Looking For Recommendations For Certain Grow Room Equipment

  • Thread starter Munchiezzz
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
Munchiezzz

Munchiezzz

26
3
Theres so many choices when it comes to Grow Room Equipment. And while some stuff is easy to pick out I'm having trouble choosing other stuff. So far I've narrowed down just about everything...

Grow Tent
I'm still trying to decide whether i wanna go conservative and do a 2x4 grow tent OR go straight to a 4x4. Either way I know I'm going with a Vivosun or Secret Jardin. I also contemplated getting a 2x4 for propagation and starting and getting the 4x4 for Business.

Lights
This was probably my most researched subject and where I spent the most time. The lights in your grow is like the heart in your chest, it's the most important. So for this I know I wanted to go with LEDs. I am between the Spider Farmer Series or the Electric Sky Series. I feel I cant go wrong either way I do. I did like the HLG Series as well but they were way more expensive.

Medium/Nutrients
This was pretty easy for me to decide on. I knew from the get go I wanted to grow in Coco Coir/Perlite Mix. It seems very straightforward and pretty easy. Granted, you have to water alot more BUT I plan on giving my plants lots of love anyways so having to water a couple times a day if I have to I don't have a problem with. Now I orginally planned on using Synthetic Nutrients. I was between the good ol tried and true General Hydroponics Flora Series or running the Fox Farm Series. But after looking around and watching Mr Canucks Grow on YouTube, I'm kinda taking a liking to the Gaia Green All Purpose 4-4-4 and Gaia Green Bloom 2-8-4 with the other supplements such as Fine Ground Oyster Shells (calcium), Kelp Meal (potassium), Alfalfa Meal (nitrogen and potassium), as well as worm castings.

Other Equipment
Here's where I would like some help/advice/opinions....
1. I'm looking for a decent and reliable pH Meter that wont break the bank but will also last and I can count on....hopefully under $100?
2. Do I need a PPM Meter or is pH enough? When do you need to consider a PPM Meter?
3. I'm looking for a Thermo/Hygro Meter that has a sensor that I can hang above my canopy and allows me to see the environment of my tent digitally on a screen I can keep outside my tent. Maybe even possibly check it on my phone if that option isnt too expensive. It would also be nice if it would save readings and maybe earn me if the environment is off to much. (If this exists and isn't hell of expensive lol)
I thought I had more questions but that's all I can think of right now. Thanks everyone for your input. I appreciate it very much. Pretty soon my posts will be a grow journal. I cant wait.
 
Fuzzydankster

Fuzzydankster

54
18
If you got the money for the bigger tent just get the bigger tent. Leaves room to grow. Nutrients i use and swear by dakine 420. Lights are budget dependent. I only had 1000 bucks total budget and i bought 2 mars hydro ts1000 and a bestva 2k led light. Ph meter is extremely important i use the drop solutipn method. Basic but reliable. Others require calibration and i always feel they are off unless often calibrated. Ppm meters are important for flower and flushing. But you can get by without one. I bought a thermo/hydro meter off amazon for like 12 bucks that kept 24 hr high/lows and current readings. If you want ohone integrated im not sure maybe nestegg?.
 
20200915 150359
Munchiezzz

Munchiezzz

26
3
If you got the money for the bigger tent just get the bigger tent. Leaves room to grow. Nutrients i use and swear by dakine 420. Lights are budget dependent. I only had 1000 bucks total budget and i bought 2 mars hydro ts1000 and a bestva 2k led light. Ph meter is extremely important i use the drop solutipn method. Basic but reliable. Others require calibration and i always feel they are off unless often calibrated. Ppm meters are important for flower and flushing. But you can get by without one. I bought a thermo/hydro meter off amazon for like 12 bucks that kept 24 hr high/lows and current readings. If you want ohone integrated im not sure maybe nestegg?.
I looked at Mars Hydro brand. When I grew about 5 years ago I used the Mars Reflector Series. I went budget and looked at LEDs like Mars, Miezie, and Viparspectra. I'm wanting to actually go with better quality this time. I looked at Spectrum King, Spider Farmer, Electric Sky and a couple others. I must have looked at a million "Top 10 LED Grow Light" blogs and websites as well as YouTube reviews and Forum Posts.

I'm definitely open to Mars Series though if it does the job. Maybe its something I have to test side by side
 
Fuzzydankster

Fuzzydankster

54
18
If i had extra money i would honestly buy just another bestva 2k light, instead of having mars hydro. They were just what i could afford. Spider lights i heard were way over priced. Only thing ive seen grown with those though were hemp plants. Which they did alright. Honestly those "top led" articles are typically paid for. I listened to the before but realized they are just paid advertising basically
 
R

redshift75

Guest
I dont like any of the choices you have on your list and think its almost all products you are buying at a premium.

#1 doesnt matter what PH meter you buy and id argue that with anyone here. I have every one from blue labs to Milwaukee they are all as trash as a $10 meter from amazon. Blue lab has sent me new one 6x now and ive given up on the product. You wont even find a good PH meter marketed in the Cannabis space. Really you arent paying for accuracy or higher quality, you are paying for after sales support so they can replace it 8x when it turns to crap. At the end of the day my Bluelab/milwaukee and $10 one all do the same job.

#2 sure why not? if you plan to use RO water and stick to PPM mixtures the answer will be overwhelmingly yes. Make sure to get pipettes then.

#3 buy a bluetooth product and just have it update on your phone while in range. i buy the govee bluetooth ones. I use an android box paired with my pi controller with bluetooth allows me to access the govee from wifi.
 
cemchris

cemchris

Supporter
3,346
263
Lights
This was probably my most researched subject and where I spent the most time. The lights in your grow is like the heart in your chest, it's the most important. So for this I know I wanted to go with LEDs. I am between the Spider Farmer Series or the Electric Sky Series. I feel I cant go wrong either way I do. I did like the HLG Series as well but they were way more expensive.

Just to kind of steer you in a different direction. Environmental control is going to be 10x more important then the light(s). Enviro and genetics make up about 80% of the equation. You can have the best of the best of everything but if you cant control temp and humidity its not going to matter in the end. The guy with corkscrew floros and a solid enviro is always going to do better than a guy with 1000's of dollars worth of lights that can't control it.


PPM is a good idea if you are getting your feet wet and a good tool to give you bases to go from. If you plan on amending it's prob not needed but wouldn't hurt. PH drop kits work great but if you want to go with a meter I will always suggest bluelab. PH is one of those things (specially in soiless) I wont skimp on and can make or break a grow. There is plenty of threads where people have problems to come and find out when they calibrate their meters they are way off and actually feeding a funky PH. Again, that's my suggestion. You can get the dual pack of bluelabs (ph/ppm) for usually around 100 bucks. Those usually last years if you take care of them. I have never had problems with them and have used them exclusively for 10 years now.

If you are on the fence about a 2x4 or a 4x4 get the 4x4.

Gadgets are nice and all but will give you a false sense of security. Same with automation. It's a great tool to use but don't ever skimp on thinking they will be the all knowing or run everything for you. Specially if newer. Always check everything. Everyday. Even though my watering is automated I still check plants, drippers, rez's ect every time the lights come on. Don't get the bad habit of thinking gadgets have your back.
 
Munchiezzz

Munchiezzz

26
3
Gadgets are nice and all but will give you a false sense of security. Same with automation. It's a great tool to use but don't ever skimp on thinking they will be the all knowing or run everything for you. Specially if newer. Always check everything. Everyday. Even though my watering is automated I still check plants, drippers, rez's ect every time the lights come on. Don't get the bad habit of thinking gadgets have your back.
I definitely plan on being hands on. I've seen that constantly twisting and paying attention to all the stems makes the stronger to hold up all those beautiful tasty flowers it will produce.

Another question I have is....is there such thing as to much light? (I'm not talking about burning the plants). I mean if you have a 4x4 tent and can put 1 big 350-400W light or 2 smaller....

Example(using Mars Hydro):
Mars Hydro TS3000 which is 450W and made to put in a 4x4 space or use 2x SP3000 which is 300W and made to put in a 2x4 space. So you would have 600 watts of light for your girls instead of just 450W. Wouldn't that mean more light, better penetration, more buds....?
 
TerpiestToker420

TerpiestToker420

208
43
I have gathered up quite the collection of leds and I run the spider farmer 1000s and have the 4000 as well as hlg 300l and can vouche for them you pay for what you get and they all have the same drivers pretty much and spider farmer uses Samsung 301b diodes while hlg runs the 301h, I run a 600 watt hps in my flower tent in the winter alongside my sf 4000 so I'm getting quite the range of spectrums or whatever lol dont even have to turn the heater on in my appt either 🤙😁
 
cemchris

cemchris

Supporter
3,346
263
I definitely plan on being hands on. I've seen that constantly twisting and paying attention to all the stems makes the stronger to hold up all those beautiful tasty flowers it will produce.

Another question I have is....is there such thing as to much light? (I'm not talking about burning the plants). I mean if you have a 4x4 tent and can put 1 big 350-400W light or 2 smaller....

Example(using Mars Hydro):
Mars Hydro TS3000 which is 450W and made to put in a 4x4 space or use 2x SP3000 which is 300W and made to put in a 2x4 space. So you would have 600 watts of light for your girls instead of just 450W. Wouldn't that mean more light, better penetration, more buds....?

I'm not the guy to ask about that. No experience with LED's. See if someone else will chime in on that.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom