I started this indoor growing project so long ago that I don't even rememeber what I have, so I figured it's time to start a grow journal. 2015 is the year I get this shit together. Feel free to mock my understanding, piss all over my dreams, & challenge just why in the hell I would ever do what I'm planning on doing. It's how we learn. So far I have 12 clip-on light reflectors with thoughtfully-chosen CFLS that have long since been repurposed & died in places like the garage & the bathroom. Oh yeah-- and the fiancée suddenly decided the priorities are yield & potency... not efficiency & cost. So these are no longer being used. Which sucks, because I had already done some successful experiments on a couple of plants using these lights, & I had this really great setup rigged together, & I made a time map of how i would change the lights throughout the plants' life cycle & everything... but nope. Yield & potency are what she wants now. 5 no-longer-usable 5-gallon buckets that I drilled 2-inch holes into before realizing that I can't get a 2-inch PVC to connect to a 5-gallon bucket without leaking all over the floor of my .... GrowLab 145, which is apparently a 4'-9"x4'-9"x6'-7" tent. I didn't measure it. I looked at the corner of the tent to see the company logo, & I remembered that it was 5-ish feet on each side. Then I googled 5x5 grow tents by that company, & this is what came up. (I've been told I'm a genius.) The tent is pretty nice, with lots of ventilation & lighting options, plus it's super-reflective all the way around. Which makes me wonder: Is a reflector really even necessary in a well-reflected tent???? If so, WishList: https://www.monstergardens.com/Grow-Lighting/Reflectors-and-Hoods/Parabolic-Reflectors?product_id=2736
Thinking about priorities now. Safety is #1. So we need a cooled hood for the light. Probably going with a CoolTube, since it's cheap, flexible, & is designed for keeping temps under control. https://www.monstergardens.com/Grow-Lighting/Reflectors-and-Hoods/Glass-Tube-Reflectors?product_id=681 Yield & potency are important. So the CFLs are out, & the MHs/HPSs are in. Odor is something we want to avoid at all costs. So we'll need ducting & a carbon filter & a fan that can really move some stink. This neighborhood goes through a lot of power failures. So we need a ballast that won't bust the bulb from reigniting too suddenly. Which means we'll probably have to go with digital ballasts. Which means we should probably get 2 of the kind that works on both the grow & the veg lights, so in case one ballast goes out we'll have a backup. The power failures also mean we'll need a backup generator. ($200 or less.) The chart found on this page http://www.horticulturesource.com/growlab-horticulture-growlab-145-gl145-4-9-x-4-9-x-6-7--p7748/ says my tent works best with a 1000watt setup -- not the 400/600 I was hoping for. Height is kind of a concern, so again, the cooltube seems like the best choice since it's a shallow form. iPower & Apollo appear to make cheap lighting kits. I'd rather have reliable. Conclusions: I need: Hood: 8inch cooltube with xl wing reflector & as shallow a profile as possible. Ballast: 2 Digital ballasts that can switch between ???w MH & 1000w HPS Bulbs: 1000w HPs, & possibly a 400w MH a 1000w MH Ducting: 8inch ducts to match the ports on the tent Generator to deal with the local power issues Should I mess with the 400w MH? Should I go straight to the 1000w MH for veg & 100w HPS for bloom?
Oh...regarding the ballasts: don't get a fan-cooled one. A fan is just a moving part to break down. Fins are just fine for cooling the units.
This costs about 470 after taxes & shipping https://www.monstergardens.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1673 but it's the 6" version This way costs about $450 after shiping/taxes Ballast : http://www.horticulturesource.com/hydrofarm-phantom2-e-ballast-1000w-p21208 $235 Phantom II 1000w Dimmable digital Bulb : http://www.horticulturesource.com/eye-hortilux-lamps-iwasaki-hortilux-super-hps-enhanced-spectrum-bulb-1000w-p19791 $75 <em>Hortilux 1000w HPS</em> (about $335 total from this store) CoolTube : https://www.monstergardens.com/Grow-Lighting/Reflectors-and-Hoods/Glass-Tube-Reflectors?product_id=681 $100 8 inch CoolTube (about $115 total from this store) but doesn't include the rachet ropes Either way, the MH lamp will still be a separate cost.
Rethinking the 1000w setup since I heard the ballasts give off a signal that can be picked up on radios. If I go with the 600w, here's the downgraded version of my earlier shopping list: reputable affordable digital ballast with no fan for $170 : http://www.horticulturesource.com/grow-lights-lighting-systems-fixtures-movers-ballasts-sockets-reflectors-components-c21/hid-ballasts-t5-ballasts-capacitors-ignitors-parts-s23/hydrofarm-phantom-600w-120-240v-dim--p9321/ 600w HPS for $75: http://www.horticulturesource.com/grow-lamps-tubes-bulbs-high-pressure-sodium-hps-metal-halide-mh-t5-t8-t10-t12-hqi-led-etc--c39/enhanced-performance-hps-lamps-s68/eye-hortilux-lamps-iwasaki-hortilux-super-hps-enhanced-spectrum-bulb-600w-p19790/ (about $350 total with the cooltube listed above) Here's the kit version for $365 (plus it's the 8 inch package (giggety)): https://www.monstergardens.com/Grow-Lighting/Complete-Lighting-Packages/Complete-Lighting-Packages-600-watts/Complete-Lighting-Packages-600-watts-cool-tube?product_id=1217
Starting to think about using a bank of 4 T5 fluorescents for the veg, instead of of a 400 watt MH. (Technically, it would have been a 1000watt set to run at 40% power). I figure there's no need to push the cost up now & crank the energy bill up during the vegetation stage...right? I've grown plants successfully using nothing but CFLs, so I'm pretty sure it'll work. Just hoping the plants will be stout enough to hold (what I'm assuming will be) giant monster buds when I switch to HPS. Fan I'm looking at: https://www.monstergardens.com/Fans-and-Filters/Inline-Fans/Inline-Fans-By-Size/Inline-Fans-By-Size-8-inch/phresh-hyper-fan-8-inch
I dunno...thinking about it now, I'm leaning toward the MH again. Seems like the amount of T5 tubes I'd need to light my area would take more energy to run than the MH. Shopping list (today's verison): 1 - 8" cooltube / 600w HPS / 600w Phantom II dimmable digital ballast kit 1 - backup 600w Phantom II digital dimmable ballast 1 - 600w MH (cranked down to 60-75% power) 1 - 8" inline fan with speed control 1 - few of these ferrite beads to reduce the potential of the ballast cord leaking RF signals: https://www.google.com/search?q=ferrite+beads&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=ferrite+beads&tbm=shop they're a couple of bucks, which is a way better solution than abandoning the house & fleeing the city (as some have suggested).
Got my light kit the other day: 600w Phantom II dimmable digital ballast Ushio Hilux HPS 8inch cooltube rachet-style light hangers It came from monstergardens. With the light running in the empty tent with no fan, temp reached 93F & humidity sank to 16% after 12hrs. I'm assuming the plants & reservoir will help hike the humidity back up. When the ballast arrived, there was a rattling sound inside it. It's a high voltage device, so I don't want to take any unnecessary risks with it. So I contacted the seller (monstergardens.com) & the manufacturer (HydroFarms) about it. The seller said it's "normal".... they said a piece of resin likely broke loose inside, & that's what was rolling around. They said they'd do an RMA for it, but if it turned out to be the resin & not something else, they'd have to send me an item I didn't order as a replacement. Their reasoning goes like this: a fanless ballast needs a resin/heatshield, so if they sent a replacement of the same model, it would be just as likely to have a loose chunk rattling around in it. SO they said they'd have to send me a fan-cooled ballast.... which, as you'll see in a previous post, I specifically do not want. I'm not real happy with the response from monstergardens. Considering that I just sent them a chunk of money, I figure I'm due the item I purchased.... not a scratch-and-dent version of it, & not a similar-but-different item. They apparently don't see it that way. This happened after customer service had the nerve to admonish me for asking for tracking info -- 3 full days after I purchased the kit. I won't be buying anything else from them. Plenty of companies do price matching. In fact, my experience with their company has reminded me of why it's worth it to buy local. It might cost a little more, but the mom & pop store won't rip you off like some internet drop-shipper in CA will. Oh... and as far as hydrofarms.... they still haven't responded to my email about whether or not this rattling noise is actually "normal", as monstergardens claimed. I'm really disappointed in both companies. PROTIP: the GrowLab tent's poles are too thick for the carabiners that come with monstergarden's light kits, so I had to replace them with bigger ones. And you'll need to buy your own S-hooks to attach the ratchets to the cooltube, because they aren't included. the 8inch cooltube is a lot heavier than it looks