advice needed for growroom setup

[twistedfathom]

Hey guys, I have ordered nirvana ak-48 seeds and dr. atomic blueberry jam seeds, and have received both already. I have a closet that is 2 feet x 8 feet. I have $650 to spend on a setup. Right now I am hoping to have a decent hydroponics setup with pretty good lights and mylar sheets surrounding the entire area. I was wondering from your guys' own personal opinions, specifically what kinds of lights i should use and what hydroponics setup i should use for the amount of money i have. I will be purchasing these things from the real store of westcoasthydro.net . I was also wondering how many plants you guys think I can fit in that amount of space. Thank you in advanced for all of your help!:jointsmile:

[cigarettes42]

hydro is kinda expensive to start up. why dont you wanna try soil first? low cost set up. you could make a diy hydro, just google it. i know if you did soil you could fit atleast 16 plants there. pots only take up a square foot. also about your lighting and stuff, a good place to shop is craigslist.com under the farming+garden section. just look for a good digital ballast. when you shop for ballast try to look for something U.L. listed, and maybe something without a fan. fans fail or tend to blow heat back in your grow room. lots of good deals on craigslist. i bought an inline 12inch fan on there for only $75! anyways just a few options for ya, sorry im not going to shop for ya tho!

[twistedfathom]

thanks man. I was just beginning to think that to. I want some pretty decent quality lights. How many lights of what wattage and hps or MH do you guys think i should have? And what kind of cooling should i use for this area?

[cigarettes42]

how tall is your closet? in that area i would get two 400 watt digital ballasts with 2 air cooled hoods. cool tubes would work great in that kind of area but they also make good air cooled hoods that work the same. if you can get a good deal on either take what ever one you want. i think regular hoods would spread the light out better than cool tubes but your depth of your closet wouldnt matter. keep in mind you need an inline fan!

for hps or mh i would use both! if you get a digital ballast it will run both types of bulbs and you dont have to worry about getting conversion bulbs! during your veg stage use the mh and when you flower switch the bulbs to hps.

also you should think about getting some fluorescent lighting. seedlings and clones love them to start out with. with my experience in starting seedlings and clones compared to mh, the plants grew more nodes from the start and got really bushy!

[twistedfathom]

it is 7 feet tall. So with mylar on all of the walls, i should get 2 400W ballasts with air cooled hoods? and what is an inline fan? haha. I really appreciate your help by the way:rastasmoke:

[cigarettes42]

an inline fan looks like this
CAN-FAN 8 INCH HO 737 CFM INLINE FAN FREE SHIPPING - eBay (item 110315520711 end time Mar-21-09 06:47:10 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/CAN-FAN-8-INCH-HO-737-CFM-INLINE-FAN-FREE-SHIPPING_W0QQitemZ110315520711QQcmdZViewItemQQptZL H_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item110315520711&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50)

you dont need that big of one, its just to give you an example. there are other brands and cheaper ones out there too. i would go 6 inch. you just hook up ducts to the fan and to your hoods and to your carbon scrubber for odor if you need one. it will suck out all the heat from the lights. also if your growing in a closet you can do with out the mylar and just keep your walls flat white paint. which it prolly is already painted that color. just mylar the closet door, which will save money. also i think you asked about climate control? when i use to grow in a closet my fan just sucked all the air up in to the attic and drew air in from my air conditioned room. i had no heat problems with that set up. i didnt need an extra fan to bring in fresh air with my passive intake duct. and yes if you want to utilize all that space i would get 2 400watt setups with aircooled hoods. the air cooled hoods are mandatory cause it will get way to hot in there

[bigtopsfinn]

Yup, listen to cig... Try out soil first, because the hydro can get very expensive and requires a lot of attention.

Did you read this yet?
http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-growing/132514-noobs-guide-growroom-set-up-work-progress.html

It has a way to calculate the required ventilation according to your closet size and lights, and worked well for me.

Cig also mentioned the carbon scrubber. If you plan to fill up that space, like 12 plants, the smell will be overwhelming.

With $650 you can probably get everything you need if you shop wisely. At the hydro store, that might get you the lights, ballasts, cooltubes, and reflectors, thats it. Still need the fans and carbon filter and tubing...

[disrupt86]

well as sed above i would start with a good soil,fox farms would be perfect for a novice grower and it is good stuff all the way around. no you sed the space is only 2 feet deep so your lighting reflector options are reduced drastically because most are just a couple inches over 2 feet. you could get the double cool tube lighting system .comes with 2 -400 ballasts shares the same reflector and is [pretty good on the price. them all you would need is an oscilating fan and 2 inline fans.get some cash together and swithch to hydro if you wanted to.i saw a cool 2 ft x 8 ft trey from botanicare that would also work with the minimal amount of space you have should you want to swith to hydro later.heres a link to the dual bulb cool tubehttp://www.hydrowholesale.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hydro&Product_Code=ACC30&Category_Code=REF

they also come in 5 or 6 ft lengths but i cant remeber were to get em.hope some of this info helps.