Need to know what power lights for small enclosure.

Hello everyone. Hoping to get some input here. I've gone over and over the different styles/types of lighting available. And not sure what I should get. So I'm hoping someone more advanced at this can give me some advice.

I have 2 enclosures that I intend on using to Grow and Bud my plants.

My 1st enclosure is 28 1/2 inches Tall
25 3/4 inches Deep
16 inches Wide

(This will be my Growing Room)
I'm not sure if I should go with two 2-Foot Fluorescent bulbs 1 Warm and 1 Cool in each fixture or go with a low wattage HID/MH Bulb. Something like 250 watt for being so small an area. 412 Cubic feet (I believe)

My 2nd enclosure is 28 1/2 inches Tall
25 3/4 inches Deep
35 1/2 inches Wide
(Flowering Room) (914.125 cf) again, I believe.
For this lighting I'm looking into purchasing the
HTGSupply 400 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow Light complete system.

Can this system handle a 430 watt bulb for my flowering or should I be looking elseware? I understand the need for the ballast and figured even if I might not use the 400 watt one included at least I have everything else I need in that department. Or should I just use the complete set up and stop trying to change everything?




Basically I am converting an Office Desk into a somewhat stealth grow room. I'll insert a picture of my sketch of the desk with measurements.

If your grow room is 28 inches tall, and your lights are 18 inches tall, that leaves ten inches for the plant and pot, or plant and tank????


If your grow room is 28 inches tall, and your lights are 10 inches tall, that leaves 18 inches for the plant and pot, or plant and tank????

Look at my CFL tutorial at my signature.

Most appreciated the response Roseman. Now that you've mentioned it yeah I totally see what your talking about. Over the past week or so I've spend at least 50 hours of going over a lot of things. From Vertical or Horizontal grow room, Lighting, Soil or Hydroponics and I think I'm over saturated with information lol.

My first intentions were to just build a 8w x 6h x 4d horizontal grow box and just have it stationed in the basement. Where it would not be bothered by anyone. But after inspecting the basement a little more I've noticed a few things. It's very very damp down there, lots and lots of spiders and webs (so thinking that bugs will be a problem) and I can almost smell mildew which would completely kill anything I wanted to grow. So I decided against the basement option.

I sat for awhile and wondered to build something a lot smaller or perhaps a closet sized grow room. My closet could easily support such a system being 6 ft Wide x 2 ft Deep x 8 ft Tall with a cubbyhole access to the attic for release. But my closet has sliding doors and I'm not sure if I can separate it and make it light-proof. That and my room tends to run pretty warm even during the winter months from my computer and LCD tv so I'd be afraid of not being able to control the temperature with the closet being opposite of my windows and a good 15 ft opposite the windows to use for clean air intake.

I'm not looking to make anything that will mass produce. Just something to maintain. So I'm basically lost at this point as what to do.

Which brings me to my next "bright" idea. To use the office sized desk to use as my grow room. It will be located in my bedroom where I can monitor it. and I can have the desk sit under the windows so I can run piping to the window for clean air access. I planned on using one of the smaller "rooms" for my growth room and the central "room" for my flowering. I was thinking of mounting the fluroscent hoods (which are about 1 1/2 inches thick to the top of the summer room and stacking items to bring the seedlings to the top then gradually moving the plants downward as they grow. I thought by the time they were to the top would be time to move them to the flower room.

But you've made a solid point that I'm looking at having almost NO room for the plants to grow. Do you think it's possible to use the desk as a grow room or should I just suck it up and purchase something that's premade?

Sorry to seem so needy but I've really hit a dead end here and not sure what to do.

I've seen Bonsai pot plants grown here on this site in a shot glass, or housed in a computer case, or in a bedroom dresser or a small cardboard box, with one smll 15 watt CFL light. They got enough bud to roll one to 3 joints at most. WHY bother?

If you want just ONE plant two feet tall, to get enough bud to roll ten joints, it is possible. It will take 2 or 3 42 watt CFLs and that will create enough heat to need venting.

I just can't see it, or any reasoning behind it.