# what's the best light for flowering?



## wanting_in_Orl. (Aug 2, 2008)

I am starting a new grow room and wanting to start fresh but i have a new set of rules for this room, i want to be all organic in all chems. and want to keep the cost to as low as possible, i already know the set up i will do for vegging but WHAT IS THE BEST LIGHT SET UP THAT IS CHEAP AS WELL FOR FLOWERING ONLY? If you have any ideas let me know


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## Firepower (Aug 2, 2008)

100 watt or 250 watt HPS, if youre handy you can get the ballast kit rather cheap on ebay for either one.. Check out the grow guides sections for lighting and it will ghive you some great info on lights wattage, distance and the whole nine.. good luck.. :aok:

heres a great thread by Mutt that will help you out..

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1968


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## thc is good for me (Aug 2, 2008)

If you go to insidesun.com you can buy a 400 watt HPS light for $100 that 55,000 lumens for $100 thats about the best bang for your buck IMHO.


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## 4u2sm0ke (Aug 2, 2008)

yeah that^^^^^^  thanks thc is good for me...that is the best deal I have seen..not sure on you grow area..just remember that if you dont get an air cooled hood you will have heat with HPS..good luck keep us posted and KEEP M GREEN


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## Pothead420 (Aug 2, 2008)

what they said HPS all the way


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## papabeach1 (Aug 2, 2008)

250 to 600 watt hps is best for flowering, some people use hid before flowering to get more females.. some people use hps all the way..  and sun is good too

BTW 400 to 600 watt hps blub is only 40 dollars at lowes home improvement store


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## Aurora_Indicas_Dad (Aug 2, 2008)

htgsupply and hydrowholesale have some nice prices also.i'd highly suggest getting an air cooled hood.the amount of heat can be a pain in the you know what.when i bought my lights from hydrowholesale they told me the lights that inside sun sells are refurbished ballasts,but im not sure if this is 100% true.but if considering buying through them,id check up to see if they really are or not.


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## wanting_in_Orl. (Aug 2, 2008)

im building a cabinet set up for all the plants but do you think a 250 watt hps would create that much heat? i'm thinking of using exhaust fans to help as well as a regular fan to keep things kool will that be efficient enough?


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## jnyce1320 (Aug 2, 2008)

So its possible to take out the MH and use HPS for veg and flowering?


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## Agent 47 (Aug 10, 2008)

jnyce1320 said:
			
		

> So its possible to take out the MH and use HPS for veg and flowering?



yes but if you were to go with just 1 light for both i'd go with MH..the yield won't be as large but the potency and resin will be higher

although most people would disagree with using the MH for both instead of HPS this is just my opinion


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## PUFF MONKEY (Aug 10, 2008)

hydro wholesale.com has complete 1000w cooltube kits for $250.....have'nt seen a better deal since..

http://www.hydrowholesale.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hydro&Product_Code=ELS100AC&Category_Code=ELS


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## Growdude (Aug 10, 2008)

jnyce1320 said:
			
		

> So its possible to take out the MH and use HPS for veg and flowering?


 
Not unless your ballast is "switchable"
They do make conversion bulbs that can be switched out with any type HID ballast.


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## Growdude (Aug 10, 2008)

wanting_in_Orl. said:
			
		

> im building a cabinet set up for all the plants but do you think a 250 watt hps would create that much heat? i'm thinking of using exhaust fans to help as well as a regular fan to keep things kool will that be efficient enough?


 
What are the inside dimensions of your cab?


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## Hick (Aug 10, 2008)

Growdude said:
			
		

> What are the inside dimensions of your cab?



THERE ya' go!.. "that" is what should determine "what" wattage of light you get/need. 
You are shooting for 5,000 lumen p/sq. ft.


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## PUFF MONKEY (Aug 10, 2008)

Hick said:
			
		

> THERE ya' go!.. "that" is what should determine "what" wattage of light you get/need.
> You are shooting for 5,000 lumen p/sq. ft.


is there such a thing as to many lumens when flowering as long as heat is not an issue ???i've got a 4 x 6 x7ft room and am looking at the 1000w cooltube combo.too much ????


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## Hick (Aug 10, 2008)

24 sq ft.. absolutely not too much light IMO, for that space.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Aug 10, 2008)

IMO, you are not over lit by any means.  I am running a 1000W in a 3 x 6.5 space--19.5 sq ft.  A 1000W is the minimum that I would use in this space.


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## Mr.Wakenbake (Aug 10, 2008)

i run 1200 w in a 3x3 x7 area. 

IF you can keep em cool, then run it. I am sure you can keep it cool with a cool tube. Anyways, that's what i run and technically i run too much wattage, but wattage per square foot is a misleading estimate of what you need. 

Lumens per square foot is more accurate. 

Reason why is say is that, x brand HPS might put out 144k lumens, for a 1ker and y brand might only put out 130k lumens. But both run the same wattage. 

Wattage per sqaure foot is just a round about measurement . 

I run over 100w a square foot in my small tent. Really, it's all about if you can keep em cool or not, because there is no lights that mimic the sun. HPS is as close as we can get that is reasonable for every grower. 

there can be too much light, but really most of the people that have problems with bleaching is due to having their high powered lights too close to the plants. 

With more wattage you can keep the lights higher and still get major penetration. 

ANother example  for wattage a lumens is running 2 600's gets you 198k lumens, 200w more than the big 1ker but more than 50k more lumens. 

In that size tent i would run two 600's instead of 1 1ker. You may need a light mover to get proper coverage in an area 6 ft long with just 1 1ker. By running two 600's no light mover is needed and you get even canopy coverage.  Something that could help with that is roatating the plants from center of the room to the outside once a week, but that becomes a you know what during flowering and when the plants are heavy, and yeh they get heavy lol. especially when you got a whole room to deal with.

Anyways hope this info helps. I am not saying people are wrong to use W per square foot for a round about, but i am just saying thats' exactly what it is. 

I run 1200w in a 3x3x7.5 homebox.

divide that by square footage which is 9 square foot in floor space not total space, because you aren't including the height, which is another factor. 

that means i run about 134w a square foot in floor space. But depending on the distance of the lights to the plants, the amount of energy or light that actually reaches the plants is reduced and degraded with distance.Therefore the wattage measurement fails you because it doesn't take into account how fast light degrades on distance from the source. 

Yet again another reason why W per square foot should be ditched for Lumens per square foot.

a 1ker would give you everything you want, but your room could be greatly improved by running two 600's instead. 

It's all about efficiency.

This was quoted from HICK
THERE ya' go!.. "that" is what should determine "what" wattage of light you get/need.
You are shooting for 5,000 lumen p/sq. ft.

This measurement is way more accurate than wattage. I just figured it up and i run 22000 lumens per square foot. OUCH


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## White Widow (Aug 10, 2008)

more light is always better


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## Hick (Aug 10, 2008)

> This measurement is way more accurate than wattage. I just figured it up and i run 22000 lumens per square foot. OUCH
> __________________


.WoW~!!!!!


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## Mr.Wakenbake (Aug 10, 2008)

yeah i have no problems with PENETRATION...... NOR do i have problems with bleaching . 

A sog is going to ensue in that space and those lumens will be enjoyed at a cool 77 degrees.

Do i have too much light?


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## IllusionalFate (Aug 11, 2008)

Mr.Wakenbake said:
			
		

> ...But depending on the distance of the lights to the plants, the amount of energy or light that actually reaches the plants is reduced and degraded with distance.Therefore the wattage measurement fails you because it doesn't take into account how fast light degrades on distance from the source.
> 
> Yet again another reason why W per square foot should be ditched for Lumens per square foot.


The number of total lumens in your grow room tells just as little about light degredation as total watts does. Let's use a Hortilux HPS bulb, a bulb both you and I use, as an example:

600W: 88,000 lumens
1000W: 145,000 lumens

With a 6000W grow room, six 1000W lamps would amount to a total of 870,000 lumens. Ten 600W lamps would amount to 880,000 lumens, which is nearly identical statistics... this doesn't tell me at all which would be the more effective light setup.

But with this, you raise an excellent point; 1000W lamps can be several feet away from the edges of the growroom, making it impossible to get nearly as much useable light to the outside plants as there is to the plants directly beneath. One could argue that a 1000W lamp is almost twice as bright and has a lot more of an effective radius (light penetration) than a 600W. But also a case can be made for the 600W that instead of wasting the lumens because of the bulb being so far away, the more even spread of light brings those lumens to the tops of more plants.

I'm eager to find out the answer to this, without it I'll be hesitant to start the construction of my next grow room.


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## 420FREEDOM (Aug 11, 2008)

Hey WANTING.  get an HPS.   Get a $15 thermometer and hygrometer. Use as much light as you can afford to over your space and be able to keep the room no warmer than  80degrees, ever.  The more light is always better.   Use the most you can without getting the room too hot. More plants together gets bigger top buds   or grow a few monsters, yields are really about the same, per wattage, I've found.  Fewer plants IMO are easier to take care of.
i use 600 watts over 6X6ft room- with 4 plants and an AC in the room.


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