Some more thoughts:

Spend your money on lights and ventilation. That's the biggest thing for your money to increase yield. All else is secondary, assuming your nutes are correct, and the other basics like temp.

Like Latewood, I would not buy that system, but I am not a begginer. Like he says, unless you know you've got all females, it will be hard to separate them. Untangling the roots is not a huge problem however; you can just cut them apart too, and they cry a little then snap out of it. Otherwise, that system works great for begginers. Good yields with minimal effort.

I would do whatever it takes (within reason) to start off with a digital ballast and HID lights. It will pay for itself in the end, you can use one ballest for veg and bloom with a conversion bulb, and it runs much cooler (heat is a big issue). Even if you grow one plant with some HID lights, it will most likely yield more than 4 or 6 grown with one fluorescent light like that picture shows. HID lights (High Intensity Discharge) are more hassle and expense in the beginning. You must have good ventilation because they get hot, but it is by far worth it if you want to start off right. Fluoros don't do shit unless you have a shitload of them, and for the price of that amount, you can usually pay for an HID setup. You can also make your own HID lights for cheap. Search about this if you are interested, and there's a thing about this in the grow FAQs.

If you are absolutely set on going ahead with fluoros, then get as many as you can, and keep them about an inch or two from the plants at all times. Many begginers make the mistake of keeping them too far away, thus taking away one of the main advantages of fluoros.

If you are serious about your grow turning out as well as it can, then search this forum and others for these words (but spelled correctly of course):
- light or lighting
- nutrients
- temperature
- aeration
- oxygen
- humidity
- ventilation
- PH
- PPM
Those are not necessarily in order of importance, but the 3 biggest problem areas, or at least areas of major concern, for begginers are heat, light, and nutrients. Get these right and it's hard to go wrong. Once you have those dialed in you can start tweaking the smaller areas of concern.

And,... I don't want to say negative crap, but if you let anyone in your apartment during flower they will know you grow weed. If stealth is a concern, you need a carbon scrubber or something to hide the smell. If your cousin Randy finds out, then your whole family will know. Both sides.

Good luck and keep us posted. We all like pictures of grows and progress reports.
Opie Yutts Reviewed by Opie Yutts on . NEED ADVICE ON 1ST GROW Hello all, Single crazy chick wanting to try hydro grow with my room-mate and found this set up and thought it was sweet as it came with everything including light.Can anyone tell us if they know anything about this set up and what else we need to use to get a grow going to maintain it. We are first time growers and wanted to try Hydro from all we have read about it here and other places.If anyone can tell us any pro's or con's on this please tell us , as any help would be great. Rating: 5