I'm convinced to go HPS, maybe Son Agro

[T-rex]

You guys and alot of reading convinced me to spend the extra $ and go HPS. What about the Son Agro 430w setup in my 2X8 closet? I believe it was rated 53k lumens which would give me aprox 3.3k lumens per sq ft. Correct me if I'm wrong. Are there different ballasts to use with the Son Agro 430? If so what do you recomend, especially costwise? Do I mount the light in the center of the 8' ceiling or elsewhere. If I leave the sliding closet doors open a couple of inches on each end and put a standing column floor fan on one end blowing air through and out the other end, will this suffice as good ventalation? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm totally new at this and want to do it right the first time. All your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks alot,
T-rex

 

[captain1]

Read the stickies in the light forum. I took me awhile to understand what I needed. Read and read some more. Personaly I would say you need more than that. Like two lights. Is it 2ft deep by 8 ft wide? More info like are you doing the entire grow in this room Veg-flower?

 

[captain1]

Plus you dont want the light all the way up. Needs to be closer to your plants.

 

[purplephazes]

Sonny T is a good choice ( But i prefer my sunlight ) Peace and Happy growing !

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

You are really looking for around 5000 lumens per sq ft. I would make the closet a little smaller--around 2 x 5 or so. Otherwise, you will find that the plants at the ends of the closet are not getting adequate light--a 400W just isn't going to cast light that far (my 1000W doesn't even do well in a closet 6.5' in length). Line it with mylar, Panda film or paint it FLAT white to get the best reflection you can.

I do not see your "ventilation" plan working. You are going to need to do more than leave the doors open and push air around. You are going to need an actual intake and exhaust (with an exhaust fan), in addition to moving air around with an oscillating fan.

 

[T-rex]

THG,
Thanks for all your advice. I'm on disability, just trying to grow a few plants to relieve my chronic pain. So most likely I'll be growing directly under the light and not using the entire closet. In a previous post to me , you stated the flouro's cost more initially to buy, lumen per lumen. Unless I'm looking at the wrong HPS setups they look much more expensive 350-500 vs 2-4$ for flouro's and the cheap ballasts. I can definately see the savings as far as power usage. It would be very hard for me with my limitations, (hands, back and more) to mount fans in the attic ceiling. Besides I don't want to go to that extreme. Would a cool tube help me? How would I set it up with the 6" tubing, without cutting any holes in the wall and placing the intake and exhaust fans outside the closet? Would this work with my circulation idea with the floor fan? I just want a simple way to do some growing of God's pain relief in a 2X8 closet! Any ideas you or anyone else have, would be appreciated greatly!
Thanks,
T-rex

 

[GeezerBudd]

You will need an exhaust fan and an intake fan. And the closet has to be light proof. I've seen some use a passive intake with an exhaust fan up top.
Your plants will need to have good ventilation. Your tower fan will work for a circulation fan-just set it on low power to where it hits the leaves just a bit.
Hope this helps.

Gb

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

THG,
Thanks for all your advice. I'm on disability, just trying to grow a few plants to relieve my chronic pain. So most likely I'll be growing directly under the light and not using the entire closet. In a previous post to me , you stated the flouro's cost more initially to buy, lumen per lumen. Unless I'm looking at the wrong HPS setups they look much more expensive 350-500 vs 2-4$ for flouro's and the cheap ballasts. I can definately see the savings as far as power usage. It would be very hard for me with my limitations, (hands, back and more) to mount fans in the attic ceiling. Besides I don't want to go to that extreme. Would a cool tube help me? How would I set it up with the 6" tubing, without cutting any holes in the wall and placing the intake and exhaust fans outside the closet? Would this work with my circulation idea with the floor fan? I just want a simple way to do some growing of God's pain relief in a 2X8 closet! Any ideas you or anyone else have, would be appreciated greatly!
Thanks,
T-rex

Plants need a constant supply of fresh CO2 all the time the lights are on. I exchange the air in my space 3-4 times a minutes. There is no way to have adequate ventilation without fans, regardless of what types of lighting you are using. No the fan on the floor with the doors open will not work. You need fresh air to be introduced into the space via an air inlet (this can opten be passive), old air exhausted with a fan, and the air in the space moved around with an oscillating fan. If you have an air cooled light, this will help the heat issue, but you still need the same basic ventilation setup.

You are trying to grow a product that goes for $300-500 an oz on the street. You are going to have to put some time, money, and dedication into this. There is no real "simple" way. Plants need adequate light, nutes, and ventilation. You cannot scrimp on any of these or you end up with inferior bud. Your risk is the same whether you are growing quality stuff under a HPS or light airy buds under fluoros.

 

[prosport00]

You should check out some of Hemp Goddess' grows and heed her advice!! It saves time and money down the road to do it right the first time!!!

 

[Pepper]

#1 mistake people make when first starting out is spending all their money on lights, and never think about ventilation, they think a fan blowing air around is all that is needed, wrong you turn on a 400w hps in a closet with just a oscilating fan your temps in the winter will be easy 90 + in the summer forget it it will be 500 degrees.

The #1 thing you should set up first is the area were your garden will be, get it all ready, clean it, paint it, etc.

#2 Set up proper ventilation, this will cost you more then the lights, trust me, lights are cheap compared to air conditioners, intake fans, exaust fans, osciliating fans, duck work.

#3 Buy all the tools of the "trade", you will need to know room temp, canopy temp, ph, ec or ppm, if in hydro water temp, etc.

#4 Buy everything you will need soil, pot, fertilizer, if hydro you can build a lot of you trays, reservoirs.

#5 The last thing you buy are the lights, you only need blue light to root, germinate florous work great for that, after that, hps all the way, vegge flower cant beat it, the size of your floor space is irrelevante for chosing a light, what matters is the size of the plant canopy, a 400w is good for 2 or 3 plants tops, or you can do 10 to 12 clones SOG style.

Trust me do it right the first time around, or dont do it at all. It is not as simple or as cheap and many people may lead you to believe, it's expensive to get started, If you can not afford to buy everything all at once buy a little at a time and just stash it in your room for when you are ready.

The bigger the light you plan on buying, the more money you will need to spent on ventilation, and electricity.

 

[IRISH]

^ all that. way to lay it down pepper. ...

after all is said , and done, i've seen some ghetto set-ups that produced some killer sit you down , put you behind the couch:hubba: ,sticky, dank as booty bud. ...

i could prolly do better myself at weight, but my ghetto buds are among the dankest...

you've been given the preferred diameters to the consensus of the group, now you decide what to do with it...

 

[T-rex]

I just saw Hampster Lewis pics on a 2X4X5 tent which I think will solve all my problems. As long as I leave the closet door open for fresh air the tent will fit perfectly in my closet.Or if neccesary I could even put the tent in the bedroom. I was thinking of using a 400W cool tube with inline fans and a small ossilating fan inside the tent. The inline fans will be using the fresh bedroom air. I could put the tent on one half of the closet and use the other half for seedlings w/flours. Or is it possible to grow from start to finish in the tent? Hampster, your box is full, as I tried to ask you how it's working for you. I'm willing to spend the
$$ but I'm just unable to do alot of physical work with my bad hands. With my medical Mj license I'm legally able to have 3 mature and 4 immature plants along with an oz.

THG and everyone else I sure would appreciate your input

 

[dirtyolsouth]

HI T-rex...

The 400w with a cool tube sounds like a good choice. If you can keep the air in the bedroom at a moderate temperature and hook up a strong inline fan to pull air out of your tent and you exhaust the fan outside of your grow room, the suction from the fan exhausting the air will pull enough cool air into the tent through passive intakes and seams and cracks in the tent to replace the exhausted air... If you just blow it out of the tent back into the room the tent is in the room will soon heat up and you'll be pulling the warm air into your tent... You'll need to exhaust the air i.e. outside or into the attic or another room and if you do there will be enough negative air pressure to pull air from the rest of your house into your room to replace the exhausted air. Another benefit of constantly ventilating and exhausting the air outside is it will prevent odors from building up and spreading out of your grow room into the rest of your pad. Without ventilaiton air stagnates, odor builds up and after a few weeks of flowering the odor becomes a major issue if you're trying to keep things stealth... I'd suggest getting a strong fan like a 400-600cfm Eclipse, Hurricane or Can Fan...

Happy Growing!

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Pepper and DOS have given you good info. Many people overlook good ventilation. but without adequate ventilation your girls do not get enough CO2 and heat becomes an issue.