250w HPS users....

[jus'plain'gill]

I'll prob end up getting a new bulb, I have the original one I just haven't seen it in a while. I'm more concerned about the ballast being full of dust.

On the topic of a new bulb, anyone in here use a 250 CMH? If I have to buy a new bulb, I'd be interested in a CMH primarily because of the lower heat output. Any opinions?



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[ztz]

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[leftyguns]

I was thinking of getting a 250 cause a 400 would probably be just to big and heat would be to much to deal with in the summer. Looking at all this it seems i can get some decent yields for a 250. (12 zips off a 250 damn that's awesome) How is the heat with the 250's manageable?

 

[K.J]

I was thinking of getting a 250 cause a 400 would probably be just to big and heat would be to much to deal with in the summer. Looking at all this it seems i can get some decent yields for a 250. (12 zips off a 250 damn that's awesome) How is the heat with the 250's manageable?

Entirely manageable. I love my 250. I wouldn't mind having grows that use higher wattages too, but a 250 is manageable and provides a wonderful quality and quantity of medicine for the average person (or couple in my case). Highly recommended.

 

[leftyguns]

thanks where im the summer can be bad but is by no means anything like Florida. 400 might be pushing it though

 

[jawnroot]

jus'plain'gill: A little dust isn't going to harm a traditional core and coil 250 watt ballast. Hell, a lot of dust won't. It's a big block of iron and some copper wiring, all self contained. They'll last a hundred years easy.

If you can find the original lamp, just use that. Wipe it off with some alcohol like another guy suggested, then let it dry. If it fires, nothing wrong with it. Would be a waste to throw out a 250 lamp with low hours, regardless of the physical age.

I'm still trying to figure out whether or not CMH is worth it. Most of the reports I've read seem to say either no change, or more leaf/less bud. I've also heard it mentioned a number of times that it runs cooler.

I ran one myself briefly about two years ago, for a grow that I needed to shutdown after about four weeks (so I only was able to veg under it). Plants seemed to enjoy it, and the lamp may have ran a bit cooler than a traditional HPS (maybe). That said, I'm not running out to buy another one until I get some more solid feedback from CMH grows. Until then, I'll run a standard, inexpensive, and easily obtainable HPS lamp.

ztz: One thing you should know out the door -- There's no such thing as a low odor strain. I remember back in the day, one of my first serious indoor grows was Oasis by Dutch Passion. Everyone was calling low odor on that one. People still call it low odor. But man, during flowering my whole house stunk like weed. I remember a friend walking in the back door one day, who had no idea I was growing, and immediately said "Damn, this house smells like raw chronic." Don't think I'll ever forget that moment.

I've grown a few supposedly low odor strains, a lot of them NLs and others. Most of them you can get away without carbon filtration during veg, but as soon as flowering really starts to take off, you will need a filter. Anyone who says anything different is not steering you right.

Just wanted to drop the info and let you know, as without filtration you're going to find yourself with a reeking apartment/house/whatever mid way through flowering. That's a mess no one wants to deal with. HTG Supply makes a great carbon filter for small grows. It's the 4" model.

That aside, regarding your setup, it's kinda hard to tell because the pics are so small, but it seems like everything is in line. You have the exact same HTG 250 setup that I do. It's a quality-built unit that will not give you any electrical troubles. Remember, at the end of the day this thing is only drawing about 250 watts. Your TV pulls double that at least. As long as you have everything setup reasonably well, and aren't storing the ballast in two inches of water, you'll be fine.

What I'm most interested in is what you're using for ventilation. I'm guessing that box you wired up is a bathroom vent fan? If I were you, I'd ditch that for three reasons: 1.) Out of all the equipment, it's probably the most dangerous, as the wiring is exposed (it looks properly wired, so probably not a major deal, but still). 2.) Those bathroom fans tend to be loud, and not terribly efficient. 3.) You can't connect a carbon filter to it.

Here's the solution I'd suggest: HTG Supply Carbon Filter/In-Line Fan Combo. It's $120 for a proper in-line fan, and a carbon filter. Most places charge that for the fan alone.

I know after buying all the equipment and setting everything up that spending another $120 is probably not on your to-do list, but believe me you don't want to be scrambling half way through flower to get an odor control situation taken care of.

One other note: If those black elbows don't have some type of filtration material in/on them to block light, you'll need to do something about that. A small 90* elbow won't stop a strong source of light. There's a product called WEB Absorber sold at Home Depot in the HEPA filter section. About $10. You can cut it to fit. If I were you, I'd grab a sheet of this stuff and tie/rubber band it over the intake of your elbows. Not only will this block light, but it will also prevent pathogens and pollutants from getting into your grow. There are two layers two it, a thicker green, and a thinner black. You want to layer it as follows: black-green-black...one layer of green sandwiched between two black (pay no attention to what it says on the package). Here's the link: WEB Absorber

Good luck with the grow. Post some harvest pics here when it all wraps up.

 

[ztz]

jawnroot: Thanks for the excellent post. I'm definitely planning on a scrubber, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The fan is a 190cfm panasonic whisperline fan and it's dead quiet. The scrubber I'm planning on was the one from this thread , which is what made me get that fan in the first place. Also, I'll look into putting some of that WEB absorber over my intakes.

 

[jawnroot]

jawnroot: Thanks for the excellent post. I'm definitely planning on a scrubber, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The fan is a 190cfm panasonic whisperline fan and it's dead quiet. The scrubber I'm planning on was the one from this thread , which is what made me get that fan in the first place. Also, I'll look into WEB absorber but light leak isn't a huge concern due to the location of the cabinet.

Ahh yes, I've heard of those Panasonic fans. They seem interesting. Just bear in mind that you want a scrubber attached before flowering is initiated.

Light leaks can be deceptive. It's always good to play it safe, rather than end up with a garden of hermies. In addition, it looks like a basement grow, and there's all kinds of pathogens lurking in basements. The WEB filter will prevent them from getting into the grow area. Ten dollars is very cheap insurance.

Just food for thought. Best of luck.

 

[mrred]

i heard them panasonics get noisy afte a while , i always got my eye on a s&p

 

[iceman1027]

New toy closet

New toy closet

I've been meaning to introduce my cabinet for awhile now. This is the first run in this cab but my second run with DPS master kush.

250w HPS in FFOF soil and PBP nutes.

10 days flowering (after about 3 weeks veg from clone)


40 days flowering


this entire project has been one of the most satisfying and so far most successful DIY projects i have ever done. Thanks to all of ICMag for helping me put this together - pretty much my sole source for information.

light efficiency kind of sucks, the cool tube is a bit too short, the light is in the wrong orientation, but all said and done im happy with it.

the scrubber was awesome to build and has been working flawlessly so far, to the point that i am not even sure if my plants actually smell or not (they def do, stunk up the house on the first run), the extra resistance increased fan (stanley) noise considerably though.

want to get some new genetics now but cant decide on what i want to do, i am thinking id like to try something more sativa just so i can experience the difference compared to this kush. maybe SSH or something. suggestions welcome.

 

[Hawk]

Great pics iceman. How many sq/ft is your cab?

I just added a second 250w lamp into my 5.5sq/ft space. My first run was in a quickly/cheaply built 22"x44" = 6.7sq/ft cab and lumatek 250w (MH veg and HPS flower). I had good results. After a cab rebuild it became 20.5"x39" = 5.6sq/ft and I've added a second 250w fixture to my SuperSunII hood.

I'll be switching them to 12/12 any day now--at 40days veg. Got two females out of 5, one bagseed and one BC SeedKing Kush. Both BigBuds were males--argghhh. Roots Organics soil, Floranova nutes, 11L pots.

I hope I like the 250w HPS + 250w CMH combo for flowering. With the Lumatek and a switchable mag ballast I can run any HPS/MH/CMH 250w bulb combo I want (except CMH + CMH). So far the air cooling has been keeping up very well.








First run with the single 250w HPS got me 162g dried from three bagseed plants.



Can't wait to see what's gonna happen with the extra 250w!

 

[J23]

Hi everybody.
I'm new to the forum and new to growing. I plan on setting a SCRoG for 2 plants in a 3'W x 2'D x 3'H cab. I've been following up on many treads to gather some know-how. Still many questions...

I plan on getting 250W HPS with a cool tube. I want to insert an in-line fan right behind the bulb so is pulls the air from the grow chamber through the bulb
(and cooling it) and pushing it back through carbon filter outside. (see the fan here: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/64...812H-3000.html)

I wonder if that cool tube-fan combo paired with additional PC fan working as a active air intake would provide sufficient air circulation in my cab? Also I'll install light ballast remotely to avoid adding to the room temp. Should I add an extra CFL light?
...I'm still deciding between cooled hood and cool tube. I have red maybe 20 different opinions. half in favor of hood and other half against that idea. which is better?

Gr8ly appreciate any advice. Thnx!
J23

 

[bbspills]

I'm about to start my second scrog and will use 5 plants at 1 per sq/ft again. What pot size should I use? My last scrog used 8" pots which are 3 quarts and I was thinking of moving to 10" pots which are 6.5 quarts or even 2 gallon pots. Are these pot sizes overkill for a scrog with 5 plants at 1 plant per sq/ft?

 

[SkunkyDemon]

I used 2gal pots on a scrog that I did a while back. When I was done and removed the root ball it seemed to fill in quite nicely. I used a 56 day indica and veged for about 3 weeks. Hope this helps.
Peace

 

[bbspills]

Yeah, I'm waiting to see what the rootball looks like on the 8" pots which should help me decide.

How many plants per sq/ft did you ahve with the 2 gal pots?

Thanks

 

[SkunkyDemon]

Ya the root ball will tell you alot. I believe it was about 3 per, I had 6 all together. I only veged for 2 weeks under the screen. After the strech in flower they filled in the screen quite well.
Peace

 

[KolorBlind]

If you are not extremely limited on height, I would suggest 2 or 3gal grow bags. I am using 3gal grow bags right now, and full of soil they measure just under 8" around and 13" tall. Thats an insanely small amount of floorspace to take up for 3 gallons. I have 3gal buckets as well that I will be putting the grow bags in so I can water where they are and not have to remove the plants. Would be great for a scrog style grow for sure!

Heres a pic of the 3 I transplanted recently. These grow bags are a lot easier to use than I had imagined, and look to be easily reusable.

Best of luck
KB

 

[BL4ZE20]

Decided to drop in here in ask you 250 growers a couple of questions.

I'm currently running a 150w which works fine, however I'd like to get more yield which is why i'm looking into a 250w.
My only concern of course is heat, have any of you guys upgraded from a 150 or still use one, that could tell me how much of a difference there is in heat?
My current setup I just run a 4in S&P 110cfm fan with passive intake and temps are fine. I think I get into the 80's when I throw on my filter in flowering. So i'll of course have to rework the cooling.
I'm thinking a 250w in a cooltube with my 4in fan pulling cool air in from one side of my cab and pushing it out the back. Then having an additional S&P to use with my carbon filter. This way i'm not bogging down my S&P running it through the cooltube and the filter. I would like to point out my cab is in a closet but it's open( no doors). I can't cut any holes to extract the air from the cool tube to another room.
Do you guys think i'd have any problems with heat with a setup like this? I've never used a cooltube so i'm not sure how much of a difference it'll make... hmmm
So if anyone could share their thoughts i'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[VerdantGreen]

how big is the cab ?

 

[BL4ZE20]

My cab is about 55 inches in height however some of that is taken up by my s&p so we'll say 45in of growing space, 22 inches wide with 12 inches of depth.