This is NOT the closet setup. This is how anyone can make a nice setup for as cheap as 75€uros. No need for buying special HPS case or such that costs too much. What I used for a shade is one old Desktop PC case (the PC with those one piece covers "U" shape, 2 aluminium picnic large plates. At hardwares tore I got one "L" metal piece to screw onto the PC case, and then fitting the bulb onto the "L"metal piece. Ballast is the most expensive piece because you have no choice if you want to use HPS bulbs or MH. But still I found a rock solid quallity ballast600W, for reasonable price 50€. I reccomend to use ballast kit that looks like home made, with ignitor and capacitor. The fancy ballast from most shops are pretty shitty quallity it just looks decent and have a power switch on it. I use timer, and the cord I used from an old iron because it has 1.5mm wires inside for adequate power transfer and without of risk of overheating. The bulb provides absolutely small ammount of heat, and the regular room fan I use for air circulation is good also for cooling the air arround bulb and plants. NOTE: ballast keeps the electricity in capacitor for more than one hour after being unplugged from the wall. I had problems with the bulb contact so... I didn't know that so i got a electricity struck me cause i stick the finger where noone should lol. DON'T TOUCH THE NAKED BALLAST or BULB PLACE EVEN WHEN UNPLUGGED. I dont use MH or FLO lights at all. Mainly because i grow "EasyRyder autoflowering plants", but also i have some SkunkxHaze growing under the same HPS lights. All I will do is take them to the prepared closet when hitting the flowering phase since those two don't have the same cycle at that stage. They are together for 20hr day, 4 hr night at vegetative phase of grow. Here are some pics at the begining of process.
cool man, i need any kind of advice. I am new in this, thou i read a lot so i go by that. BUt since i am using 600W bulb, and because those are babies, i was affraid to bring it closer because of the heat. I have placed it at first closer, but when I put my hand above the tip of the baby I felt too hot kind of so I pulled it back. Under the PC case is alufoil and side covers are alu maeterial so they reflect also. .. So, if you have such experience, how low should I go with the lamp at this stage, and later when flowering?
well thats like a fucking cheap ass set up that ballast would probly cause a fire in the near future and well i would nerver do that shit saved up 500 dollar to get my grow tent 400 watt hps with mh conversation my seeds soil also your soil looks like shit
ok, maybe for the soil you can be right, who knows. But for the ballast you are totaly wrong. You dont know much about electricity i am sure, since you talk only based on price of the ballast and not the parts installed. You dont even know where I live. In some countries, browsing the net, ballasts are inredibly expensive. While for example I bought the bulb in UK, because they offer better price, and so on....And not here bro. Especially if you know a good electrician who can put it all together. Those are just a three electrical components, BALLAST, CAPACITOR, AND IGNITOR. for HPS bulbs of prppper wattage. Any, even stupid electrician, can put those three together... Go read, come back... Or buy the 500$ one
This guy is really cool. Just read the way he is better than the rest of us! He also has an excellent grasp of the english language. Spent 500 on your setup? Gee, that's swell! We all applaud your ingenuity, friend. It takes a lot of creativity to buy a unit off the shelf! Didn't anyone ever teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say then you shouldn't say anything at all? Go back wherever you came from, friend. We have no need of your negativity here...
Whatever about the haters, man. Looks like you are on your way to some killer smoke. I veg my little ones under cfl, so I'm not sure about how far your light should be from the little ladies. I know they are so young and small that as long as the light is above them you should be close enough for now, I would say not less than 2 ft away. They are fragile at this stage but once they start to grow a little you can move your light down closer to give them more of what they need. The hand trick seems to work pretty well. If it feels hot to you, think how it must feel to the tiny ones?