Seeking advice on best lights to purchase?

[Amariah]

Greetings brothers and sisters,
I am considering a small indoor grow room and am trying to research some of the best methods to achieve success. I do realize that I will need ventilation as well as a fan to move air through the room. However I cannot find much info on the best lights to use. I am considering a small room for maybe 10-20 female plants. I have a space to use which measures about 8x12'
Other than the lighting issue- how does one calculate how much space does each plant need. Is it 2x2' or 3x3' or does that depend upon the type of seed being used?
Thanks for all of your info!

 

[StonerGrower]

Re: Seeking advice on best lights to purchase???

If your going to grow 10-20 plants I suggest you use an HID. I grew 15 plants at a time. I use two 1000watt Metal Halides for veg, and two 1000watt High Pressure Sodium for flower. I now only use 2 lights, heat was a very big issue. You need at least 2000 lumens per square foot of grow space. So calculate your lights lumen output.

 

[zolar]

Re: Seeking advice on best lights to purchase???

if you have that much space you could divide it into two rooms
with independent lighting this would give you a constant cycle one room always flowering one room vegging or a differing flower cycle

dividing the area and spacing the light cycle would mean you aren't all that wattage at one time and would really help on heat issues switchable ballasts for MH and HPS would mean
more flexability and change options and more mileage out of bulbs
electronic ballasts can do both mh and hps
but core and coil ballasts that switch can do MH HPS and CMH
bulbs in 250 and 400 watt

CMH is fairly new metal halide bulb that can run in a 250 and 400
HPS core and coil ballast they put out more lumens and have a wider spectrum

i'd reccomend a 400 wattt for each 3-4 foot square of grow area
if room was 6x8 2- 400 watters 8x12 4-400 watters

this would probably give better overall intensity level than
1 -1000 watt even if lumens are more with bigger light edges of area would have less light also doing room in sections means you can expand slowly if cash is a problem

look at bulb cost too you can get a 400 watt bulb HPS for 15-20 at an electrical supply or lowes type place

that sure beats 75-100+ $$ for some 1000 watt bulbs mail order

just bought a phillips 400HPS s51 ballast bulb for 14.95 sept 1st
cash at electric supply place

i use an electronic ballast will do MH or HPS my space is 3ftx 4ft x 6ft high can get 4-6 five gallon buckets in it with no problem
if plants aren't monster bushes and shorter than 4 ft


hope this helps theres a FAQ with formulas for how much
airflow you need for heat control in one of the boards that has
old data and FAQs from overgrow you plug in space size numbers
and watts and temp and some factor constants and it gives you a minimum CFM number for a fan/ ventalator

go through the grow journals and pics before you build or buy
to skim ideas and avoid mistakes also you'll see what's possible
on the cheap....

 

[Amariah]

Re: Seeking advice on best lights to purchase???

Thanks Zolar- that does give me somewhere to start!