First Indoor Grow - Seeking Guidance

Hi Guys, just want to start off by thanking the community, you guys ( and girls?) have been super helpful throughout the years and your insights are always helpful and appreciated.

This is going to be my first REAL indoor op and I figure if I'm going to do it, I'm gonna do it right so needless to say I'm going to drop some real coin.
Since I'm fairly new to the game I figure you all could give me some pointers, tell me if I'm doing something wrong, or some ways I could do things better so I don't end up wasting alot of money, and go through some avoidable hassle.

I'm gonna buy two Secret Jardin DR120s (48"x48"x80") one for booming, one for blooming.

http://www.greners.com/i/grow-tents/secret-jardin/dark-room-ii-pro/secret-jardin-dark-room-pro-dr120-ii.html

I only want to grow four plants because after four, the state law jumps up to the next tier of fines/incarceration so I want to grow some MONSTERS, as big as two can possibly get in a 4'x4'x80" area.

I'll be getting two of these because they seem well rated, and you can in-line cool them, and I think thats cool.

http://www.greners.com/radiant-ac-reflector-with-6-flange.html

I know they give a general area of coverage for 400W/600W bulbs, but I would like the opinion of some people who have "been there, done that" to determine what size bulbs I'm going to use. I don't want to use any higher than 600W bulbs because the circuits in my space are old, and I don't want to worry about popping a breaker (or worse, a fire) everytime a fan cuts on.

I plan on using some huge 30L bins for my soil, so my question is, will a 400W be sufficient enough to grow 2 BIG plants or should I definitely go with a 600W? Additionally, should I augment the main lights with some T5 HOs on the sides of each tent?

The hoods I want to use have "Hydrofarm" type sockets so I'm going to buy a MH and HPS XtraSun ballast because they seem liked, and have both types of sockets. The wattage of them will be based on what will be sufficient enough for 2 monster plants.

http://www.greners.com/xtrasun-ballast-halide-400w-mh-120v-240v.html
http://www.greners.com/xtrasun-ballast-sodium-400w-hps-120v-240v.html

I am thinking of buying a couple of these in-line fans, but the price + shipping seems a little steep. How often should I be exchanging my air, and how can I determine how powerful of fans I need?

http://www.greners.com/active-air-in-line-booster-fan-6.html

I have heard (read, rather) that Northern Lights is a good strain to start with as a beginner, so I'm thinking of buying these seeds. Does anybody suggest a better breeder or a different strain? Let me know.

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/royal-queen-seeds-northern-light-feminized/prod_671.html

I know VERY little about the proper amount of nutrients and growing mediums and things related. I definitely want to grow in soil, I like the earthy taste and big monster stems and huge root systems. I plan on just filling a layer of rocks in the bottom of my bins for drainage, and some Fox Farm Ocean Forest regular potting soil with some Perlite added. I'll use a 70% soil / 30% perlite mixture.

http://www.greners.com/i/growing-media/brand/foxfarm/ocean-forest-potting-soil.html

If somebody could suggest a better soil, that would be great. Also if someone can suggest a site I can order some good nutrients from, and maybe hitn at what nutriets I need, or can direct me to a page that will tell me so, I would appreciate it.

Alot of people say to use 24/0 light cycle for vegging state but I think I am going to give them at least SOME darkness, I was thinking 20/4 or 22/2. What are the differences between these different cycles or is it all just personal preference?

I know you can tell when the plants have ended there blooming phase, but what about vegetative phase? Is there a generally agreed upon "good" amount of time for the veg cycle? Can I just keep vegging them until my desired size or is there consequences for long vegging periods.
I believe that is about it, so yeah let me know what you guys think or tell me if I've missed any more important stuff or if you want me to elaborate further just post or shoot me a PM.

Thanks,
NORML

I got as far as thinking you may not need as large a vegging tent as flowering. I use same tent ( 4FT2), four plants totally fill it up, so much I'm quite good at lst now, and my veg room is only 2 ft x 3 ft...four vegging 6-8 week old plants fit quite snuggly.
Hope this helps a bit

Wow, can't believe you came up on that name. lol. As far as your grow goes, I would invest in good HPS lighting and large containers. As far as premium soils go, I like Roots Organic, then FoxFarm, then Sunshine Mix #4, then Kellogg, then Scott's Super Soil. I tend to buy kellogg patio plus potting mix the most because it's only $5 a bag and the difference between it and most expensive stuff on the shelf is very very small.

Look into rainbird drip irrigation systems with timers. It will save you a lot of money on watering and automating it really helps simplify things. Don't obsess over fertilizers or nutrients. Just find something that seems easy and that's affordable. If it doesn't specifically target cannabis growers it'll be half the price. Alaska Fish Emulsions and MorBloom work great. I also love using Kellogg all purpose organic fertilizers. X Nutrients makes a really good affordable hydroponic line up that I think rivals some of the bigger names. You can request free samples from their website if you hurry. Dyna-Gro is popular here as is Advanced Nutrients, General Hydroponics, Canna, and a dozen other brands. I've used a few of these, and in my opinion most of them are the same stuff in just slightly different ratios of NPK. That's why I advocate going as cheap as possible and spend money only where it really counts. That is lighting and container size. Get this done right and everything else seems to fall into place.