2ft High space, HPS or CFL's???

[tribe]

Hey all, cab done, just need to add lights... just not sure which direction to go in... don't want to find out one's wrong in 2 months and have to change it all around... any help much appreciated... Oh the dimensions of the floor are 2ft wide by 18" deep.

1. LIGHTS With just 24" of height in the flowering room, including space for pots, plants and lights, would you use:

a) 250w hps light
b) 2 x 125w HPS
c) 2 x 125w CFL red grow lights
d) 6 x 42w CFL
e) Something else...

2. SMELL and noise. Would a 5" inline fan & 5" carbon filter for this space be:

a) Just right
b) Too loud / overkill
c) Make a DIY filter instead, they're just as good and cheaper
d) Two smaller DIY filters, one at the top of each side
e) None of the above

Thanks for voting!

 

[Ontariostoner]

6 x 42w cfls give a buttload o' light, if ya keep 'em close.

Also don't need the cooling the hps might.

Get familiar w/ lst or scrog techniques in that height

 

[JACKtheREFFER]

If you stuck the 250 in a cool tube and vented it well. Im talking some type of blower or squirrel cage fan , you can run the big light ..However i would add alot of ventilation to the plants as well and short flowering plants with some serious LST training ..can be done and make some decent buds .....maybe a hybrid syestem , the 125 and a few smaller CFL's

 

[Ontariostoner]

If you stuck the 250 in a cool tube and vented it well. Im talking some type of blower or squirrel cage fan , you can run the big light ..However i would add alot of ventilation to the plants as well and short flowering plants with some serious LST training ..can be done and make some decent buds .....maybe a hybrid syestem , the 125 and a few smaller CFL's

JTR knows his stuff

 

[PG-191]

Option C with two smaller watt CFLs would work well and not cause much heat. Say:

Option C = 2x125w red CFL. Add another 2 x 42w(you can mix up the spectrums if you want here) to that and it should be good to grow.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I'd go with PLL's over any of those choices due to height restrictions. Pll (2g11) bulbs take the least amount of vertical space and produce less heat then any other option you suggested. They also have a better lumen per watt ratio than CFL's as well as a higher gram per watt ratio on average.

For around a $100 you can get 200w of light using 4 50w bulbs at 4800 lumens each, totaling at 19200 lumens using a Fulham Workhorse 7 ballast.
The lights fully assembled will be ~2'x1'x2" (LxWxH)

 

[PG-191]

I completely forgot about a PL-L option greenbastard!

I agree, PL-Ls will be the easiest to arrange in your cab. And like greenbastard has stated above,they perform better than CFLs. So 4x50 watt PL-Ls gives you 200 watts of light,that's pretty damn sufficient for the size of the cab if you ask me. haha

 

[Dr.NO]

I'd go with the 6 CFLs or something else like pl-l or LED.

 

[hazy]

maybe one of these, it's 19x19, 2-3" thick

 

[B.C.]

Right on Hazy! I've been wonderin about them LED's. Looks like they work jus fine! lol... Now I gotta checkout yer thread, sorry I haven't before now, I jus don't spend as much time online anymore. Thanks fer sharin Hoss! Take care.... BC

 

[christoph'sbud]

ill say now, LED's are great, but unfortunately, for a decent panel, the cost can be up too hundreds of dollars. where as a pl-l, as TGB suggested, would work very well, for much less.

then you can spend more cash on a very nice hydro system. keeping the plans lower.

im also growing with 2ft space, and im planning on using pl-l's for my case

 

[tribe]

Hey thanks or the great responses everyone! Can't wait to become a more involved ic-pimp showing off my budporn in a few months (or less )
Thanks again for all the great advice so far,

Peace all,
tribe

 

[tribe]

Oh I do love the look of LED's, and thought about them for a bit, but due to the speculation surrounding their effectiveness I don't want to be the guinea pig just yet until I know I can even grow with everything in my favour

 

[bromhexine]

how much is that penetrator lamp? looks like it works great

 

[hazy]

Oh I do love the look of LED's, and thought about them for a bit, but due to the speculation surrounding their efectiveness I don't want to be the guinea pig just yet until I know I can even grow with everything in my favour

Not a problem tribe, let me do the guinea-pigging. Check out the thread, believe me the peeps talking about effectiveness have not used HGL lights. If they have and did not do well... well look at my grow. Lots of pics of the nitty gritty in the Sun and Moon thread. The led made very nice dense potent buds. This run will be better because I'm vegging under the led and it kicks the 400s ass vegging. I'll be flipping this next run within a week? maybe, so you can watch it as it happens again. And remember the HPS has more than double the wattage. Next time I'm going to do a watt for watt grow. The 400 draws about 485 watts and I'll be putting 466 watts of led. (the 205 uses 176 watts and the 345 pulls 290) The led will win that one I promise.

bromhexine, that 205 watt Penetrator from HydroGrowLED is like 700 bucks. But it should be a good light for 5+ years before it starts to dim. No bulb changes and no heat. or very little. No need to exhaust hot air outside.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

 

[tribe]

Not a problem tribe, let me do the guinea-pigging. Check out the thread, believe me the peeps talking about effectiveness have not used HGL lights. If they have and did not do well... well look at my grow. Lots of pics of the nitty gritty in the Sun and Moon thread. The led made very nice dense potent buds. This run will be better because I'm vegging under the led and it kicks the 400s ass vegging. I'll be flipping this next run within a week? maybe, so you can watch it as it happens again. And remember the HPS has more than double the wattage. Next time I'm going to do a watt for watt grow. The 400 draws about 485 watts and I'll be putting 466 watts of led. (the 205 uses 176 watts and the 345 pulls 290) The led will win that one I promise.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

Hijack away, discussions are good for the soul. I must say VERY impressive grows! And it seem there are negligible differences in size, the LED plants do seem healthier... they seem to have a wider spectrum of greens on their leaves than the HPS. However they are easily twice the price of any of the other options! $700 for 200w ouch, please insert image of eyes popping out of head here. Plus I'm on the opposite side of the big pond to you, not sure if we get that high quality leds over here. But I'll certainly save up for them in my next grow... they do seem perfect, low profile, low heat, great buds... maybe see if I can get some for vegging now instead.. Anyway hope your grow goes well, I'll be watching fo sure...

Thanks for the input, tribe

 

[feral]

I would have to agree on the PL-L's. I've used CFL's and I would imagine to much heat coming from the six 42watters. Although you could get better light coverage with them than the 125 watt CFL's.
Has for the HPS I think the 250 would be overkill esp. with space issues and heat and the 125watts HPS IMO is a waste of money. Less lumens and def. more heat than what one 250 would put out I would imagine.
It's a matter of choice and I moved up from CFL's to PLL's and have not regretted it yet.

 

[kushbbq]

Id recommend 2 105w cfls and a scrog... seems perfect for your space plus the 105w cfls have normal size sockets and the 125w will prolly have the mogul base...

 

[smokeymacpot]

id say, cooltubed 150w hps + 2 x 42w cfl's and train with scrog. tbh with that little height, you need to scrog no matter what light you pick.
i would not go all cfl, you really will miss out on what hps light can do for growing good sized buds. 250w hps in a coolltube, well its quite a powerful light and maybe abit too much.. still doable if you really wanted one.

 

[tribe]

l

6 x 42w cfls give a buttload o' light, if ya keep 'em close.

Also don't need the cooling the hps might.

Get familiar w/ lst or scrog techniques in that height

Cheers Ontariostoner, they do seem to be able to keep up with the "big boys" from what I've read. I'll be LSTing all the way, a little experience with bonsai that should come in handy here

If you stuck the 250 in a cool tube and vented it well. Im talking some type of blower or squirrel cage fan , you can run the big light ..However i would add alot of ventilation to the plants as well and short flowering plants with some serious LST training ..can be done and make some decent buds .....maybe a hybrid syestem , the 125 and a few smaller CFL's

Thanks for the advice JACKtheREFFER, all taken on board. I'll definately be getting a half decent fan in there whichever light direction i go in, most likely a 5" 150ish cfm jobby. Might take up a bit of room but hell, it should be well ventilated in there and strip the air of smell, well I hope so! With the 250 HPS would I need to ventilate the light and plants seperately or would this one fan suffice for both?

Option C with two smaller watt CFLs would work well and not cause much heat. Say:

Option C = 2x125w red CFL. Add another 2 x 42w(you can mix up the spectrums if you want here) to that and it should be good to grow.

Gracias PG-192, taken note. Would give a nice spread of highish and lower watted bulbs, plus variation in spectrums hmmm tasty....

I'd go with PLL's over any of those choices due to height restrictions. Pll (2g11) bulbs take the least amount of vertical space and produce less heat then any other option you suggested. They also have a better lumen per watt ratio than CFL's as well as a higher gram per watt ratio on average.

For around a $100 you can get 200w of light using 4 50w bulbs at 4800 lumens each, totaling at 19200 lumens using a Fulham Workhorse 7 ballast.
The lights fully assembled will be ~2'x1'x2" (LxWxH)

Cheers TheGreenBastard, height it my main mountain to climb... so to speak. And I have to say high gram per watt on average is like sweet music to my ears! Also only 1ft deep for all that? wow. All sounds so good, why do more CFL growers not use pl-ls if a better gram to watt ratio? I have to say this does sound well suited to my space, didn't know pl-l's were used for flowering aswell as veg... Other side of the pond, not quite as cheap over here but still cheaper than buying the bud! Advice on board, thanks!

I completely forgot about a PL-L option greenbastard!

I agree, PL-Ls will be the easiest to arrange in your cab. And like greenbastard has stated above,they perform better than CFLs. So 4x50 watt PL-Ls gives you 200 watts of light,that's pretty damn sufficient for the size of the cab if you ask me. haha

Yeah sorry, forgot to add them to poll options. Like I said above, thought they were just used for vegging. "pretty damn sufficient", that sounds great to me, thanks!

I'd go with the 6 CFLs or something else like pl-l or LED.

Cheers, Dr.NO, these do sound like the lower heat options, definately something I need to consider with my ow ceiling.

ill say now, LED's are great, but unfortunately, for a decent panel, the cost can be up too hundreds of dollars. where as a pl-l, as TGB suggested, would work very well, for much less.

then you can spend more cash on a very nice hydro system. keeping the plans lower.

im also growing with 2ft space, and im planning on using pl-l's for my case

Thanks christoph'sbud, another tick in the pl-l box. Nice to hear that you'll be using them too, thats certainly a positive. Didn't realise hydro would be lower than pots. I'll be sticking with soil though, all that exact feeding and ph-ing just scares me, I doubt my girls would last 2 days lol. I'll be treating mine mean, keepin' em green

I would have to agree on the PL-L's. I've used CFL's and I would imagine to much heat coming from the six 42watters. Although you could get better light coverage with them than the 125 watt CFL's.
Has for the HPS I think the 250 would be overkill esp. with space issues and heat and the 125watts HPS IMO is a waste of money. Less lumens and def. more heat than what one 250 would put out I would imagine.
It's a matter of choice and I moved up from CFL's to PLL's and have not regretted it yet.

Much appreciate feral, another tick in the pl-ls box. The one option I didn't even really consider lol. Nice to hear they're working for you. Just out of interest, how many watts are you using per sqft?

Id recommend 2 105w cfls and a scrog... seems perfect for your space plus the 105w cfls have normal size sockets and the 125w will prolly have the mogul base...

Cheers kushbbq. I'll be doing a mini perpetual sog, would these still be suitable? Now I'm confused again, so many options

id say, cooltubed 150w hps + 2 x 42w cfl's and train with scrog. tbh with that little height, you need to scrog no matter what light you pick.
i would not go all cfl, you really will miss out on what hps light can do for growing good sized buds. 250w hps in a coolltube, well its quite a powerful light and maybe abit too much.. still doable if you really wanted one.

Very much appreciated smokeymacpot, great name btw. I do like the idea of mixing bulbs for best of both spread and strong lights. The only downside is that its so cheap to upgrade from a 150w to a 250w it'd be too hard not too, and that'll bring heat issues etc lol. I think it was oscar wilde that once said "I can resist everything but temptation! 250w and a couple of CFL's too much?

Wow that took longer than I thought

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I really appreciate it. Can't say I'm any the wiser, but it does seem whichever option I decide on will work if done right (which I better do soon as the seeds won't grow themselves ) Guess I just need to decide on whether intensity or a more even spread would be more suitable, or both lol. I am intending to do a mini perpetual sog for percy only (not that I don't want lots nice fat buds ) if that makes any difference to light choice??

Sorry no pics, going away for the weekend tomo morn so haven't had time, but will def get some up when I get back in a few days. Will give me some time to mull over all the great advice here and try and come up with a decision... It may well end up being a few scraps of paper on the dartboard yet!

tribe

p.s. Are there any prizes for loooooongest uniformative post?