Getting overwhelmed setting up an LED tent system...help!

[akhenenra]

I've posted about this before and appreciate the help...I'm somehow not any closer to figuring this out.

I have a 5x5 tent that I want to convert to being orchids only. right now this tent has a 600w HPS bulb in it. The orchids seem to love it, I've got good growth and spiking on all of them. However this bulb costs me around $100 a month to run, so I thought maybe it would be smart to switch to LEDs. I'm also a little concerned about the fire issues with HPS bulbs.

Here is the problem I keep running into:

I've spoken to the Botanical LEDs guy and he recommends a 48" bar of LEDs every 7" in the tent. This one:

48" Full Spectrum Plus "Spike Producers" (High Light Requiring Plants) - BotanicalLEDs

This would mean I need 7 bars, at $60 a pop which is a whole lot more than the HPS light cost. On top of that each bar says it uses 38 w, so I'm cutting my usage in half, but only if I spend $500 on the new lights. He also mentioned that I might need to run LED bars underneath some of the shelves as well as overhead to make sure all the plants get light. So maybe I would need even more than 7. I understand he needs to make money, but that seems like a lot of lights for a 5x5 tent. Using spacing and stacking, I am able to get all my orchids enough light with just the one HPS bulb right now.

An additional consideration is: my grow tent is in my unfinished basement. The HPS light is really really hot, so it takes care of any issues I have with temperatures for my orchids. My basement in summer is around 65 and winter maybe 55 or even 50. So right now with it being summer the HPS light means it's around 80 in there during the day, and 65 at night which seems to be perfect. So if I switch to LEDs do I need to get a heater also?

The whole point here was to try to save some money, but the more I look into it the more I wonder if I'm not better off just sticking with what is working, even if it is kind of a hit on my electric bill.

Any thoughts very appreciated! Getting kinda overwhelmed here haha. Thanks