Brands of equipment?

[hybridracers]

Hey guys........what brands of equipment does everyone accept as good stuff?

I saw some stuff on hydrofarm but to be honest I dont have a clue as to what is good for what and what is crap.

I dont mind spending money if I get quality and Im not educated enough to make that decision on what is and what isnt.

Hypotheticaly Im looking at 4 600w lights.

So let me give a first draft of equiptment and you guys tell me what to change or keep.

4 600w lights (Im thinking of using 2 HPS and 2 MH but it would be only for flowering.......so maybe just all HPS if thats what keeps things happy.

Hydrofarm has dual 600w ballasts..........digital and supposedly draw less power.

Id need to find the best cool tubes with the best reflectors and all the books Ive read have differing opinions (doulbe parabolics and plain parabolics......

2 Vortex inline fans (1 dedicated to lights and 1 to move heat when neccessary)

If I use both types of lights Ill need movers for the lights.......which ones?

T5 for mothers and clones? I see wild pricing on these...........are they that expensive or am I being hustled?

What controllers to use? This would be elaborate so it would have to be multiple or very complex.

Controllers for lights, fans (obviously Id need one fan to be on with the lights and one triggered by room temp and the room temp would have to shut off the C02 while ducting)

As you can see Im very much in over my head............so help a brotha out with an ideal set up.

hybridracers Reviewed by hybridracers on 09-07-2007. Brands of equipment? Hey guys........what brands of equipment does everyone accept as good stuff? I saw some stuff on hydrofarm but to be honest I dont have a clue as to what is good for what and what is crap. I dont mind spending money if I get quality and Im not educated enough to make that decision on what is and what isnt. Hypotheticaly Im looking at 4 600w lights. So let me give a first draft of equiptment and you guys tell me what to change or keep. Rating: 5

[turtle420]

Everything you need, BGHydro.com carries.

Their customer support is A++
Quality stuff.
Not "pricey", but definitely not the cheapest out there.
Still, I recommend them forever.

You... don't 'need' movers for the lights... what space are you working with?
Maybe you do.


Sealed air-cooled hoods are AMAZING at keeping the heat controlled.

As to controllers, you can use the regular heavy duty timers from Home Depot.
Or if you have a spare, old computer around, you can turn that (for about $80) into 8 timers controlled via the computer.

As to clones' lighting, don't sweat it.
They'll grow... and they REALLY don't need a lot of light to start out. In fact, lots of light, will probably... be bad for them.

Just go for it man!
This is a great hobby... lots of ways of doing stuff.

Post more questions if you have 'em!


-turtle420
.

[rhizome]

Umm... you're running commercial.
Pay cash, as CC records will be introduced as evidence, should it come to that.
Find a local shop that you trust, buy the highest quality stuff they have.
Buy everything in one shot- minimize trips.
If you go dual ballast, you lose a lot of flexibility- I'd single.

You seem unsure for somebody who's launching a commercial room. You might want to think it through again.

[hybridracers]

rhizome........

Im not actually doing anything. Ive been trying to write a paper on the underground cultivation of marijuana and how it completely negates the useless expenditature of cash by our government.

The problem is that if I dont go about this paper like I have all my SH!T together and know all my facts........Im going to get f@cked on it.

Its already a risky move to write a paper like Im writing for college. Thankfully I have only tasted the cheeb 2 or three times in my very early days..........and never cared for it. (May be allergic it makes me vomit and the smell of it makes my stomach turn)

So anyways, this paper has to have the facts, I cant go in there with a buch of second hand equiptment that wouldnt fully idealize whats going on with successfull micro grows (I have to use micro when you consider the several thousand plant fields the gov has been finding for some years now)

But I am glad you answered..........I figured that youd have some knowledge on equipment.

[hybridracers]

Turtle.........

Thanks for the link but Im more asking for brand names that are worth the money the claim.

Lets pretend that brand "X" ballast costs me $400 for a 600 watt'r and brand GENERIC costs me 275 for the supposedly same quality. We all know with electronics and such that you cant quite see if you bought crap or creme puffs.

So the moral of my question is that. Now as far as light movers........I dunno.........Im trying to be I guess similiar to that kat here..........Oh Ill edit this when I see his name again. The room he works in is small...........visually but he has 6 1000w lights.

His name is Suspectelite

Although I must be confused. I thought he was generating alot more product than he actually is.

Is 18 pounds (on the very optimistic side he says) considered a serious commercial grow? I wouldnt think so considering the news report of that field in the Dallas Texas area that they said had 10K plants.

That was ridiculous.........

[hybridracers]

I hate that Im about to thread jack my own thread but......Rhizome.......


Do you have any information on how to compare LED to HID.

One of the facets Im going to touch on is lighting technology and I believe the LED stuff is right around the corner from being not only viable but realistic when it comes to expense.

The hurdle Ive bumped into is figuring out what strength certain spectrums a HPS or MH bulb puts out.

If you try to put out 1000w of LED to 1000w of HID light, its not a fair comparison. Again if you try to put out the same amount of LUMENS its not a fair comparison either as the LED is specific and the other lights are wastefull in spectrum.

Thanks for anyone who can help me figure out so much. Had I know that "pot heads" were this smart, Id have been rallying for you all a long long time ago.

Sometimes stereotypes are way off base.........this is really seeming to be one of them.

[Dutch Pimp]

Sometimes stereotypes are way off base.........this is really seeming to be one of them.

...research this....:S3:

[hybridracers]

hahahaha..............come on you know its true.

[ProGroWannabe]

Hybridracers, I grow a lil but I'm not nearly as experienced as some you'll see here. Never-the-less, I feel what I know will be value-added.

LED's are not new technology. They're adaptation to growing plants IS. To tell you the truth, the comparison of high intensity discharge lighting and LED's is a case of apples to oranges. HID's grow plants as well as they do simply because they replicate our sun. Sure MH leans a lot more toward the blue end of the spectrum, but it is still "high- intensity", therefore on a most basic level it is still replicating the intensity of the sun.

High Pressure Sodium leans towards the yellow end of the visual spectrum, but the same ideology applies here too. It's high intensity is what makes it so useful to plants. Both MH and HPS emit the proper spectrum of light, otherwise they'd be useless, but it's they're intensity that us growers like because the lights don't have to be right on top of the plants if we don't want them to be. We can hang the lights a couple of feet away from the canopy if we want to.

LED's on the other hand, are NOT very intense. Very little intensity at all compared to HID's. However, the ideology behind LED's is that if they emit the exact spectrum that the plants require, then there is no need for the high intensity that HID's produce.

LED's probably would have fallen off the proverbial grow wagon by now if not for the other benefits they provide. They use a small fraction of the electricity that HID's do. The radiant heat is also greatly reduced which in itself, brings about a third benefit. That benefit is that one does not HAVE to spend gobs of money on cooling the room. Air conditioning becomes optional and of course even if A/C was ran, it would be on a much smaller scale. Cool tubes are sometimes employed to remove the heat of the lights at it's source, these would no longer be necessary either. Many benefits indeed.

However, there is a very big difference among various plant species. Their lighting requirements are just one of those differences. You may for instance be able to grow cilantro under a small bulb. Cannabis will show you under the same lighting, just what a bad idea that is. It will die a slow dismal death under such inadequate light. Another thing to consider, is we aren't trying to get something to just grow. We are striving to always MAXIMIZE the genetic potential of the plant. The only cases where this is not true is when we are maintaining mother plants, or starting young plants. Otherwise it is a high intensity game we play---in ALL respects.

Good luck on your paper. I'm in college too. I guess thats why I felt so compelled to give you all the info I could, I know how composing papers can be.

[hybridracers]

thanks for the tips progrow


now I still need some brand names for equiptment that is top line quality. Then I can source out the best equiptment prices for my paper.

Thanks again everyone.