500dollar 2x2, Before I fall deeper into the rabbit hole

[Kodaine]

Hey guys!

I have about 500 dollars to set up a 2 by 2 grow tent for 1 plant.

As time goes on, I feel like I'm getting deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. As I solve a question, an another 2 pops into my head, so I'd like to ask you guys to help me set up the whole thingy. I live in Europe, so please consider that when recommending your stuffs

The thing I mostly struggle with is the light.. I've seen a lots of videos, articles and threads about them, but the more I read and watch them the more I'm going out of my budget.

My original plan was a 2x2 with a Spider Farmer sf1000, a carbon filter and some smaller inline fan.

I'm pretty inexperienced with both growing and smoking, so any kind of advice is appreciated.

Best regards,
Koda

 

[Renfro]

You already have the tent?

 

[Kodaine]

No, not yet, but let's not add it to the list, since grow tents are easier to choose from and isn't that expensive in a small size. (2x2x5 or 2x2x6)

 

[TerrapinBlazin]

You can build a hell of a setup for $500. If I were you I would scale down your budget or scale up your grow. You can get a 2x2 tent for veg and a 3x3 tent for flowering for under $150, and then you have $350 to build lights. A few f-series strips, heatsinks, and drivers and you’ll be set up for pheno hunting.

If you just want to do small scale in a 2x2 tent, no pheno hunting or cloning and just going from seed every time, you don’t need to spend anywhere near $500. Maybe $60 for your tent and $200 for a really badass LED strip build. Samsung F-series and Bridgelux EB strips are the best bang for your buck.

Since you say in your OP you need the most info on your light, I’ll recommend some parts for you. I strongly recommend building your light instead of buying a pre-made one. There are no disadvantages if you don’t mind doing the build. You’ll save some money and end up with a better light. All the links I post should have distribution centers in Europe.

Anyway, for a 2x2 tent I would run 4 f564b strips in there. 3000k. Get them here — http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/samsung-semiconductor-inc/SI-B8R521560WW/1510-2224-ND/6624008?cur=USD&lang=en

Get a meanwell HLG-240h-48a driver from http://mouser.com and wire them in parallel.

You don’t technically need extruded aluminum heatsinks but they look cool and work better than aluminum c-channel, which is your cheaper heatsink option. http://heatsinkusa.com sells 2 inch wide extruded aluminum heatsink for a good price.

For wiring I recommend 18/2 stranded low voltage/alarm wire. Solder splices and heatshrink tubing look cleaner than push connectors, but you can do a light build entirely solder free (using Ideal push connectors) if that’s an issue.

Sorry if this was overwhelming. I’m extremely DIY oriented and I understand that not everyone is like me, but if you are so inclined I hope this helps. You certainly don’t need to spend the whole $500, and with all the shit going on right now saving money is an extra good thing.

Oh and I remember you want a carbon filter and in-line fan as well. That should also be inexpensive for a 2x2 tent. I got a bigger carbon filter for my closet, which has a 4x4 canopy, and it wasn’t that expensive and neither are inline fans. You can get away with a really small one. If you want to stick to a single tent, you should be able to come in well under your $500 budget, but you might not even need the carbon filter for one plant, especially if you do a low odor strain like blue dream.

 

[Kodaine]

Thanks for the informations!

As an electrician and electro-technician, i can build my own light, for sure. A carbon filter is a must, to eliminate the odors, since I'm living in a building with multiple houses. The thing that mostly confused me was this whole par/ppfd thing. I dont know if these led strips are able to do the same as.. lets say a migro 100.

 

[Nizza]

https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/collections/quantum-boards/products/qb288-v2-rspec-slate-2-single-combo
one of these with the recommended drivers !~

this is the right driver using their "kits" Meanwell HLG-120H-54A LED Driver. 93.5% Driver Efficiency
I've used digi key before but have usually just boughten the kits from HLG. I think they're dropping the price on the slates and boards to get them dispersed so they can only inventory diablo boards and focus on other stuff. I have nothing but good things to say about HLG.
(HLG i mean horticultural lighting group, i'm not sure about the meaning of HLG in the meanwell driver model number)

 

[TerrapinBlazin]

Thanks for the informations!

As an electrician and electro-technician, i can build my own light, for sure. A carbon filter is a must, to eliminate the odors, since I'm living in a building with multiple houses. The thing that mostly confused me was this whole par/ppfd thing. I dont know if these led strips are able to do the same as.. lets say a migro 100.

Okay then you’re all set for building your lights. PAR is a good thing to know in theory, but it’s extremely difficult to calculate accurately — each light will be slightly different, so a much easier thing to go by is lux, AKA candlepower. You want at least 30k lux hitting the canopy during flowering. 60k is about as high as you can go without burning your plants. I use an inexpensive light meter to dial in my lights. One thing you absolutely have to remember when looking at pre-built grow lights is that they write their specs to look attractive and they can be misleading. Like as an electrician you should know wattage is not a measure of light output yet this doesn’t stop manufacturers from slapping that shit on their packaging.

What @Nizza said is also a good option. Quantum boards are pretty badass and put out a lot of light, but they’re more expensive than strips. With your skill set, there’s no reason not to save a bit of money building from strips. I use a combination of strips and boards in my lights. The only real advantage to the boards is that they have slightly more efficient chips therefore a little bit better lumen per watt rating.

 

[Nizza]

I just edited my post to include more info. I think these are a steal through HLG, and they are just liquidating to up their game. What do yall think? It will be good to order a tent, if that is the size u want, then build everything around that as it goes. If your stuck on a lighting upgrade, you can get away with simple stuff while things are small. If planning it all in advance you will be able to save yourself alot of hassle though

 

[TerrapinBlazin]

I just edited my post to include more info. I think these are a steal through HLG, and they are just liquidating to up their game. What do yall think? It will be good to order a tent, if that is the size u want, then build everything around that as it goes. If your stuck on a lighting upgrade, you can get away with simple stuff while things are small. If planning it all in advance you will be able to save yourself alot of hassle though

Those are a decent price. There’s another company called Atreum that sells really nice ones for a little less. I’ve got 3 of the Atreum boards in two builds. Pretty much the same. Same chips and same driver. I would want two of those for flowering in a small tent though. I’m thinking 4 f564b strips would fit perfectly in a 2x2 tent, plus you can make frames for them super easily with aluminum angle and self tappers. Two quantum boards would put out more light than 4 f564bs, but the f series strips would still put out more than enough light for a 2x2 tent and he would probably spend about $75 less building with strips, even with nice heatsinks.

 

[Kodaine]

In the end, I think I'll get 4 pieces of luminus cxm-22's running at 40-50W each and cooled by 4 AMD Wraith CPU cooler. I also thinking of getting a small bit bigger tent, like a 2.5x2.5 for mainlining combined with scrog. That's a lot to experiment with at the first grow, but this is what it's all about!

 

[JoeBlow5823]

For 500 bucks (depending on cost of equipment over there) you should be able to buy a 3x3 tent, carbon filter and fan, 315 CMH light fixture with bulb, dirt, pots, cheap ph meter, TDS meter, and a couple clip fans for air circulation in the tent. 500-600 grams per harvest. My 2 cents....

 

[Nrk.cdn]

Save on the light..u can always scale up later. If you are a electrician.. buy 12 light fixtures like you install in a basement....string them on frame..buy 15w LED bulbs..3000k or 3500k.. take globe off to expose leds directly..double lumens.. 180w.. you can always change a bulb if burns out.. mine are bathroom vanities.. last 2 plants..under 315w.. 14oz.. still looking at bridgelux gen 2 led strips..hlg185-1050a 9 strips (22inches)..in series..aluminium flashing as heat sink.. good luck in your adventure into growing..

 

[LivinGOLD]

Light cost is my biggest cost. I want to get https://timbergrowlights.com/trio-of-daisies-3/
For my 2x4 but the cost of this item pushes me a bit above the $500 mark. Luckily I have soil compost hay etc in abundance so that’s a $0-5 cost for me. This is a good quick read.
I have watched many growmau videos I’m sure I could give a DIY a go. But man I tell you not having the electrical experience make it seem difficult to tackle. Good luck

 

[coreywebster]

Hey guys!

I have about 500 dollars to set up a 2 by 2 grow tent for 1 plant.

As time goes on, I feel like I'm getting deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole. As I solve a question, an another 2 pops into my head, so I'd like to ask you guys to help me set up the whole thingy. I live in Europe, so please consider that when recommending your stuffs

The thing I mostly struggle with is the light.. I've seen a lots of videos, articles and threads about them, but the more I read and watch them the more I'm going out of my budget.

My original plan was a 2x2 with a Spider Farmer sf1000, a carbon filter and some smaller inline fan.

I'm pretty inexperienced with both growing and smoking, so any kind of advice is appreciated.

Best regards,
Koda

As you can see there are a lot of options.

My advice, buy the tallest tent you can, if you can manage bigger footprint then do that too.

Google led gardener strip builds to give you an idea of what strips are good options.
If your in Germany or close also check out led-tech.de who sell top quality boards and strips.

This light here

Lumatek Attis 200w Led Grow Light

Lumatek Attis 200w Led Grow Light With the advances in technology and fixture performance, high quality LED horticultural lighting is now a credible

www.hg-hydroponics.co.uk

is 200w of quality if you want plug and play in EU, you can dim it in a 2x2 or upgrade to 80cm x 80cm tent and run it full power, its £50 more than the SF1000 and is twice the power and more efficient. Its also by a better company that's been building grow lights for decades.

 

[coreywebster]

I just bought a 2x2 for clones and seedlings, only cost me £50 , black orchid brand, they are nicer than most tents.

 

[coreywebster]

Scope-150 [V2] DIY Led Strip Kit

Scope-150 [V2 spec] Enhanced Full spectrum quantum led Strip kit Featuring Samsung lm301b + lm531h cree leds 150w Made with high quality, durable white framework and our own design blue anodized heatsinks. The latest, high performance Diyelduk Scope V2 spec led strips and Meanwell HLG drivers.

diyleduk.com

I would buy this over the sf1000 too. All day long.

 

[Nrk.cdn]

The diy led strips really are easy to install. Samsung and bridgelux are great. The ledgardner has excellent info.

Great advice from experienced growers on RIU.

 

[LivinGOLD]

I’m using one of these fiet brand led it cost me about 45-55$ It’s ily for veg/ clone and it seems to be doing ok. Might buy one for to fit into the 2x2 until I get my proper light in a bigger tent.


Good luck!

 

[Kodaine]

Well, I settled with 2 Cree cxb3590 cobs. Now, I just need to find a driver for it. It runs at 36Volts

 

[chancesmokez420]

Save on the light..u can always scale up later. If you are a electrician.. buy 12 light fixtures like you install in a basement....string them on frame..buy 15w LED bulbs..3000k or 3500k.. take globe off to expose leds directly..double lumens.. 180w.. you can always change a bulb if burns out.. mine are bathroom vanities.. last 2 plants..under 315w.. 14oz.. still looking at bridgelux gen 2 led strips..hlg185-1050a 9 strips (22inches)..in series..aluminium flashing as heat sink.. good luck in your adventure into growing..

how long did you veg for?