2 questions

Hey everyone. Just about to start my first Serious indoor grow.
I know most questions have been answered over and over again but after tons of looking I'm still left with these two.

1)Building supports to hang my light and I'm wondering what is the maximum height I would need the light to be. Its a 400watt HPS. The two strains I have are raspberry cough (according to nirvana the height is "tall". how tall is "tall"?) and aurora indica which is classified as short.

2)I have a hydro farms sunburst ballast and a 400 watt Super HPS "enhanced spectrum"
The ballast can be switched from HPS to metal halide. From what I've read it sounds like using a metal halide for vegging is worth it so can anyone point me in the right direction of one. can be up to 400 watts also. How much do these run?

Thanks for any help you guys can give in pointing me in the correct direction.

The height and area of the total square footage must be devided with the wattage. Figuring your square footage since it's a 400watt is as follows. 400/25-40 watts (optimal ) so basically 10 to 16 square feet should be fully luminated. As doing so you will have to bring the light to the proper height so the wattage is squared. And metal hallides are the same price, and most shop lights are Mh and hps so there at hydroponic stores and building department stores.

you can always get a mh conversion bulb that will work in your hps light too hope this helps

Happy Growing

also The closet I am using is about 2 1/2ft deep x 6ft wide x 7 ft tall and I plan on having 2 plants at a time.

i think there is a sticky somewhgere that will answer this along with any other questions of that area you may have.

ParanoidAndroyd3113 said:

also The closet I am using is about 2 1/2ft deep x 6ft wide x 7 ft tall and I plan on having 2 plants at a time.

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Answered your own question then, huh?

400 watts will only have so much penetrating power. The plant will grow to the height you want it to. When the plant is about 1/2 the height you want it, flip it to flower.

Don't worry so much about formulas. You have your grow room and want two plants. If it were my grow, I would veg until about 12 - 18 inches, then go to flower. If you figure 1.5 ft for the pot, 1.5 ft for the light, you have about 4 ft of space, of which you should keep your light about 1 ft from the plants, so you have 3 ft to work with. If its a stretchy strain, go to flower at 1 ft.

Don't over think it, just focus on learning how to grow for your first run and don't veg too long. Everybody makes that mistake their first time, they grow these monster plants that over crowd their space, then they get heat problem, humidity problems, pests,etc.

Good luck!

thanks every one. time to get started

Since no one managed to answer this question.
You can get a 400w Metal Halide at most large home repair stores in the lighting aisle.

I think mine was somewhere around $30 to $40 at Home DePot.
Since your ballast is switchable (420Monster missed that I guess...) and magnetic you could have chosen a Phillips TruColor Ceramic Metal Halide which can be used from start to finish. Really great spectral distribution on those bulbs. I suggest you look into them. They can be found for about $60 online.

ParanoidAndroyd3113 said:

also The closet I am using is about 2 1/2ft deep x 6ft wide x 7 ft tall and I plan on having 2 plants at a time.

Click to expand...

I got 6 plants going in about that same size area.

What kind of hood /reflector are you using? You want it close for penetration, but at the same time in the main light pattern. My cooltube doesn't spread out that much. I can get it close temp wise, but if there are more plants, I have to back it up so they can get direct light

You can use every last square foot in that closet space. You will have 26 watts per square foot, I would just putt a 1 gallon pot for each square foot, Make sure the bulb is 12 inches away from your tips. That is if you want a bunch of bonsai type plants. The light farthest away will get a bitt dull so just shuffle the plants around. Give each one it's turn directly underneath the bulb If your budding them out putt less plants than 16, Butt if your clone propagating for spring I would stretch the wattage and use the 1 gall container per square foot and fill it. Marijuana thrives in 25-40 watts per foot