Stealth Grow Setup - newbie

K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
so one day I decided to grow some pot. I'm pretty nervous about even posting here because I seriously cannot afford to be noticed. however, I come humbled with some grow questions. first off, I have 2 light fixtures each containing 2 lights each. all the lights are T12 1 1/2'' 24'' fluorescents. I'm running 3 20W bulbs (600 lumens, 2700K) and 1 20W 850 lumen 5000K. The growbox is small (about 25'' wide by 16'' deep by 34'' tall. I was hoping that the lights are providing enough...light, but after reading some grow journals, I'm afraid i may not be adequately providing them with enough light... (currently, i'm 20H dayhlight, 4 darkperiod) they seem to be behind a normal growth schedule. i've got 5 bagglers and a GDP plant. 4 bagglers and the GDP are the same age, 41 days as of tonight. and the other baggler about 2 weeks younger. im proud of my setup, but im really nervous to put up pics.. like pigs might hunt me down or something. After you guys can help put my pig-phobia to rest, i'd be happy to let you into my secret life of gardening.
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
notice that it's hard to get your thread even noticed by the regular members
not a bad thread, there are just so many
in short law enforcement would be overwhelmed trying to chase growers down from grow sites
for extra safety, go through an encrypted proxy site, unless you're planning on a 5000 plant grow, you'll be fine
the biggest risks to your grow are the ones that are closest, neighbors, smell, and talking about it with other people
talking here is safe, just keep all personal info to yourself
 
stonerbeans

stonerbeans

Member
yea man you should be fine. Check out all the people on here, how many do you read about getting caught cuz they used this website? only ones ive read are cuz of unexpected intruders on their property or smell. You need more light man. Get like 42 watt cfls and get them to like 6000k
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
So im pretty proud of the setup. its a 5 drawer clothing cabinet with the faces chopped off of the drawers, and the back removed with a false hinge (don't underestimate the ingenuity of an engineering major). the setup has 2 huge computer fans hooked up to a fan controller and some CFL's hooked up to a timer. from the outside, it looks like a normal chest of drawers. I have a Male sativa (the tallest) found a "ball on a stick" preflower on him yesterday. i think the GDP is female "yay!!"
please note I have a mutant.. i haven't ever seen or heard about anything like it. instead of 2 branches per node, it's got 3.
the real question now is, where can i get the bulbs i need and if i cannot, what is my next cheapest option? i got 3 "aquarium/ plant bulbs and a "pure daylight" bulb from lowes, (20W apice) but i dont think they have 40W bulbs.. maybe i can special order.
 

Attachments

KashPlant

KashPlant

Member
wallmart has em.... you can get huge ones nowi have 5 cfls and i added some t-5 lights t-5s are like an office task lamp a mini floro... awesome lil things... they would fit right in there... you made me wanna rip my chest apart and build one now
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
I've done nothing but running around my town trying to figure out what I need. If I try to convert my original T12 24" bulb setup, I have two options; use a T12-T5 adapter I've found online, which claim I don't need to change the ballasts - sound too good to be true? It is. I've been to 4 specialty lighting stores in my town and no one can even imagine how they would work with the old ballasts OR I'd have to change the connections (tombstones) and the ballasts (which aren't rated for T5 kinds of wattage). This option costs too much money and T5 ballasts are hard to find in my town right now. the other option is to re-nig on the entire fluorescent setup and go HPS. I found a good deal at a local Home Depot with a clearance HPS system including the bulb for just over $50. So now I think the plan is to return both fluorescent fixtures and all bulbs and purchase the HPS system. remember, I can't use larger high rated T12 or T8's because they don't come in the size I need (24") however, my current setup is only putting out about 2,400 lumens total, ONE HPS outs out over 15,000 lumens. more than enough. Remember, with the space restriction, I'll likely have a heating problem with the new HPS system, but I can lower the plants and allow the fans to keep the growbox cooler.
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
keniticsurfrdude said:
I've done nothing but running around my town trying to figure out what I need. If I try to convert my original T12 24" bulb setup, I have two options; use a T12-T5 adapter I've found online, which claim I don't need to change the ballasts - sound too good to be true? It is. I've been to 4 specialty lighting stores in my town and no one can even imagine how they would work with the old ballasts OR I'd have to change the connections (tombstones) and the ballasts (which aren't rated for T5 kinds of wattage). This option costs too much money and T5 ballasts are hard to find in my town right now. the other option is to re-nig on the entire fluorescent setup and go HPS. I found a good deal at a local Home Depot with a clearance HPS system including the bulb for just over $50. So now I think the plan is to return both fluorescent fixtures and all bulbs and purchase the HPS system. remember, I can't use larger high rated T12 or T8's because they don't come in the size I need (24") however, my current setup is only putting out about 2,400 lumens total, ONE HPS outs out over 15,000 lumens. more than enough. Remember, with the space restriction, I'll likely have a heating problem with the new HPS system, but I can lower the plants and allow the fans to keep the growbox cooler.
Click to expand...
HPS will be cooler overall, at least for larger wattages, 250w and up
it's more efficient in these wattages by fluoro's by quite a bit, so less heat for equivalent lumens
but they give off a lot of infrared, so cooltubes are recommended for best HPS results
you may want to check out if there are any High Output T12's in the local lowes/home depot
think i saw a high output at my last visit
these fluoros take it up a notch, if you want to go with fluoros
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
I guess my third option is to return everything and replace the T12 fixtures with T5 fixtures and buy bulbs. I like sticking with fluorescents because they're not too hot on the plants, they don't use too much electricity (although right now I'm Using a fair amount) and they don't leave too much of a heat signature. however, this is kind of on a budget and the t5 bulbs and fixtures exceed the price of t12's (duh) AND of the HPS system I spoke about before (which would actually gain me about 15 or 20 bucks)
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
think this was already mentioned, but cfl's are very cost effective
you can get them for about $2 a bulb at walmart, etc., just twisted t5's for the most part
it's tough to beat cfl's for cost on small setups
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
I finally decided to scrap the flouro lights and go for an HPS setup. overall the Light seems to be working really well so far. I got a great deal on the HPS and because i saved all my receipts and and boxes, I got to return everything Vs. taking the $ loss. Plus they last longer. From what I've heard, you can use HPS for your Whole Grow - start to finish, and that they give the densest buds (thats more of a wait and see). From some old (70's) academic journals I've read, these plants bounce back really well from being light starved, so I should see them perk op and start growing like a real plants this time. I lost about 6 inches of vertical grow room, but I think it was worth it(I just moved my plants down another drawer space). If I Guess-timated right, I'm pushing about 118 cubic feet per minute of air, which is pretty good. each fan moves about 74cfm, but I subtracted about 20% because they aren't openly mounted, but instead have holes which allow them to push the air. either way, I'm not going to worry about heat problems yet.
much love to everyone for their great advice.
 

Attachments

G

growone

Well-Known Member
glad you came to a decision
this will give you light that should last for a number of grows
nice thing with the HPS is you can drop in a couple of cfls, realize may be out of budget, but some seem to get a real good veg with a combination of HPS and cfl
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
growone said:
glad you came to a decision
this will give you light that should last for a number of grows
nice thing with the HPS is you can drop in a couple of cfls, realize may be out of budget, but some seem to get a real good veg with a combination of HPS and cfl
Click to expand...
yeah. I'm glad too. I'm pretty happy with it. the Cfl's that you're referring to; can they be like a screw in or do i need to go back to ballast driven bulbs to gain the veg growth payoff I'm looking for/need?
 
G

growone

Well-Known Member
keniticsurfrdude said:
yeah. I'm glad too. I'm pretty happy with it. the Cfl's that you're referring to; can they be like a screw in or do i need to go back to ballast driven bulbs to gain the veg growth payoff I'm looking for/need?
Click to expand...
just simple screw in sockets, cfl's have ballast 'built in', they're part of the bulb
 
K

keniticsurfrdude

Active Member
keniticsurfrdude said:
sweet. I'll look into those for next time. I'd do it now, but i t think it might be a little on the late side for these guys. hopefully their clones will have a better life.
Click to expand...
i used to keep my box next to the heater in my basement for 2 reasons; it masks my IR signature, and the flouro's i had didn't put out the heat i needed. (i live in a pretty cold climate)
now, i checked on the plants this morning and they were very unhappy. droopy :shock: as can be. they weren't showing sings of lightburn or anything, but I decided to move the plants further away from the light and move the whole grow setup away from the heater all together because the HPS puts out al the heat i need in the small space. was i making the right decision? or are the plants upset with the change in the light fixture?
 

Attachments

G

growone

Well-Known Member
keniticsurfrdude said:
i used to keep my box next to the heater in my basement for 2 reasons; it masks my IR signature, and the flouro's i had didn't put out the heat i needed. (i live in a pretty cold climate)
now, i checked on the plants this morning and they were very unhappy. droopy :shock: as can be. they weren't showing sings of lightburn or anything, but I decided to move the plants further away from the light and move the whole grow setup away from the heater all together because the HPS puts out al the heat i need in the small space. was i making the right decision? or are the plants upset with the change in the light fixture?
Click to expand...
sounds more like heat, could be combination of light/heat
bought a 150 hps as a guess?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top