8X8 or 6X8 Flower room for 2 600w HPS ?

Arizona Law
I am growing 12 plants to maximum potency. I will be running 2 600 watt HPS with air cooled reflectors. Not sure of exact size to build inside garage using home AC for fresh air intake & exhaust fan thru roof. Will use ebb /flo type 12 plant hydroponic bucket system.
I could build the room to size for max efficiency & put ballast outside & chemical drum etc in a cabinet fed from the top by home A/C with it feeding the room from bottom thru wall with fan.
Any ideas to help fine tune before starting build in a few days ? Thanks for any help getting the room into shape.

My last room was 10 X 10 bedroom with 1k MH years ago . . .

8x8 would be ideal... I have an 8x10 roughly and have 11 plants in there (in soil), it gives me just enough room to move around.

Honestly I would like it to be 10x10 just to give extra room for feeding times, or visiting times or whatever else, but 6x8 is what I built and will leave it there. a 600w & 400w in there now, going to change it to single 600w on light rail shortly.

Thanks for the reply. I am marking out the floor using one outside wall. I was hoping 8X8 room would work & not be too big for excellent flowering. Figuring on spacing 12 plants either on 6X8 area or entire room, still wondering about that too. My main concern now is getting the room dimensions right & hoping the home AC will keep the insulated room cool enough.


All ideas & criticism welcome. I'd just like to do this correct the first time and be able to improve as time and finances allow. Don't want to do overkill on space size for 12 plant limit but hard to find any grows this size to study(I did SEARCH function). (yep, im old!)

Moving right along . . . . I now have the area clear & ready to put up the walls for 8X8 room in garage. Should have all the material & start on the walls tomorrow. Still not sure of reflector size, I guess just get A sealed unit about 26X33 or ? Checked the breaker box & I have 6 more slots ! Luckily the 220 run will only be about 6 feet & add a couple of 15 amp circuits

lets put it this way, im going to use 2 1000w in a 8x5(40sqft) and id like to have a lil more light.

Wolfhound said:

Moving right along . . . . I now have the area clear & ready to put up the walls for 8X8 room in garage. Should have all the material & start on the walls tomorrow. Still not sure of reflector size, I guess just get A sealed unit about 26X33 or ? Checked the breaker box & I have 6 more slots ! Luckily the 220 run will only be about 6 feet & add a couple of 15 amp circuits

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whats your budget? the hydro farm raptor hood is basically 40x30 and would be perfect for that space but its more of a 1000w hood. 2 of the 6in magnum xxxls might better suit your 600s.

I too would like more light . . . . Hence the 8X8 room built and the 2 600s. I can easily add more light once I've got a grow done. Starting with a 100 watts per plant.

Mrfootball420 said:

lets put it this way, im going to use 2 1000w in a 8x5(40sqft) and id like to have a lil more light.

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So far the budget is buying the right/best one time & adding later. The Raptor looks very much in the ballpark . . . The Big Daddy from HTG ?

is there a reason you arent looking at 1000w rigs? that is the perfect space for 3-4 1000w with the raptor hoods. and the 1000s make a significant difference in yield. you could even put 2 1000w on a sun circle if energy is a concern.

smart move on buying the right stuff the first time and not letting a budget limit you. you might want to check out the badass ballast. they are the first low frqz digital ballast and they come with a 5 year bumper to bumper waranty, the best in the business by 2 years. the warranty alone makes it a good and safe buy.

If I end up going HPS for flower, and I know I will, I really really want the raptors! They are sooooo big though. Check this short video out though.

Good idea on the raptor quality

The main reason for 600s is to cut down on elec. bill & Im limited to 12 plants, cant see running 1k light for 3 plants. won't one 600 hps per 3 plants be more than enough ? That is/was my goal but starting with 2 600s for 12 plants. Make sense or Im not thinking thru this properly ? Thanks for the replies !

well that depends on how you are going to grow it. im going with only 6 plants in my 8x5 area. with 6 plants im using 3 plants per 1000w. but im going with a dwc under current system. im like you but right now i can only do 6 till my wife gets her rec and i cant afford to have a 12 plant setup at this time anyway. but im going 1000% legal like you so i want to grow trees. im going to scrog them and im aiming for 1/2 - 1 pound per plant. i should be able to get around 1 gram per watt so im thinking 3lbs min and 6lbs max.

WOW 330 watts per plant ! Sounds like a great setup. I too am trying to find the key to 12 plant veg room for top line med smoke. Finished moving shelving & clearing garage so room can go up in the next couple of days.
So far the HTG 600 watt setup with their large air cooled reflector is winning my money(abt $400 each with bulb). I'll be dumping my first $1000 by the end of the week towards lighting/running fresh air to grow room from house. I plan on the "Uncle Ben" method for more tops.

I'm rethinking buying and will go for reliability over price on the ballast & also best reflector for the money. I am leaving options open for the future. May possibly make a 4X4 veg room & the rest of the room under 3 600 hps for flowering. If this si not enough light to produce the top of the line buds, now would be a good time to find out !

haha, i wish i had that going right now. thats the setup im saving up for and piecing together. i wont be rocking till oct. im just here doing homework like you.


well, since you wont go with 1000s(j/k).... you can pick up a 600w quantum for about $150 shipped. thats the cheapest and arguably best digital high frqz ballast money can buy. but im going with the low frqz digital true square wave ballast by advanced nutes. the badass ballast that comes with a 5 year bumper to bumper warranty. low frqz digital ballasts are the future so im just going to buy one now instead of 4-5 years from now. and with a 5 year warranty how can you go wrong? that works out to like $60-70 dollars a year for the ballast, i can live with that.

Looking good today, I should have the walls up by the first of the week. Looks like the door will go near the center of my North wall(east wall is garage wall, shaded all day).
Im still trying to decide which 600 ballast to go with. The Badass warrantee is attractive but it kinda doubles the cost at this point being new technology & all. I still havent heard reports from those growing about their worth over other brands (without square wave).

Heck, Just hangin' & learnin' . . .

Mrfootball420 said:

lets put it this way, im going to use 2 1000w in a 8x5(40sqft) and id like to have a lil more light.

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i have a similar sized space 9.5ft x 4ft im using 3x600 HPS
have you considered that for your space, 3x600w gives around the same to slightly more lumen output than 2x1000 also saves you 200w of power and gives a better spread of light from 3 lights rather than 2

Outer walls should be finished tomorrow. Hoping to finish hanging the door also, gotta narrow the casing on the door to fit the wall.

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Im thinking about putting the fans in the attic. One to pull air thru the lights & one to exhaust room thru in room filter. They are both 8 inch Valueline with insulated ducting bringing fresh air in from a closet in the house. I have an 16 X 20 register with charcoal flter that both 8 inch ducts feed from. That's the plan. Please criticisize and suggest any improvements ! I want to install in the morning ! Thanx to All you good people

Well, I sure thought there may be some on here that have opinions on doing things right the first time. Im starting to get a nice post count talking to myself . . .LOL !