Help me out please! New grower and setup!

Empire.420 said:

Hey guys, so im new to the forums! Had a little browse and seems to be alot of people here who know their shit! Anyways im just getting into this fantastic hobby and am needing some help. I currently am running 2 standard 1000w HID lights practicing my hand on a couple girls. Things seems to be going alright (ill try to snag some pics tomorrow).

I'm looking at completely re-structuring my grow space from the ground up and i need some serious help! Im moving space and I will have 2 rooms to work with. 1st room is 8'W x 15'L x 7.5"H and will be flower room , 2nd room will be around 7'W x 10'L x 7.5' high and that will be the clone/veg room. Anyways im wondering if anyone can shed some light on some good equipment to be using, and airflows and stuff like that.

- What should i use for lighting -- LED vs HID -- so far i havent looked much into the LED route but i've been looking at the raptor 6" and raptor 8" hoods as well as the solaris66max hood. Would these be good options or would a LED route be better? (still kinda skeptical from shit i've heard).

- Should i be looking more into LED or QB or COB lights instead?

- How much lighting for each of those rooms?

- How much airflow in and out for each of the rooms and how does this interact with Co2 injection? my old man has a Co2 generator that i can use but is it needed? Should the room have 0 airflow if using Co2?

- Roughly how many plants should i be able to have in each space without causing problems?

Like i said im just starting into this with some help from a few buddys and looking for ANY and ALL advice some of you experience growers can offer!

Any links to information or articles i should be reading would be greatly appreciated!

Also if anyone has links to any really awesome deals for gear at the moment that would be awesome!

Thanks Guys! I hope someone out there can give me a hand!

-- Stay toasty!

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Empire.420 said:

Hey guys, so im new to the forums! Had a little browse and seems to be alot of people here who know their shit! Anyways im just getting into this fantastic hobby and am needing some help. I currently am running 2 standard 1000w HID lights practicing my hand on a couple girls. Things seems to be going alright (ill try to snag some pics tomorrow).

I'm looking at completely re-structuring my grow space from the ground up and i need some serious help! Im moving space and I will have 2 rooms to work with. 1st room is 8'W x 15'L x 7.5"H and will be flower room , 2nd room will be around 7'W x 10'L x 7.5' high and that will be the clone/veg room. Anyways im wondering if anyone can shed some light on some good equipment to be using, and airflows and stuff like that.

- What should i use for lighting -- LED vs HID -- so far i havent looked much into the LED route but i've been looking at the raptor 6" and raptor 8" hoods as well as the solaris66max hood. Would these be good options or would a LED route be better? (still kinda skeptical from shit i've heard).

- Should i be looking more into LED or QB or COB lights instead?

- How much lighting for each of those rooms?

- How much airflow in and out for each of the rooms and how does this interact with Co2 injection? my old man has a Co2 generator that i can use but is it needed? Should the room have 0 airflow if using Co2?

- Roughly how many plants should i be able to have in each space without causing problems?

Like i said im just starting into this with some help from a few buddys and looking for ANY and ALL advice some of you experience growers can offer!

Any links to information or articles i should be reading would be greatly appreciated!

Also if anyone has links to any really awesome deals for gear at the moment that would be awesome!

Thanks Guys! I hope someone out there can give me a hand!

-- Stay toasty!

Click to expand...

Apalchen said:

How much do you want to spend? Sky is the limit. If you want c02 you need an ac and for a room that size a mini split is the best option. You kinda gotta decide that before you decide on lights also. I'd stick with hps lighting if trying to be on the cheaper side. I get better quality out of cmh but after it's all dried and in jars it's not enough to make me switch to totally cmh. ( I wrote some of this before realizing your ceilings were only 7.5 ft for that reason I do recommend cmh)

Option 1 simple air cooled hps 8 x 1000 watt in air cooled hoods, if your gonna seal the room and run ac you will need 32k btu for cooling so a 36k btu mini split.

Option 2 CMH 15 315 fixtures 3 rows of 5. 2 ton mini split for a sealed room. This is prob my favorite option just cause I love 315s. (Verify the mini split size on this I'm just guessing but it should be enough)

Option 3 Gavita 600-750 flex 8 fixtures. 36k btu mini split for sealed room. Never ran these but I love my gavita double ended lights, you don't have the ceiling height to run de 1000 so those are a good choice.

For veg I'd just run the two 1k you have with a mh bulb or conversion bulb and a t5 or two, unless you got extra money then 6 315s would be ideal for that space to veg in.

Of course there are a million different combos of lights that would and could work but I personally would go the 315 route as your ceilings aren't that high. The price for 15 fixtures might scare you off but by the time you buy 8 air cooled hoods and fans to cool them it won't be that far off. Then you factor in the electric savings your good. I have never hit 2 lbs off an air cooled 1k but some do. But I have hit 12 zips off a 315. So 3x315 for the same wattage as a 1k air cooled and you could hit 36 ounces (or more I don't run c02). The air cooled 1k prob maxes out for most people around 2lb or 32 ounces.

I don't recommend going led unless you just hit the lottery if thats the case then I still don't recommend it but you could afford it.

Also all these ideas are for lighting up the whole room with production in mind. If your needs are less then of course you can scale back.

Either way I hope you have been saving your money as I just did a room build a bit smaller and it was EXPENSIVE as fuck and still got stuff to buy. Of course you can always try to piece together used equipment to save money if you need too.

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Apalchen said:

I actually think you did well on that budget I got a 4 lighter and have that much into it and still not finished but also had to build a wall and run new electric. This stuff adds up quick had to do a run without the c02 or tables just cause ran out of money. Now it time fil her up again so gonna try to do the upgrades as I go and will wait for tables til next run, as they cut back on my amount of work but aren't essential.

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Empire.420 said:

Hey guys thanks for the responses! If you don't mind me asking , where are you that you need that kind of cooling power?! Im currently running 2x 1000 watts HID HPS over a 4x8 table on 2 big girls that im finishing out and i have 0 A/C units running lol. Ill try to take pics of my budget setup today so you guys can see the shit im working with currently and why i want to upgrade haha.

My room Temps have actually been great so far (72-74 @ night and 77-80 during the day but im in a much larger room, however, i'm not even running cool tube lighting!

Seems like overkill to put in a 30k btu a/c, the portable ones@ 12kbtu or w.e for 3-400 ea would probably work if i ended up needing some cooling power no? Also i have no idea what a mini split is if someone could explain

Also if im running 8" raptop or solaris hoods would the a/c really be necessary? Are those hoods good options or should i be looking at others? I've head the glass from those type of hoods block a portion of the light? Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Originally i wanted to run 3-4 hoods in the bigger room and maybe 1-2 for the veg room but it seems like that wont be enough?

Can someone please explain the difference of a regular HID mh or hps vs a Double ended one? I don't understand really how it would be any different?

Also for the whole co2 debate i got a couple more questions. - - Co2 is only to be run in sealed rooms or should i still have good airflow? How many CFM airflow should i try to get in each room?

Wouldn't the CMH and gavitas be hot AF in those rooms?

Is there any guides someone might have put together that would be good for a newbie like me to read?

Any good deals on equiptment out there? Post anything you think i might need thats on a sick deal

-Stay toasty!

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Apalchen said:

You can def just use part of the room and get by with air cooling. If that meets your needs production wise then that is much easier and cheaper. You might have to drop wattage in the summer to battle the heat but as long as your not far south you should be good the rest of the year.

Don't get me wrong setting the temp exactly where u want it is nice and all and these 1kw de throw down the light but I'm so broke from building room I'm kicking myself in the ass right now. It will pay off but I wish I had known was gonna cost so much would've also looked at cheaper alternatives. It will pay off in the end but for right now it's ramen noodles kinda budget around here. It's It's kinda like the difference between a hobby and a job imo, a hobby u hope for good results but aren't counting on them, where as I get super disappointed or concerned if I don't think I'm going to hit my numbers.

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Apalchen said:

Looks very nice and clean setup. And yeah it will be worth it, but between stopping my perpetual tents to build the room and not hitting the numbers I want (just a guess still wet). It doesn't feel like much of a win this go. A third of my room was a strain I've only run as a small plant in small tents, and while fire it didn't get as big as expected. I also mistakenly thought that gavitas 1k should be hung at the ceiling but have since figured out that they can be lowered to 3 ft over canopy with better results but figured that out kinda late like week 4-5. I also went with 2 gallon pots this time thinking that would be fine and save me media, well it was fine except for the plants didn't get as big as normal so back to 3 gallons for me.

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Helltownhero said:

Im a 7 gal guy..more yeild..whats your medium?

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Helltownhero said:

For me i went big on the AC cuz i knew i would always be upgrading didnt want to install a 1500$ split ac just to need a 3 ton the next grow..see what im saying...trust me if your going to invest buy a good cooling system..your temps seem good but your gonna want more lights more plants ect ect..for air flow in sealed rooms wall mounted fans work balls i have one on each wall in my 10x10 room 1 20lb co2 tank lasts 5 days..if u have the money go high end right from the start in the end it saves u money...i veg all 32 plants under 2 600w MH then flower under 6 1000w hps...co2 is 1250ppm and tem is 84 and 60% humidity...my plants grow so dam fast a foot a week is normal take the glass off the hoods if u can handle the heat load if not make sure wen cooling them they suck from outside the room exhausting outside the room if running co2..mini split is ductless ac unit its pretty much a sett it and forget it deal...i set mine at 85 woth all 6 lights blasting its stays at 85 woth no problems...trust me invest in a 3 ton..go on Craig's list...u can get deals there..good luck happy growing

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Empire.420 said:

Im in canada so craigslist is shit up here unfortunately. Also im trying to keep it somewhat budget friendly until i actually learn the ropes and can make some good buds. I'm trying to stay away from the a/c if i can but i already have a couple of those roll around portable units if need be. If it becomes too much of a problem i would consider switching for sure.

Does the glass block any lumens or light output that the plants would recieve?

Also my plan was to pull fresh air in with a fan and air box jr hepa filter and then exhause through all my cool tubes and out through a airbox carbon coal filter?

Has anyone tried the Airbox filters? are they worth the cost?

I have 2 basic shitty non cooled HID MH/HPS right now, would those be ok to run in the veg room? maybe at 75%?

What size pots should i be using along the way? and what steps to make from pot to pot etc.? I'm finishing the one's i currently have going in 5 gallon pots but for my next run was considering running with 3's.

I'm growing in a special soil mix from my local grow store so not too sure whats in it but seems to work alright. Should i be exploring the world of coco or DWC or just stick to the good ol soil?

Trying to keep it as good of quality build as i can while keeping the price somewhat manageable. For right now im just trying to get my skills honed in and producing the quality and then if it really takes off i'd have no problem dumping some more mula into it.

It's just really hard to drop 5-10k on a couple rooms when im still growing my first plants ever lol.

It seems like cool tubes would be the way to go for my setup? or are CMH really that much better? would i run into major heat issues with cmh?

I have some equipment but most of its pretty old school as it was my old mans.

I do have a co2 generator that runs off propane but not sure how to set it up and not sure how the levels at which i should be using it. I don't think it has a controller or anything but i could be wrong.

Also can anyone explain the whole DE thing>? would it not produce the same output of light? why is it better?

At 84 Deg you're not worried about hermies?

I'm still putting up walls in my room that ill be dividing but got all the boarding redone yesterday.

I'm gunna go snap some pics once the lights turn on so you guys can criticize my shitty plants i got running at the moment and maybe toss some tips my way Keep in mind i don't know wtf i'm doing yet lol

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