HPS, heat, distance from plants???

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TheHumanCanniboid

Active Member
Okay, upon more reasearch I have been considering a HPS system instead of useing cfl's for flowering (I still plan on cfl's for veg).
The system I am looking at is:
DIGITAL 600 watt HPS GROW LIGHT 600w SODIUM w BALLAST

I am planning on useing a 2' X 2' box (height unknown as of now)
useing the SoG method to flower 24 clones (4 per sq foot) or mabye 36 clones (9 per sq foot) although this may be pushing it.

My main concern / question is:
How far does the HPS need to be away from the plants, in other words how hot does this sucker get!

Also what type of fans would you suggest for such a setup.

I don't mind spending a bit of cash (the light itself is around $250)
but I'm not rich or anything :mrgreen:
 
darknezz

darknezz

Well-Known Member
Personally I advise against ebay... and I think digi ballasts just have more to go wrong with them.

In that small of a space you are absolutely going to need a air cooled vented hood, to use a 600, most little grow boxes use like 70-250w hps's. Either a cool tube with a batwing reflector over it or a smaller square vented hood. Use some 120mm Pc case fans and dryer ducting to move the air thru the hood. They are cheap and you can use an old PC power supply to run all of them. As well as a intake and exhaust fans and maybe a little clip fan blowing on ur plants.

as far as the height if you get the air cooled hood anywhere from 2-8 inches from the glass, my plants are 4in, depends of setup and situation. The closer the better without going over 90 degrees at the tops. Youll just need to get a temp probe and have it at the tops of ur plants under the light and see.

Uh 2x2 ft is 4 square feet. so 16 plants at 4 per sq ft, did ya mean 6? sounds like ALLOT to me, in such a small space, but I haven't done SOG, yet.
So ur gonna go straight from clone to flower? seeing more and moe of this, keep us posted.

What soil and nutes u gonna use?
 
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TheHumanCanniboid

Active Member
Personally I advise against ebay... and I think digi ballasts just have more to go wrong with them.
Click to expand...
I was really looking at the store 'High Tech Garden Supply'
They just so happen to have an e-bay store as well. (I might just drive down there onece I know what I want)

Thanks for your advice on digi ballasts. I was not sure it was worth the extra $. I have heard good and bad things about them. Although the box is going to be in my bedroom so I hope the ballast is not to noisy.

Uh 2x2 ft is 4 square feet. so 16 plants at 4 per sq ft, did ya mean 6?
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:dunce: Duh! yeah that is what I ment, been running so many numbers through my head lately. I may have been thinking about a 2' X 3' box...

Okay so for a 2' X 3' box I could use a 250W HPS system. Would I still need a CoolTube Reflector for that? Something like $40.00 more no big deal.

As for fans, I was considering just getting some 4" or 6" 'muffin fans' as they are pretty cheap. I gots tons of extra computer power supplies, so no problem there. For odor control I am going to use plans I found on another board, involveing useing a sheet of carbon filter and some ducting, cheap and simple. The soil I am currently useing is, geez I don't remeber the brand name, some cheap stuff I got from K-Mart. I am considering better soil for my clones. Would love to try hydro, but not just yet until I get some experience under my belt.

Nutes, well I made the mistake of buying K-Grow which may be okay for flowers but most likely sucks for this project. So I am still searching for better nutes, for now I am useing the K-Grow wattered down. I read some about 'spray and grow' but I don't know if it lives up to the hype, other then that I am thoroughly confused about nutes, there are soooo many products out there and I am not confident enough yet to mix my own.

That should cover just about everything I hope :-)


Peace, THC
:peace:
 
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darknezz

darknezz

Well-Known Member
You should be able to get a 400w ballast, cooltube, and bulb for around 250.
I think with good ventilation a 400 would give you the best results. Some extra opinions would be good here though about if a 400 will be too hot. I've never done a box grow. I would imagine though you can vent out most all the heat from the bulb.

For nutes I use a whole line of a local organic line I get from the local store. Theres like 10 fucking things, I kinda hate it.
My second choice nutes for soil would be botanicare, they claim to be organic but really 50% of the main elements are chemical. But most other nutes are chemical. I know sum1 that uses botanicare and he is is pulling 5 pounds of 8 plants with 3000 watts. crazyness, and yes i've seen them.
Another good one is advanced but I think thats mostly for hydro? I think U can use for soil to.

Oh yeah, as far as it being in ur room, maybe a digi ballast might be good for ur situation, less heat, less noise and their smaller.

 
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TheHumanCanniboid

Active Member
Cool, thank you much for your advice, now back to reasearching. Still a few days until payday and I know I ain't gonna get everything I need in one lump, but you made my searching abit eaiser. :)

Peace THC
:peace:
 
Silky Shagsalot

Silky Shagsalot

Well-Known Member
i agree with the 400 watter idea. it would have to be vented too. as for how far away from your plants to place the light. use the back of the hand test. place the back of your hand under the light. when it gets too hot for the back of your hand, you'll know it's too hot for your plants. also, i'd do a scrog. a friend regularly gets 1.5 lbs. from a single 400 watt scrog.
p.s.
i've been using lumatek digis for years with no problems. wayyyyyy quieter and cooler than standard ballasts. put a small fan on it and it barely gets warm. definitely a good investment.
 
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TheHumanCanniboid

Active Member
place the back of your hand under the light. when it gets too hot for the back of your hand, you'll know it's too hot for your plants
Click to expand...
Thanks Silky, that makes things much easier.

Now, not to sound like an idiot, but what exactly is Scrog, I mean I know its Screen of Green and I read the FAQ's but I guess I just don't get the basic idea, would appriciate if someone could enlighten me. I am very open to suggestions right now, I am just throwing some ideas around my head, doing reasearch, changeing plans, recalculating, etc :mrgreen:

I aggree with the 400 also, I can start small and scale later if I want to. I still don't really know what kind of box I am going to use, thinking of finding an old cupboard / dresser type thing I could get from a 2nd hand shop, so It really looks like a peice of funiture (apartment life can suck somtimes)

Alright enough rambleing on my part..

peace
 
darknezz

darknezz

Well-Known Member
the main diff between a SOG and a SCROG is with a SOG(sea of green) you have a bunch of small plants. and thats it. A scrog u top your plants and set up a net type thing with like 3x3 squaresand put each top thru each square and keep all the plants exacly level, you also cut off the lower part of the plant so more energy goes to the main colas. It's a more advanced technique, I've never done it, this may not be exact but I think its a good general idea.

and yeah I thought a 400 would do good.
Yeah I think the digi ballast would be much better in this situation, as long as its from a valid dealer and a good warenty ;)
hand test is allways great, worth it though to get a 8 dolla digi thermo so you can see highs and lows.
 
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