Switch to HID?

[Ganjagrowergu]

I am currently running a small 12/12 from seed grow in a 48"x32"x60" tent. My current lighting is 1-mars300, 1-250W 2100k cfl, and the rest of the watts are spread between 8-mix spectrum 23 watt CFLs... A pretty rag-tag mess of lights and cords. 574 watts actual draw in about 10.6²ft, about 54 watts per ²ft.
I want to add more light but, I live in an unfriendly apartment complex so my wife says no to LED, and would prefer to have me get rid of the one we have. However we do have heat issues already.
Questions are: will a 600 watt HPS cure all of my ails and produce less or equivalent heat? And will I run into problems relating to the light being too close to my ladies? O

Those CFLs run hot. My tallest ladies are take up about 24" from the floor leaving me with less than 36" from the bulb at its highest.
Just looking for suggestions.

Peace

 

[Mike Wright]

How is the apartment complex unfriendly to LED lights?

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

I am currently running a small 12/12 from seed grow in a 48"x32"x60" tent. My current lighting is 1-mars300, 1-250W 2100k cfl, and the rest of the watts are spread between 8-mix spectrum 23 watt CFLs... A pretty rag-tag mess of lights and cords. 574 watts actual draw in about 10.6²ft, about 54 watts per ²ft.
I want to add more light but, I live in an unfriendly apartment complex so my wife says no to LED, and would prefer to have me get rid of the one we have. However we do have heat issues already.
Questions are: will a 600 watt HPS cure all of my ails and produce less or equivalent heat? And will I run into problems relating to the light being too close to my ladies? O

Those CFLs run hot. My tallest ladies are take up about 24" from the floor leaving me with less than 36" from the bulb at its highest.
Just looking for suggestions.

Peace

LED's produce less heat and draw less power than HID's. I have 600w hps and it keeps my 4x4 tent at 24-28C. If I didnt have all my fans linked up though it would be higher cos of the weather at the moment. Whatever you decide make sure your airflow is up to scratch.

 

[Ganjagrowergu]

It is legal to grow here, but not okay according to apartment regulations. Neighbors have a 20 watt led that baths their place in blurple so bad that I thought they were growing weed.
We have been caught before and have lost many genetics that simply do not exist in the mainstream seed world.
We are on a limited budget so that holds us back a lot

 

[Grassmaster]

Since light per watt is your main Concern. Use the appropriate COBS or Quantum boards.

 

[Ganjagrowergu]

I'm going to have to save up and buy prefab, because I know nothing of electronics, if went that route.
I'd be better off with a proper square tent. I have turned off all of my 23watt CFLs and I really have a nice footprint for what i'm working with. Ladies are less droopy, temps are down 5-15 degrees depending on the time of day. However it is a horrible use of space.
Switch to all LED or HID is unavoidable.

 

[Grassmaster]

CFL's are energy inefficient for growing plants. They don't have very good penetration. The one good thing about them is you can get them closer to the plants in a low height tent.

I have a 3' by 3' tent almost 6' tall. I suggest getting the tallest tent you can. I grow 4 plants at a time and it gets cramped in there. The tallest plant I can grow is a little over 3 feet tall. I would like to grow taller plants Like Gorilla Glue #4. I'm thinking of a 4' by 4' by 7' 11". Or 4' by 8' by 7' 11".