Help me choose a reflector

[chronicinjury]

So basically I'm doing my first indoor grow in 3 years...... I used to splurge on all the high-end gear, that being the Super Sun 2 reflector at the time, with its awesome reflective qualities and 6 inch air vents. I combined that with 660 CFM and it was basically a ****ing monster. Unfortunately the cops ****ed up my shit and took all my equipment in 2005, so now I have to start over, and this time I'm on a budget. It appears that I could save about $100 using a simple bat-wing reflector, but I concerned about how much this will compromise my grow? Several considerations are that I'm lighting a much smaller area this time (3.5 x 4.75 feet), and that I can't use powerful fans this time around due to the noise factor. So, in summary, I have no idea what the hell I want to buy. please suggest something. thanks

 

[icon]

so what excactly is your budget price wise also what wattage are you looking at here.

i bought a sunsystem10 ballast 400w & a valuebright aircooled hood with glass & cables for $300 last year through my growshop dealer works great & bought a honeywell 8" turbo fan for $10 from target & works extremey well on low has
(3 speeds) just need an air duct reducer 8"-6" or 4"

 

[chronicinjury]

Wattage is 1000. Budget? I don't know that I have an absolute ceiling. I could spend $600 if I got really carried away, but anything over $400 gets exponentially more painful and at $500 I am ready to cry. The problem is that I want to use the uber-expensive hortilux super blue HPS lamp, which is $200 right there, slightly less when bundled with the ballast and reflector......

 

[icon]

wow you are sqeezing pennies ide say buy a wing reflector for now & standard bulb the after harvest sell some smoke to some freinds then upgrade to what you really want

 

[chronicinjury]

OK guys the more I research the issue, the more apparent it becomes that it's going to be nearly impossible to do what I want to do without spending at least $450-$500.

But I just got another idea. I could get one of those high-output T5 flourescent lighting systems (8 x 48 inch tubes) for under $400. That's 40,000 lumens at point blank, no fans required. It won't light as large of an area as the HID, but my grow space is small. Also, I can spring for another four lights in a few months when I have more money.

My only concern is how this will compare to the HID in terms of quality and yield. I have never grown with flouros before so I just don't know. I am not planning on growin mids. I'm spending a shitload on genetics to grow the dankest shit possible. Do you think this is possible with flouros?

 

[Guest]

With (8) 48" t5s you will have heat issues. And yes, you can get some decent stuff, just start out slow, methodical, don't buy an item that you will throw away several months from now because it's worth less.

Look ahead at where you want to be in a year or two. When you buy an inline fan, buy the one that you will still be able to use. Look ahead and only purchase items that still have a place in your grow, this is how you build a successful "anything". Have Discipline when building your grow, if you intend it to be 40 square feet at its peak, acquire the items, piecemeal, that will get 'r dun.

You can make a very nice SCROG with the t5's. shallow canopy and 24 x 48.

The Super Sun II will handle a 1000W, the foot print is still only 36 x 36 inches for optimum performance. reference PICO and the hood/reflector test/evaluations. The numbers crunch.

Respects,

Ty-Stik

 

[Silverhaze]

awesome grow man!!!
Congrats!

 

[Guest]

Batwings are as relevant to good growing as "Polished Shields" and "Burning Ships" in Greek mythology. They were a good start along time ago.

Ty-Stik

 

[Guest]

ac daystar reflectors are the best and affordable and best foot print you can buy.............unless you want open hood then pL............but the ac daystars come with cords now and skinny.........there just the best ...most guyz gardenz worth a crap ,if aircooled have ac daystars...but i adapt um to sunsystem ballist

but sunsystem cool tubes with reflectors are the cheapest..not a great foot print though