I am not planning on running AC because the room is in my basement and it is pretty cold down there year round. I guess I will have to run some kind of ventilation. Do you have any info on how I would do this? I was going to do a tent and the ventilation for that was easy because the holes were already there....Then I decided to just build my own room because it was cheaper. Would I set up the ventilation the same? Run the intake at the bottom, then through the lights, then back out the top of the room? How soon will this have to be done?
The dude at the grow store said the 1000watts would be good for a 10X10 with 12 plants with the Raptor hood because it is so big. That raptor hood is a monster! lol
More wonderful news I hadnt thought about really....amperage! There is only 1 outlet and I was going to have to run an extension cord over to the room to power everything up probably with a surge protector. Do you think that will be ok? Or is that dangerous?
As for vegging with the MH...When do you put your plants under the MH and how far away do you keep the light? I know MH is a lot stronger then the flourecent lights and cant be kept to close or it will burn the plants.
Thanks Snow Crash!!!!
I've managed to keep my 1000w lamp and 5x5 tent at the perfect temperature so long as the intake temperature is beneath 72 degrees year round.
Passive intake at the bottom of the room, connect ducting to one end of the reflector and leave the other end open (or connected to a carbon filter) and pull the warmer air from the grow room through the reflector and then exhaust either back into the "buffer" air room (where you are intaking from) or directly outside.
Everything should be in place before you start growing. So... you need it done now.
The size of the reflector doesn't make the bulb stronger. What you need to understand is the rule of squares. Basically, every unit of "1" distance you are from the bulb the amount of energy available is reduced exponentially.
At distance "1" you would divide the total lumens [145,000] by 1x1. 145,000/1=145,000
At distance "2" you divide the lumens by 2x2. 145,000/4=36,250
At distance "3" you divide the lumens by 3x3. 145,000/9=16,111
Get the idea?
For HID bulbs the distance of "1" = ~6.8 inches.
Photosynthesis requires a minimum of 2,000 lumens to maintain life. 5,000 lumens is what the plant really needs.
The maximum distance you can stretch a 1000w lamp is about 58 inches. So... yes, you can cover your entire 10x10 area with just barely enough energy for life to be sustained outside of the inner 6x6 area. Inside the 6x6 you are working with 5,000 lumens.
Just understand that at 5 feet from the bulb you are working with about 1/80th of the energy. I do not agree with the grow store guy. Mostly because to light an area that wide you would need to have the bulb at least 3 feet above the canopy. A little trigonometry and you'll see that the hypotenuse representing the distance from bulb to top of the canopy at the edge of the garden exceeds the maximum distance. Even with a great reflector.
I prefer my 1000w lamp in a 5x5, you might be able to push it to a 6x6, but I don't think going much larger is going to help your final harvest weight much.
I move my plants from under their CFL bulbs at around 15 days into life. I start with the lamp about 30 inches above them and just let them grow into it. Once they are 30 days old you can push them pretty hard with light and nutrients (so long as everything up to that point goes swimmingly) and you can keep the 1000w lamp about a foot up by that point without damaging them.