Need a professional opinion, maybe even an educated guess...

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by PhL0aTeR, Feb 6, 2009.

  1. #1 PhL0aTeR, Feb 6, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2009
    my new area is about 27"x27"x77" i figure i can get 4 fully mature plants in the 27x27 footprint. heat is an issue where i am and as much as id like to do it "right" by the HID crowd, i feel that CFL is going to be cheaper, easier and better for temp purposes... I tried to search the pros and cons of each but with so many different people saying different things, its tough to distinguish a definitive answer. Its too bad theres not a "lighting" stickied thread in here. What say you?
     
  2. cfl's usually produce more light, airy buds than HID lights (HID's produce dense, tight buds). HID lights also deliver a far more amount of lumens compared to cfl'ls per watt (as long as you have around a 100W HPS or more). But in your case, CFL's should work just fine, use 6500k for veg and 2700K for flower. also, HID's light penetrates deep within the leaf, creating more photosynthesis to occur and thus more growth,bud,etc.
     
  3. I urge you to reconsider HID. For 1-2 plants I could see CFLs all the way but for 4 plants you can justify using a 250w or 400w kit that has HPS and MH conversion. I have a similar-sized space (footprint is a little bigger but I have less height), I do 4 plants per grow as well and I run a 250w MH/HPS lamp and supplement with 8 25w CFLs.

    Also...consider using plastic kitty litter bins as pots. They are relatively tall and narrow, so you can get a lot of root volume in a small footprint. Also, they are rectangular, so again maximizes root volume for a small footprint. The super-sized ones that come with about 40lb of litter hold about 4.5 gallons.
     
  4. i agree with toastybiz also, ive never used cfl's, always HID's and the results are great. you can also get a nice 250W light toastybiz's set up , but buy a cooltube for your HID and heat wont really be a factor at all. you could even supplement with some cfl's if you really wanted too. try htgsupply.com...they have sweet deals on HID's with cooltube's. i think they were around $150 shipped w/a cooltube.
     
  5. Well im definitely still weighing the options, i guess im a creature of habit and got too used to the idea of CFL in my cab, shopping for HID is kind of overwhelming..... mainly pricing and what exactly i need, vented/nonvented, etc....
     
  6. htgsupply-dot-com.
     
  7. So for a decent HID grow, ill need a hooded light fixture (with a switchable ballast?), an HPS and an MH light bulb.... is 400 overkill for the 4 plants?

    Thoughts on this setup?
     
  8. I just finished reading your thread over in the grow box design, and I was about to chime in there, then I saw your thread here! I thought it was pretty cool - your thread helped me build my first cab a fair amount. Now I'm building my next cab, and you're planning out your next cab. The first ones just couldn't cut it for very long! :)

    So I was thinking it may be helpful to you for me to just lay out my thought process as I was planning out my 2nd cab. Here goes:

    I was planning on doing my entire grow using CFL. However, when I was planning out my 2nd cab, the benefits of HID seem much more plentiful than the positives of CFL.

    I originally went with CFL for one main reason: heat. I thought they would run alot cooler than even an air-cooled HID. When I first started, I ended up having some heat issue (too hot) in my cab, even with the CFL's. They get alot hotter than I had anticipated. I was able to get the temps under control, but with the amount of work, effort, and money I spent on CFL's, I was a little ticked at myself for not going with an air-cooled HID from the get go.

    So, planning my 2nd grow cab, I knew I wanted HID, for a number of reasons. First off, I wanted everything to be sealed up. If I went with CFL, I could either be running the AC unit alot more, or build some kind of box to house the lights, and cool that box. Building the extra box seemed like it wasn't worth the effort to me. Running the AC unit more wouldn't have been too bad, but I figured I'd have to really load up the cab with CFL's in order to get results similar to an air-cooled 400 watt monster in there.

    After thinking about it a bit more, I went with a 400 watt switchable ballast, and picked up Hortilux bulbs, one of each (MH and HPS). I bought an air-cooled hood, a 6" EcoPlus inline fan, and some 6" ducting. My thinking is that this way, the AC won't turn on as much due to the air cooling (the light still radiates heat, but you can literally hold your hand on the glass for as long as you like without feeling any discomfort), I'll have the great light from the HID lamp, and if I really wanted to, I could add some supplimental CFL's.

    That's just my thoughts, and what I ended up going with. I'm really excited to see what you do with your new grow space, it was a blast watching and learning from your first cab construction!
     
  9. totally missed that post, sorry..... with this cool tube setup, you have to have 2 exhaust ports right? one for the light and one for regular ventilation?
     
  10. #10 coffeeandherpes, Feb 6, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2009
    That setup looks decent, but you may want to look for an air-cooled hood. Something like this or this. There's also some plans floating around on building your own cooltube which look pretty good.

    For mine, I ended up going with the Super Sun 2, mainly because it was the smallest air cooled hood my local hydro shop carries, haha. It looks alot like the first hood I linked.
     
  11. I'd go with the 400 over the 250. With proper ventillation it's not overkill and will result in good yields. You could get away with a 250 too though.
     
  12. again, if you have an air cooled hood, dont you need 2 different exhausts?
     
  13. I just have the intake and exhaust for my hood. My new cab will be totally sealed - so it's just the two.

    However, if you're not going to be sealing it up, you don't need to have two exhaust holes. You could go something like carbon filter (which pulls air in from the cab) -> hood -> out. Robsgreen made two great cabs using this idea, and had excellent results. You can find his first cab thread here and his second cab thread here.

    Of course you could always have a dedicated intake and exhaust for your hood, and another for your cab.
     
  14. #14 PhL0aTeR, Feb 6, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2009

    [​IMG]

    In my defense, i totally would have thought of that tomorrow.... LOL.... my brain hurts from all this damn learning. Good lookin out!

    Holy shit that second link has me blown the fuck away....... wow
     
  15. 400hps is good, just control the heat and light distance. your problem is the
    grow space. 27x27 is barely big enough for the pots. 27x27...uno planta
     
  16. popiu makes a good point. 4 plants may get a bit crowded in a 27" x 27" area. Mine is around 36"x26" and I'm going to be scrogging two plants. The reason for me doing this is from watching Rumple's grows (getting higher yield from 2 plants over 3 in the same setup).

    Something to think about.
     
  17. dissappointment lies around every corner....... its all good though, i think i was in denial.... reading that thread last night has got me thinking about scrog too.... :smoke:.... time will tell, im going to hit a local grow shop and see if prices are anywhere near, if they are, ill buy locally and start painting today.
     
  18. Four plants from seed would be tight, yes, but it would be good for 4 topped clones once you get a mother plant you like going.
     
  19. well, my trip top the local grow shop was a waste of gas..... everything is marked up at least 75% from online sources.

    What is a conversion bulb?

    One one hand, it almost looks like 2 bulbs come with it, but that doesnt make any sense either..... is this a bulb you use in place of separate HPS and MH bulbs? as in it supplies both spectrum's of light for veg and flower?
     
  20. It's typically a MH bulb that you can plug into an HPS socket/ballast.
     

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