Finally have a chance to setup my own grow again, the room is approx 7x7x7ft but ceiling is slightly arched on 2 sides, no windows and only one door. Im planning on moving the ac vent from the room next door into this room and installing a vent fan with a filter into the attic, as well as paint the walls flat white. Planning on setting up an ebb and flo hyrdoponic system like the Flo-n-gro 12 system (has anyone used one or have a better system?) to get established again. Im trying to decide LED or 1000w digital light but im stuck on the fence since i feel like it might be hard to keep the room cool. Budget is around 2k tops. Also any tips on not destroying the new carpet in the room? Lol Thanks guys!
Glad you're getting back in. The only way to keep from killing the carpet is to make sure it's covered and even then, things are going to happen. Well, if you have any experience at all, you know that the key is in the lighting. Good light grows good plants. The hps is hot. We run 4 per flower room and have to add a pretty large window unit to deal with the heat. One of the smaller BTUs just wouldn't handle it. I'm not sure that the venting from your household AC will even come close to cooling the heat that even one of the 1000 watt hps fixtures puts off. On the other hand, as far as the LEDs go, to get anything of decent quality, you're going to blow the majority of your budget on lighting. Also with most LEDs, if you'll notice when looking at them, they have no reflectivity built into their hoods and only shine straight down. To get the most out of any light when growing inside, you need to be able to adjust the light up and down to best suit the stage the plant is growing in at the moment. If you plan to grow several plants in your 7 x 7 space, you're going to have to provide enough light for every plant as well as adequate space for each individual plant. What strain you grow and how you handle/tend them will determine how much light you need in your room. But the LEDs are most definitely much much cooler than any HPS fixture out there. They all have pros and cons, but if you're planning on trying to grow top quality plants that produce really fat and dense buds, you've got to have the light per plant. Crowding up a bunch under one lamp just shades out any development below the canopy. So if you want to grow more than a couple of plants in this space, to do it with LEDs is going to require you having several of them...and even the cheap ones are expensive. The super cheap ones are a total waste of money and time. And you couldn't buy enough LEDs to sufficiently light that space with the Grade-A ones that are priced totally off the chart. If it were me, I would try to go with the HPS for budget sake and the fact that HPS lighting grows superior fine buds....but know right off the bat that you're going to have to come up with something serious for heat relief in that space. Any time you grow in a confined space...regardless of what type lighting you go with, it's going to make heat. Some strains are more stressed by heat than others. The sativa dominant strains take the heat much better than the indica based strains. Indicas are more suited to northern and cooler climates. I wouldn't even think of attempting to flower off 10 plants in that space. Each plant needs enough space to naturally relax and spread open as much as possible to allow light to penetrate below the canopy. I have no idea what your skill level is, so I hope I'm not being offensive by covering some of this basic stuff. I just got a good buzz this morning and I could rattle on for days. LOL Hope all goes well!! TWW
I bought 6 mil poly at the hydroponics store, it is white on one side and black on the other. It is sometimes called Visqueen plastic. It usually comes in ten foot widths and as long as you want. It is water proof and durable. I used wood 2x4s to make a rectangle roughly 4x8, then covered it with the poly to make a tray/pool so if i do have a spill it will not get on the original floor. Most people use the poly on the walls for reflection... A light mover would work well for your 7x7 room.... 600w HPS on a mover would cover a 4x7 area and be less heat, less money to purchase and less money to run than a 1000w, if you added C02 then you could yield almost as much as someone growing 1000w over a 5x5 area. A light mover pays for itself, it will increase your yield around 20% for under 15 watts.
White widow your knowledge is impressive! I'm thinking a layer or two of 3M plastic and some luck are going to be my best bets lol Yes lighting and strain choices will be key in this grow, I was afraid that you were going to say that I needed multiple LEDs. I actually work with HPS and LED lights a lot in the bowfishing that I do, just finished fabricating some custom 400w MH housings to mount on my boat. Lol The thought of adding a reflector system to an LED light had already crossed my mind, but the R&D to do that would be better spent after I have some plants to test on lol. My thought would be better to go with a single 1000w fixture or 2 smaller 600w fixtures, I'd get 200w and more area coverage, but would they produce more or less heat, also is it preferred to run the through fixture venting or just use the ac vent? also the ac unit will be pretty much dedicated to the grow but will probably only get the one vent so I may shut the other vents on the system to increase flow. Also I'm planning on doing a flowering area later on after I'm established again
The light rail is an excellent idea, it would be perfect for the space that I have to use. I'm strongly considering CO2 but I'd like to get started first before I start throwing to many variables into the mix at the begging. As for lights I'm looking at the king wing and a solistek matrix digital ballast.