i have a $500-$600 budget for lights!

[BOOMANLWD]

i need lighting for two different locations in closets. i am going to have a veg room and a flower room. each room will have 6-8 plants at a time. ill be growing northern lights, big bug and bubblegum. ill probably let each plant get around 3-5 ft tall. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!

 

[Motor City Madman]

If you buy good lights you will spend that per location. Look at the digitals at htg for flower and fluorescents for your veg. It is important to remember cheaper is not always better, and you will only get out of it what you put into it. It is a investment to grow.

Good luck
MCM

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I would recommend T5 fluoro tubes for vegging and a HPS for flowering. Your plant count is an insignificant number as plants can be very small or very large. You need to figure your light by the sq ft that you plan to have. Generally 3000 lumens per sq ft will do fine for vegging and 5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering.

 

[BOOMANLWD]

If you buy good lights you will spend that per location. Look at the digitals at htg for flower and fluorescents for your veg. It is important to remember cheaper is not always better, and you will only get out of it what you put into it. It is a investment to grow.

Good luck
MCM

thanks for that. i can bump my budget up to around a $1000-$1100 all together then cuz i do realize that it is an investment. i really just want some quality stuff ill be able to stick with and the biggest bang/sun for my money

 

[Lemmongrass]

cheaper isn't always better but you could do wonders with 250/closet... its a closet. get 2 1k hps, or 4 htg 400w units. could get like 30 of those ubar cheap 150 watters and make 15 cool tubes lol.

 

[BOOMANLWD]

I would recommend T5 fluoro tubes for vegging and a HPS for flowering. Your plant count is an insignificant number as plants can be very small or very large. You need to figure your light by the sq ft that you plan to have. Generally 3000 lumens per sq ft will do fine for vegging and 5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering.

thanks a lot for the info

the closet is about 6x5 feet.

here is a t5 i was actually checking out on ebay (this is the tilte, i cannot post links due to the 15 post req.):


MONSTER T5 FLUORESCENT PLANT GROW LIGHT REPS 400 hps mh


its has 8 bulb spots. comes with 16 bulbs. 8 daylights 6500k and 8 white tubes. the dimensions are 53.5" x 14" x 5"

do you think this would be sufficient for my space?

 

[willowgrow]

How much room are you working with for each room? LxW? Like THG said that will guide you as to how much light you should get. T5 strips are all you need for veg, and they won't run you too much. As for an HPS system for flowering, you should go with a lumatek ballast, a cooltube reflector (I have the 6" one from HTG and it allows me to lower my 600w within 6" of my ladies), and imo whatever grow bulb you like (im using the agromax 600w, supposedly has 30% more blue spectrum or somethin ). But it looks like you've saved your pennies and have plenty of room in that budget to play around with!

 

[willowgrow]

thanks a lot for the info

the closet is about 6x5 feet.

here is a t5 i was actually checking out on ebay (this is the tilte, i cannot post links due to the 15 post req.):


MONSTER T5 FLUORESCENT PLANT GROW LIGHT REPS 400 hps mh


its has 8 bulb spots. comes with 16 bulbs. 8 daylights 6500k and 8 white tubes. the dimensions are 53.5" x 14" x 5"

do you think this would be sufficient for my space?

That looks like a great setup, but a little pricey, do you have a home depot or lowes nearby? I would check out their flouro selection; they have pretty low prices and a decent selection. Is each closet 6'x5'?

 

[7thG]

Im in the same boat as u....give or take a $$. Dont forget bout all the other stuff ur gonna need but i would get a quality HPS then see what ur budget is lookin like after that

 

[BOOMANLWD]

That looks like a great setup, but a little pricey, do you have a home depot or lowes nearby? I would check out their flouro selection; they have pretty low prices and a decent selection. Is each closet 6'x5'?

i found it on ebay for $300. i'll def look for better prices at the lowes. i really like your idea about using HPS for flowering. thats an idea i've been playin around with. what is HTG though? (i know im noob) lol

 

[willowgrow]

htgsupply.com. very fair prices, discrete packaging, and helpful customer service. Their prices are significantly less, for the most part, than my local hydro shop

 

[Lemmongrass]

waaay too expensive for a fluro hood man. you can get 3 400w hps units(hood bulb ballast) for 300$ almost.

edit: those are actually the ppl i was pricing from OP. check that link out.

 

[SKAGITMAGIC]

i'm useing a lumatek 400, the whole package was 256 bucks at a local hydro shop, just switch bulbs from MH to HPS, silent, the ballast still a little warm, so its not in the closet, and with a 70 cfm ceiling fan its still to warm in my opinion, with the 400 watt so im upgrading my dishcharge fan and drilling more holes in the floor, in my bigger room i have dual 600 lumateks, everything is 240 to save on the power bill. the amperage on 240 is about half of 110 if that makes sense, what im trying to say you can almost run 2 lights on 240 for the same money as one light on 110 same wattage, people keep stressing to me dont think wattage,because the plants are thinking lumens, and there right!!! anyway the lumatek electric ballast claims to put out 20 to 30 % more lumens than standard ballast at the same wattage for half the money ? The plants sure like them but like i said they are warm in a closet, good luck on your grow

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

hydrowholesale.com

 

[PUFF MONKEY]

i recently built a 16 bulb T8 fixture w/tubes for $160..i'll post a pic when i can..

 

[slowmo77]

sounds like you've got plenty of info on lights, are you plannin a soil or hydro grow? what type of nutes? how do you plan to vent your grow area?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

The T5s are going to be more expensive than the T8 or T12 because the T5 are high output--a 4' 54W tube puts out 5000 lumens.

 

[WeedHopper]

thanks a lot for the info

the closet is about 6x5 feet.

here is a t5 i was actually checking out on ebay (this is the tilte, i cannot post links due to the 15 post req.):


MONSTER T5 FLUORESCENT PLANT GROW LIGHT REPS 400 hps mh


its has 8 bulb spots. comes with 16 bulbs. 8 daylights 6500k and 8 white tubes. the dimensions are 53.5" x 14" x 5"

do you think this would be sufficient for my space?

It is a great setup. I am using the 4ft 6tube T5 setup almost 30,000 lumens . Check it out here http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showpost.php?p=408130&postcount=1