[GpsFrontier]

Hey GPS, How you doing? I was trying to figure out how much light he had in his system, as he did not mention it in his first two posts...didn't know if he had 2 fixtures with 2 bulbs each, multiplied by 32 watts per bulb with a system wattage of 128 watts of florescent lighting , or 8 fixtures with 4 bulbs each at 32 watts a bulb, with a system total of 1024 watts.

That and my brain knows florescent wattage in T5ho's and how that relates to T8's. There are some people who are able to flower medicinal plants under florescent lighting but the quality and quantity are not ideal. Not sure if it is possible with tomato plants using 6500k bulbs regardless of the photo period.

Oh, I see you were figuring the bulbs were 32 watts, and multiplying that by how many bulbs there were, for a total wattage used figure. That makes sense, but I'm sure not all florescent bulbs are 32 watts. Those videos are nice, they were done by a member of this forum (watercatwn6535nd) a while back, and rather than try to explain it, it was easier to post the links. I'm sure also that just going with HID lighting would be simpler, and cheaper when comparing the equipment needs for something like that. And the electrical cost would probably wind up being a wash as well, I would bet. But never the less it can be done if you wanted to. I may even try something similar in the future.

How do i need to figure how much lighting i actually need?

I don't really know of any charts, and I don't use artificial light, but for that space I'm sure you 1 400-600 watt MH or hps would work fine for that space. Or even 2, 200-300 watt MH or HPS would be fine as well. Having two smaller wattage's will allow you to spread the light more evenly, and still supply the same amount of light. But I would call a few hydroponic shops, and compare what they suggest, but keep in mind their job is to sell you stuff, even if you don't really need it. That's why I would call a at least 3-5 hydroponic shops to see what the common thread of the advice they gave was, to use as a guide or starting point.

Reflective surfaces will help any type of lighting, but how much depends on how well you construct it, and how reflective the materials you use are. And as long as you already have them you could even use the HID light/s above, and the florescent on the sides or below for even better coverage. As for figuring out how much florescent lighting to use for using just florescent? Well, I would fallow the setup in the videos pretty closely if going that direction, especially+ for tall plants like tomatoes.

P.S.
I use earth juice dry crystal pH adjusters myself. You can easily switch from using one nutrient mix, to another. Just make sure you flush the system really good to get as much residual out of the system before switching. And don't try to mix two different lines of nutrients together.