NL first time

new guy here from the UK.

im just about to start my very first grow and decided to go for northern lights as ive read that its probably the easiest for beginners.

ill be starting from seed as i cant get any NL cuttings in my area

my set up will be
1.5 x 1.5 x 2.0 metre budbox pro tent
1000w lumi digita switchable ballast
dominator xxxl 6'' air cooled reflector
6'' extraction with rhino pro carbon filter with the rhino thermostatic duct fan
also have a 5'' intake fan with circulating fan inside the tent
im going for air pots as apposed to standard as ive heard they make a good difference

for soil and nutes ill be using biobiz

im planning on growing 8 plants and looking to get the best out of them

this is my very first time so if anybody would be kind enough to ket me know if i should do anything different it would be greatley appreciated

@onthebackfoot Sounds like you've done your research for the setup you wanna go with, which I applaud you for. Once you pop them seeds be prepared for a game of trial and error, and remember that less is more (except for light). Learn from any mistakes you might make, and don't let the frustration grow to the point of giving up. This community is very helpful, and you'll meet some very knowledgeable people that have been growing for decades upon decades. Leech any and all knowledge you can, and remember at the end of the day you should be having Fun while growing.
Now, after that is out of the way. I'm not familiar with Soil grows as I started with Hydroponic, so i'll leave that choice to someone else more knowledgeable. Northern Lights is a great strain for beginners, and I'm glad your sticking with 1 specific strain right now. My opinion is you might be overdoing it with 8 girls in that space. I think I would go no more than 6, and probably 4 once you get the hang of growing. Couple questions I have for you:
Do you plan on running a screen at all to get the canopy even?
Do you plan on implementing any plant manipulation techniques?

-Shifty

@Shifty. thanks for the advice. and ill take it all onboard, ill go with either 4 or 6 plants . im really looking for as many as possible but im willing to start off with a managable amount seen as its my first and dont want to mess things up
i havent thought about running a screen, would you recomend it?
also havent thought about manipulation techniques as i really am new to this so i havent crossed that path yet.

any advice would be great

I'm running the same setup as you on my next grow (upgraded tent size), so curious to see what others think. My plan...

I'm running 4 plants and using Uncle Ben's topping technique (there is a sticky in the advance forum for his advice).

I would highly recommend running a scrog, as it will optimize the canopy and give you a higher yield in the end. Plus it will make managing the tent that much easier. Are you going to veg and then flower in the same tent? if so, pick the desired canopy height you are gonna want and build a screen to fit the whole tent. Remember that first couple to few weeks after flipping to flower, those ladies are gonna stretch (for instance a 2 foot plant could become 4 foot). A screen will help with this, as you'll just keep working each plant out into the screen letting side growth keep up. Typically you'll want screen 75% full before flipping to flower, unless you are familiar with the strain in which some have rapid growth first couple weeks of flower. so for me, If I was running that tent in which you'll have 5 foot or so under light hood and you'll want a couple feet between canopy screen. That puts your screen at 3' feet or so, am I making sense? Anyone else feel free to chime in.

yes that makes sense, ive never thought about doing it that way, my initial plan was to let them grow howevr they grew but i take it runnung a scrog will let me fill the tent width wise. it will be veg and flower in the same tent. how long do you sugest vegging for at least or would that be untill the plants fill the scrog?

Let them veg until they fill 75% of screen, then work the rest of it after flipping to 12/12 lighting. Shouldn't take too long to fill that screen with 4 girls.

thanks a lot for the advice.

I opted for a 600w hps in a 1.2x1.2 tent rather than 1000w in 1.5x1.5. reason for this was simply cost issues.
i bought a full kit which was less that half the price of my initial order. it was from the same site so equipment isnt cheap stuff i dont think.

ive set it up and had it runnung for hours but im having major heat problems, im waiting on my 125mm inline fan coming for the intake so should cool it a bit. the tent is sitting at 38 celsius--100 fahrenheit and i cant see the intake fan cooling it dow that much. the tent is in a spare room and the room sits around 21-23 celsius and heats up from the heat of the tent.
im extracting the hot air up to the attic so thats not cauing the room to heat up.

does anybody have any ideas how to manage the heat inside the tent?

im looking at air cooled reflectors but cant seem to see any that give good light coverage. need advice on this as well if anybody can help me out

You're going to need a cool tube or covered hood with an exhaust fan and ducting..
right now it's a good oven!

is there a cool tube you recoment with good reflection to get the most from my 600w hps in my 4x4 tent?
preferably 5'' as thats what extraction im using

I ran my cool tubes without the reflectors to keep canopy temps down.. To me they seem to reflect more heat than light.. It was more of a open bulb grow and dispersed the heat more evenly.. This is a good read!
https://www.rollitup.org/t/the-main-lining-thread.542308/

cheers for the link, awsome read