Just inherited a few lights + 5x6x5 tent!!!

[Ckali559]

man, im really excited; i've never grown before, but i am prop 215 compliant.

here's what i got: one 1000w hps, two 600w hps, one 400w hps, one six inch booster fan, one eight inch booster fan w/ 8 - 6 inch reducer, and a 5x6x5 tent! none of the lights came with any kind of ducts/glass, and for a tent this size, im sure im going to need signifigant cooling.

i'd like to get some plants setup in this tent asap, but don't wanna force things as this is my first grow. i've been going through the various methods of growing, im most interested in indoor hydro, only because i prefer the finer meds and a semi-close buddy of mine seems to know the basics. i've got some free time on my hands this summer and im very interested in getting this going; but i am on a budget.

as far as getting some kind of cooling for these lights, i do have a few hydro stores near by, i guess it won't hurt to give them a call tomorrow. what would you guys reccommend?

Seems like a cool community around here

any and all help is appreciated.

thanks peace...

 

[pinecone]

You don't necessarily need to air cool your lights. Depending on temps in your house and your plant for venting the hot air out of the tent you may be fine with a simple passive air intake whereby you use one fan to push (or suck) warm air out of the top of the tent and passively suck fresh cool air in from the bottom. If you had a air-cooled hood you would do the same thing except the air would move across the bulb prior to exiting the tent.

One thing you might consider with that big of a tent and a 1000w lamp is running a bare bulb vertical setup. For this kind of setup you don't even need a hood.

Pine

 

[Snow Crash]

Your tent has some very odd dimensions. 5 feet wide and 6 feet long is bizarre to begin with. Then add in only 5 feet of clearance to the top and... yeah... weird.

I am sure there are several ways of setting up a tent like that but what I would suggest to you is to use your bulbs in a vertical position, rather than horizontal, because you just don't have the extra 2 feet or so at the top of the tent that you'd need for the reflector and the necessary distance from the bulb to the plants. Add in the lower stuff, and you're plants wouldn't be able to hit more than 18" tall at finish.

The vertical setup places the bulb in the center of the growing space and allows light to shine out 360 degrees and gives you all 5 feet of vertical space to grow in (although I doubt you will need every last inch).

The shape of the tent kinda funks with the light distribution but a single 1000w hps is all you would need. An additional 600w wouldn't hurt, and especially if you can get a conversion MH bulb (do they even make those for 600's?) so that you can use a mixture of the red and blue light spectrum for ideal photosynthetic rates and the best growth possible indoors at this time.

To cool your grow space I suggest using at least a 6" 400cfm inline fan. These run anywhere from $65 to $120 depending on quality and discount, and should exhaust your entire tent at an acceptable rate (almost 3x per minute) allowing your tent to stay within a few degrees of the intake temperature. The tent will never be cooler inside than it is outside, so you need to keep the room that the tent is contained in beneath 74 degrees all of the time. You might need some form of Air Conditioning if you don't already have it to keep the area cool during the hotter days of the summer. Venting your heat outside will help control the ambient room temperature but you'll need to do more during heat waves to keep your house cool enough for the plants.

You weren't very specific about the form of hydroponics you'd like to employ. There are several. Nutrient Film Technique, Deep Water Culture, Ebb and Flow aka Flood and Drain, Drip, Aeroponic, Hempy, etc. Then there are all kinds of hydroponic mediums. Rockwool, hydroton, coco, perlite, GrowStone, Sure2Gro, Rapid Rooters, etc. You're going to need to figure out a method and a media for someone to help you much in this regard.

Circulation fans are a big deal and you'll need a couple of those. Target/Walmart will have the stand-up 16" circulating kind for about $16, so look around there. I also highly recommend a 10" honeywell vortex circular fan for the bulbs. When you point this fan straight up, directly beneath the vertical grow bulbs, the air it blows creates a kind of invisible ducting around the bulbs that carries the heat from them up to the top of the tent where the exhaust is located.

You will also probably want to ask about Carbon Filters when you are down there. I had a pretty major scent problem with my last grow and picking up a 6" Phresh Filter is helping me keep my anal virginity. Unless you live out in the country all alone you're going to want to spend some money on scent control. Sucks to spend like $130 on a product that won't make your plants grow any bigger... but it sucks more to have your neighbors call the cops because your end of the cul de sac smells a little fresh and skunky.

All in all I think you could get by on nutrients and your system, plus the ventilation requirements, for under $500. Most of that in ventilation and setup really.

Figure, you could easily pull 2lbs in that setup in about 120 days. $500 is chump change in the grand scheme of things. Add a little here and a little there to break up the costs and it won't be so bad. Like $250 up front. Then $150 a few weeks later, and maybe a couple bucks here and there until they finish.

Let us know the kind of hydro system you want to use, I suggest coco as your medium, and I can guide you from there as to what your shopping list could look like and a quick step-by-step to get your seeds germinated and your roots established.

 

[Ckali559]

so i set up the tent yesterday with a buddy of mine, installed the 400w to get an idea of how hot it might be, and set the ac at 70 degrees; i had noooo problem keeping it at 72. I'm actually going to the dispensary tomorrow, and more than likely ill grab some clones. (im too fluckin excited to wait any longer). that means ill probably be buying a few other things as well. i've got the two booster fans, and a buttload of other fans not being used, so ventilation might not be too much of a problem, im considering a mh light... Question: can i toss a mh bulb in the 400w ballast??? if not, what might my best options be when buying a grow light??? hmm, i can wait on the carbon filters, smell wont be an issue early on... anything else i should consider?

Anywaysss, i had never heard of 5x6x5 dimensioned tent either. seems like a decent amount of room to get started with though. what would you guys reccommend, 16 - 18 plants??? im still not sure which method im gonna rock with, but rockwool as a medium seems most logical in my head. i went over dwc, and it seems like its a little more complicated than ebb n flow. the flood table idea looks great for beginners like myself... im currently going over the other ways now...

and ya, ill definentely consider a bare bulb setup. im a lil worried about the heat from the 1000w though, i don't wanna have to turn the the house into igloo...

i hear what you guys are saying, and it helps bigtime

thanks again.

 

[Ckali559]

wow, this site has so much to offer, i've learned a lot lurking around on here... and the guys at the grow store have helped aswell.

a lot has chaged since i've got these lights. i've now decided to dedicate a room, instead of just the tent. im now thinking of somekind of perpetual grow.

i got myself a decent growlight now and i've got 8 plants vegging 18/6 in rockwool. (4 gods gift and 4 kryptonite... a few of these are going to be mothers, prob 1 of each.) i decided to go with a rdwc system. gonne be setting up the buckets monday, the grow store guys are going to help me. i've got these plants in rockwool, and usually have to water every other day or so; when i have these in the buckets as the days go by, how should my water schedule change?

because the lights aren't cooled i've got a 12,000 btu window ac unit i could use for the room, and with these lights i have that should be enough.

im thinking of investing in a few more clones to get me started. the room is about 10x12 and 8 ft high, and i decided to go vert. i wanna do something like 5 buckets per 600 watts.

thanks

 

[Ckali559]

things are now running. i've got 6, five gallon buckets under a single 400w hps and im attempting to go vert. i've been told w vert to veg with a hps, any input on this one? i have a 125w florecent, but no mh light... ill take some pictures.

ultimately i plan to flower with the 1000w. lets see, only using ph down and botanicare cns17...!