New to Growing - Build Advice Please

Hello Folks,

I've been consuming medically for 4 years now and have decided to start growing my own.

I have very little experience in what im looking for and would hope that you folks could provide some feedback with your experience.

This is in Canada

The grow setup that I've decided to do is:

Im on quite the budget, (1000$)
All products off amazon

4ftx2ftx5ft tent - Mylar 600D
Two Viparspectra reflector series 300W LED
Active air 400 CFM inline fan 6 inch + speed adjuster
Phresh 701265 Intake Filter 6 x 12 inch 450 CFM Carbon filter
1 6 inch clip on fan (maybe 2?)
LED Glasses,
Garden Sheers and clippers
60x 120x pocket microscope
Coco-coir Base
Perlite
General Hydro's Flora gro, bloom, and micro fertalizer,
General Hydro Calimagic
and PH Balancing kit.

I already have everything for the germination and incubation process.

Any suggestions to this set up? should I change anything?

If using a 4x2x5 tent with a 400 CFM exhaust (carbon filter on the inside of tent as a sucker) should I use a small intake fan or will the negative pressure be enough?

Im leaning on two 300W LEDS instead of one CMH light as I would eventually like to get another 2x2 tent for flowering and use the 4x2 for the veg / seedling process so I can rotate between two harvests every 5 - 7 weeks instead of 10-13

I would also like to note that im growing 2 - 4 Pre 98' Bubba plants as my starters

The list seems fine fella.

No need for an intake.

I would rather run a 3x3 and use a 400w HPS or 315cmh, those LEDs will be a bit underpowered, you want 50 real watts per square foot and they come in at 134w each light. The vipar spectra450 comes in at 200w at the wall each. So if you plan on lighting up an 2x4 fully then you would need two of those. Lights like that are not amazing but will work with the right amount of light.
265w Quantum board kit from HLG Canada would be my first choice though, but I imagine it would take a lot of your budget.

All that said, everyone starts with something , You seem to have the main things considered.

Best of luck, nothing tastes better than the herb you grew yourself ..

coreywebster said:

The list seems fine fella.

No need for an intake.

I would rather run a 3x3 and use a 400w HPS or 315cmh, those LEDs will be a bit underpowered, you want 50 real watts per square foot and they come in at 134w each light. The vipar spectra450 comes in at 200w at the wall each. So if you plan on lighting up an 2x4 fully then you would need two of those. Lights like that are not amazing but will work with the right amount of light.
265w Quantum board kit from HLG Canada would be my first choice though, but I imagine it would take a lot of your budget.

All that said, everyone starts with something , You seem to have the main things considered.

Best of luck, nothing tastes better than the herb you grew yourself ..

Click to expand...

Do you by chance have a recommendation for any 400w HPS set ups? The 300W LED's are comming in at 220$ total after tax, I could get a third for 330$ total on lights if that would be enough, two of the 450W's comes in at about 450$ for the dimmable version, and 380 for the "veg bloom" switch option one. Which of the vipar spectra's are you talking?

The eventual plan is two tents side by side, one for veg one for flower, but im only every growing 2 - 4 plants at once.

My dream would be 250 - 300g yields from 2 plants every 5-7 weeks (Rotating two sets of 2 plants). but I know that won't happen out the gate or with a budget setup. But with what you're saying at maximum effciency and with a perfect grow I'd max at maybe 250g with the 2 300W lights?

Actuosity said:

Do you by chance have a recommendation for any 400w HPS set ups? The 300W LED's are comming in at 220$ total after tax, I could get a third for 330$ total on lights if that would be enough, two of the 450W's comes in at about 450$ for the dimmable version, and 380 for the "veg bloom" switch option one. Which of the vipar spectra's are you talking?

The eventual plan is two tents side by side, one for veg one for flower, but im only every growing 2 - 4 plants at once.

My dream would be 250 - 300g yields from 2 plants every 5-7 weeks (Rotating two sets of 2 plants). but I know that won't happen out the gate or with a budget setup. But with what you're saying at maximum effciency and with a perfect grow I'd max at maybe 250g with the 2 300W lights?

Click to expand...

Yeah basically if you went with the 300w vipars you would be under powered light wise and you could light your space and have buds which are a bit fluffy or you could light 2/3rds of your space and keep plants to that canopy size and have dense buds.

Hard for me to recommend the right ballast , your market will be different from mine over here in Europe.
But just as a starter you can have a look at what you can get,
https://www.growlights.ca/growlights/grow-light-kits/400-watt-kits.html

I would shop around, try ebay and amazon for a ballast and bulb ect. But with that set up you would be better served with a 3x3 tent because a HPS will cover a square far better.

I, like most people really don't like cheap LEDs so its hard for me to recommend them. By the time you have enough of them to do the job at hand its only a bit cheaper than good LEDs and a fair bit more than HPS/MH , both of which perform better.

If you want a good rotation and your grow room can fit it in I would go with two 3x3 tents in the end, that way you can flip flop the tents, just run one tent from start to finish and start the next when the first gets flipped to flowering.

With a 2x4 tent you would have to be really good at what you do and have some great lighting to be pulling 16oz of the whole tent, from what I can gather your talking about flowering half your plants in there and then having the other half staggered so would only be chopping half a tent at any one time.
You would be limiting yourself by having the tents your talking about. But that's just my opinion.

Usually a HPS set up will be the most cost effective to start up with. For me over here in UK I can get a 600w digital dimmable ballast for £80, a bulb for £12, a reflector for £15.

Do a search for ballast comparison and bulb comparison to see what is best for a reasonable price in your neck of the woods.

Actuosity said:

I would also like to note that im growing 2 - 4 Pre 98' Bubba plants as my starters

Click to expand...

Hope those aren't Cali Connection seeds.