need help choosing lights for area

i am looking for a good quality harvest have small area roughly 3x3 5 feet tall what kinda light should i use how big i was thinking of using mh for veg hps for flower how big should i go for good quality harvest how many plants can fit in that area putting 600 watt in will i fry my plants i am concerned please help me before i go buy them

Hey Skyguy. I guess a lot depends on how much you have to spend. 400-600 should be good but I would definitely go with an air cooled hood for sure. Get rid of as much heat as you can that way seems to make things easier all around. Do you have a way to vent the hot air out of the space? I had a 400hps in a box that was a little over 2x2 feet and it worked good. For 3x3 I would want 600watt. I've seen that 75 watts per sq. ft. is the most you should have. My flower space is now 3x5 1/2 feet but I have kind of a moving wall with mylar that I use to make the footprint smaller with the 400 but plan to add a 600 to it soon for a total of 1000w. Get a digital ballast and you can use MH or HPS just by switching bulbs.

thx for the help yea the setup is a digital ballast with both bulbs air cooled hood but dont know wheather i should get the 400 or the 600 box will be 2 ft wide by 4 ft long and 6 high what do you think would be good the 600 or the 400 i figure 6 should give me more in the end with more light as long as i got it staying cool dont fry em

I would go with the 600. I think you have enough headroom to be able to use the more penetrating 600w. And with the hood should be no problem with heat. I did see a 600 that was adjustable though. Don't know how good it is though.
https://ssl.cgicafe.com/clients/hmoonhydro.com/quantum_ballast.html

what you mean adjustible

I would go 400 in that small a space. By adjustable he may have meant switchable from mh to hps. Deffinetly vented.

well how many plant and what kinda yeild figure i could get with that

skyguy said:

what you mean adjustible

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Check out the link. The wattage is adjustable. I was using a 400watt in a box just a little over 2x2. In a 2x4 I would want 600 single or maybe a duel 250watt. You will spread the light better with the duel and short plants like SOG. But if you want taller plants the useable light will travel farther with the 600.