New Grower Looking for Guidance

[Artomas]

Greetings All,

Well here I am in search of whats the best way to work with what I got. The only problem is Ive never come across the components to be able to grow my own bud, all that changed today. Only problem is Im not entirely sure what I have and what I can use.

Id first like to identify what I have, and then Id like to go on and get some input on what would be the best way to put the things to use. I don't have alot of space to devote to the project but I do have an entire closet and maybe even the room I was going to designate my office. Although Im a newb, Im not an idiot, so I welcome the ideas and I wanna get this project started ASAP. So I guess the first things first is to ID all this stuff. Would appreciate some help, I know I got some Lights, Air Pumps, Tubing, Air Stones...but Id like some specifics. Id also like to know if those lights will require a ballast. They have regular 120V plugs on them, but Id figure id ask.

Onto the show!

Appreciate it in advance,

Arto

 

[Wild Bill]

Hi Arto,

Most of what you have is for Hydro and if you haven't grown before it would probably be better to save that stuff for when your ready for it. IMHO its always easier to learn a new skill when you start with the basics, and the basics for Growing is pots and potting soil, good potting soil.

The advantage to this setup is that it is cheap, easy and a great way to learn. Hydro is awesome if you know what your doing, plants can grow faster and yield more, if you don't you can kill them faster. Soil is much more forgiving and can produce some of the best flavor.

Both of your lights look light 250w hps with enclosed ballast, should be able to fire them right up. 250w hps are pretty small but if all your doing is for yourself it can be done.
Along with these if you could add a t5 for cloning and veg you'll be in business.

No matter how much room I have, I always want or need more, so give yourself as much as you can. You will need an area to clone and veg, and an area to flower.

Much more to learn but this is a good start and will give you something to think about.

Hope this helps

WB

Grow in Peace.

 

[motta-tokka]

I vote wild bill best noob of the year. ;)

Hydro is very addicting and sometimes extremely complicated so be aware that you might have plenty of downtime perfecting your system.. Or you might be a gifted grower who could pull it off no problem. I would suggest sort of what I am doing now with side by side dirt and aeroponics in the same flowering room. This way you could play and also have your concrete for sure you will crop out plants.

I have been plagued with everything in the time I have been a grower and the more variables involved at first, the worse you will be off until you can dial things in properly. Sheesh even I am surprised sometimes with things good and bad in the grow.

Do a side by side like me if you want to experiment on the first grow and be happy later. Best of luck

 

[mdTHC420]

i would also start small and easy with pots and soil. from the pic i think only the hood on the right is self balasted and the left is not.

 

[Artomas]

Gents,

I have continued my project and I made a little 2.5x3 Room. I hung the 250W HPS light, and Started Germ some Sour Diesel, some Haze, Organic Purps and some bag seeds. They are in the tray with heating pad, Hows it all look? Any ideas on what I could use as a "door" to close off this little chamber?

Thanks for all the input!

 

[420king-MASSES]

I agree wild bill newb of the year excellent info bro///i would say hydro for a beginner should start with a soilless mix[promix,sunshine mix] and pots this way its more 4giving for the beginner hydro enthusiast //other then that your well on your way to producing your own medication///what nutes do you plan on using// im gonna have tober the 8th man pop in tober happens to be the reigning 250watt hps king for last couple of years maybe he can shed a lil more light on what you should do good luck and we will be watching your progress again good luck

 

[Buddy Flowers]

lol looks like someone broke into an evidence locker at the University of Humboldt's police department

 

[Artomas]

AHAHAH I didnt break into the Humbolt Sheriff, but other places maybe ;P Hah J/K

For Nutes I have Foxfarm Grow Big and Fox Farm Liquid Plant Food Big Bloom Concentrate.

Just so I have this straight, After I move the grow plugs from my seedling tray to my netpots?

Currently I have 6 3" Netpots in a 18 Gal Rubbermaid Tote. I have 4 Air Stones at the bottom tote and I also have an ECO Air Pump 8 pushing those stones.

I really want to see what I can do, and with yalls help, we'll make this a forum grow! ;P

Arto

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Hello artomas and welcome aboard!

That is a fine size box for a 250w grow. You need to do a lot more work on that box yet to be able to use it.

Does that light fixture have the ballast right inside the hood or is it just the light and hood?

You need lightproof passive intake in the bottom floor or around the bottom edges and a lightproof exhaust with fan at the top above the light if it is a ballast and light combo.

The total square inches of passive intake should be at least 2 times and even 3 times as much as your exhaust hole. So if you have a 6 inch exhaust you need 12-18" of intake spread evenly around the bottom of the cab. There are easy ways to lightproof the intake and exhaust.

Does the hood hold the ballast? Is there glass sealing the bulb that can be vented?

What are the box dimensions? Is the floor 2.5 x 3? If so how tall is it? We need to know how many cubic feet of air space you have so we can figure out what size fan you need.

Your box must have ventilation (air coming in and going out). It needs air movement. Sometimes the ventilation creates enough air movement and sometimes a small fan inside the box is needed.

The box needs to be able to be kept at the proper temps. Intake and exhaust are crucial for this. You should change the air in the cab at least 5 times an hour just purely for fresh air for the plants. But when using it for cooling the box you need to be at the 3-5 times a minute rate. You are going to need a ventilation rate of 3-5 to cool the box. So box dimensions are needed to figure out your cubic feet of space.

A 2x2x3 box is 12 cubic feet. 5 times 12 is 60 cubic feet. So you need a fan of at least a power rating of 60 cfm (cubic feet per min). I would double that and get a 100 to 120cfm axial fan from Radio Shack. They have one that runs on wall current and is very sturdy and good power. It cost around $30. They sell a small one and a bigger one. Get the bigger one (100 cfm) it is like 4 inches by 4 inches and looks like a computer fan but is all metal and heavier duty. A 100 to 120 cfm 12v computer fan might work though. But never skimp on the fan IMHO.

The box environment is just as important as the amount of light and growing medium and nutrients. You need to get the box tuned and running before putting plants in there.

Do you want me to detail a ventilation scenario for you?

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

lol looks like someone broke into an evidence locker at the university of humboldt's police department

roflmao!!!

 

[Artomas]

Hello artomas and welcome aboard!

That is a fine size box for a 250w grow. You need to do a lot more work on that box yet to be able to use it.

Does that light fixture have the ballast right inside the hood or is it just the light and hood?

You need lightproof passive intake in the bottom floor or around the bottom edges and a lightproof exhaust with fan at the top above the light if it is a ballast and light combo.

The total square inches of passive intake should be at least 2 times and even 3 times as much as your exhaust hole. So if you have a 6 inch exhaust you need 12-18" of intake spread evenly around the bottom of the cab. There are easy ways to lightproof the intake and exhaust.

Does the hood hold the ballast? Is there glass sealing the bulb that can be vented?

What are the box dimensions? Is the floor 2.5 x 3? If so how tall is it? We need to know how many cubic feet of air space you have so we can figure out what size fan you need.

Your box must have ventilation (air coming in and going out). It needs air movement. Sometimes the ventilation creates enough air movement and sometimes a small fan inside the box is needed.

The box needs to be able to be kept at the proper temps. Intake and exhaust are crucial for this. You should change the air in the cab at least 5 times an hour just purely for fresh air for the plants. But when using it for cooling the box you need to be at the 3-5 times a minute rate. You are going to need a ventilation rate of 3-5 to cool the box. So box dimensions are needed to figure out your cubic feet of space.

A 2x2x3 box is 12 cubic feet. 5 times 12 is 60 cubic feet. So you need a fan of at least a power rating of 60 cfm (cubic feet per min). I would double that and get a 100 to 120cfm axial fan from Radio Shack. They have one that runs on wall current and is very sturdy and good power. It cost around $30. They sell a small one and a bigger one. Get the bigger one (100 cfm) it is like 4 inches by 4 inches and looks like a computer fan but is all metal and heavier duty. A 100 to 120 cfm 12v computer fan might work though. But never skimp on the fan IMHO.

The box environment is just as important as the amount of light and growing medium and nutrients. You need to get the box tuned and running before putting plants in there.

Do you want me to detail a ventilation scenario for you?

Hell yea more info!

That light is a Hydrofarm Grow light Sunburst series with a built in ballast that lets you switch from MH bulbs or HPS bulbs...The model number im not sure of cause I cant find it. Thats all I really know about the light

What is Passive intake? Question about fans, Do I have to go get a Can Fan or will any fan work? I really want to make the chamber as self sufficient as possible...but above all I really wanna see if I can even do this...I have NO type of green thumb, but I can read and Im not scared to ask questions heh.

If you need more photos, ill for sure send them or take them!

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Your light isn't the ideal light to mount in a box because the ballast is in the hood. The ballast is added heat to get rid of. A light with an air cooled hood would have been better. Hopefully it can be sorted out though.

Intake air can be done with a fan pushing fresh air in the box. This requires making a good match with the exhaust fan though. The exhaust fan has to beable to get enough air from the intake fan. It can be done but it requires an additional fan and doesn't work as well as passive intake.

Passive intake is just an open hole or holes that the exhaust fan can draw the proper amount of air from to exchange the hot box air with fresh cooler outside the box air. They need to allow air in but block light from entering. There are various ways to achieve this.

The exhaust air coming out will need to be odor controlled if smell is an issue at the grow location.

You need a 4" or 6" hole at the top of the box with a radio Shack axial fan or a Lowes duct booster fan. Then you can attach a 6" elbow painted black inside to be the light block. If you need an odor filter then that could be attached and would be the light block.

The passive intake holes need to be at the bottom. They can be in the floor and you use a rack to set the plants on so they don't block the holes. Or they could be along the bottoms of the side walls. If you make them on the floor then the fresh air will come in the bottom, up and around the plants and out the top. They need to be spread around the bottom evenly. Air flow takes the shortest route from where it comes in to where it goes out. You want the air flow even throughout the box. You could put three 2" holes on each side bottom area and use a small fan in the cab to mix the fresh air in the cab before it goes out. You don't want dead air spaces in the box.

PVC elbows painted black inside and stuck through the holes make decent light blocks.

You can add wood strips on the bottom of the cab in this pattern and drill holes in your floor (all holes inside the four center strips) and this would be an excellent light block and the best air flow. You would not need a mixer fan inside the box then.

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

Here are the fans I was talking about.

Radio Shack

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102825

Lowes

 

[Artomas]

Tobor,

Appreciate the help, seriously too.

Ok I cant quite see in the photo what the bottom is supposed to look like, Is that like a mesh netting or paint? I would much rather drill the holes at the bottom of the Chamber, would be a million times easier to reach etc..... If I was able to take a Top View Photo of the chamber could you possible modify the image or paintbrush it to give me a vent scheme? Or at least where those fans should go?

How do I provide power to those exhaust fans? Do I have to splice a power cord? Or do they come with 120V plugs already.

Do I only need 1 of each fan?

I took some photos of the chamber, Top, Top Left, Top Right, and then Just the bottom, just so you can see what I got going

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

That would be the bottom of the box you already have. Flip your box on it's side and glue or nail the 2x2 or 4x4 strips on the bottom just the way you see them. Then drill holes in the center area. Set the box back up so it is now standing on the strips. Air can snake it's way in through the wood strips but light can't because it can not bounce around the strips and then up in the holes.

The fans have wires already attached and you just splice them to a electrical cord or plug. The kind I should you work on 120v USA wall plugs. They are not 12v computer fans that need a 12v power source.

Put the exhaust hole in the very top. Right over the top of the light. Go get the fan from lowes. Make a 6" round hole and stick the stove pipe looking duct fan in it so the fan is drawing air out of the box. Then add and elbow section of stove pipe on the outside for the light blocking bend. Make the light baffle for the bottom and drill your holes in the bottom. I would drill like ten 2" holes and scatter them around evenly for the intake holes.

Make a simple door that just fastens on the front with clips or wing nuts. If you are a good carpenter make a hinged door. Where it seals just use weather stripping for light blocks or just drape a tarp over the front door cracks along the seems. You need a solid front though because of air pressure.

Hope this helps. You might want to research NGB style grow box.

 

[jale176]

need help

im growing onyx (auto) im using a250 watt h p s light (18/6). im using floragrow,floramicro and florabloom for nutes. and im growing in a 5 gal. hydro bucket.

now my plant is in the fifth week of growing. its about 30" tall. buds are showing but nothing like the pics i see when on this site.

i want to know what do u guys recommend for max yields. from nutes to lights to whole set up. by the way im growing in a closet thats 4'x 6' x 2' so my space is limited.

any help will be appeciated very much

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

What happened to you Artomas?

Jale you should start another thread for you.

 

[c4NN4daze]

Lmfao!!

lol looks like someone broke into an evidence locker at the University of Humboldt's police department

Same thing that came to mind when I thought about it....Come on really?:angel