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Got all the tubes and fittings at OSH for under $20 then I got a 5 gallon tub for a reservoir and a sweater box for the tray. That was about $15 and a sink drain $8 so the grow tray will drain back into the reservoir.
The pump I got at an aquarium store. 200gph power head. Used in underground filters.
I think that was around $30
Kept the temps between 75 and 90 degrees.
Now its time for proper lighting at 18 to 24 hours a day.
I use a combo of LED and T5 fluorescents. For Led’s I have three 14 watt panels (homegrownlights.com) and four luxum star royal blue.
For Fluorescents I have a sunlight supply hood (sun blaze 24) that has 4 24" high output bulbs. I use 3 5000k bulbs and one 3000k to veg.
Oh, I also have one 24 watt high output strip lamp under the led array for side lighting. Each bulb draws 24 watts and puts out 40 watts. So the plants receive 200 watts of fluorescents plus the benefit of the perfect wavelength the led will provide.
Based on the fact plants only use 10% of the wavelength of a standard light I am
drawing 46 watts of electricity but it is the equivalent of 420 watts of standard lighting.
This means a total of 620 watts of power while drawing 213 watts and no heat issues.
(Not until I run the 400w)
See how fast they grow in the following pictures. I took one picture a day.
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