New grower with a budget and target yield, how big/powerful do i need?

[audacity]

Hey ICMAG

I have been lurking on these forums for a while now doing my best to soak up as much knowledge as I can

I have a question

I have an 800$ budget and need to yield about 1/4 to 1/2 pound of dry bud every 3-4 months

Must be stealth (apartment shared, roommates do not mind and are all smokers)

How large of a growspace do I need?
How strong of a light?
Is it better to do multiple smaller plants (SoG) or 1 larger plant.

One more thing, If you had to choose a box from pcgrowbox.com with my budget what would you purchase? (I am 50/50 on DIY right now. I understand that you think I should DIY, I'm still asking regardless.)

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I'd get a 2 x 2 x 4 tent. Drop a vertical 250w HPS with remote ballast (no hood or reflector needed.) Plants 360* around the bulb. A fan, scrubber and a timer ought to round out a KISS setup. You should have a few hundred left over for seeds.

 

[humble1]

I would go with a CMH 400 watt setup and DWC buckets or tubs if noise is not so much of an issue. If noise is an issue I would hand water coco or soil. Plan on a 4x4 space for everything. The footprint of the light is smaller than that, but you need to figure room for the walls of your cab and other equipment. DIY will give you experience that plug and play never will. You'll probably come in under budget, depending on how DIY you go. Otherwise go for the biggest sucker that prefab company makes, and tell them to make it CMH for you instead of LED. Don't forget veg space, maybe a small separate level in the cab with fluoros.

 

[audacity]

I'd get a 2 x 2 x 4 tent. Drop a vertical 250w HPS with remote ballast (no hood or reflector needed.) Plants 360* around the bulb. A fan, scrubber and a timer ought to round out a KISS setup. You should have a few hundred left over for seeds.

that easy huh?

thanks a TON for filling me in on KISS didnt know all I needed was MaxiBloom for nutes
I was worried about nutrition but that solves that

thanks again sir

 

[mule420]

My 2X2X4 tent with a 400 and a flood table has been rocking...

I will get some resent pics for you later... Peace and puffs

 

[audacity]

i cant seem to find any sort of information on hanging a 400w hps freely with no reflector or hood directly to the ballast

the ballasts seem to have some kind of "S" connection that I can't find bulb fixture that will plug into it

a list of things ill be picking up:

Secret Jardin DR120W Grow Tent
EcoPlus Large Display Thermometer / Hygrometer
Hydrofarm Single Outlet Digital Timer 7-Day
Perfect Pot x 2 (10inch square pots, 2 gallons)
Active-Air 3-way meter (soil pH and moisture)
ArticSun 400W HPS / Phantom 400w Digital Ballast

any comments? anything ive missed?

thanks again for the help

 

[microgram]

There should be some threaded females on the rear of the plug. Use electrical tape to seal the bare connections, and then you can use these holes for mounting using metal brackets or what ever. In Pontiacs DIY guide there's a link there about creating a Bake-A-Round 150W cooltube that explains all it.

 

[clampie]

thanks, this is a great thread to check out how to do a stealth small operation. I've only ever done at least a 1k, and used a large eave-space/closet, rather than one of those cabinets/tents. I've always wanted to build a cabinet...

best of luck, and thanks for the incidental learning!

 

[Rushoe]

shit homie 1st time I got 6 zips from a Casey Jones from a 250 none air cooled would have been like ten if I had a cool tube and in a DR60 the room was 160 at my local hydro shop and the lite I got was 160 as well from htg supply.....so thats about 310$ plus what ever nutes u wanna run and a ph and ppm meter soil/coco what ever I would go with a hempy bucket the poor mans hydro with coco and perlite mix and let me give u a word of advice Just do one big ass plant in stead of doing more this last run I did with 3 plants and my yield sucks I don't even think I got 3 zips this time maybe I did something wrong but I will never do that again just one huge tree.Good luck

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

i cant seem to find any sort of information on hanging a 400w hps freely with no reflector or hood directly to the ballast

the ballasts seem to have some kind of "S" connection that I can't find bulb fixture that will plug into it

a list of things ill be picking up:

Secret Jardin DR120W Grow Tent
EcoPlus Large Display Thermometer / Hygrometer
Hydrofarm Single Outlet Digital Timer 7-Day
Perfect Pot x 2 (10inch square pots, 2 gallons)
Active-Air 3-way meter (soil pH and moisture)
ArticSun 400W HPS / Phantom 400w Digital Ballast

any comments? anything ive missed?

thanks again for the help

Click Search. Click Advanced Searched. Type vertical in the space. Select Search Titles Only and click Search Now. You'll get threads with vertical in the title.

3-way meter - Get a dedicated digital pH meter instead, start at $20 and up.

Best wishes.

 

[adam59600]

I'd reccomend the grow tent..I'm gonna get one here soon. Get a grow tent for $150 on ebay.. and get a $65 250w HPS from 1000bulbs.com...(sorry if i'm not allowed to link other sites) then you will have plenty left over to get some nice inline fans to properly vent your tent and make a cool tube, plus you will have alot of money leftover for seeds.. good soil and nutes.. and any other materials needed

 

[VerdantGreen]

you should be able to pull over half a pound with a 250 horizontal in a 2x2x4 (or 2x2.5x4 would be even better) too (you will need a good reflector though) . when growing in a small space and trying to maximize yield you will want to get a nice even canopy and use an intensive method like sog or scrog. it may take you a few runs to get up to the half pound mark.

if you are set on using a 400 then you should use a bigger space - more like 3-4x2 or a bit more

 

[DaPurps]

Get the 400 and be sure you have enough smoke. If you are just starting out, you will not hit your goals with a 250w light imo.

 

[qbert]

With decent genetics, 250w should be able to get you near or better than half a pound per cycle - and a flowering cycle can be as short as 2 months (but you'd need another place to start clones and keep mothers, etc). So, that's practically quadruple your goals.

Get a smaller tent, one that fits a space you have. They are quick and easy and work. DIY can be a pain, cost more than you expect, take a long time, and not work well. I don't know about anyone else, but if I spend more than a couple hours DIY'ing a room, it was a net loss compared to simply buying a tent.

A 2'x2' or 1.5'x3' tent would be good (i'd prefer rectangular). 4'x4' is too big. I run 15-20 plants under a 1k in a 4'x4' and pull 2lbs per 2 month cycle out of it.

For 250w or 400w, CMH bulbs seem pretty decent, otherwise HPS. Can't really go too wrong either way.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

check my IKEA thread...each closet can yeild a QP under a 150 watt and only costs 300 to setup factoring in clones....so two of those closets you can yeild a QP every 2 months...

or just run a tent with a 400 like every one else says...i get around a 1/2 off my 400 good top canopy but lower nugs always suffer from lack of light penetration....kinda dissapointing though im upgrading to 1ks...

 

[VerdantGreen]

having used both cmh and hps i would recommend hps for a beginner. i found the advantages of cmh to be strain dependent.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Good info, VG. I've heard it's cool to early flower with CMH and late flower with HPS.

While yer here, will a magnetic 250w HPS ballast fire a CMH bulb? I know a 400 is interchangeable but a 150 is not.

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeah my magnetic works great with cmh, although i would add that the bulbs are slightly fatter and i had a little trouble fitting it into my reflector (ecotechnics diamond - the batwing bit aove actually touches the top of a regular hps.

i did a couple of runs with cmh with half a dozen strains so it was pretty much my first impressions but i would say some strains ended up more leafy (like outdoor buds) there may have been a little more aroma.

cmh would really come into it's own with say a 250 cmh and 2 400 hps - a combination. i got good results with it on it's own but maybe not quite as good as hps on its own

VG