need some lighting advice for 2nd grow

browen

Member
Whats up RIU, its been a few months since I've been on but its about that time again to start grow #2. My first grow I built a large grow box (2.5'w x 6'h x 2'd) and had 4 plants finish right around 4' tall but about a week before chop the landlord gave a heads up he was coming by to make his yearly inspection which doesnt usually happen until the late summer so I didnt want to take a chance and was forced to chop em. The bud still ended up primo sativa high and finished with just under 6oz which surpassed my expectations for my first grow. However this time I dont want to take any chances so I built a stealth box measuring, 1'-2"w x 2'-10"h x 2'd, which is significantly smaller than my last grow. Last grow I used a 400w hps all the way through with a 8" 500cfm intake fan, 6" 300cfm exhaust fan, and a rotating tower fan. Temps were right around 80 with about 20% humidity and the tops were within 6" of the light and I didnt experience any light burn surprisingly.

My question is if I put a cooltube on the 400w and still used the same fans excluding the tower fan would be heat be a huge issue because of the smaller box?
My other option is to put around 20 cfls, 6500k for veg and 2700k for flower.

Including the pot height and size of a cooltube there would be right around 1.5' of growing room.

Also the plan is to scrog one plant, mostly likely Nirvanas Aurora Indica because I still have some feminized seeds left over.

Three of the pictures are from my first grow and the next three are the desk I made with the grow cab.

Let me know what you guys think and any advice or comments are welcome.
 

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majek

Well-Known Member
Cool desk I like the idea, but you will definately have heat problems with a 400w, cooltube or not. Ever consider using a 250w hps?
 

browen

Member
Yeah I was but would i need to get a new ballast matching the 250? I've read some people using lower wattage hps and mh in ballast that give much more power and also the other side of bulbs exploding when you do this.
 

browen

Member
Okay so after breaking everything down financially (broke college student) in the next month or so I should be able to get grow #2 rollin. Yesterday painted the desk to look a little better, painted up the interior and made the scrog net. I have a pretty good plan set up but any advice or changes is welcome. This will also be grown in soil, probably use a 2 or 3 gallon pot, was gonna try out a dwc but cleaning would be a hassle to try and keep this a stealthy grow. Cost for everything should be between $400-500.

Strain: Nirvanas Aurora Indica

Lighting: 250 watt metal halide for veg/250 watt high pressure sodium for flower - from htgsupply (have to make cooltube in order to fit)
4-8 CFLs as supplementary light

Ventilation: 8" 500cfm intake fan, 6" 250cfm exhaust fan, Mountain Air 6" carbon filter

Soil: FFOF

Nutrients: Fox Farms Grow Big, Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom (recommendation of anything addition would be great, luckily there is a grow shop a mile from my house :-o)

The first two pictures show how the desk looks painted and the scrog screen. The second two show how the area for the carbon filter is completely hidden.

Let me know what ya guys think.
 

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