Best lights for a small heat prone space.

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Orion21

Member
Hey, every one new here althought I've been reading the forums for a few years i just now decided to get an account.
I've done a couple grows, now under one 150w cfl (free from a friend), + a few supplemental lights (for one plant). and had 'ok' results. now I'm looking to get a new light. any way about my grow area, its a 2ftx 3ftx 6ft closet covered in mylar. the options for good venting are slim and running cfls in the temp hovers around 75-85f. what light (flowering) would you recommend. I've been looking at HPS (obviously, the most well tested grow light that continuously has good results) but that raises the issue of heat. because of this and a strong recommendation from a friend I've been loosely toying with the idea of LEDs (he used the HTG supply 7 band.) but because of a nutrient problem the plant was not able to finish.... so I got no info on the yield, but he was guessing 6 oz... i think this was an over estimate but what ever.
any way considering that if i go the HPS route ill have to get a ballast+ lighting fixture+ a fan ect. to help with cooling... would an LED set up work from what I've been looking at the cost of an LED for my grow tent should be about the same or in the range of 100$ more. and it has the benefit of keeping my grow area clean and un cluttered which is nice for ease of access. any thoughts? I've been looking around at LEDs read some grow journals & reviews some of it looks promising but there is a lot of debate around what LEDs are best, what nm's are needed, which makes me hesitant. I'm looking to grow 2-3 plants this time in a hydro setup and just ordered some seeds from attitude seed bank (Barneys Farm Seeds LSD, Serious Seeds Kali Mist, Medicann Seeds Bubba Kush+ the free seeds they send)
 
alexonfire

alexonfire

Well-Known Member
Depends how easy it is for you to vent your heat. The best option would be a 250w HPS but then you need to get at least a 100cfm fan. Also what are you going to do about your odor isssue? If your going to get a carbon filter then you might as well get the HPS because you will need an inline fan. Ive never used an LED but I heard they do work but probably the same light penetration as CFLs so you'd want to LST or SCROG your plants to keep them low and buds at the same height.

Another option for you would be PLL's - check out my old micro grow
Right now I'm running 6x36w PLL's for my outdoor veg, thats 216w at 17400 lumens in a box thats about 3 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot high and only using 2 computer fans to extract the heat at half speed. You could go with 4x55w and get 19200 lumens but they are 5 inches longer so it didnt work for my micro size grow.

IMG_1448.jpg
 
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Orion21

Member
alexonfire said:
Depends how easy it is for you to vent your heat. The best option would be a 250w HPS but then you need to get at least a 100cfm fan. Also what are you going to do about your odor isssue? If your going to get a carbon filter then you might as well get the HPS because you will need an inline fan. Ive never used an LED but I heard they do work but probably the same light penetration as CFLs so you'd want to LST or SCROG your plants to keep them low and buds at the same height.
Click to expand...
thanks for the reply venting the heat is the main issue im having, otherwise i would go with hps hands down. i dont have a vent fan but do have a 3.5ft. 'tower' fan in the closet. as for smell I'm not that worried as i have a medi card but i do use baking soda and when flowering supplement it with ona and that seems to do the job.
 
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cornbread329

Member
LED's are good if you buy one with the proper bulbs(actually called chipsets) You want one that has 3-5 watt chip set. For example a 300 watt LED with 3w chipsets will have 100 lights at 3w each. For a flowering model this would consist of about 91 of "red" spectrum bulb and 9 "blue". I have a blackstar 240w with 3w for flowering and I love it. It runs perfectly cool, penetrates over 15" into the plant and produces quality dense medicine. Produces no heat plants wont burn unless the leaf is touching the glass.The drawback is that does not cover a large area, for me it covers 3x3 before loosing quality. If you are looking for a max production light that runs cool than check out induction lighting but be prepared to pay big $. I also have 2 90w veg LED lights with 1w chipsets and they cover the same area as a 600w MH but the plants are much healthier and vigorous. I wont use anything but LED's ever for vegging. Also easy on the electric bill. Hope this helps. Check out Gotham store they have best prices and remarkable customer service. If there is a problem they will ship the brand new replacement to you before you even ship back the defective one at no cost to you.
 
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Orion21

Member
thanks for the info cornbread, from reading grow journals and other forms thats basically the conclusion I came to, did look at the backstar 240w also looking at HTG's 7 band because a friend highly recomends it and HTG has always been top notch in customer service, but I've read a few negative reviews from people on RIU, so Im skeptical now. anyway looking around the web at different grow lights and i found these Pro Grow 50 (plasma)[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]from hydroponics hut anyone ever use plasma lights? they claim one 50w bulb covers 3sq feet, which depending on how well they work I guess i find plausible. [/FONT]
 
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althor

Well-Known Member
HPS is the most efficient turning energy into light, the rest is expelled as heat.

What that means is, if you have equivalent watts of CFL compared to HPS, CFL actually puts off more heat.
 
VegasKush702

VegasKush702

Member
Orion21 said:
Hey, every one new here althought I've been reading the forums for a few years i just now decided to get an account.
I've done a couple grows, now under one 150w cfl (free from a friend), + a few supplemental lights (for one plant). and had 'ok' results. now I'm looking to get a new light. any way about my grow area, its a 2ftx 3ftx 6ft closet covered in mylar. the options for good venting are slim and running cfls in the temp hovers around 75-85f. what light (flowering) would you recommend. I've been looking at HPS (obviously, the most well tested grow light that continuously has good results) but that raises the issue of heat. because of this and a strong recommendation from a friend I've been loosely toying with the idea of LEDs (he used the HTG supply 7 band.) but because of a nutrient problem the plant was not able to finish.... so I got no info on the yield, but he was guessing 6 oz... i think this was an over estimate but what ever.
any way considering that if i go the HPS route ill have to get a ballast+ lighting fixture+ a fan ect. to help with cooling... would an LED set up work from what I've been looking at the cost of an LED for my grow tent should be about the same or in the range of 100$ more. and it has the benefit of keeping my grow area clean and un cluttered which is nice for ease of access. any thoughts? I've been looking around at LEDs read some grow journals & reviews some of it looks promising but there is a lot of debate around what LEDs are best, what nm's are needed, which makes me hesitant. I'm looking to grow 2-3 plants this time in a hydro setup and just ordered some seeds from attitude seed bank (Barneys Farm Seeds LSD, Serious Seeds Kali Mist, Medicann Seeds Bubba Kush+ the free seeds they send)
Click to expand...

I suggest that you start off by buying a 150w HPS, this is not going to get THAT hot. Here is one :)
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR10.TRC1&_nkw=150w+hps&_sacat=0&_from=R40

Next I would grab two of these and somehow install these on the closet door, one HIGH top right of the door (exhaust) and one bottom left of the door (intake). They are rated at 200CFM each!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120mm-38mm-New-Case-Fan-12V-DC-200CFM-PC-Computer-Cooling-2-wire-Ball-Bg-332B-/380654250803?pt=US_Computer_Case_Fans&hash=item58a0c2eb33
Here is a link how to do that https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/8402-how-turn-pc-fan-into.html
You will have very nice air movement in and out. Of course some might think this will cause a negative since they are on a door, but trust me this will work.
Throw in 1 or 2 of these clip fans
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Optimus-Personal-Adjustable-Clip-On-Fan-White-7-Inch-2-Speed-F-0702-New-/281085613652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4172021654
and you will be ready to rock. :)
Hope this helps



For the record, I use 1000w HPS/MH conversion myself, and think its outstanding.
 
R

renodude

Member
I run 2 240 watt 7 band LED from HTG and have had great results. I started out with the blackstar and like the HTG a little better. I have noticed when I flower with both LED's my tent creeps up to 80 degrees versus 74 with one LED.
 
sgt john

sgt john

Well-Known Member
Kessil has some LED lights that don't produce much heat, California Lights have really good LED lights, I personally wouldn't use a MH/HPS unless you have lots of venting and cooling..
 
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Orion21

Member
althor said:
HPS is the most efficient turning energy into light, the rest is expelled as heat.

What that means is, if you have equivalent watts of CFL compared to HPS, CFL actually puts off more heat.
Click to expand...
expand please? to me this makes no sense from my understanding a lower watt CFL produces more light and less heat than a HPS where as an HPS has a lot of excess heat hence less efficient. so to cover the same space you'd need a lower watt CFL than HPS.
 
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Orion21

Member
sgt john said:
Kessil has some LED lights that don't produce much heat, California Lights have really good LED lights, I personally wouldn't use a MH/HPS unless you have lots of venting and cooling..
Click to expand...
I've heard great things about California lights and from there web site there claims seems much more realistic and truthful than others (HGT). I read a grow journal on a different site they used the solar solarflare 400w the grow didn't yeild to great but the nugs were frosty as hell.
 
skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
If you put a 150w hps in a cool tube and use a 4 inch fan to blow cool air through the light and tube, if you can use outside air to blow through the tube
this will reduce the heat even better
then mount another 4 inch fan high up to extract the remaining heat and create the negative pressure necessary to bring in clean air from a passive inlet down below you could fit this in a 3x2x1 ft box and keep it at 75-80f or even smaller and yield a few oz

peace
 
iblazetoomuch

iblazetoomuch

Active Member
I had 135w cheapo ufo led running and temps were around 75-80 basically depending on what air intake I had going ect (widow fan going or not). I replaced it with a 5,000 btu air conditioner and use 150w hps now, temps reach around 90ish if I leave AC off, can keep it down to 70 with ac on so I would evaluate how much air you got coming into the space and going out, if your just circulating the same air as your bedroom into the closet or some other scenario, its probably not gonna keep things that cool. I don't think I'd run her with just a setup fan, I'm using a whole bed room.

At the moment I am running em both n couldn't maintain the under 80 temps without ac, just realization that I would need a cooltube around any higher wattage light that I stick in a tent in the future. My area tends to be heated by other things though then just the light, since I am using same room I am in all the time and plan on doing the same with tent, will maintain ambient temp in room with pc/monitor/growlights/room lights/tv ect going.

If you spike up there with CFLs past 80-85 in the grow area, probably 150w hps will be a bit hot, I took temp reading of the ballast itsself, 96.9 average on the surface of the vents. If you do go LED, def stick to the quality lights or get HPS and find way to vent it if you can, worse case scenario eventually get a/c or some type of vent setup, options are limited by?
 

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cornbread329

Member
Orion21 said:
thanks for the info cornbread, from reading grow journals and other forms thats basically the conclusion I came to, did look at the backstar 240w also looking at HTG's 7 band because a friend highly recomends it and HTG has always been top notch in customer service, but I've read a few negative reviews from people on RIU, so Im skeptical now. anyway looking around the web at different grow lights and i found these Pro Grow 50 (plasma)from hydroponics hut anyone ever use plasma lights? they claim one 50w bulb covers 3sq feet, which depending on how well they work I guess i find plausible.
Click to expand...
I have used HTG and Gotham. I've never had any problem with HTG but I prefer my lights and hoods from Gotham. Their customer service is like no other. Whatever model you decide check out what bands they have, I have noticed companies advertising more bands then their competitors but some of the bands are not even usable to the plant so just be aware of this when looking for a light. Induction lighting is even better and probaably the best light to use for growing but they are very expensive but they run cool and use electricity. Induction and LED lighting have a extremely higher percentage of the energy used to operate actually being used for the plants. HPS/MH have a high percent of wasted energy that the plants never use. I am currently a Geologist and I an working on a Masters in Soil Science and Botany so I do have a background in this field.
 
O

Orion21

Member
VegasKush702 said:
Next I would grab two of these and somehow install these on the closet door, one HIGH top right of the door (exhaust) and one bottom left of the door (intake). They are rated at 200CFM each!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120mm-38mm-New-Case-Fan-12V-DC-200CFM-PC-Computer-Cooling-2-wire-Ball-Bg-332B-/380654250803?pt=US_Computer_Case_Fans&hash=item58a0c2eb33
Here is a link how to do that https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/8402-how-turn-pc-fan-into.html
You will have very nice air movement in and out. Of course some might think this will cause a negative since they are on a door, but trust me this will work.
Click to expand...
thanks for the info and link, I've heard about people doing this or similar things, but was always wary of electrocuting my self or starting a fire. but it sounds safe and easy, so ill defiantly give it a try.
I've decided to go the LED route with the HGT 7band 240w, the guy from HTG said for my space the ufo 135w would work but i figure all go on the safe side. in total the whole setup for three 3.5 gal DWC systems, and the light + Nutrients should run me about 500, which is right in my budget.
any way this is going to be my first hydro grow as well as growing more than 1 plant. so i was thinking of having each of my plants in a separate bucket so if i screwed up I would not loose my whole crop.... will this be more maintenance than its worth?
 
A

althor

Well-Known Member
Orion21 said:
expand please? to me this makes no sense from my understanding a lower watt CFL produces more light and less heat than a HPS where as an HPS has a lot of excess heat hence less efficient. so to cover the same space you'd need a lower watt CFL than HPS.
Click to expand...

Well, you just broke what I said when you said "lower watt CFL"...

I said, if you use the same watts...

If you use 150 watts of CFL (actual watts, not compared to incandescent)

OR

150 watts of HPS

the 150 watts of CFL will put out as much heat, if not more heat, than 150 watts of HPS.

If you plan to use less than 150 watts, well, might as well just go out and buy you some bud.
 
O

Orion21

Member
althor said:
Well, you just broke what I said when you said "lower watt CFL"...

I said, if you use the same watts...

If you use 150 watts of CFL (actual watts, not compared to incandescent)

OR

150 watts of HPS

the 150 watts of CFL will put out as much heat, if not more heat, than 150 watts of HPS.

If you plan to use less than 150 watts, well, might as well just go out and buy you some bud.
Click to expand...
but my point still stands CFLs and LEDs are more efficient at converting energy into light so a lower watt CFL will be equivalent to the light out put of a higher watt HPS, now if the light is the right spectrum ext. for growing is a completely different issue. so if you have a 150w (actual watt)CFL it will have more light than a 150w HPS.
 
VegasKush702

VegasKush702

Member
Orion21 said:
thanks for the info and link, I've heard about people doing this or similar things, but was always wary of electrocuting my self or starting a fire. but it sounds safe and easy, so ill defiantly give it a try.
I've decided to go the LED route with the HGT 7band 240w, the guy from HTG said for my space the ufo 135w would work but i figure all go on the safe side. in total the whole setup for three 3.5 gal DWC systems, and the light + Nutrients should run me about 500, which is right in my budget.
any way this is going to be my first hydro grow as well as growing more than 1 plant. so i was thinking of having each of my plants in a separate bucket so if i screwed up I would not loose my whole crop.... will this be more maintenance than its worth?
Click to expand...
NICE SHOPPIN! You ALWAYS Want to make sure you plant in different pots/buckets, never run the risk. What nutrients are you going with? The led is a good choice, but make sure you still have a intake/exhaust setup going. Also I recommend still keeping the CFLS going all the way through till harvest. Plants thrive on the different light spectrum.
 
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Orion21

Member
thanks vegaskush, I'm definitely going with separate buckets (three 3.5 gal). as for nutrients I'm going with, thats up in the air right now. with soil I've been using the General Organics line w/ fox farm soil or just what ever organic soil i could get at wall mart. mixed with
perlite some compost from a friend. but I've heard General Organics works well with hydro... if done right, but it [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]doesn't[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] take much to screw up.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]so i've been looking at Advanced Nutrients, or General Hydroponics. and i was planing on supplementing the LED with 3-4 40 or 60 watt CFLs in warm white [/FONT]​
 
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