New Grower Newbie in need of light advice.

[Liontamer]

a420er,
No disrespect meant but actually a good LED set up gives the same intensity as HPS.
My 275 Watt BudBooster LED set will roast a plant if its the same distance as Fluoro's, I have to keep it 30'' from seedlings and young plants and 20'' from established or flowering plants.
Put it another way, at noon on the equator the sun gives about 50,000 Lux, at 4'' from my LED the intensity is 100,000 Lux, any closer and the meter goes blank. 90,000 is fatal to cell structure.
A good LED should be treated as HPS units excepting the heat issues, do not put treat them as you would fluorescent tubes.

 

[A4]

a420er,
No disrespect meant but actually a good LED set up gives the same intensity as HPS.
My 275 Watt BudBooster LED set will roast a plant if its the same distance as Fluoro's, I have to keep it 30'' from seedlings and young plants and 20'' from established or flowering plants.
Put it another way, at noon on the equator the sun gives about 50,000 Lux, at 4'' from my LED the intensity is 100,000 Lux, any closer and the meter goes blank. 90,000 is fatal to cell structure.
A good LED should be treated as HPS units excepting the heat issues, do not put treat them as you would fluorescent tubes.

I agree, Liontamer, intensity in Lumens, yes. PAR, not even close. When I say intensity, I was referring to PAR output. A 270W LED won't put out anywhere near the same par as a 400W HID. PAR is what is actually usable by the plant. Lumens are pretty much useless when it comes to horticulture and measuring light intensity.

 

[Soylent Green]

http://www.rollitup.org/led-other-lighting/530737-par-quantum-light-meter-led.html

 

[Isterbuken]

Well if you go with cool tubes there won't be much difference in height difference between LED. I was thinking along the lines of a standard hood. 2 400's will be nice! Good intensity and penetration. The nice thing about that is you could run only one during most of your veg and be fine then use the other one when the plants get taller. If you went with a digi ballast you could buy a selectable one like Lumatek 400 and use either 400W or 250W bulbs in there. Use 250 during veg or when you are only running a single plant and then dial it up to 400 when you really want to blast them.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out, i think this sounds like a plan.

a420er,
No disrespect meant but actually a good LED set up gives the same intensity as HPS.
My 275 Watt BudBooster LED set will roast a plant if its the same distance as Fluoro's, I have to keep it 30'' from seedlings and young plants and 20'' from established or flowering plants.
Put it another way, at noon on the equator the sun gives about 50,000 Lux, at 4'' from my LED the intensity is 100,000 Lux, any closer and the meter goes blank. 90,000 is fatal to cell structure.
A good LED should be treated as HPS units excepting the heat issues, do not put treat them as you would fluorescent tubes.

Thank you for your advice on the leds, i looked at the BudBooster, in the description it stated that they needed to be hung 3 feet above plants, that would leave no room for the plants in my box, so it would not work for me.

 

[A4]

No problems Isterbuken, the main thing to remember when dealing with lighting and especially LED. There is a lot of BS out on the market. Wattages and coverage areas are exaggerated. If you are interested in a product, make sure you look for several grow journals from a reputable member that has used the product. My personal experience, if I have seen at least three separate people using a product with good results, I am not buying it.

 

[Isterbuken]

No problems Isterbuken, the main thing to remember when dealing with lighting and especially LED. There is a lot of BS out on the market. Wattages and coverage areas are exaggerated. If you are interested in a product, make sure you look for several grow journals from a reputable member that has used the product. My personal experience, if I have seen at least three separate people using a product with good results, I am not buying it.

Well my way of looking at it is hid is a tried and tested way to grow, and since this will be first ever atempt at growing, i´ll stick with that. again many thanks for your time.