Check out my plan...

[Military]

Hey guys this will be my first indoor grow ever, just want to try it out for winter time. HEHE. But I came up with this idea for my grow area...after reading a lot in the micro grow threads. Id be using SCROG with this for sure to keep the high down and what not. This wont be a soil grow, ill be using the method with the buckets filled with water and a airhose making bubbles for the roots... but ya here are some pics i made in paint (lol) to give you guys an idea of what im thinking...

12 x 42W CFL lights thats 504watts total which will be fine, ill make sure i can move lights up and down.
line inside with mylar also of course.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Sawczyszyn/layout.jpg

[Mr.Wakenbake]

I would suggest either a 150 HPS or a 250 HPS instead of a bunch of CFL's but that's just me... If you do go with CFl's spend the money and get some from wormsway .. the 125 watter's put out about 11k lumens and are spectrum corrected for plants. two or three of em would do that space perfect!

Also the bulbs will cost you just a little more but in the end you will get less heat and more light, and an over all safer grow chamber.if you are just starting out I would go with soil or coco coir instead of hydro but that's just me.. DWC isnt' that hard to learn though and as long as you invest in a good pH, EC,TDS tester you should be fine.

Hydro is just more expensive IMO to get going than soil, even though the benefits of faster growth are there.. but if you got the extra cash for a good meter and the proper ph up and down and a good nutrient line.. go for it.

I would rethink the lighting though .. remember less clutter = happy you lol:thumbsup:

[THSea]

oops..redundant post

[AlienBait]

A suggestion on the air-flow:

Use all three fans for exhaust and keep them as high as possible. Then just have three or four holes of equal size as low as possible for a passive intake.

The way you show it in the picture will not work very well as the exhaust will not be able to keep up with the intake.

[Military]

A suggestion on the air-flow:

Use all three fans for exhaust and keep them as high as possible. Then just have three or four holes of equal size as low as possible for a passive intake.

The way you show it in the picture will not work very well as the exhaust will not be able to keep up with the intake.

Very true i ment to look over the air flow a little more but this was just a walk through for the time being. Thanks for the tip


As for the lights... I was planning on mounting them on a 2x4 or a small piece of plywood so id be able to raise and lower the lights easily. And for clutter, there really wouldnt be any id make sure of that with timing and what not. Ill look into those lights you mentioned Mr.Wakenbake, and ima tring to find a good place to buy a good pH tester. I have a good site for nutrients...

http://www.technaflora.com/technaflora/products
If you guys know any other Hydro nut sites cheaper+better through them my way please :P


Quick question so i can get this settled. HPS lights you need a ballasts and what not just to be able to turn the light on... What do I need special to screw in a CFL and turn it on? Or do i just need the correct Wattage socket or whatever?

And for HPS I dont have the money to cover the long term "electric bill" and i dont want to worry about heat. With enough topics iv read, CFLs will do just fine that i "should" be able to pull about 4-7oz out of this cab.

Ima looking for lights now atm

Heres another picture with the air flow modification.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/Sawczyszyn/layout2.jpg

[Military]

Found the lights ill be using also now :P Ill be most likely being using 8 or 10 of these guys.

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=200556&ppid=1122&image=21401985&images=21401985&formats=0&format=0

Also solved my Nutrient question, ill be using BC Nutrients(Grow, Boost, Bloom)

[herbgrower]

In a space that size,10 may be a bit of over-kill.

Your growing space isnt that big and them compact fluoro's throw a fair chunk of light.

The more light's or the bigger the light/s,the more problems you can have with heat issue's,just my :2cents:.

[Military]

In a space that size,10 may be a bit of over-kill.

Your growing space isnt that big and them compact fluoro's throw a fair chunk of light.

The more light's or the bigger the light/s,the more problems you can have with heat issue's,just my :2cents:.


Thanks man for your input :P But i got the Heat issue all figured out :P But ya 10 might be a little to much. Thanks i needed someone else's input to help me out a little but. Ill just test with 8 lights and see what happens :P

[THSea]

I don't think that would be too much light at all!

Here's the thing with cfl's, the light that it emits is not as intense as an HID (HPS, MH) light, and therefore you will need more watts per square foot than if you had an HID. And watts per square foot isn't the best way to go about this. Lumens per square foot is more important. Ideally, you want 7000 lumens per square foot or more.

The 42w CFL's give off 2800 lumens each, and using 12 of them would give you 33,600 lumens. Your space is 4.01 square feet which works out to about 8400 lumens per square foot. Not too shabby! I think you'll do well with that amount of light as long as you keep your temps in check!

I have a space that is exactly 9 square feet with a 600wHPS. The HPS gives off 90,000 lumens. That gives me 10,000 lumens per square foot! I've been able to keep my temps in check and the plants LOVE it! You'll be well rewarded if you go that extra mile with the lights!
:smoke: