400w in 4.5-5 sq ft

Hey guys wondering what your thoughts are on this.....

Currently have a cabinet 36" wide, 20" deep and 36" tall. Have 2 150W hps sun system (bulb, ballast and reflector all in one) for a total of 300w. My temps are stupid 30-36c or 87-97f !!! Wtf right? The 2 bulbs and ballast pump out heat....but when the lights are off temps go down to 17-19c or 62-66f. Also exhaust fan on cabinet is 235cfm and hooked up to can filter. So prob under 200cfm with filter resistance

Anyways thinking of using a 400w hps 6" air cooled tube to try and lower temps hooked up to a 440cfm inline fan ducted out of the cabinet. Also digital ballast would also be placed outside cabinet to try and help heat reduction.

Couple questions

1. Will a 400w air cooled tube with the inline fan lower my temps to a more desirable range? Or would it make more sense to opt out of upgrading and just remove one of the 150w lights
2. With 50k lumens is that gonna be overkill for 4.5-5 sq ft? It's 10,000 - 11,111 lumens per sq foot? (I can maintain about 7-9" distance from bulb to canopy) will that cause any problems?

Could you post pics?

I think you could get away with a 250w to further combat the heat problem and that sounds like a good amount of light per sqft to me. If you do 400w you will probably have to cool tube it with ducting.

Here is wut I would do. First get a taller tent or cabinet. I started with a 36" tall tent and upgraded to a taller tent. You want to be able to increase the gap between lights and tops of plants. When the plants are small you can lower the lights, then raise as you need.

Cool tubes are awesome. They run much cooler cause, IMHO, it is the best type of exhaust/light option.

I dont think 400w is too much. i just added a 600w cool tube and I have the exact floor space as you do. Also remember that you can get ballasts they are adjustable. So if you get a 1000w or 600w, you can run it at lower setting if you want. lower setting means less electric usage and slightly cooler temp but of course yes less light

if you cant get a taller tent then yes still the cool tube will run cooler

My buddy runs a 2x3x5 tent cool tube 400w hempy bog style. Its warm in there but he produces quality, its a lot of light in that space. Vents into room with window ac with only a 4in fan 2xxcfm id guess.
I think you could make it work with a 400w and 6in if that's the only space you have but taller would be better. If you can run a humidifier set it at the intake to help bring it down a couple degrees and use fans inside.

@ MJSavedMyLife Thx man! I'm kinda stuck with my space dimensions but am scorging hard and maintain about 9" between screen and bulbs so I'm able to raise a lower the light a little but lose some space as I reach the final life cycle stage. Glad to hear you have the same sq ft that makes me feel a little easier about going through with the upgrades! thanks for the response

@BigZcolorado Thanks for the response. Hearing that ur buddies set up only has a 2xx cfm with 4" really makes me feel confident about 6" with 440cfm. Also i currently have three 4" usb fans inside the cabinet right now pumping away. I like your idea about the humidifier it's something i've thought about before but it would have to be down the road!


Thanks guys! I think i'm gonna go through with everything. appreciate the input!