First Timer - question about lights

[pisspotgrower]

U will need a centifugal fan for your carbon filter needs, what size depends on the size filter u buy . ie..250mm by 1.2 m carbon filter will require a 250mm fan.

 if ya living bottom floor of a compound im guessing its cement so cutting hole in floor is out, how the hell ya gona get ionto ya roof cavity if theres a unit above u to place ya fans?? as for air intake might have to punch a hole though a wall into another room mate other than that no idea, as now i know ya living in unit block its fuckin heeps dangerous growing  and in NO Fucking way would i ever vent anyting out side where somone could walk past.

 

Only way i see ya doing thisa is with a sealed room, but then ya gota go buy aircon, co2 n shit to suppliment air supply

[simonH]

Theres a cavity, i had a look, in the toilet room where theres the hole with the square mesh. Could vent to that, but not sure where that leads to

[tangwena]

Been following this thread, you have a vent in the bathroom with no windows, that small vent you mentioned is connected via duct to all the other units above you and then to an exhaust fan on the roof of the building (mech services regulations stale air must be removed from enclosed rooms in apartments) 

just connect the duct from your centi fan and carbon filter into it the mech services duct and the fan on the roof will remove the stale air and vent it outside on the roof. You just have to verify that the extractor fan is operating ie sucking air or you may vent your stale air into the apartments above you if the fan is not working. It should be sucking 24/7.Just light a cig and hold it up to the vent if it goes up its all good.

[simonH]

OK change of plan! Decided will wait a bit, and buy a tent kit, with carbon filter to keep the smell. Something like this:

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251247308746?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_578wt_1399

 

or a bit more, but used the cooler light (is it worth it/needed?):

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400w-cool-vent-kit-and-duct-fan-Ventilation-System-Grow-Tent-Hydroponic-setup-/251247261992?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item3a7f80f928#ht_584wt_1399

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/400w-cooltube-kits-and-duct-fan-Ventilation-System-Grow-Tent-Hydroponic-setup-/251238441297?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item3a7efa6151#ht_514wt_1399

 

One is a cool tube, the other is the cool vent shade design.

 

So this setup should allow me grow 1-2 plants, and keep the smell away (will probably get a better quality filter. I can the vent the air out the window or around (my place has AC and ceiling fans). 

 

Was also thinking the 250w setup since I'm only gonna be growing 1-2 plants at a time, and lots of people say that 250w HID is good enough for 1-2 plants. Will also keep the temps under control:

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/250w-Grow-Light-kits-and-Ventilation-System-Grow-Tent-Hydroponic-setup-/251239579640?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item3a7f0bbff8#ht_677wt_1414

 

And since I've got al this, gonna try my hand at growing some veggies too!

 

 

So final question (I hope!)

 

1. Is the cool light kit worth the extra? Whats the difference in heat output? It might turn out the non cool light kit is better as it is infact warmer which can be a good thing to get the temps right.

2. 250 or 400w for a tent with 1-2 plants?

3. What else will I need (other than soil, nutrients etc)

4. Finally, to save money, can I take the plants up to the flowering stage using a CFL or a T5 fluro like this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hydroponics-T5-Grow-Light-2-x-55W-6400K-Built-in-Electronic-Ballast-Reflector-/130705165736?pt=AU_Seed_Starting_Hydroponics&hash=item1e6ea28da8&_uhb=1#ht_4641wt_1399

 

 

Will doing this have any negative effect on my yield and quality? I figure 400w of HID isn't needed until flowering?

Edited March 21, 2013 by simonH

[simonH]

Been following this thread, you have a vent in the bathroom with no windows, that small vent you mentioned is connected via duct to all the other units above you and then to an exhaust fan on the roof of the building (mech services regulations stale air must be removed from enclosed rooms in apartments) 

just connect the duct from your centi fan and carbon filter into it the mech services duct and the fan on the roof will remove the stale air and vent it outside on the roof. You just have to verify that the extractor fan is operating ie sucking air or you may vent your stale air into the apartments above you if the fan is not working. It should be sucking 24/7.Just light a cig and hold it up to the vent if it goes up its all good.

Dude thankyou! Makes sense that a room with no air needs ventillation. Can you imagine a toilet with no air, what it would smell like!

[DeepSpaceMind]

http://www.bonsaihero.com/ledgrow.html

 

That link has a interesting LED system that peaked my interest

 

From what I'm reading on American stoner sites, LEDS aren't bad if your willing to invest a lot of money, the go with LED is you gotta be wary of cheap set ups especially on eBay. if it comes from China it's probably a knock off. A lot of effort is going into developing these systems and I've seen good results online. Another thing with LED is they tend to be weaker than their actual wattage but there is a line of thought that LEDS focus on more specific spectrums red blue for optimum growth and in comparison to a full spectrum it's more efficient by 70% due to the process of photosynthesis in the plants and phyto something or rather being more responsive to specific spectrums or something like that I'll try find links just thought it was interesting haven't seen much LED on here

 

Sorry that wasn't structured too well but hope that helps

 

Oh another thing about LED is big initial cost but then your supposed to save on the long run with electricity costs and having bulbs that can last upto 80000hrs or something like that I d:efinitely gotta get some links

 

Overall LED are pretty much for budget grows due to low heat and cost with use, in that aspect they remind me of CFLs. I don't think they are the optimum but are generally good from what I've read but you can expect an alright yield just nothing above average unless your really heavily invested in the setup or that's what I gather from reading online but then how accurate all this is, is hard to tell but people have shown a few pictures which an interesting insight into the effectiveness a few had mix CFL LED some straight LED usually a mix of red and blue and I remember one had really nice looking trichomes

 

http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1252777-Led-watts-being-used-is-way-lower-then-it-should-be?

 

http://forum.grasscity.com/index.php?/topic/1251216-LED-Light-Spectrum

 

Just read page 4 you got a plan worked out already well good luck and hope you found what I said interesting

Edited October 16, 2013 by DeepSpaceMind