FryingPanFlyer

Yup, pretty central to the state. Been here for many years, you couldn't pry me out of here. My girlfriend lives in Denver so I end up down there a lot, but just for the weekend, she can't get me to move down there.

Glad to hear you're doing the same as I, drop in often and if you have a question please feel free to ask. I don't have that much experience, but I'll let you know if I don't know the answer.

Hey, just stumbled across some of your posts, your grow is looking great! I am a first time SH grower too, just transferred some germed seeds to rockwool and put em in the hydroton, now.... just wait. Anyway, I'll be following you, its good to see a fellow Coloradoan on here! You live up in the mountains?

Hey Fry,
I just took a quick look at your thread and I'm really impressed. I hadn't read it because I was trying to read mainly cfl's but our systems have a lot more in common than not. I'm gonna go back and read the whole thread. I think it will be a very helpful tool for me. Anyway thanks for help so far I really appreciate it.
Also as far as the CFL vs HID is concerned I think you have it 100% right. I am using CFL even though I know they are inferior to HID because if you need to be stealth or just don't want to or can't deal with the heat CFL is a great alternative .

Sounds like a great idea, try them both and see which you prefer. I think I went with the HID just because for so long I've heard they were the only way to go. The CFL's are relatively new, or maybe just to my experience. But the CFL's run a lot cooler which may suit your conditions much better. I know that right now I'm running at perfect temps, but when it gets hot up here next summer (it gets up to 100 on occasion) I'll be looking for cooling. I'll probably have to hang some sort of a/c in there too. CFL's might be just the ticket for Louisiana.

How about those Saints? They will always have a place in my heart, I played one pre-season for them back in the 70's. Blew out my knee and this was just prior to arthroscopies.

Happy to do the rep thing. I was actually just trying to figure out how the rep meter worked a few minutes ago.

I think I may go ahead and set up two systems, one with a 4-bulb T5 and one with a Radiant HID switchable and see which one performs well in a small space in our environment. One variable that complicates the mix when reading about other people's grows is the climate where we all start. Advice from Michigan or Colorado is great, but our ambient temp and humidity level will be so different from each other... too little humidity is seldom an issue in Louisiana!

I'll check out that book too. Thanks!

One more note about lighting. The reason I use the metal halide for vegetative and high pressure sodium for flowering is the spectrum. MH are the closest thing to natural lighting, it has a very white light which quite closely resembles the sun. The HPS burns more in the red spectrum which is closer to the natural spectrum of the sun during the later months of the year. In the fall the sun doesn't rise as high in the sky as during the summer months, this filters the light through more of the atmosphere thus pushing the light into the red end of the spectrum. Some people use HPS for the entire grow, they are the most efficient in terms of lumens/ watt so they do make a great general light also.

Hope this helps.

One more thing, you might want to buy this book, Marijuana Horticulture, the Indoor/Outdoor Medical Growers Bible by Jorge Cervantes. It's got an amazing amount of information. It's not really a step by step how to book, rather more of a reference book to all the various aspects of cultivation from cloning through harvest. W/ sections on lighting, water and nutrients, hydroponics, air, and probably everything else you need to know. I got my copy on Amazon.

I've got a 6" inline fan (~$30) with 6" flexible duct tied to my light, you can see it pretty good in my the pics I posted this morning. I keeps the reflector cool enough to put my hand on it. I think a tube would be more efficient.

I didn't really look into the T5's, I felt they were old technology. I'm reading where some people get good results from them, but I've made my commitment to the MH/HPS combo. Even the people who use the CFL's realize you get bigger and tighter buds with them. Take your pick I guess.

I kind of heat to ask this but I'm new to this forum. In the upper right of the posts you'll see some scales. Click there to give me reputation points. You get these from people when you help them, they increase some of the things I can do here, what forums I can visit. So as much help as you are willing to give me there I would really appreciate!

Ah, again, thanks for the insight. I had been looking at the T5's... mainly because they were cooler and less expensive than the HIDs. The T5s also offer the ability to change the configuration to more blue or more red. Did you look at the T5s at all?

The other one I looked at was the 400W Radiant with a cooling fan, but there again... which fan?! Sunburst has a nice small fan that attaches directly to the unit, but the light concentration isn't nearly as good as you get from the Radiant or even from the XTra Sun. I wish we had a hydro store somewhere around here so I could look at whether the Sunburst fan is attachable to the Radiant or Xtra Sun, as that seems like it would be ideal for a 400W light in a 4x4 space.

What cooling system are you using?

I'll use this light for flowering too. I use a metal halide light for vegetative growth, then switch to high pressure sodium for flowering. These lights are arguably the best way to go.

CFL's are great for what they do, which is burn cool. I have to add cooling via vent fan to keep temps down. CFL's are great for a stealth grow in a closet. So for a small closet grow these are the best.

Actually most of their systems are DWC. The kit I started with is only 13.5" wide by 20.5 " long and they have holes for 6 plants, way too small for large plants, they did this for the SOG where you don't grow the plants as big but you get a fast turn around, they plants are finished sooner. I'm going with a DIY system simply due to the cost, I can do it much cheaper myself now that I know what I'm doing.

I went with the 400w switchable light. The cfl's are good, but not as good as HID lighting. This will give me tighter and bigger buds.

Did you see that SH has a Deep Water System setup as well? It seems to keep the plants a bit close together though... which is why I didn't think it would be a good choice for longterm growth. Are you using the Dual Spectrum II lights or did you go for a larger greenhouse-type lighting system? The CFL systems are certainly less expensive than the HID systems, but I don't know the ramifications long term. What's your take on the long-term viability of plant growth with the CFL lighting? Which system did you choose, and are you staying with that lighting when you transition?

Again, thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate the time you're taking to share your knowledge and experience!

The SOG is a growing strategy that gives quick results. Here's a link, this is the guy that I've been taking my cues from, he's been doing it for a while and all of his advice has been golden so far.

http://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/7897-stealth-hydro-bubbleponics-systems.html

What I'll be transitioning to is similar to SH's Buckteer system. Once the plants get established, as I'm doing in the starter kit right now, they don't need to have water pumping directly into their root systems any longer since the roots are hanging into the nutrient solution in the bottom of the buckets. That saves the whole pump system they sell with the bucketeer.

From what I've found bubbleponics is great for starting the plants, but all of the advantage of the system is realized in the first two weeks of the grow, after that there is no real advantage over a typical DWS (Deep Water System) which is what I'll transition to.

Thanks for the reply. =) I'm in Louisiana, so far away from any of the active hydro markets. I took your advice and gave Rich a call over at Stealth. They do indeed have a wholesale program with a very reasonable ISO, so we are going to pick up the line. I would love to know what you move to or build once you upsize. I have been eying the Multiflow System over at hydroponics.net as an option, but it's a bit pricey coming in a set like that. (Here's a link: http://www.hydroponics.net/items/details/multiflow.asp) Were you planning to build something like that? You also mentioned the "Sea of Green" approach in your post. I've seen it mentioned other places, but as I just started wandering the site, I haven't encountered the "Sea of Green for dummies" thread yet! I'd appreciate any feedback you can give.

Actually I'm pretty new to the hydroponics thing, but with a little time I found this SH Hydroponics set up and bought it simply because of the convenience. here's their url:
http://www.StealthHydroponics.com/index.php

It came as a complete kit and I found it to be very effective. I'm sure there are others, but I found this one worked great. From here I'm going to build my own set up because of the costs, I can do it much cheaper now that I have some experience and have done a lot of additional research. Give these guys a try for a start, they are very helpful. Give them a call at customer support, I'l sure they'll be interested in hearing from you.

Where are you located?

Hi, I just posted a thread in the hydro forum, but after reading your thread on your SH grow, I think you are the man with the answers for me! I own a garden center and want to start offering smaller hydro systems to my customers. There are literally NO hydro stores here, or even close to here. So, I have nowhere to go view systems in action and am left with this confusing overabundance of choices. Could you break it down in complete newbie terms regarding what you purchased to begin (specific brands, if possible, so I can pick up the lines for my center), where you found the best information for new gardeners, and what system you are expanding to over time? Thanks for any info you can provide. I truly appreciate your help! E