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whats the best setup for hps
- Thread starter Rwhiten
- Start date
HighonPottery
Member
^i would take all 6 of those and mount them all on some sort of frame, possibly wood. i'd put a spacer of some sort between the housings and the wood for cooling reasons. position them so they give even coverage over your whole grow space (2x2, right?) and put some eye-hooks on the frame and mount yourself some light yo-yo's so you can easily move it up/down throughout your grow. if you can, try to separate the ballasts from the lights to help with heat that WILL generate from them.
get yourself a small canopy fan to move air on the plants as well as a fan to evacuate the space to provide fresh air and remove the heat.
for the walls, i'd just paint them flat white for reflectivity. i don't care for mylar personally and white paint in a closet could potentially be left there for good without rise of suspicion.
since you're gonna be running 6, 70w lights, you're looking at 420w but not a lot of penetration through the canopy. i would suggest either doing some training like SCROG or LST, or i would suggest doing a small SOG and stick to strains that are compact.
2nd option: since you've got 8' of vertical space, you can use that to your advantage. what i would do is mount your 6 lights in pairs putting 2 shooting straight down from the middle, and the other 4 on opposite sides pointing down at an angle towards the center --this way you've got a 'parabola' of light. for this setup i would grow one big bush in a container that's at least 20 gallons(like a keg bucket) or 4 plants in 5-gal buckets. with a setup like this, it will take much longer to get the plant bigger but the yield will be much more.
good luck!
get yourself a small canopy fan to move air on the plants as well as a fan to evacuate the space to provide fresh air and remove the heat.
for the walls, i'd just paint them flat white for reflectivity. i don't care for mylar personally and white paint in a closet could potentially be left there for good without rise of suspicion.
since you're gonna be running 6, 70w lights, you're looking at 420w but not a lot of penetration through the canopy. i would suggest either doing some training like SCROG or LST, or i would suggest doing a small SOG and stick to strains that are compact.
2nd option: since you've got 8' of vertical space, you can use that to your advantage. what i would do is mount your 6 lights in pairs putting 2 shooting straight down from the middle, and the other 4 on opposite sides pointing down at an angle towards the center --this way you've got a 'parabola' of light. for this setup i would grow one big bush in a container that's at least 20 gallons(like a keg bucket) or 4 plants in 5-gal buckets. with a setup like this, it will take much longer to get the plant bigger but the yield will be much more.
good luck!
Thanks for all the info extremely helpful...I have decided to go with a SOG setup ...What is your opinion on having two wood boxes with doors on them?One for veg and one for flowering...Any thoughts about having just one light and a couple of cfl's and of course a intake and outtake using computer fans
Thanks again in advance
Thanks again in advance
HempAlchemist
Member
hmm my only worry is your electric draw. (6) 70w will draw more power then (1) 400w, esp at firing. you might be loading too much once u put fans in. Also all those lamps are gunna create a shit load of heat, even at only 70w. make sure map your house's breakers and KNOW what is plugged into which circuit. you want at least 10% buffer on your circuit before firing up. after that run you lights for a few days and record you temp. if everything falls in line the get some tester seeds for your 1st run. would suck to spend $100+ on seeds just to watch then die
HighonPottery
Member
no matter how you decide your style of growing will be, you definitely want to make sure you've got the juice to power those bad boys. i didn't even think of the draw that those would pull and nobody needs to go setting themselves up with an electrical fire.
another option would be to use like 2-3 of those lights for vegging your plants while you sell the others so you can buy a 400w ballast and a CMH bulb.
as for your question of making a trap door for 2 different light schedules--yes, you can do that. i used to have a setup just like that with a 400w up top and a crap load of CFLs below. the bottom hand an intake and then i connected a vent to the top chamber behind the drywall; everything evacuated out the very top into the attic. i used that setup for a year before upgrading to a hydrohut and it did everything i expected it to do.
for your SOG, you could do all individual containers, perhaps with 1gal or maybe even 6" square pots (but you'll be watering more). another idea would be to find a big container that fits the footprint and use it for a soil bed.
another option would be to use like 2-3 of those lights for vegging your plants while you sell the others so you can buy a 400w ballast and a CMH bulb.
as for your question of making a trap door for 2 different light schedules--yes, you can do that. i used to have a setup just like that with a 400w up top and a crap load of CFLs below. the bottom hand an intake and then i connected a vent to the top chamber behind the drywall; everything evacuated out the very top into the attic. i used that setup for a year before upgrading to a hydrohut and it did everything i expected it to do.
for your SOG, you could do all individual containers, perhaps with 1gal or maybe even 6" square pots (but you'll be watering more). another idea would be to find a big container that fits the footprint and use it for a soil bed.
HempAlchemist
Member
If you got the supply of clones to do SoG, I would try using 2L bottles as your containers. These are cheap and ez to get. Cut the tops off and poke some holes in the bottom. Fill with you mix (I like 50/50 perlite, vemiculte). You should have rows of 4x4 or 5x5 in that space. Divide your flowering time by your rows. example: 70days / 5rows = 14days per row. So in this example every 2 weeks you would add a new row. by the time you are ready for your 6th row, your 1st row will be ready to harvest. then from that point on, every 2 weeks you would be harvesting.
Also be aware that there is gunna be a sustained cost to this grow as you will need to get more nuts and soil mix regularly. This cost will need to be managed well to make sure your are getting your money's worth. Find a formula you like and a mix you like and calculate your cost. This will give you an idea on how much you should trying to harvest per month
Hope this helps
H.A.
Also be aware that there is gunna be a sustained cost to this grow as you will need to get more nuts and soil mix regularly. This cost will need to be managed well to make sure your are getting your money's worth. Find a formula you like and a mix you like and calculate your cost. This will give you an idea on how much you should trying to harvest per month
Hope this helps
H.A.
