Newb Closet Coco Grow, 400w MH+HPS

Three headed monsters!

You the man, Mared.

UserFriendly said:

I suggest you wait for the tds meter before you spend any more money. RO is the shit, but you don't need it to have a nice grow. Those aggressive feeding schedules are for mature plants that can handle it. I would consider your plants to be mid-sized. I would be feeding 700-800 ppm with RO. If your tap turns out to be 700+ ppm like THC has, you'lll want to get that RO unit. My tap is 200 ppm and I had to buy an RO unit just for my humidifiers.

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I still don't understand why you would need a tds meter if you aren't growing Hydro??

Coco is hydro my friend.

I though Hydro was more to do with the watering system and not so much the medium??

Hydro is generally accepted as anything not grown in soil. When you consider that soil is usually peat, and that soilless mixes are also peat, the lines blur a bit. When you grow anything but organic, you might do best with a tds meter. If you used guanos, kelps, and teas in coco, you've got yourself an organic hydro grow. I don't know if you can accurately measure tds in guanos. Definitions suck balls anyway.

No MH or HPS makes Mared a dull boy... No MH or HPS makes Mared a dull boy... Oh, sorry. Forgive my psychotic rants - I've been driven to madness by shitty quality equipment. I came home to find my closet illuminated by the single CFL side light I had set up a couple days ago. I believe my ballast is fried because I have two bulbs and neither works. I also tried several outlets, no dice. The ballast hums and gets hot like it's working but no light. I threw up the three remaining CFLs and uncovered the window to utilize the sun in the morning. I'll have to scramble tomorrow to find a socket/ballast, might as well get a better quality hood while I'm at it. And it's fucking finals week to top it all off. So how long can my 9 plants make it on 106 watts of CFL light if I can't get something tomorrow? What do you guys think, am I screwed here?

Dude, that sucks a lot. Take your setup to a hydro store or electronics repairman to have checked out before you are done with it forever. It might be something small.

As long as you are vegging, you'll be fine with the cfls. Obviously more will be better, but at this point, they will keep your plants alive; cut back the foliage if you have to.

If it comes to getting a new ballast, Sunleaves Pulsar 2.0 has an 8 year warranty. Lumatek digitals have 5 year warranties.

Maybe the ganja gods are trying to tell me I was supposed to have two lights all along. Hopefully I will pick up a nice new one tomorrow because I can't bare to see my plants in such dim light and then when I have time, I can get the busted one repaired and have a veg/clone light. (Trying to stay positive) Unfortunately, this is one of two weeks out of the year where school is so hectic it takes precedence over my plants. So I have to sign off to study now but thanks for the support, User. It's good to know they should be alright for a day or two. I'll let you know what happens.

Oh, sweet. Didn't see your second post. Those ballasts will be at the top of my list. Thanks.

lumatec 600 hps,thats my two cents,600s give the highest lum-watt ratio, you can't get a 600 mh bulb though, nobody makes one,yet.
Get a 6in air cooled,Xtrasun 6in under 100 for the hood and socket

Do you go to a hydro store??
Ask owner/manager if he will match Green Coast's prices.

TetraHyC said:

lumatec 600 hps,thats my two cents,600s give the highest lum-watt ratio, you can't get a 600 mh bulb though, nobody makes one,yet.
Get a 6in air cooled,Xtrasun 6in under 100 for the hood and socket

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I've just recently started seeing HPS -> MH conversion bulbs for 600's.
HiLUX GRO MH Conversion Lamp, 600W - Worm's Way

UserFriendly said:

I've just recently started seeing HPS -> MH conversion bulbs for 600's.
HiLUX GRO MH Conversion Lamp, 600W - Worm's Way

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Right on, User, you always find the good stuff, owe you again.
Won't hesitate to replace the dinosaur hydrofarm 400MH soon,I know its efficiency is way down, poor air flow too, HIDs don't last forever, I think the DIGIs last longer than magnetic.

Crisis averted. But it cost me. $189 for a 400 watt Lumatek. The shop I went to is pretty small and all they had were two 400 watters. It beats the brakes off my old unit though. You can notice it's brighter and doesn't run as hot either. I also picked up a bag of coco, some ph down, a couple trays and a humidity dome. I figure I'll take a shot at cloning before I throw the lights to 12/12. The plants look great despite the day of dim light

Good, I wasted a lot of money on B/S.
I tripped on how the Digi was brighter than my magnetic too.
No buzzzzzzzz.
Got my seeds today, looks like a good monday this week.

All that money on tuition, down the drain, Mared gonna make six figs. growing the kind.
I'm starting to think your a sand-bagger.

I don't know. I don't want to get overconfident. I see so many terrible things happen to people in flower on this site. I'm hoping they're just too busy/braindead to realize there is a problem in time and an attentive person like myself can avoid the same mistakes. I'm pretty sure the verdict before was that I would be okay to flower in these 2 gallon bags but when I water now there is no loose coco on top anymore, it is solid root mass all the way to the sides. What do think? Bigger pots? And do you switch to the bloom nutes as soon as you go to 12/12? I would imagine it would be best to wait a little while.

How big a plant do you want??

Look at these in a 4in pot, 50/50 mix,took photo today, about 14 in tall.

Remember this is hydro.