Hi everyone !
This will be a long post, as I'm here to validate the setup I'm planning to get.
Thanks to those among you who will be willing to take time to show me the way
The others, I still love you, peace fellow humans !
I'll try not to give too much details so this post stays readable (edit : it failed), feel free to ask any precision !
This will be my first grow, but as I have a strong tendency to overthink things, I've already researched a lot on the subject.
To summarize the project rapidely : I plan to put 4 big plants in a 120 x 120 cm tent, with a 300W LED full spectrum light.
Some things are already decided (and mainly ordered) : the lights and the seeds.
LIGHTS
Main full spectrum LED light : Mars Hydro TSW 2000
Additionnal UV lights (X2)
www.migrolight.com
I've done a long and deep research about lights, so I'm pretty sure of this choice
About the UV lights : I think I'll get 2 and hang them pretty high, to have a uniform exposure in the grow space, because I won't be able to center it, the main light being already in the center of the tent.
SEEDS
I'm not sure this is relevant to choose the gear, but in case you're curious, I bought :
- Crystal White (Spliff Seeds) féminisée
- Runtz (Zamnesia Seeds) féminisée
Now, let's talk about the rest !
I got most of the links on Growshops.fr, but I can order somewhere else, I'm even thinking about going in an IRL grow shop, I'll see...
TENT
As I said, I think I'll take a 120 x 120 cm (4x4 feet) tent. This may be a little too big for 4 plants, but I want to have some space around for ventilation and such.
This one seems nice : Chambre de culture 120 x 120 x 200 cm - Black Silver - Growshops
AERATION
Aeration is my main questioning right now. If you are willing to answer a single topic in this post, please answer this one
From what I read online and in books, I should aim to fully replace the air in my tent every 1 to 5 minutes.
For the size of tent I plan to get, that would mean a 120CFM (or 200 m3/h) extraction to replace air every minute.
I'm aware I'll have to add 25% to this if I decide to use a carbon filter (not decided yet, will be in my cave so...).
There won't be much duct, air will just be blowed out of the tent in a cave, not outside of the house.
I've read that with HPS lights, an intake is advised too, since the air needs replacement not only for CO2, but to keep the place cool too, so the air flow have to be efficient.
I didn't find many informations about tents with LED lights tho... I'm pretty sure it has to differ since the heat output is far from the same (500 BTU for my light).
So, here's the question : do you think I'll need an intake with the tent and light I'm planning to get ? I think a passive intake with a 100-150 CFM extraction would be enough ?
If a passive intake is enough, one more question : would you use a filter of some kind on the passive intake, to avoid contamination with god knows what ?
About the gear, it seems there is 2 different kind of ventilation :
- Duct ventilation (cheaper), like this : Extracteur Aérateur de gaine VKOk Turbo - 150 mm 358 mc/h - Winflex ventilation - Growshops
- Or "proper" extractors, like this : Extracteur Air TT 150mm 467 à 552 m3/h - Winflex ventilation - Growshops
Would a duct ventilation be enough (if the CFM is enough of course) ? Or is there any reason I can't use only one of these and should get a proper extractor ?
About internal ventilation, I'm aware this is required too, I'll get one or too fans like this : Ventilateur oscillant - Clip Fan - 18cm - 20w - 2 vitesses - Advanced Star - Growshops
POTS
About the pots, I've heard Airpots and such (pots with holes and none cylindrical shape) are a must to avoid roots to grow in circle following the edge of the pot, and to maximize roots oxygenation. So I think I'll get that kind of thing.
But I'm really hesitating on the size... Should I get 7, 10, even 20 liters pots ?
I can afford to have 20L pots, since I'm planning to pu only 4 plants. That would mean pots will take a 70 x 70 cm space in my 120 x 120 tent.
But won't 20L pots allow the plants to grow too much ? won't they become too big for the space I've got (mainly the 200cm height limit) ?
SOIL / FERTILIZER
I've heard a lot of good things about BioBizz, plus their fertilizers line is 100% natural.
So I'm thinking about getting :
- Soil : All·Mix - Biobizz
- Fertilizers : Pack Engrais Biobizz Starters Pack - Growshops
MONITORING / CONTROL
It is apparently very important to only give water at a 6.5 PH, so I'll get a PH-meter and PH modifiers :
I was wondering if getting one of these to control the soil itself would be a good idea : pH-mètre pour le sol - Triple fonction pH, Humidité et Luxmètre - Growshops
What do you think ? it can display PH and humidity in the soil. So maybe it can help with knowing when to water ?
I know some people get an EC tester too, to control the amount of nutriments in the water (I've got the datas about what EC you should aim at what stage of growth)
Since I plan to use the BioBizz fertilizers, and they have a precise dosage calandar, wouldn't it be a bit overkill to control it futher with an EC meter ?
Would you get one anyway and control water+fertilizers mix with it, just to be sure ?
ABOUT CO2
This is the one thing I didn't research much for now... I've seen that you can add CO2 to your grow space to optimize growth.
If I understood correctly, CO2 supplementation is usefull (necessary even ?) if you've got more than 1000 PAR on the plants.
Would some passive thing like this be any beneficial ? or is it completely useless ?
I'm not willing to spend money on a CO2 system, so if you tell me this kind of cheap CO2 supplementation is uselss, I'll drop this matter for now.
WELL ! Thanks for reading all this, I hope I'm not forgetting anything, any help or advices you can give me will be greatly appreciated
This will be a long post, as I'm here to validate the setup I'm planning to get.
Thanks to those among you who will be willing to take time to show me the way
The others, I still love you, peace fellow humans !
I'll try not to give too much details so this post stays readable (edit : it failed), feel free to ask any precision !
This will be my first grow, but as I have a strong tendency to overthink things, I've already researched a lot on the subject.
To summarize the project rapidely : I plan to put 4 big plants in a 120 x 120 cm tent, with a 300W LED full spectrum light.
Some things are already decided (and mainly ordered) : the lights and the seeds.
LIGHTS
Main full spectrum LED light : Mars Hydro TSW 2000
Additionnal UV lights (X2)
MIGRO UVB 310 fixture and fluorescent tube
The MIGRO UV grow light is an 18W UV Fluorescent grow light tube and fluorescent fixture. This UV grow light delivers UVA and UVB evenly in a grow space up to 5ft x 5ft or 1.5m x 1.5m.
www.migrolight.com
I've done a long and deep research about lights, so I'm pretty sure of this choice
About the UV lights : I think I'll get 2 and hang them pretty high, to have a uniform exposure in the grow space, because I won't be able to center it, the main light being already in the center of the tent.
SEEDS
I'm not sure this is relevant to choose the gear, but in case you're curious, I bought :
- Crystal White (Spliff Seeds) féminisée
- Runtz (Zamnesia Seeds) féminisée
Now, let's talk about the rest !
I got most of the links on Growshops.fr, but I can order somewhere else, I'm even thinking about going in an IRL grow shop, I'll see...
TENT
As I said, I think I'll take a 120 x 120 cm (4x4 feet) tent. This may be a little too big for 4 plants, but I want to have some space around for ventilation and such.
This one seems nice : Chambre de culture 120 x 120 x 200 cm - Black Silver - Growshops
AERATION
Aeration is my main questioning right now. If you are willing to answer a single topic in this post, please answer this one
From what I read online and in books, I should aim to fully replace the air in my tent every 1 to 5 minutes.
For the size of tent I plan to get, that would mean a 120CFM (or 200 m3/h) extraction to replace air every minute.
I'm aware I'll have to add 25% to this if I decide to use a carbon filter (not decided yet, will be in my cave so...).
There won't be much duct, air will just be blowed out of the tent in a cave, not outside of the house.
I've read that with HPS lights, an intake is advised too, since the air needs replacement not only for CO2, but to keep the place cool too, so the air flow have to be efficient.
I didn't find many informations about tents with LED lights tho... I'm pretty sure it has to differ since the heat output is far from the same (500 BTU for my light).
So, here's the question : do you think I'll need an intake with the tent and light I'm planning to get ? I think a passive intake with a 100-150 CFM extraction would be enough ?
If a passive intake is enough, one more question : would you use a filter of some kind on the passive intake, to avoid contamination with god knows what ?
About the gear, it seems there is 2 different kind of ventilation :
- Duct ventilation (cheaper), like this : Extracteur Aérateur de gaine VKOk Turbo - 150 mm 358 mc/h - Winflex ventilation - Growshops
- Or "proper" extractors, like this : Extracteur Air TT 150mm 467 à 552 m3/h - Winflex ventilation - Growshops
Would a duct ventilation be enough (if the CFM is enough of course) ? Or is there any reason I can't use only one of these and should get a proper extractor ?
About internal ventilation, I'm aware this is required too, I'll get one or too fans like this : Ventilateur oscillant - Clip Fan - 18cm - 20w - 2 vitesses - Advanced Star - Growshops
POTS
About the pots, I've heard Airpots and such (pots with holes and none cylindrical shape) are a must to avoid roots to grow in circle following the edge of the pot, and to maximize roots oxygenation. So I think I'll get that kind of thing.
But I'm really hesitating on the size... Should I get 7, 10, even 20 liters pots ?
I can afford to have 20L pots, since I'm planning to pu only 4 plants. That would mean pots will take a 70 x 70 cm space in my 120 x 120 tent.
But won't 20L pots allow the plants to grow too much ? won't they become too big for the space I've got (mainly the 200cm height limit) ?
SOIL / FERTILIZER
I've heard a lot of good things about BioBizz, plus their fertilizers line is 100% natural.
So I'm thinking about getting :
- Soil : All·Mix - Biobizz
- Fertilizers : Pack Engrais Biobizz Starters Pack - Growshops
MONITORING / CONTROL
It is apparently very important to only give water at a 6.5 PH, so I'll get a PH-meter and PH modifiers :
I was wondering if getting one of these to control the soil itself would be a good idea : pH-mètre pour le sol - Triple fonction pH, Humidité et Luxmètre - Growshops
What do you think ? it can display PH and humidity in the soil. So maybe it can help with knowing when to water ?
I know some people get an EC tester too, to control the amount of nutriments in the water (I've got the datas about what EC you should aim at what stage of growth)
Since I plan to use the BioBizz fertilizers, and they have a precise dosage calandar, wouldn't it be a bit overkill to control it futher with an EC meter ?
Would you get one anyway and control water+fertilizers mix with it, just to be sure ?
ABOUT CO2
This is the one thing I didn't research much for now... I've seen that you can add CO2 to your grow space to optimize growth.
If I understood correctly, CO2 supplementation is usefull (necessary even ?) if you've got more than 1000 PAR on the plants.
Would some passive thing like this be any beneficial ? or is it completely useless ?
I'm not willing to spend money on a CO2 system, so if you tell me this kind of cheap CO2 supplementation is uselss, I'll drop this matter for now.
WELL ! Thanks for reading all this, I hope I'm not forgetting anything, any help or advices you can give me will be greatly appreciated
So I’m impressed.