Hi! I'll get to the crux of my dilemna: I'd rather avoid buying two seperate tents since I'm just growing for me. The issue is that I start from seed, and so I don't want to start all over with a new seed and new pheno every single harvest. Suggestions that I might have not considered? Secondly, how many watts would you go in an all utilities included studio apartment? I've lived here for around 6 months, and so they have a fairly established pattern if in fact they do check individual units, fwiw. Thanks guys!
My advice is don't do it. Unless you pay the electricity, I wouldn't even bother with it. Now then, if that advice isn't valid for you, then on the other hand...don't know what you were planning to use for lights, but you could possibly get by with cfl's if you have patience. That is the extent of my knowledge with cfl's as a medium. Otherwise, the better way to grow is by using HID lighting, which depending on your rates and the watts you choose, will dictate on average what your raise in electricity will be. IMHO, I wouldn't bother with it unless you can fully take advantage of all that is involved to grow wisely, which includes being the holder of that electrical account. It's always better to have control of all facets of a grow op than leave an opening like a landlord or management company looking over your shoulder. Just my opinion on the matter. Obviously you know your situation better than anyone here and it's ultimately your choice along with the risk that comes with those choices. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Thanks. I wonder if there is a way to find out if my management company watches individual apartment rates, or just looks at it floor-to-floor? And do you really think something like a 250 or 400 on 12 hours a day would be noticeable? I'm not doubting you as I have no idea how the meters are read and so on, just clarifying. Thanks again for your input.
I honestly can not say with any absolute certainty on how they regulate their units and utilities. The safe bet would be to move and assure yourself a piece of mind on the matter. 250 or 400w lights, depending on rates, could raise an eyebrow to any watchful eye or mindful individual when it comes to expenses, especially in these tougher economic times. 250w may only raise it $20 a month, all depending on what the electricity rates are. I'm not saying you couldn't pull it off, just not sure if you're in the ideal situation to attempt this.
Your best bet is to use CFLs. You could use 200-300 watts of CFLs and not have a noticeable spike in utilities. Since you are just growing for yourself, I don't see a need for two tents. A couple of decent plants under CFLs should hold you over nicely between grows. Like was already said, a 250w light will tack on about $15-$20 per month, and a 400w about $30-$35. Another advantage to CFLs is low heat and cheaper cost. I used CFLs for a long time until going to HPS, and even still use them for small projects, and had good results.
But why CFL's over hps if you're going to use the same wattage? Isn't a watt just a watt as far as the bill goes?
Good advice is often the advice you don't want to hear. What I'm saying is, damn. I think I can build a half-assed all-in-one cabinet to alleviate my concerns via the 2 tent situation. But I'm depressed thinking that a 250 watter might seriously be a red flag in an all utilities included apt. Damn damn double damn. FWIW, if anything, marijuana growing around here is rarely in the paper. I haven't read about a bust in my town in a few years, and it was a house. So it's not like it's on their radar screen. Maybe I'm just searching for self-justification in taking too big a risk.
it costs about $0.63 to run 500 watts 12 hours each day in my neck of the woods.. kilowatt hour price is under 11 cents .. so 500 watts at 12 hours a day is roughly 18.90 a month.. thats not too bad at all.. think of it this way, what if you were running a 1500 watt space heater ( which most are 1500w) for 4 hours a day.. thats reasonable.. same amount of electric used and you wouldnt think twice about doing it. All you have to do is make sure you keep things off that you are not using.. cut back on the tv , turn off your computer when its not in use.. there are many ways to save and most of them are things we should be doing anyway. im not saying that its a good idea to go ahead with that in an apt.. there is a lot id worry about , but electric use for a small grow isnt really one of them.
A desktop computer runs on a 450watt powersupply minimum as a reference point. leave it running and it takes the same power as a light. The way you see if it is floor to floor or room to room is the meters outside 2 floors =2 meters 6 meters for 2 floors and it's room to room Use your head make shure to buy a carbon filter. and good luck.
Do not go with CFL the increase from a 400 watt or 600 watt could be blamed on many things like a heater for sure. And yeah get a carbon scrubber for sure too...Buy the stuff you need and dont cut corners because then it will get difficult and when it gets difficult you make mistakes and mistakes in this line of work equals jail. Be smart and be fast.
Oh and you wont even need to blame the increased power on anything because i really doubt they will notice you arent doing an operation just a smaller thing no worry.
Id check around your house to find ways to save energy to compensate for the new conspumtion, if you can replace a 75w incandescant with a 20w cfl in 3 lights that you use alot then theres 165w of leway with no change in your usage, and i would be more worried about smell and bringing stuff in and out more than energy consumption. Im growin one big plant under a 150w hps right now, ill let ya know how it all turns out, if it goes according to plan i should have a real nice harvest
Interesting, lots of different opinions. I think I am going to go with a 250 watt DR 60 with another additional DR 60 housing a few flouro's for the veg room. I know it sounds stupid to go with a one-to-one size ration of veg to flower, but alas I don't think there is much utility in going smaller than said tent. thoughts?
im curious to what you ended up doing. Im in a similar situation as you (except im not worried about power consumption). I want to have a veg space, but two big tents seems like a lot. Is the DR 60 the smallest around?