Darkroom 240w + 1600 watts

[Bagelthief]

Like the title says, im growing in a darkroom 240w (4' W, 8' L, 7' H) with a total of 1600 watts. I have two 400 watt MH (these are industrial lights that i bought off some guy from craigslist for 50 bux a piece, they were originally used in a giant freezer, so they are UL listed as suitable for wet/damp conditions and are waterproof!! they originally came with internal ballasts, but i love DIY, so i rigged them to have external ballasts so that they would be lighter) and i also have two 400 watt HPS (the floralux model, which is also standard with internal ballast, but again i modded them to be external). This gives me a total of 1600 watts. For ventilation i have this badass stand alone air conditioner, that i thought was 14,000 btu, but i when i just checked the link I guess is only 12,000, doesnt matter though, it gets the fucking job done and keeps the temps stable at 80F. I also have a very small 130cfm inline that brings fresh air into the tent from outside. This is my first real grow, i say real because the last time i started some plants up, i had to pull them because the asshole manager of my apartment did some gay inspections and well, you know how that goes....better to be safe then sorry. anyways, its day 5 or 6 or something like that, and plants look awesome. I bought some crazy organic shit called Super plant tonic, Grow it green, Foliar Harmony, and flower power from a hippy company called Blue Mountain Organics. it hasnt arrived yet, but iv heard MANY great things. I also have some liquid karma that iv been using with every watering (3 ml per gallon). i also have some Fox Farm nutes, and i plan on using all of these nutes in small amounts. my plan is to instead of giving the plants large feedings (10-15ml per gallon) of nutes every two weeks or so, to give them very small amounts (2-5 ml) every watering. speaking of watering, i bought a RO system for under my sink that i use to give them the best H2O money can buy. it was like 170 bucks at lowes. say hi to my 3 cats (Nova-5 weeks; Twilight-5 weeks; Eclipse-10 weeks) and my dog (Midnight-almost 4 months). any comments are appritiated and encouraged, from seasoned veterens and n00bs alike. Thanks for looking!! ill keep you guys posted.

 

[Bagelthief]

no one wants to even comment on my new animals?? they like getting high!!

 

[desertrat]

nice flora and fauna. are you keeping all 4 lights on your seedlings??

 

[Bagelthief]

yea im keeping all four on them. you think its too much too soon? what are flora's and fauna's?

 

[desertrat]

yea, too much light to soon. one 400 a couple of feet away is what you want until they're a couple of weeks old. then lower and add more light. with all of those lights you can shoot for 10,000 lumens per square ft. four 400's produce about 200,000 lumens so theoretically you can have a 20 sq ft grow area with light that equals the sun. but it would be more be more typical to have that many lights for a grow area twice that size with half the lumens per sq. ft

flora = plants
fauna = animals

me = geek

 

[Eharmony420]

Way to much light just for seedlings! I hope that makes yur day. I gotta say damn nice setup, i subscribed i hope yu write a journal, u gonna buy some seeds form a breeder? I running my first grow in a tent and my biggest regret and next purchase is gonna be a good seed collection. WAy more fun! U cud prob use one of those farther away! I a nub tho but in my littel experience that much light o seedling is hard and unnescary. So wait or ithers i say as a disclaimer

 

[Bagelthief]

hmmm. i guess this explains why i havent seen any new growth for a few days...im going to turn off the 2 HPS's and raise the MH a bit and see how they do. quick question....what happens to young seedlings out in the bright sun all day? wouldnt those babies be getting about the same amount of light as my little hookers?? thanks again guys for the help.

EDIT: ohh yea, EH420, when you say buy seeds from a breeder, you mean getting high quality seeds online right? thats exactly what i did. i forget from what site, but i bought 30 seeds in total. 10 White Widow, 10 Ice, and 10 Crystal. right now i have 3 WW, 3 I, and 1 C planted.

 

[desertrat]

.what happens to young seedlings out in the bright sun all day? wouldnt those babies be getting about the same amount of light as my little hookers?? .

its more the radiant heat you have to worry about than the light. although i suppose its part of nature's plan to have larger plants in the wild that help shade seedlings until they are strong enough.

 

[Bagelthief]

today im getting my medical card and recommendation! thank god for CALI!! iv already mapped out two dispensaries that currently have good clones in stock! one place has strains like hindu kush, strawberry cough, AK-47, etc. for 10 bucks a clip!! awesome deal. im definitly going to pull 3 of my sick looking plants to make way for some of these bitches. depending if i get a good deal, maybe i will pull all my little bitches, even the healthy ones. logically, its just the smarter thing to do. with the clones ill have no guesswork and no gamble that ill get a dick up in there. well see. i should update tonight with the pictures of my brand new hookers!!

 

[Bagelthief]

Hey sorry about pics people. my camera died after just a few shots. I DID end up getting approved for my medical card, as i knew i would, and i also picked up several clones which are sitting under light as we speak. if you care to read about my visit (to both the MM Doc and my first dispensary) then check out my next post for details. When i brought the clippings home, i had a nice surprise sitting on my door. a parcel from Blue Mountain Organics with all the organic nutes i ordered!! i just smiled. they had come at the PERFECT time, like it was a sign or something. the clones i bought from the MMDisp. were OK at best. iv never seen a clone in person, but half of them really dont look too healthy to me at all. they certainly arent horrible however, and i know in this new environment they will thrive. Tonight i mixed up a concoction of Super Plant Tonic (1 ounce per Gal) + Liquid Karma (2 ml per Gal). i made 6 batches, and each plant got a half Gal. The new strains i have from clone are Bubble Gum (3), and Strawberry Cough (3). I decided to pull only one plant, the smallest of the lot, and to keep the other plants i had sprouted from seed. all except one are doing fantastic...i reorganized the lights, and i am now efficiently using up virtually all of the room inside the tent. things are certainly looking up. pics to ensue. here are the few frames my camera took before it pissed out...that is the first and most healthy brick of clones, 3 SC.

 

[Bagelthief]

FUcCk!!!111!1!!!1one!! sorry again about pics guys. i was having HUGE issues with all the power i was using on this grow. i got it all figured out, but it took me all day and i didnt have time to snap any frames. tomorrow i will for sure though. look at my thread if you want some inkling of what iv been going through...

 

[GrowTech]

Good job

 

[Bagelthief]

ok guys, sorry for the delay. i had some family emergency that required me to go out of town for 3 days (everything is all good now, btw). luckily i snapped some pictures of the hookers before i left. i ended up pulling two of the weakest plants. if you look in the pics, you can see how small and sickly they looked compaired to the other plants. i know exactly why they came out like that too! i ran out of fox farms ocean forest potting soil, so for the last two pots, i had to go buy a bag of potting mix at Lowes. this bag was the only stuff i could find that DIDNT have continues feed garbage in it, it was 5 bucks, and it shows!! really makes me trust the FFOF stuff now, and i will never start another grow without it. anyways, here are the pics taken before i left (friday the 26th, 11 days old)

 

[Bagelthief]

hmm. i was going to load pics of how they look now..but i honestly see no point. it seems like the only journals anyone really cares about are the ones thrown together with foil and a few CFL's...

 

[jcat12]

Must say Im very interested, im setting up my grow as we speak only a 250w test run.

Very interested in seeing what a larger space and more wattage in capable of. Keep us updated!

 

[onebyte]

keep going Bagel!!

 

[Bagelthief]

ok guys. i will keep going. here are my plants at a little over 2 weeks (they sprouted on the 15th). the clones are doing OK, i guess, i havent seen much new growth, but im pretty sure none of them will die or anything...atleast they havent gotten worse from when i got them. my plants from seed are doing GREAT though. VERY bushy!! about twice as wide as they are tall...thanks for the support onebyte and jcat, +rep to the both of you.

 

[Bagelthief]

picccccs of my hookers. about 2 weeks old. (damn, it takes FOREVER to load pics onto this site...lol)

 

[onebyte]

ur growing like a motherfucker!!

how u like that darkroom?

to ur satisfaction?

 

[Bagelthief]

hey thanks bro! at least one person has noticed all my hard work! the darkroom is meh. i would invest in a different tent if i were you. it has a lot of light leaks, and the material is thin, the stitching strait sucks, and its kinda flimsy. i bought it after so many people on here were practically sucking its dick...but it doesnt live up to the hype at all in my view. iv heard good things about the homebox....