first ever soil grow...need help from professionals!

So i decided to start up my first grow not to long ago and am in the process of getting all my equipment together.

What I have so far:
5- feminized MASTER KUSH seeds
1- Grow tent (5 feet high, 4 feet length, 2 feet width)
1- ozone generator (OZN JR.)

(I know what i have so far is not alot, but i havent made it to my local hydroponics store to pick up buckets, soil, nutes, ppm/ph readers)

My plan is to do a soil grow since its my first time and doing hydroponics or aeroponics seems out of the question at this point in time in my horticulture career lol

That being said, I would really like to use a 1000w HPS light. I have heard (from other growers) that many watts in the small area I'm going to be growing in, ill have such high temperatures and it will be hard to control. Some have recommended buying an A/C coolant hood with the proper exhaust and an inline fan. Others have said alot of fans will do the trick to keep temps down. So my question is with this 1000w light am i gonna need to buy the A/C coolant hood with exhaust tubes and inline fans or will mutiple box fans be okay.

In a tnt that size you are only talking about 4 plants max or any size and will burn them up under a 1000 watter.
You will not have enough heigth to get the plants far enough away from the hood.

Honestly you will be pushing it with a 600 in such a small space.

i need help with my plants to

A glassed in hood with 440 cfm fan with adequate intake and exhaust openings will work just fine.
My 1000's hang 4'6" or so off the floor of a 4'x4'x7' tent so ya got the height if ya don't veg too tall.
Unless the room temps are below freezing oscilating fans aint gonna work in yer situation.

lucasbigt said:

i need help with my plants to

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As in what kind of help ?

ill have a/c in my home, so if i have exhaust tubes leading out of the tent from both sides of lights with an inline in there, do you think that will be good? i dont wanna burn my plants like buddy said above.

Sounds like a plan.

it would be much easier and still get same yield with a 400

MediPhun420 said:

ill have a/c in my home, so if i have exhaust tubes leading out of the tent from both sides of lights with an inline in there, do you think that will be good? i dont wanna burn my plants like buddy said above.

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You can fry your plants with too much light in such a small space, not just with the temp of the tent.

A 400 can sit around 12 inch's above
A 600 is about 18 to 20 inch's above
A 1000 20 to 24 inchs above

With a 1000 wat hood at about 8 inchs thick and 20 to 24 inchs light distance, 4 inch's clearance to the top of the tent, you've already used up 3 ft of thent heigth.

Go with a 600 in that space. Buddy Ganja isn't exactly correct but the concept is sound, and this is a lot of light for maybe 1 or 2 two foot tall plants (at best). Things could get away from you quickly in there, especially as a new grower without much concept of how the plants will stretch.

The way to set it up would be to run two exhaust fans and a single intake fan. One exhaust system clears the tent out, at least once every 20 seconds the total volume of air in the tent should be vented. A 2x4x5 tent has 40 cuft, so you'd only need a 120cfm for that. A 180cfm 4" box fan would be fine. Most of these smaller tents don't have 6" vents so you'll either need to cut holes for 6" ducting or stick to 4" systems. With the light you will need an air cooled reflector to keep the heat contained and help dissipate the "bubble of pain" that the plants won't survive in beneath the bulb. Run ducting from outside straight into the reflector. Then run ducting from the reflector to the fan, and exhaust the light heat outside.

Running both ventilation systems will allow you to cool the light and to cool the tent.

The tops in my tents regularly come within 8" of the glass.
A 600 will werk as will a 400 but yields will be down.
No way on the planet is a 400 is gonna even come close to a 1000 regards yield,
I run 1000 in a 4x4 tent with a 440 cfm fan and would use the exact same setup in a 2 x 4 but I'd only do 2 plants max.

Snow Crash said:

Go with a 600 in that space. Buddy Ganja isn't exactly correct but the concept is sound, and this is a lot of light for maybe 1 or 2 two foot tall plants (at best). Things could get away from you quickly in there, especially as a new grower without much concept of how the plants will stretch.

The way to set it up would be to run two exhaust fans and a single intake fan. One exhaust system clears the tent out, at least once every 20 seconds the total volume of air in the tent should be vented. A 2x4x5 tent has 40 cuft, so you'd only need a 120cfm for that. A 180cfm 4" box fan would be fine. Most of these smaller tents don't have 6" vents so you'll either need to cut holes for 6" ducting or stick to 4" systems. With the light you will need an air cooled reflector to keep the heat contained and help dissipate the "bubble of pain" that the plants won't survive in beneath the bulb. Run ducting from outside straight into the reflector. Then run ducting from the reflector to the fan, and exhaust the light heat outside.

Running both ventilation systems will allow you to cool the light and to cool the tent.

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so if i had proper venting like you said above, i could get away with running a 1000w?

my original plan was to have 4 plants under the 1000w in 3 gallon buckets. but if i need to get a 600 instead of the 1000 could i get away with doing 5?

what is a typical yield (dry) for that kid of op?

Harvest weight is determined as much by area as it is wattage. I've seen someone pull 12oz to 16oz on the regular from under a 400w lamp. I've seen someone else pull 6oz on a 1000w setup. Trying to estimate your harvest weight, count your chickens before they hatch, is a very bad practice.

I mean, we need to talk strain, training methods, nutrient system, etc, etc. Quite a bit more comes into play than simply the strength of the lights.

With regards to the 1000w lamps, you would need to accommodate a greater deal of vertical space between the reflector and the top of the canopy than you would with a 600w lamp. In your tent, vertical height is one of the limiting factors when it comes to the total number of cuft you can grow buds in. So, by using a 1000w lamp you have less space and more light... And that's not going to make anything easy on you.

With the 600w lamp you can ensure you cover the entire canopy, all the way down to the bottom of the plants, with ample PAR levels. Actually, the distance required for the 1000w lamp compared to the 600w lamp allows for similar energy levels. 12 inches from a 1000w lamp you're looking at ~43,600 lumens, or about 31% of the energy used. With a 600w lamp at 9" from the canopy you have not only have another 2 cuft of nug growing space you also have ~43,600 lumens and you are utilizing about 51% of the energy used.

So... When you look at it that way... in a space your size, with the limited vertical canopy, and considering that you could be pulling pounds or ounces and that the environmental requirements like temperature, humidity, training methods, nutrition, and system, and just gardener error... It is better to select the bulb that will allow you better/easier control of these environmental conditions all while being more efficient.

I hope this helps sway you from the 1000w in your 2x4x5 space. Myself, I have a 1000w lamp and a tent that size, an AC reflector and two fans and can safely say that the 1000w in there would just be too much when it comes to what you could pull out of that space with much less energy wasted. A 4x4x7 (or 5x5x7) space would be an entirely different matter, that's 1000w territory, even with a flood table or tall buckets.

i realized that was a dumb thing to be asking as soon as i submitted it. thier is alot more, like you said snow crash, than just the light when determing something like that, and it is a bad practice to be doing.

With the 600w lamp you can ensure you cover the entire canopy, all the way down to the bottom of the plants, with ample PAR levels. Actually, the distance required for the 1000w lamp compared to the 600w lamp allows for similar energy levels. 12 inches from a 1000w lamp you're looking at ~43,600 lumens, or about 31% of the energy used. With a 600w lamp at 9" from the canopy you have not only have another 2 cuft of nug growing space you also have ~43,600 lumens and you are utilizing about 51% of the energy used.....where is this information coming from? based of previous experiences or have you read this from somewhere. if so can i see the site or source?


i am considering about getting the 600 over the 1000w based on this new information im reading here and other places. if i do, will i need to get a cooled hood, inline fans, proper exhausting or will i not have to since their wont be a 1000w in there?

MediPhun420 said:

i am considering about getting the 600 over the 1000w based on this new information im reading here and other places. if i do, will i need to get a cooled hood, inline fans, proper exhausting or will i not have to since their wont be a 1000w in there?

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You always need adequate ventilation.

Your plant fiber is 80% carbon. Your plants breathe this carbon. This makes the Air possibly the most important aspect when it comes to the finished size of your plants. You'll hear a lot of talk about lighting. Wattage. Spectrum. Generation. You can hear a lot about nutrients. Brand. Ratios. Supplements. What you never hear about is the ventilation, which is sad, because ventilation is probably as important if not more important than any other factor in the grow room.

An Air Cooled hood will allow you to maximize your vertical space. Without the hood you are probably cutting the finished height of your plants by up to 1/3. You can have a 2 foot plant with a reflector or a 16" plant without one. This ultimately could result in 50% more harvest (because the bottom 4" of the plant contain very little bud) and the investment in a $125 reflector might seem like a lot now, but if you get just one extra ounce it would pay for itself twice over on the first use.

ok, thanks for the advice. how many plants would be feasible under a 600w light and the tent i have. i was thinking 4 or 5 so that their is a good ratio of plants/lights