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HPS heat in a small cabinet?


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Hi there,

 

First time poster/grower so please go easy on me.

 

I'm looking to setup a small grow cupboard. Bascially it's a cabinet underneath my 3ft fish tank. I've been doing ALOT of reading.. heaps.. and initially i was thinking to set it up with CFL lighting. Now bear in mind the aim of the cupboard is for a complete grow from start to finish. But after doing research and calculations i'm now leaning more towards a hps setup, prolly around 250w. Now I reckon i'd only be able to fit 2 plants in the cupboard comfortably, so the 250w should be enough. If i was going CFL i'd need at least 100w per plant so i figure a 250w HPS would be a better bet.

 

The only thing i'm not sure about is heat. Its obviously not a very big space, so i'm not sure if i'm going to be able to manage the heat.

 

Any advice in running HPS lighting in a small cabinet would be great.

 

thanks,

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Yo 57, sup wigga?

 

How tall is the area?

Put some photos up. :disguise:

 

 

If you have the space, Go the 250 HPS and buy a cooltube... my room was like an oven until I got one.

The CFLs will chew more power and power is expensive and they have to run long durations every day... but they are well suited to small spaces being compact and cooler.. :scratchin:

but HPS will make your plants beefy :flex:

 

You could setup a scrog to try to keep them lower and wider

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heya pleb,

 

i ain't no wigga… i'm half black…bottom half. ;) :D :P (that's that the mrs says anyways)

 

cheers mate.. yeah the dimensions for the cab are 82 wide x 40 deep x 66 high(cm). It's not big by any measure so i've been doing alot of reading on LSTing and scrogging and stuff to try to make it work.

 

I worked the cabinet out to be abit over 7 ft cubed.. so getting a 200mm computer fan for the exhaust that pushes through 130cfm will hopefully keep the temp down…

 

i was looking at one of these - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/250W-HPS-HYDROPONICS-SPECULAR-LIGHTING-KIT-GROWLUSH-/320558023990?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item4aa2bf4536#ht_3090wt_907

 

i did a search on this forum about the seller, aussieponics, with some mixed opinions. But i figure if i buy from them through ebay as opposed to their site and something goes wrong, least its not too difficult to get my money back(through paypal and ebay), or force them to get their asses into gear.

 

Or do you think going for the cooltube is definately the only way to do??

 

thanks again

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Im only a noob myself, so dont listen to me... :twitchsmile:

 

But in such a small space, I think its gunna roast your plants...

 

I used that ebay store to get a couple of HID lights no worries, good price. That aussie ponics site has a sale on a 400W cooltube (150mm), at the same price as a 250W cooltube, $160 might interest you.

 

Although with your limited space, you would have to bring the duct in thru the side wall of the cabinet, because you dont have enough space to turn the 150mm duct... well you could probably fit a duct one side of the tube, say suck air from inside the cabinet thru the tube and out a duct on the other side :scratchin:

 

 

Plus you would need an inline fan for it, thats like another $60... i dunno what your budget is like

 

You might have to go the CFL after all just to manage the heat (and budget) in the small space

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HI 570n3r!Welcome aboard mate!!

I run a 250 hps with a cool tube - 125mm inline fan blowing thru that and a 125mm cetrifugal can fan for extraction into an odor sok! My cab dimesions are 160cm high x 40cm deep and 60cms wide. I am battling the heat big time!!! and with dimensions half the size of my cupboard you will just be making a nice oven!!

You will need a centrifgul fan and filter for your exhaust and i would recommend at least a 150mm fan for that,the more air you can pull out(hot) the more air you can suck in (cold!!)You would also need a fan for the cool tube.A computer fan wont cut it for extraction , especially in the summer heat!! Maybe look at getting a 2nd hand cupboard or wardrobe you really need a bit more headroom than 66 cm!!!Plus a place for timers,ballast,electricals,ducting, and loud fans that need to be silenced etc!!

Go to the building and construction threads and have a look at my build!! or my grow diary and see what heat strees does to plants !!!

Good luck bro plenty of info on this site!! Have a good look!!

:bongon: wiet

Edited by wietlover
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wiet is right.

 

I also have a 250 watt HPS...with much the same size grow room...It's actually a fridge.

I run a cool tube with a 125 mm axial fan and another 125 axial fan to draw air through separate to the cool tube.

 

You can get away with no cool tube in winter but no way in summer. I have found ventilation to be the most expensive part of my setup. Followed closely by my Lumatek digital 250 watt Ballast.

If you can afford it watts for lumens HPS is still king....Although Plasma is looking promising for the future.

 

Cheers Buzzo

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Thanks heaps for the replies guys. Exactly what I was looking for. Basically it looks like it might be abit of an epic journey to get a hps system into this cab, so I might just have to settle for the easy way out and a lower yield and go cfl. Thanks again guys for all the replies. Fantastic info!!
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ok... now.. this could all end up being for nothing.. but..

 

i bought the 250w hps tonight.. now i didn't go for the cool tube.. because of room inside the cab to run a cool tube with ducting there's just gonna be no room left.. so i figured the money i save in the price diff between cooltube and ducting i can just buy more fans.. at first i'm gonna try with moving 500cfm through the cab.. if figure 500cfm theoretically will move 71x the volume of air inside the cab per minute out of the cab.. so hopefully that keeps the temps down.. if i still can't keep the temps down i'll double it.. surely if u'r moving that much air through the cab the temperate difference between inside and outside the cab will be minimal..

 

i just couldn't go for the CFL... will hopefully get my stuff sometime after the 4th so will start a grow diary after it's all set up.

 

thanks again for all the help and advice..(even though it doesn't seem like i followed it :/ ) ;)

Edited by 570n3r
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Hey 570n3r,

Cool tubes not only keep the temps down,they let you get the light as close as possible to the plants.I can kiss my cool tube thats how much heat gets taken away by them!More light = more buds!!

You are gonna have huge heat problems, its not all about moving air, i think you will find the heat(direct) produced from the HPS will give ya plants lots of heat stress!! But don't let me deter you!!!

Best of luck mate

:bongon: wiet

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