Need help with light!

I have a 2ft by 2ft by 5ft high storage closet which i can grow 1 plant.First time i tried it,i used a regular light bulb.Although it worked,i now want to upgrade.Since size is limited,and heat is a major concern what would you recommend?I have been thinking either a 200 watt cfl,or a 100-250 watt hps.

A small hps will serve you well but heat is going to be your enemy in that space. Proper ventilation should be your first concern.

Second that. CFL will give you more grams, but you will have to vent the heat out.

If you use the CFLs and it is ot to hot in the house you could probably get away with little venting.

You will probibly have to vent no matter what. Humidity can/will get high.

cfl will generate less than half the heat as any hps will

The cfl will produce less heat,but is it better than hps for such a small area?And what could/should i use for ventalation.What about just opening the door to air out every so often?

Cut a hole in the tope of the door. If you did stick with cfl a computer fan or two would be more than enough.

I have a 2 foot T5, 4 bulb setup in my 2x2x4. It's pretty easy to cool, works well, the bulbs aren't that expensive and you can mix and match the light spectrums as you do along, if you wish. The cord comes out of the end so it would be a very tight fit in a wood box. Just one opinion, take it for what it's worth and good luck.

Get the 150 watt hps sunsytem and then have at least two four foot t5s on each side, youll be impressed with what you get

How high should the light be above the plant?Or does it depend on the bulb?

Depends on the light and how cool you can keep your area cfls can get pretty close maybe three inches but an hps should be around a foot or two depending on your reflector housing

Thanks for the help.I ended up going with the 200watt sunblaster cfl bulb.I went from a standard light bulb to this.I need to wear shades just to look inside now!!But you guys are right.I definitely need some type of ventilation.I didn't think it would get as warm as it is.Couldn't imagine what a hps would be like!Is there a certain temp i should keep it around?Once i get things going,i'll post some pics for some set up feed back.

Thundernuts said:

Thanks for the help.I ended up going with the 200watt sunblaster cfl bulb.I went from a standard light bulb to this.I need to wear shades just to look inside now!!But you guys are right.I definitely need some type of ventilation.I didn't think it would get as warm as it is.Couldn't imagine what a hps would be like!Is there a certain temp i should keep it around?Once i get things going,i'll post some pics for some set up feed back.

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i have a better idea for u.. if you are going with cfls... the higher the wattage the less Lumins it outputs... i am saying a single 200 watt cfl bulb will not put out as much lumins as 10 20watt cfls.... same wattage but the smaller bulbs average more lumins per watt.. and not only that you can also keep these bulb almost touching the plant without a burn or yellow leaf.... and the secret of cfls is to have light completely surrounding the plant... i believe its silly to use one large cfl for a grow, it needs to be farther away from the plants and cfls do not have good penetration into the canopy.... bunch of small bulbs and use the 200 watts you plan and you will be smoking/ sitting pretty... i hope i helped...

The new light is working pretty good.It's almost been two weeks since i started germinating the seed(dec 1),and it's already beginning it's third set of leaves(very small,but still third set!).But now i am beginning to notice tiny flies on top of the soil in the pot.I doubt this is good.What are they,and how do i get rid of the them?

Neem oil or a special soap for plants you can get these at home depot or any plant or landscape store...