i am in the midst of constructing a 5ft*5ft*5ft box. although everyone will agree this is a magnificent accievment on par with blackpool tower , I have a query, should i use a 1000watt hps light or should i use 4 flourescents. I dont know if the flourescent has the same intensity as the hps, dont want to neglect the bottom buds. thanks

That is an awkward size room - I wouldn't try to turn the whole space into a growspace as you'd have a real pain working on plants at the back.

The low height dictates 250 watt MH/HPS lamps and LST / SCROG . No need to go down the fluorescent route

How much do you smoke ?, what size electricity bill can you cope with ?
A couple of 250 watt lamps should give you half a pound or so in compost every 3 months or so for 80 quid or so in electricity. I would aim at using some of the space for mums and cuttings.

Even with two lamps, 2 foot 6 is on the outer limits of what a 250 watt lamp can adequately light ...

How are you fixed for ventilation ?

sorry wrong info the box is 6ft high 6foot deep and 6ft wide, can handle any elec bill as long as i dont need my own nuclear substation at the end of my street.

3x600w HPS + 1x600w MH

That's going to be some electricity bill - maybe £400 over a grow = £100 a month.

I would start with two lamps ...

The question remains as to how you plan to look after plants at the back of the room ...

i'll go for two 600`s, I'm working on getting to the back by having doors on two sides. just hope it don't fall down when i open them.

Probably a more sensible approach

600w's are OK but they have shite light penetration. Im sure ppl who own 600w hps will disagree with me on the basis that 600w's are most cost effective. But we wanna grow good weed not cost effective weed. Go for the 1000w

i absolutely and positively disagree with that

you can grow great weed with fluro's, just not much of it. more wattage and penetration means more yield, NOT 'good' or 'better' weed
anyway, i would go for the 600w mate but get the digital ballasts, because they kick out more light (almost as much as a 1000w) and they save you a very small amount of cash on the old leccy bills

I disagree with him re: the 600W lamps/ballasts, too - 600W ballasts are quite surprisingly more efficient than 1KW ones, and 1KW ones don't kick out that many more lumens than 600W ones due to this. Regardless of which wattage you use, you're not going to be illuminating a lot more that the top foot and a bit of the plants, anyway - I think that this is why so many people would choose 2x600W over 1x1KW in most setups.

Thanks for all the advice, I was only thinking of the 200 flouresant watt growkings because they say they kick out as much as a 600 hps, is that true rubbish, but i am sway`d to the 600`s unless anyone can mind my mind. Has anyone used them flouresants and what did they think?