Hey guys, I've got this box that is about 1.5' x 2' x 6' with a flowering chamber at the top and a mother/clone chamber at the bottom. Here are the baby step beginnings (I might be moving that partition down so there is more room for flower, not sure yet) Top chamber is 3' 4" - bottom chamber is 2' 3" - if I lower the partition I can get the flower chamber to 3' 10.5" and the mother/clone chamber 1' 9" (I will probably end up doing that configuration if the small space will allow good mother plants - maybe I can go even smaller?? Depends on how much height i need for flowering these SoG NL clones straight into flower) Anyway, I've been thinking of upgrading to a 250w HPS instead of my 150w HPS + 250w CFLs. 1) A 250w HPS should do better than a 150w HPS + 250w CFLs right? Perhaps I will add those CFLs to the 250w HPS as well. Any recommendations on a good 250w HPS system? I've been eyeing the Digital Greenhouse 250w Grow Light from HTG with the AgroMax bulb but if there is something better please let me know. 2) Without an air cooled hood, do you think it will be hard to get my temps down? My current fan is 200 CFM (Soler & Palau TD-125) but I am thinking of upgrading that as well, maybe something (LOW NOISE is important) that can be adjusted. I might aim for 400CFM (still trying to figure that out, 400 might be overkill. My current fan is like right on the border for what I need, but will probably drop off if I use a carbon scrubber, which I may not HAVE to with Northern Lights) - Any suggestions for a good silent exhaust fan that can do this? Was looking at those Soler & Palau Silent models. I think there is an adjustable one as well. My current one is 5" which I also don't like as it's hard to find ducting in that size and I will need to use 5" to 6" duct adapters. 3) I can get an air cooled hood if absolutely necessary, the only problem is the room. I wanted the exhaust vent on the top of the box but if I get an air cooled hood I may have to have it come out the side which is not preferable, but will do if necessary. 4) Still unsure how small I can get that mother and clone chamber at the bottom. I basically want to get bonsai mums and take cuttings for SoG (not really sure how often yet...). So far I just have Northern Lights. I need to look into minimum lighting requirements and space for mother chambers.. 5) I am not opposed to using some kick-ass LED lights for my flower chamber! I just have had a very hard time choosing one and cannot trust all the misinformation out there... I plan to have passive exhaust holes in the partition with 90 degree ducting bends to keep light out. Are there better ways to do this? So anyway, I'm obviously still working out the kinks. My ideal goal is to harvest 1oz per month, not sure if that is viable in this space or not, or how many plants I can fit in that flower chamber. I planned to go from clone to flower with no veg time, probably planted in red solo cups. Maybe 3-6 at a time? Do you guys see anything glaringly wrong with this setup? I might just get the 250w HPS without an air cooled hood, use my current exhaust and test temps, maybe upgrade exhaust if needed. I have a feeling it will be needed, though... I had a hard time keeping my temps below 90 on my last grow box which was half this height, using the same exhaust fan (with carbon scrubber) Today I am going to start insulating and lining the box with Panda Film.. I'm just a little hung up on mother/clone chamber height and how small I can get it to suit my needs. Once I set that partition in stone It will be a huge pain in the butt to move it again. Unless I build some sort of adjustable partition, but I don't think that is needed if I can figure this out. Thanks for looking! I will probably update this thread as I build the box, or would a thread like that be better in another section?
So I'm actually now leaning toward getting a 400w HPS with a dimmable ballast, and knocking it down to 50-75% The 400w stuff seems to be about the same price as the 250w, so I may as well get the 400w with a dimmable option, then I can always expand my grow later on, as well as upping the light intensity at the end of flower! If anyone has any suggestions, awesome! Right now I am looking at HTG. It will probably cost me a pretty penny to get all this and a new better exhaust fan, but I think it'll be worth it. The box itself is cheap, and I can always expand later so this seems like a good option, yeah? Still have LED lights in the back of my head, though.. It seems like I will probably end up spending similar amounts either way... pretty expensive LED light, but less heat so I probably wouldn't need to upgrade my exhaust, but if I go HPS I will most likely need to upgrade the exhaust. Maybe I will just slowly replace the CFLs with LED lights and use them as supplemental lighting to the HPS. I think I'm also gonna build this box in such a way that I can remove the panels/Panda Film (velcro, yay!) and adjust the shelf if I need to, so I will start it at the smallest mother/clone chamber possible (almost 1' 9") and if I need more room and can spare it I will adjust. Not really sure what size to cut my exhaust holes yet.. I might just cut them at 6" despite my exhaust being 5" - I have a feeling the next one will be 6" anyway, and if for some reason I don't need to upgrade I can always cover the 6" hole with cardboard, cut a 5" hole in it and put a nice 5" flange on it. Here I go rambling again... I'm really trying not to write so much text for you guys, but I just can't help it.