So I'm flowering my first grow now and is going well. You can check out my grow in my signature. Anyway for my next grow I want to step it up and start something perpetual. I'm planing on running two chambers. I'm not sure if I want to use tents or a box that I would make. I know I want 4 plants per chamber in 5 gallon buckets. Im going to stick with soil for now. I want to use 400 watt cool tubes. One in each chamber with one ducting tube hooked up to each pulling air out, then both ducting tubes will meet at a y then connect to a fan pulling air out. I plan on having the other end of each cool tube open pulling air from the room. Each chamber will have a passive intake. Smell isn't a huge issue so I'm not worried about a carbon scrubber. Would two 24 inch x 48 inch tents work? Or should I go bigger? Or build my own? Also what cfm rating do I need to pull air out of two chambers?
Hey ya Joe, That depends what plants you want to grow.. 4 plants 2' x 4' is going to be over crowded IMO... But that depends on strain too.. Most strains are going to spread out a LOT more than 1' sq when growing.. The 400w lamps are fine for the 2' x 4' tents.. Anything larger and you would need to increase your wattage.. So again, it really depends on what you want to grow...
Thanks for the advice I think the strain I have would do well in that size, I'm growing scrog. The grow I have now is in a small space maybe 3x3 and he screen could be fuller. By my reasoning my 2 plants have 3 square feet each to full a screen and IMO their not doing it. So I'm thinking 8 square feet with 4 plants is 2 square feet each to full on the screen. I think it may work for what I'm doing but idk I'm new to this their may be factors I'm not considering. But regardless of plant numbers I'll be going with two 2x4 tents and two 400w cool tubes. Any info on the fan size I would need to pull air through each, to be clean I want one fan running both tents. Thanks blades
Ummmm, you kind of confused me... You're doing a 3x3 (9 sq. ft) scrog now, but you want to "upgrade" to a 2x4 (8 sq ft.)?? Check the link in my signature for my 3x3 scrog with 2 plants... Looks at the last page, I'm in the 3rd week of flowering and it's a jungle... The fan on the lamps I would use at least a 6" inline, which 99% of them are rated @ 400cfm...
Haha yeah looks like I was to high last night to be doing simple math..... Anyway check out my grow in my sig. The room looks a little smaller then yours.. I had about 3 weeks of veg, now their in their 5th of flowering and they didn't full up space as much as I wanted. I'm worried about them not fulling up the tent. But maybe i should extend my veg time rather then adding plants. What strain is that? Thanks for the fan info!
Well IMO your problem is not the chamber or the screen.. Your problem is the CFLs being used.... Experienced growers suggest at LEAST 50w (5,000 lumen) per sq. ft. of growing area.. You're WAY under that spec using them CFLs, and the reason you did not fill your screen and they grew tall as opposed to fat... Also IMPO, CFLs do not belong in the veg chamber, great for mothers and clones, but not for vegging or flowering... Now most SCRoG growers suggest at least 60w per and utmost of 100w per sq.. The next chamber I will be setting up with be 90w per sq. or 13,500 lumen per sq ft. My plants got 30 days veg, and that was too long...
Very true I was thinking that but I've heard most people talk watts to number of plants.. 400w with 4 plants is 100 each. And most people say you want 100w per plant. Which is why I'm stepping up to the 400w cool tubes.
I disagree.... IMO watts per plant is a cracked way to calculate your lighting... So that means that since I'm growing 2 plants I only need 200 watts??? Dam I could have saved some money.... LOL If you grow 4 plants in a 2x4 scrog chamber you're going to be sorry and yields will suffer due to over crowding... The screen will be filled in a week, so you might as well not even use a screen... Just speaking from my 16yrs of growing experience anyway...
So in a 8 square food grow chamber @ 50 watts per square foot. How many square feet of the screen can one plant cover?
My 3x3 (9sq ft) is 66w per sq, 2 plants on a 30 day veg, and the screen is totally PACKED... I vegged 30 days and that was to long.... So 9 (sq ft) divided by 2 (plants)... Do the math.... I would suggest 2 plants in the 2x4 under a 400w..
The ballast and cooltube is two different components... You can match ANY ballast with a cooltube... Personally I would suggest: 6" Hydrolux Cool Tube with a Radeon Digital Dimmable Ballast for like $216... That would give you a ballast which is both MH and HPS and you can also run 250w bulbs because it is dimmable...
I just realized I didn't post the link haha [ame]http://www.amazon.com/LED-Wholesalers-GYO2009-3-Piece-Hydroponic/dp/B004HNPGKA[/ame] But I after looking at the link you posted I think it's a better bet, it's only a little more and i can choose my ballast.
Oh ya, you do not want one of them China made ballasts!! Spend a little extra and get a good ballast that comes with a 5yr warranty.. Check out that guys nutrients prices too, they are the best I can find ANYWHERE online or locally... They also sell Complete Advanced Nutrients Bundles at a discounted rate... So you can get everything you need in one package and again the best price I can find anywhere after months of searching...