra space will help with temps and air quality. It could get real hot and stuffy in that space. Good luck Fred

 

[Calebvince]

i have 3 150watt cfl's and i know they're each 2700 lumens if thats enough for you...

 

[Mendojoe]

So I think I am going to go with one 600watt HPS because it is almost double the lumens & doesn't use much more power. I will use a Hortilux bulb for veg & flower istead of the conversion bulb. I was told that will work fine?

I am thinking of covering the window so no light can be seen from outside the house,then keeping the closet door open with a fan & running lights at night. I talked with the guy at the local hydro shop today & he thought this would be fine,no heat issues,but I guess I won't know till I set it up.

 

[littlebud]

make sure you put your ballast out of your space..

 

[Mendojoe]

I though to put the ballast right outside the closet on a piece of flagstone or something fireproof to spare some heat. How hot do the ballasts get? & how hot do the lamps run? My main concern is fire safety,if the plants get warm,I will figure something out.
I used to have a 400watt enclosed ballast,but it has been years.Also,I was thinking of 2 250 watt lights because I only have 2-2.5 ft. of width & up to 6ft. of length. Then only thing there is the 250s seem kind of pricey for being so small. Does anyone have a cheap spot to grab 250s?

The local hydro shop quoted me for $286 out the door for a 600 watt HPS with a cheapo $40 Batwing reflector,ballast & Hortilux bulb.

I think I could do better pricewise on e-bay or something. I just picked up 2 1,000 watt HPS with paraobolic hoods,ballast,MH & HPS bulbs,timers & yoyos for $325 each & free shipping/no sales tax. THe only problem is the 600s seem to cost almost the same as 1,000s.

I don't need the HID for another month,but I wan't to make up my mind. Would 2
250s be easier to cool because they are a little spaced out? How does the canopy penetration differ in the 250s from the 400?

 

[kushkommander]

I would suggest going with 2x400w in a 2.5ft W x 5-6ft L x 8ft H, as long as you have a good inline fan and aircooled hoods you will do fine. I would suggest taking the door off and using plastic panda film with zippers as the door( you can find these at hydro store), then you will be able to cut vent holes in the panda film to vent out the room without light escaping and without having to ruin a door.

 

[Mendojoe]

OK,so for budget purposes I have decided to go with a 6 bulb
T8 flouro with mirror relflector to veg.,it's $100 at Home Depot,it looks nice & bright,they say it's equivalent to a 400 watt MH with the daybright bulbs,I doubt that,but I think it will do the trick for short plants .I am thinking 3 clones from the club in a 50gal. Rubbermaid storage tub that is 3-4 ft. long.

I will use this T8 to veg. them nice & fat,pinch them & get em' real bushy & to about 1-1.5ft. tall,then I will switch to the 400 watt HPS for flowering & set the T8 fixture on the open side like a wall of supplemental light shining in from the open side & the other walls will have mylar or something relective on them. Total grow area will be 2X4ish with a 400watt HPS & then the 6 bulb T8 fixture on one side. The plants should finish at about 3ft.tall & fat like a bonsai shrub,I've seen some pics on here in the 400watt club thread that have given me some ideas. I am a seasoned outdoor grower & a horticulturist,so I know what to do,just haven't done much indoor,but I think it should work well.

I am going to get the SunsystemsII 400 watt HPS with an enclosed ballast I think,I know it runs hotter,but it is the cheapest deal I can find & looks well made unlike a lot of the pieced together kits with cheap Batwing hoods. I then want to leave the closet open & run a fan on the canopy top & the light. Do you think this will be cool enough? The light I'm looking at doesn't have an air cooled option & I don't really have anywhere to duct to anyways. I could always get a remote ballast light,but they seem expensive & crappy looking in the same price range,I would have to spend double the money to get a nice 400 watt with a nice remote ballast. This SunsystemII is only $150 complete package on ebay & looks well built,maybe I can tweak the hood on it to ventilate better?

PS. Kushkommander,my budget will only allow for one light right now & one light will be a lot cooler than 2,so it should make venting easier. I do outdoors,so I just need something small from the indoor like 4-10oz. per pull to get me through the summer.

 

[Mendojoe]

Alright,I just got back from Home Depot
I ended up with 4 T8 shoplights & 8 daybright bulbs for only $100 total. 4,500Kelvin &
2,900 Lumens per bulb,8 bulbs total. So a total of about 23,200 Lumens &
they fill the space perfectly with little heat. This is about as many lumens as 250 watts of MH & similar Kelvin spectrum,right?

Hopefully these veg the plants nice until 1 or 1.5 feet,then I will bring in the HPS. I still ahve to order the HPS. What do you guys think of the SunsystemsII 400 watt HPS?

I may just remove the closet doors ,but I guess I will lose reflection on that side & waste light,but it would alleviate the heat build up without ducting.

I also grabbed a heavy duty 32 gal. storage bin that was the perfect size & filled it with dank potting soil,so I plan on putting 3 cuttings in this & growing them bonsai style under the flouros.

 

[Mendojoe]

Ok,it's all set up
1 White widow,1 Hashberry & 1 DJ Short Blueberry,all fem. cuttings from the club,I may pick up 1 more,Grapefruit kush sounds nice,but I ran out of cash when I was there.
They are happy already after only 1 day in the bin,they were all root bound in 4" pots. I have them about 1-2 inches from the T8 daylight flouros. I modded the flouros a little so they are closer together.

I've got a fan set up that's plenty strong,I only run it on low for an hour or two a day now,but when the HPS is set up it will be running more for sure.

I ordered the 400 watt HPS & it's in the mail. I ordered a Son Agro 430 watt HPS bulb,that emits 54,000 lumens,so I figure with that & the 4 T8 flouros rigged up on the side walls I will get roughly 77,000 lumens for flowering & a better light spectrum from the daylight flouros supplementing & the Son Agro has some halide added to it as well,so it will be a like 60% Sodium & 40% Halide-ish light. I may not use the flouros in flowering,but I thought it would add almost 25,000 lumens,but the HPS may be strong enough in the tight space. What do you guys think?

I'll try to put some pics up as things progress,right now the cutting are small,the Hashberry was big & branched out wide though for a 4 inch & the Widow was healthy & about 5 inches tall,the DJ Blueberry is pretty tiny,I already pinched the Widow to start branching.