Lighting Would HPS be suitable?

[Haunts]

I have a small grow cabinet, spec is:
Cabinet: 45cm(18in)x45cm(18in)x80cm(31in)
Lighting: 6x30w CFL 6500K for veg and then swap to 6x30w 2700K for flower
Ventilation: 3x80mm PC Fans (2 x Outtake and 1 x Intake)

And here's my cabinet.

When its open

Would i see much difference in my grows if i went with a 100w or 150w HPS? And also will the temps be much higher, currently they're around 25C?

 

[shumway]

Hps would be very doable in that little cab but you would have to rework that intake - outtake setup or yes you'll see a huge increase in temps

Should go check out KolorBlinds mini fridge grow over at icmag as its basically the same size as your cab and would give you a better idea of what you could do

 

[Haunts]

Ok thanks, that guys fridge is awesome. Am i right in thinking the buds would be a bit denser, at the moment with my cfls they are a bit fluffy?

 

[shumway]

No problem man,They should tighten up a bit with the hps as it will penetrate deeper

Heres a couple shots of my last plant from my little 150hps cab (17" x 17" x 46")

 

[Haunts]

Nice. What sort of ventilation is in the cab? Did you wire up the bulb and separate ballast?

 

[shumway]

I'm running an inline fan and scrubber and cut out a 4x10 spot across the back bottom for a passive intake and just placed a floor register cover over it for looks

Ballast sits on the floor outside the cab to cut down on the heat,My lighting is a little ghetto but it works lol Went to a property maintenance supply store and bought the ballast guts and used an old computer power supply case to house it in,Still have to buy a proper reflector thou as i just made one up quick with a chunk of 2x4 a socket and a crappy piece of metal :smoking:

 

[Haunts]

What bulb do you use? Do you use the same throughout veg and flower?

I'm probably gonna purchase this http://grownuphydroponics.com/maxibright-digilight-150w-digital-lighting-ballast.html

And then i can't decide what bulb to go for i keep seeing a 150w Sunmaster Dual Spec or do i use my CFL's for veg and purchase a red HPS? Decisions Decisions.

 

[shumway]

Its just a generic 2100k and use it start to finish

If it was me i would just go grab the dual spec and run it throughout the whole grow,Will save you from switching back and forth with the cfl's and will also help keep the plant a bit shorter since you're not working with much headroom

 

[Haunts]

I'm gonna do that then, thanks a lot for your help.

 

[Haunts]

I went ahead and ordered the digital ballast,150w dual spec bulb and lumii mini reflect. All in cost £60, which I'm very pleased about.
So I fitted it in to the cab about a week ago for the end of my grow and I can already see an improvement in growth.
My temps however went up to 35c so I've now fitted 2 120mm pc fans for extraction and added another passive intake and it's took the temps down to 25c. The new fans are ridiculously quiet which is an added bonus because my old 80mm ones were pretty noisy.
I'm looking forward to seeing the difference in my next grow