Apartment/Closet grow, 250watt or 400watt?

[busterbunny]

I have been reading loads of information on here and the more I read the more addicted I get. It's just a matter of paying my two traffic tickets and about a thousand bucks I still owe from college last year before I drop 500-1000 bucks on equipment. Anyways I wanted to go with a 400watt hps with a mh conversion but then I thought of the electricity bill. I live in an aparment where my electricity bill is only about 30 bucks a month because it is a 1 bedroom apartment and with a 400watt my bill would almost double when it's veggin. I then thought maybe I should just go with a 250watt so it's less noticable on the bill. I read through the 35 pages of the 250watt grows(awesome thread there, nice job guys) and I just think I would much rather have the higher yield that a 400 would produce. I would be growing 4-9 plants. Should I even be worried about the electricity issue? Cost won't be an issue, it's just I am paranoid about the electric company noticing. Anyone have suggestions?

 

[SeedsToRiches]

I wouldn't worry a bit. 400 watts=high end computer? Theres a virtually endless list of things that could and would add 400 watts to your bill a month, if you added a few 1000 watters, you might have problems though.

 

[busterbunny]

Thanks for the responce SeedsToRiches. I did a tiny bit more research and found that a 400watt would be about $20/month when vegging and $12/month when flowering so I guess that shouldn't be noticable. The town I live in does have around 15 thousand people anyways so I'm sure they wouldn't single my bill out.

 

[PurplePotion]

I would go with a 400W for sure. Check out the CMH threads in the Grow Design & Equipment forum. I put together a 400W CMH system for ~$120 including a DIY sheet metal air-cooled reflector (looks like it came from the store.. I have a lot of tools in the garage, so that helped :]). You can pick up a ballast kit for $50-60. These are pretty simple to wire up if you have any wiring/electrical aptitude whatsoever. You can get the 400W CMH bulb from http://advancedtechlighting.com/cdmed18.htm for ~$60 shipped.

I wouldn't worry about your electric bill. Change your household bulbs to energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs and become more aware of wasted electricity, and you won't notice much of a change in your electric bill. Where I live, a 400W running 12/12 only costs about $11-12/mo. to run.

Also, what are the dimensions of your grow space? Don't forget about ventilation.. you're going to need some sort of exhaust to keep the temps in a suitable range. You'll want to get a carbon filter to keep odors from pouring out, too .

 

[Guest]

here is a 4 by 4 feet grow cab made at home depot no more than 50 dollars and thats a air cooled 1000 watt its small but have a big punch if you work her right

 

[Guest]

Hey guy 250 watt hps is good for 2 or 3 plants but for 9 plants and do ok you need 600 watts of light intensity, the minimun recomended to get good results is 400watt per m2 or 10 sqft aprox, and in that amount of space=1 m2.. i would put no more then 6 mature age plants to fower or 20 clons.

A 400 watt hps lamps uses 4.8 amp stary in your electric circuit line and and meter, more amp higther consume , run good size wires to reduce amps and save electricity, is best to a run a good quality wire front the braker box to the lamp , this way you don't heat up your aparments electrical wires and saves a bit more in electricity.

I also have to recomend a 400 watt hps to work , you want to grow to many plants with a 250 watt hps lamp.... I use 6 hps lamps 2 x 1000 watt and 4 x 400 watt plus 2 x 400 watt+ MH 1 x 1000 watt MH + 4 x 150 watt MH , 4 x extractors , 4 x fans , 6 x 20 watt flourecens, 3 ton AC unit ect ,

I use to have a stary 120 amp in my house min line , so to build this setup in run a clean line front my meter to my setup and there i place a big braker board, all this to save electricity and no burn the house electrcs wires, now i have a stary 185 amps in my main line went everythig is on, and i di not doble my light bill only increase 35% , the more you consume the less you pay.. some pics of my Indoor Growth Palace ... Peace

 

[Climbinghigh]

I think you'll definitely want the 400 Watt for even 4 plants. But depends on size of your closet and how you're growing the plants- i.e, SOG, or bush-style. Iv'e got a 400 running in a much smaller town than yours and haven't had any problems from the electric bill- the issue I continue to struggle with in my closet is heat.

 

[busterbunny]

Purple Potion - Thanks for the CMH information. I already picked out the light I will use: http://www.htgsupply.com/growlights.asp?categoryID=1&subcategoryID=2&typeID=63
And I haven't forgot about ventilation, I pretty much haven't everything picked out that I am going to use. My dimentions are about 2" x 3" x 6".
Silverback - I have seen some good homemade cabs and I am going to get the supplies from home depot as well.
CezarCronic - Nice setup I am going to make mine look nice and neat like that too (mine will be much smaller though)
Climinghigh - I am going to grow them bush style and thanks for reasurance.

Questions answered and I will use a 400watt thanks a lot everyone!

 

[Vermonster]

don't waste that wattage on the veg. part just use a strong CFL....since i am unable to go lrage anymore i am using 1 of my 1000 watters to do 4 plants in a closet now....i can tell you that works just keep the heat in check bill is like 90 a month....