Indoor box height?

[lowryder]

hey guys. I'm building a box currently for my 4 plant, 10gal dwc setup. my question to you guys is, how much room should I give to grow? I figure 2" between the plants and the lights should b good, but I really dont wanna go too small and run out of room, or go too tall and waste space (striving for as discrete as possible).

 

[Afrikaaner]

It depends on your strain selection and kind of light. A big hid bulb needs almost 2 feet of empty space to not burn your plants. Give us some more details and we can help you out better.

 

[lowryder]

im using three 13W CFL bulbs plugged directly into a power strip (ghetto rig ftw!). I have a small 2ft box with a 1gal dwc that has my two afghan Ryder and two autoak in it, I'm moving them to the larger one halfway thru week 3. I plan on running both boxes side by side year round

 

[Muddy]

So you'll be using 5 gallon buckets? You're also going to need more light. Three 13 watt CFLs aren't near enough for 4 plants. You're going to need something more along the lines of 200 - 250 watts minimum.

 

[flwr]

When I was running a rubbermaid for two plants I used six 26 watt CFLs for a total of 156 watts. I follow the rule of 100 watts first plant and 50 for each additional. In my new grow tent for four plants I will be using twelve 26 watt CFLs for a total of 312 watts.

 

[Afrikaaner]

Well I feel if you're going for dwc (which usually gives large plants), you're going to want to spring for some more lights. Its like building a car with the most powerful engine and then putting on bicycle wheels that are just going to spin. The first ingredient to nice plants is light, after that whatever medium you choose gives potential for more growth. If money is a concern, I'd see if you can't cut some corners elsewhere and really invest in some more wattage.

Hey flwr, what were your results like with 150 Watts?

 

[flwr]

Afrikaaner, not really anything to do a decent comparison with. My plants never had a chance since I stunted them badly in the beginning. So not very accurate.



I would go with T5s over cfls if I had the money to spend. I've been hearing great things about the Quantum T5 Badboy. It's what I have my eye on.

 

[Afrikaaner]

Afrikaaner, not really anything to do a decent comparison with. My plants never had a chance since I stunted them badly in the beginning. So not very accurate.



I would go with T5s over cfls if I had the money to spend. I've been hearing great things about the Quantum T5 Badboy. It's what I have my eye on.

Oooh right I remember your grow now! And yeah, t5's are totally what I'd go with if they didn't cost so damn much! They always seem to grow such beautiful plants. Perhaps I'll get some as supplementary library some day...

 

[lowryder]

So you'll be using 5 gallon buckets? You're also going to need more light. Three 13 watt CFLs aren't near enough for 4 plants. You're going to need something more along the lines of 200 - 250 watts minimum.

no, it's 4 plants sharing a 10 gal dwc res. and i just upgraded to two 60w cfl's and two 75w cfls

 

[dwhizzle74]

i wouldnt keep cfls that far from the plants manne im usin cfls and i damn near got those lights stickin in my plants but id still go buy a couple more you can get like 8 of em from wal mart for 20-25 bucks hell i cant wait till the grow i got goin is done so i can get up in there and put more lights in i think ima run like 16 on my next run with cfls more is always better