Newbie Building a Room Blues...

I posted this in my grow journal.. and then realized I needed answers... so.. here goes.

Why is it that every time I do something in my grow room, I realize I need to do something else? Its a crazy mix of trying to figure out what you need right now... vs planning for the future.

Started out thinking I needed a tent. Later realized I don't need a tent so I pulled the tent out of the room. Do I sell it? Nothing has been grown in it and it is pristine. It's also light tight. One of the things I wanted to do was have a darkroom to develop black and white film. Its a passion/hobby.

Today it dawned on me that I can put the tent in the living room (its a 45 x 50 sf room), be able to get water into it due to the system I have set up in the grow room, and use it as a portable dark room. Brilliant! BUT... if I sell the tent.. I have enough money to get a 600 watt light and ballast.

Why is that important?

I bought an LED that doesnt work well. Its a Cidly Apollo 6 that makes the plants strain to grow under where the light shines. So i will hang it vertical and use it as a fill light. If I used it to bloom, I could only have grown one or two plants. I read everything. I decided to get a 1000 watt HPS bulb and ballast. I put it in the room. Holy cow! It was like I implanted the sun. The room got HOT! Clearly this was not a good idea. Ok.. so now get 4 wall fans and put them in. Test the 1000watt bulb... freakin BLAZING! Turned it off.

Piffle. Need more money. Picked up a dual hose, a/c unit and installed it. Nice. ... cool air. Loving it. Turned on the 1000 watt bulb... FREAKING BLAZING. damn it damn it damn it.

Ok... How do I cool this room in Vegas with a blazing hot light? Split AC unit. Great.. no.. bad. Cost is prohibitive. My budget is 400. Ok.. reading.. reading... decided I need to get a 600watt bulb. Save the 1,000 watt bulb and plan on doing the split AC unit later. 1400 btu unit in room should do the trick until I can get the other system.

Tested the 400watt bulb... AC on.. nice. Then looked at the light pattern. PIFFLE! I need a second light! A friend let me use a 400watt bulb system. So..now I think I need to get a 600watt blub and run it with the 400 watt HPS until I can put in the split mini. Now.. just waiting for the girlies to grow up enough to go to the flowering room. *sigh*

Im torn. If I sold the tent and the 1000 watt bulb I'd have enough funds to get the second 600 watt bulb. My end goal is 4 of the 1000 watt bulbs. I don't know how much difference it will make the to Girlies to grow under 1000 watt vs 600. I was told "Dont even think of using C02 if you arent running 1,000 watt bulbs. So I have the Co2 system sitting here unhooked up too.

I think I should just go with what I am doing right now. After the grow is done, install the mini split, and then begin changing the lights to 1000watt.

I don't know what to do. Would it be wiser to sell the 1000 watt bulb and tent to get the 600 watt ballast, hood and blub? Or use my buddies 400 watt system and then replace it when I can? Where's my dang pipe?

Ok.. experienced members... after you quit laughing at the silly woman... advice please?

Is your 1000w ducted. Do that and your temps may be fine. Just duct it in and out get the co2 running and you'll have an amazing set up. Until something else is needed lol. I may be missing a few things as I'm a newb as well lol.

Hey hi Waterdawg... thanks for the post. I am not/cant duct anything to the outside, even though I have 6" carbon scrubber in the room. Its a sealed room, which is why I need the split mini AC. I have two neighbors on my street that I have concerns about. One is a federal arms dealer, the other is a cop. The federal arms dealer lives right next door to me. She freakin rocks. I have no fear of rippers because if anyone comes near this house, or any of her other neighbors house, she comes out of the house, even if its just a car alarm that goes off with, AK's. She's no joke, totally legit and legal. The other one is a neighborhood menace. He wears his badge like its an extension of his penis. He believes that because he has a dick, he must behave AS a dick. The ONLY person the cop doesn't give any grief to.. is the federal arms dealer. It would be funny if I didnt live in the middle of it.

If you park your car a little bit in front of your own drive way, you'll get a tix. If you are more than 12 inches from the curb, you'll get a tix. If your dog barks more than a couple of barks (he did this to another neighbor), he'll be banging at your door telling you to "shut that animal up!" Another neighbor was putting rock into his back yard and had a dump truck drop off two tons of pebbles in the driveway. He called the HOA and made a complaint after 24 hours. So..although I am running my grow totally legally in my state, my neighbor scares the hell out of me. I cant imagine what kind of crap he'd rain down on me if he knew I was growing. Right now he likes me. He thinks I am a good woman, so he pretty much leaves me alone. I want that to stay that way, hence NO outside duct, NO scent. And two 6"inch carbon scrubbers. One in the room, one in the hall by the room. Tested them with limberger cheese... coz I dont have flowers yet.. and they rocked! NO smell. He hates several of the neighbors so I have seen him tix their cars, and other things. Due to these two reasons.. I can not/will not duct outside.

My biggest concern is when they are in full flower and stinking like dirty girls.. can I control smell. If not, my growing days are done. If I can... let the good times roll...

How big is your grow? Is your veg room gonna be your flower room? Where are your clones and seedlings gonna be? These are the questions you need to answer before you do anything else. Plan plan plan and then plan some more. Sell what you don't need /want and If heat is your main problem you're never gonna solve it in Las Vegas using hps or MH. Have a look at fluorescents or a quality LED set up. You need to use a COOL TUBE if you insist on using hps and you need to vent that space. Rule of thumb * whatever your extractor pulls out you need to push half back in* ie 300 out 150 in.

Need more info to help you

How many plants, size available to grow etc

Clones and seedlings are in a different room. My flower room, when its running, will only have flowers in it. 9.5 x 12 space. Due to the size and shape of the room, the end game is to have four grow lights at 1000watts, 1 mini-split 24000 btu AC, one dual hose 14000BTU portable a/c, four wall mounted fans, two 6" inch can-lite brand carbon scrubbers with a 435cmf fan, RO system, and Co2 waiting for the Girlies to get into the flowering room. I am trying to find some sort of site that would give me the calculations to see if this is enough AC cooling for this room. Currently set up so that under two of the grow lights there will be an ebb and flow system. Under the other two I will hand water until the plants are big enough to go to the ebb and flow trays.

Right now... I have the dual hose 14000 BTU fan, 1-400 watt Gavita bulb/ballast, 1-1000watt HPS bulb/ballast, four wall mounted fans, one 6"inch can-light carbon scrubber with one 435cmf fan, RO system, and Co2 waiting.

After the disaster with the Apollo Cidley... I am a bit afraid of getting LED's now. They were my first choice and I would have spent whatever it cost to get the right ones. I was given a load of sales bull by and ended up with lights that are only good for a 2x2 foot space and I had a 4x4 grow tent in the beginning. I dont know who to believe about which LED is the right choice, so I have no have decided to go with the herd and use T5's and HPS. I guess it would be different if I saw someone using the LED's and the plants behaving the way they should. Im trying to have an open mind about them, I just got burnt.

I just re-read my original post and realized I made a major mistake about my bulbs and fixed it. I didnt test the 600 blub, I tested the 400 bulb. I have a friend's 400 bulb/ballast set up. I dont have a 600 watt set up. Thats what I think I need to get right now until I can install the split. And I called the place that I got the dual hose AC and asked if they had a bigger unit as this one wasnt cold enough. They told me I could bring it back for a 10% restocking fee and I could trade the 8000 btu unit in for a 14000 BTU fan. I just did walk in the house with the new unit. I havent installed it yet, so it may be the answer to the problem of getting the room cool enough to run a 1000 watt bulb/ballast until I can instal the split mini.

So now I am going to go install the thing and find out if its gonna work. *fingers crossed*