Cheap, Good lighting, (possibly) (Your thoughts??)

I'm thinking about doing a setup similar to this:

The 3 things on boards are 3x 48inch T8 fluorescent fixtures, each containing 2 36watt, 6500K temp, 2700 lumen bulbs each, for a total of 16,200 lumens @ 216 watts.

I was wondering if this would be enough light to properly vegitate the roughly 8square feet it will cover well, especially if i have it on an adjustable, lowering fixture and can lower it down right above the canopy.

I was also wondering if this, switched to 2300-2700K temp bulbs, would be enough to flower in a decent way.

I was going to go HPS but I can't afford to take care of the heat..it's going to be a LOT of heat for the small space I'm doing it in.

I could add 5 fixtures for the flower chamber instead of just 3, maybe putting 2 on the sides or something, if that would be enough light. (that would be 27,000 lumens over roughly 8 square feet, >3k lumens/ft.

I was also wondering if these fluoro fixtures will put off heat? If it will be anything comparable to a 250-400W HPS?

Also do they JUST need blue spectrum 6500k for veg and 2300-2700K for budding?
Or should I put like 6x6500/2x2700 for veg and 6x2700/2x6500 for flower?

BTW This might look like expensive-ish lighting, but it's not. From walmart the 2 bulb T8 fixtures are $10 and 2x 2700lumen 6500k bulbs are $10..so $20/fixture.

I'm planning on mounting them to boards and mounting strips of sheet metal between the boards so I can bend it to adjust it, and hanging that custom fixture from the top of the box w/ chains..

So yeah, 16,200 lumens good enough to veg that if I keep the lights near the canopy?
And are 27,000 lumens enough for that space to flower?

I'm planning on wrapping every square inch I can inside the box with mylar.

Any advice is EXTREMELY appreciated. I never knew there were grow forums, this is fucking AWESOME, hahaha...

Anyway you guys tell me what you think etc, either way I'll be making a thread and putting pics & instructions for my design up & how it's coming along...so if it works people can copy it on the cheap..


Thanks a lot..
-C

+rep for the awesome ms paint diagram.
that actually helped me think of a new way to mount my lights to get the most out of them.


the fixtures will put off some heat, each one has a ballast inside and I find they get moderately warm, get a thermometer and monitor it to see how hot it gets before you put your plants inside if you havent already, that way you will know what type of heat distribution youll need before you wake up one morning and find them all wilted. as for the other stuff I don't know, but somebody here does.

ye man looks great tbh id love that =) but ye temps just keep em on for a night with a thermomitor under then about 4" away where youre gonna have the plants and if it hasent got above 30 then ur lights are fine =)

thanks

I was thinking of doing the all fluoro setup because of heat from HID lighting..
but if I did ducting & pyrex tubes for 2x 150w MH lights in 1 box, and 2x 150w HPS lights in another
will that create a lot more heat than 3x 2bulb 4ft T8 fluoro fixtures in 1 box and 4-5 fixtures in another?
Also this is in the closet of my room, these boxes will be, it's a slide-door closet, a rather large 3-door one..
I'm trying to make it so it wont make my room hit 80 or 90f and also so it wont smell like w33d (but that's a totally diff post altogether for carbon filtering)..

If I did the HID's I'd have 4 pyrex tubes with 2 different vent systems, 1 for each box.
It'd be:
[inlet-duct](PYREX-TUBE)[transfer-duct](2nd-PYREX-TUBE)[outlet duct] with 2 fans, 1 blowing in at the inlet and 1 blowing out at the outlet..
And also each box will have an air inductor that'll pull air OUT of each box through a carbon filter..
The only problem is I can't vent to the outside, or to anywhere besides out-from-box to in-my-room.
So I'm really worried about the heat......
Any comments, help, or advice is very much appreciated.

HAHA thanks for the kudos on the mspaint sketch it was a fun five minutes!
I stole the fixture design from the get-more-buds CFL fixture..

If 6-8 4ft 2-bulb T8 fluoro fixtures are going to create an equal ammount of heat as 4x150w lights I'd rather do the 150w lights and build my own pyrex setup..
that's why I am asking..

I'm going to be doing this really soon one way or the other (or maybe both ways, maybe 3xFluoro for veg & 2x150w HPS (or 1x400w) for flower..would rather do 2 lights than 1 though because it's 8sqft, 4ft long x 2ft wide.. (& 4ft tall)

I'd like to do the HID's but I think it's gonna be signif more heat than the fluoros, and it's a lot of rigging work (but I'll rig whatever it takes to do this..haha)

I will be making a thread on all of this after I get it going and keep it updated..If this all works out it will be a very good producing grow setup that I can have 4 plants per chamber for a total of 8 (minus a few new clones here or there) and put 1 new clone over to the veg box, move the biggest veg'd over to the flower box, and harvest the last one in the flower box every two weeks...

God this keeps getting longer and longer the more I type..haha (Who would have thought..)
Better end it now

Thanks a lot.
-C

vent into your room and keep the window open, thats about all i could think of, you wont need to worry about smell for the first while if you are vegging and not 12/12. on another note, I was fixing my lights and in the process one slipped and took out 3 of my little plants :/ but i managed to save them all, just picked the one off the floor and kept most of the soil in the pot, nothing broke or bent.

close one zero lol i donet hat b4 my lamp dropped on my plant and chopped her in half lol she waz like 2ft tall and a week later it just topped itself lol i wasnt complaining ha.

You're a right rigger

Why does it have to be 8 sq ft? If the actual grow area is that big you only have 2000 lumens per sq ft. Not enough in veg and not nearly enough in flower. You should be able to grow 4 plants in 3 sq ft. That would give you nearly 5000 lumens per sq ft and then you'd be in business.

Not gonna cut it imo 6000 lumens per sq ft minimum shoot for 10,000 go with the hps set up and vent them good. Check out my grow if u need a few ideas pm me but almost any money spent on lighting or anything beneficial really the plants will pay u back.

I was doing the 4sqft calcs because 2bulb T8 ballasts at walmart are 4 feet long and just $9.99.
I was planning on making a 'tanning bed' (or half of one) for the top that can be adjusted how it bends
I was planning on putting 5xfixtures for a total of 10lights and 27,000 lumens. I was under the impression (erroneously) that 300watts of fluoro's would run cooler than 300 watts of HID. I am wrong. From what I have been reading watts = heat regardless.
You can put a 1000w heater in 1 sealed room, 1000w AC in another, 1000w HID in another, and 1000w of fluoro in the last, and come back in 3 hours and all 3 rooms will be equally as hot.
It's just a matter of where the temperature is. If I'm going to have to rig outside ballasts I'm going with HID (and I decided I'm going with HID).

So 2x150w or 1x250w? The 2x150w = more total lumens but I'm guessing a 1x250w will have better light penetration?
(As if I were to put a 50w light in front of your closed eyes, then a 250w in front of your closed eyes, you'd see the back of your eyelids better with the 250w =P)
However the 2x150w will have more spread.
2x150w = 32,000 lumens, 1x250w = 28,500 lumens.

SO:
Is it better to go 2x150 and get the better coverage, or 1x250 and the better penetration?
Thanks,
CreQ