Grow Room Lighting / Vent

[M@d]

Hey guys,

 

Im after some advice on a lighting / vent set up for my grow room. This will be my first grow. The grow room is approx 1.2m W, 1.5m D and 2.2m H.

 

As everyone knows, electricity is a bitch here down under so looking to minimise electricity expenses while still reaching adequate yields.

 

I'm looking to grow about 2oz a month for personal use without spending a crazy amount on the set up. I am however willing to spend a decent amount on start up to avoid costs later and get good yields.

 

I was thinking of doing a coco coir grow, probably 3 plants total, 600w HPS / MH for flower / veg, 6" (400+ cfm) inline fan with mountain air carbon filter.

 

The room itself is a double brick concrete side room in my garage. It is well ventilated (has 5 vents total in the room, 2 near the ceiling and 3 near the ground) and temps should be controllable (currently sitting at 20.5 C and 51% humidity at 3:30 on a sunny spring afternoon).

 

My thinking was: set up 600w MH for veg, HPS for flower (alternating) with 3 plants growing, have the inline fan / carbon filter rigged to one of the vents near the ceiling, utilising the remaining 4 as passive intake.

I was thinking of doing some sort of 3 plant long veg stage (big plants) scrog, growing 2-3 plants large and then flowering them out. I figured while may take longer per cycle, yeilds should be much higher and thus I won't have to cycle as often (also uses less electricity).

 

My issue is with heat and electricity. I know the 600w combo will produce a lot of heat, meaning more ventilation. I think I would need the 6" fan and carbon filter combo regardless of my lighting set up to ensure negative pressure in the room and to remove all the odour (stealth is a high priority). Unfortunately, bigger lights and possibly stronger fans for cooling means more electricity.

 

What do you guys recommend? I was hoping to spend no more than about $500 on start up, however I have some wiggle room if it means less expenses in the future. I contemplated LED's as more upfront cost = less electricity / changing bulbs / ventilation costs, but it seems the tech just isn't there for flowering. Essentially, If you were me, what would you do? I've done a toooooon of research but the endless options and possibilities has lead me to this post.

 

On a side note I've read that soil may be a better bet for my first time, but I thought with a canna coco set up and coco it shouldn't be too hard and that means less worrying about soil pH etc. Agree / disagree?

 

Thanks guys!

 

[Train Wreck]

You can’t get away from the cost of power.

Your plan sounds fine.

I would add an oscillating fan to move the air around in the room.

Can you paint the walls or line them with mylar ect ?

There is a sweet spot between veg and flower.

Veg too long and you will need to add supplemental lighting as the lower branches and bud will get insufficient light. Not long enough and yield suffers.

[M@d]

Yea sorry I didn't think to include about the minor stuff. Plan on having some kind of oscillating fan inside, atm I have a cheapo like 1m tall fan with 3 speed that I might just use.

 

I've already painted all the walls flat white, its literally a box with vents, white walls and a concrete floor. Bought some car reflective panel to line the ground with. Just have to sort out how I would mount the whole thing (will probably have the vent system hanging).

 

I was planning on doing some kind of LST and then doing a scrog for flowering. This is my first grow however so I don't want it to be overly complex (although I am real anal about this shit and will make sure everything is 100% sorted before I even start touching the room). Was thinking of vegging to like just under 1m then flipping to 12/12?

 

As for the actual light / vent combo, what do you think about the 600w light kit by glandore? I was thinking of hitting up the son T globe (they seem to get the best results from my research) and use that double D magnetic ballast.

 

What do you guys think of the air cooled reflector combo? I've seen mixed opinions ranging from:

1. needing air cooled hood with lights to deal with heat

2. No air cooled hood just reflector and stronger fan combo

3. No air cooled hood or reflector (all walls are white), stronger fan combo and rely on reflection from walls (may actually work well for my set up?).

 

If anyone could shed some light that would be awesome

 

What do you guys think about the vent combo? Is 400 cfm enough to deal with heat and pull through filter? Was thinking could even go an 8" (maybe like 500cfm centrifugal) and turn it down so its quiter. Rooms currently at 20.7 C, 62% humidity at 9pm (fairly warm night).

 

Any suggestions on where to get fan / filter combos? I would love your thoughts