advise, and the best, least expensive equipment

[ceilingbeds]

K looking to have a lot of opinions and hopefully a general consensus and agreement on A) what is the best equipment to use, and B) where to get it for the cheapest price.

Going to be growing some plants... 6 to start lets say... maybe even 3 which is what I think it might be if my understanding of lighting is correct. I want to get maximum yield...and HIGHEST QUALITY yield. I'm thinking HPS for flowering... 1000w. good hood so no spots... great reflector, and maybe even attach it to its own seperate coolling system.

I hear the sun puts out 10,000 lumens per square foot. so you need a light that puts out that much light, if not more. and i have heard something about blue spectrum, red, and yellow. blue supports foliage... so is good in the veg stage... and hps has red and yellow so its good for flowering... supports maturity. is this all true..

DUMP ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING respone wise into here, but really try to keep it dummy for me... i can understand some pretty damn complex stuff...at this point im just very entry level, and not too high on the understanding level...so keep it simple please...but feel free to get as technical as you want, but assume i know like no vocabulary... thanks everyone.

 

[SativaGreenThumb]

3000 lumens is sufficient enough to grow a plant. Though more is preferable of course. As far as where to get equipment there is a stickied thread which has a list of places which are cheaper for what. Its titled "Best Places To Go" and is under this forum{General Marijuana Growing}. For cooling your light, I would advise purchasing an air cooled setup. You run duct work from the reflector which uses a fan to push the hot air elsewhere and outside of your grow room. An HPS light will work for flowering and vegging, though you can choose to use a Metal Halide for vegging if you wish but it isn't absolutely necessary. As far as number of plants you could grow, it will ultimately depend on what variety of set up you want to use.

 

[dbo24242]

K looking to have a lot of opinions and hopefully a general consensus and agreement on A) what is the best equipment to use, and B) where to get it for the cheapest price.

Going to be growing some plants... 6 to start lets say... maybe even 3 which is what I think it might be if my understanding of lighting is correct. I want to get maximum yield...and HIGHEST QUALITY yield. I'm thinking HPS for flowering... 1000w. good hood so no spots... great reflector, and maybe even attach it to its own seperate coolling system.

I hear the sun puts out 10,000 lumens per square foot. so you need a light that puts out that much light, if not more. and i have heard something about blue spectrum, red, and yellow. blue supports foliage... so is good in the veg stage... and hps has red and yellow so its good for flowering... supports maturity. is this all true..

DUMP ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING respone wise into here, but really try to keep it dummy for me... i can understand some pretty damn complex stuff...at this point im just very entry level, and not too high on the understanding level...so keep it simple please...but feel free to get as technical as you want, but assume i know like no vocabulary... thanks everyone.

First of all you don't need a 1000w unless you have a big area.
Secondly, good 1000w aren't cheap, and cooling them is a chore and will easily cost you another 100-200 dollars.

You don't need 10,000 Lumens per square foot, really. If you want to grow it under the sun grow it under the sun, but indoor is a different gig. The number may be right but its not really significant.

Now the best quipment you're gonna find is high quality agricultural grade HID lamps. Unfortunately these run at over $80-90, and the difference, while noticable, is negligable enough to go with a more generic type HID lamp. The lumens difference may be ~5,000 total and the spectrum might be 3-5% different than a ageneric.

If I were you (and I'm not) I would check ebay and craiglist for grow equipment. referable you can find a good deal on a NEW light on ebay.

Get an air cooled hood or a cooltube for your light, especially if you get 1,000. I use a cooltube on my 400 and I can have the tube 2" from the tops of my plants if I have full airflow from my 240cfm fan. I typically cover the tube end with a handkerchief though, to muffle the noise a bit.

If you are really concerned with the budgeting of it all, start with fluorescents. Get 2' fluoros and keep your plants small. That is the cheapest way, but the yield won't be spectacular.

I've got a 1000w and a 400w, I use the 400w because of space and energy consumption. 1000w not only costs an extra $100-150 it also uses more than 2x the electricity, easily costing $25 more in a months bill than a 400w will. 600w is a nice medium. Check out this link to the best deal I'm aware of on HID. I picked it up, its good, paid a little less than that though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=220397010877

Sorry to write you a novel in response hahaha. But you definitely don't want to buy a 1000w for 6 to 3 plants...

how big is your room? upstairs, downstairs? ventilation?

 

[dbo24242]

400w puts out ~45000 lumens and in my 2x3 area that is 45/6 ~ 8,000 lumens/ft maybe. I'm growing 14 plants with it.


blue / white light for veg = metal halide
red / yellow for flowering = high pressure sodium

 

[ceilingbeds]

i got a pretty big room... so HID vs. HPS? see my other thread under grow room design and setup its titled... "HELP set me up...THE RIGHT WAY!"...ventillaton needs to be decided still... still needs lots of advise on it... see that thread...be some long reading...but id appreciate it. if you want to get into that.

 

[demonic1]

The best deals I have found on a complete kit are:
http://www.illumalights.com/
There prices are comparable to most hydro shops selling you a magnetic ballast kit, while your getting digital ballast. If I were to start buying all new equipment today, I would go with digital ballast. A friend of mine just bought one and the equipment is good quality.
As for what you need to grow six plants, you do not need much. A 1000 watt bulb would be over-kill although would get the job done very well. It all depends on the size of your grow room and what you expect to do in the future. If you have the room and can afford a 1000w, I would go for the 1000 watt. However if your limited to 6 plants and a small closet. Then you really should go with less wattage. Recommended sizes grow for a 1000w is about a 4x5 or 4.5x4.5 foot area.

 

[ceilingbeds]

ya i got a big space...and 3...maybe 4 grand...so im thinking im good. im not sure though..i NEED to get pretty much all the essentials...and top quality essentials. my room is like probably 10 ft. wide by 12 wide. and 10 ft high.. no current ventillation hooked up in it yet

 

[mygirls]

400watt mh in say a room 6ft by 6ft with 7ft ceilings is good, and say flower room size of 7ft by 10ft with 7ft ceilings is good with a 1000 wtt hps. or them all around dimensions. sun systems are very good. i use an aura 1000 wtt hps now for 2 years. many say its junk buti run a 1000 wtt mh bulb in it quite often.

 

[jcdws602]

Yup your best bet is to look for equipment on craigslist daily you can save lots of money just buy all your light bulbs new

 

[demonic1]

Yup your best bet is to look for equipment on craigslist daily you can save lots of money just buy all your light bulbs new

Craigslist or used equipment is good if you know what your looking at. Not sure I would recommend used equipement to someone starting out. Some of it can be pretty mickey mouse.

 

[dbo24242]

i got a pretty big room... so HID vs. HPS? see my other thread under grow room design and setup its titled... "HELP set me up...THE RIGHT WAY!"...ventillaton needs to be decided still... still needs lots of advise on it... see that thread...be some long reading...but id appreciate it. if you want to get into that.

Ok. Well 10x12 is definitely a lot of space. You have a good budget, which I didn't expect, so to outfit a nice grow room you need to do the following.

Pick up grow tents, a large size, an extra large size, and maybe another medium or large size. This way you'll have chambers for veg, flower, and clones and mothers. Tents are pretty key because these stages of plant don't all require the same schedules.

Get air cooled hoods. HID and HPS are same thing. HID = High Intensity Discharge, high pressure sodium and metal halide are both high intensity discharge lamp types, they just use different gases.

Are you doing hydro or soil?

I would suggest a 1000w or 2x600w hps for the extra large flowering tent. 2x6 is probably better for better spread of the light. Then a 400 or 600 Metal Halide for the veg tent. Then a small low wattage metal halide or a couple fluorescents for mothers/clones/seedlings.