New Grower - Lighting Suggestions

[seeingthings]

Hello- New grower here, looking for some help with lighting.

Room: 3'x3'x7' tent.

Growing in: 4 hempy buckets. 100% Perlite.

Nutrients: BluePlanet 3-Part system.

Ventilation: Stanley Blower modded and ducted. Currently working great and venting out of room. Sucking in the tent walls, lots of negative pressure. Passive venting from the bottom sides of tent.

Lighting: Currently not optimal.

*Hanging 1 65w 6400K CFL vertically in between 4 pots (3,400 lumens).
*2x24w 2700K mounted on the sides of the 4 pots (~1,000 lumens each)
*350W CFL on it's way (advertised 13,975 lumens). Planning on hanging this in place of the current 65w bulb. Although I just learned that smaller wattage CFLs are more efficient.. Oh well..

Lights are on 24 hours a day. Right now I've got seedlings showing some growth, not as fast as I would have thought thought. It's been about a month and they are about 4" tall. Leaves really don't have that much diameter to them.

I've realized that I just dont have the proper lumens to really get these plants to grow. Lesson learned..

Now..

*I'm considering LED but the upfront cost is sort of high.. Is there a LED wattage I should consider for a primary light? 300W, 400W? Are the ebay 3w arrays up to par these days? I could always use the CFL gear I have to supplement a decent overhead LED array.

*HID MH/HPS really seems like the way to go for watt/lumen efficiency.

Looking at the iPower and Apollo HID kits. Seems like a pretty good deal for the gear and the reviews are all positive.

Should I go with a 400W dimmable HID setup? If I understand correctly I should have 2000 lumens per sq/ft at minimum. Now, I've got a 3x3 square area to light, does this mean I've got 9 sq/ft to cover or do I need to actually look at the whole volume of the tent including the 7' height (63 sq/ft)?

I can get to around 2000 lumens per sq/ft once the 300w CFL arrives. Although if I understand correctly at this ratio I'm only keeping the plants alive and not allowing them to thrive.

If I'm looking at covering just the 9 sq/ft area I need 18,000 lumens minimum. 27,000 lumens optimal (3,000 per sq/ft)?

I think a 250W HID system would work well for 27,0000 lumens. However, it seems like 400W and 600W systems are far easier to find a lower price.

If I were to get a 400W HID system that was dimmable, I'd be way over 27,000 lumens, which would be good for flowering later on when they really can use the light. Is running a dimmable 400W system at 50% or 70% power ideal? I've read that bulb life can decrease when running at a lower rate of power. The only reason I'd run dimmed at less power would be to decrease cost of operation and heat.

Am I calculating my lighting needs correctly? Will I ever see proper growth of these plants with a 2,000 lumen per sq/ft CFL setup? Should I get a 400W HPS/MH dimmable system and use the CFLs I have for supplemental lighting? Is it well advised to run a 400W HID system at 50% or 75% power?

I'm not looking to get insane professional level results here, but I'd like to know that I'm not wasting my time/money on everything seeing less than average growth/yields. Champaign taste on a beer budget..

Help!

 

[seeingthings]

Here's a current pic

I should note that I did just transplant these into perlite about a week ago. They were in starter cubes in a tray.

 

[VolcanicDirt88]

my best advice to you is figure out how your going to keep the tent at 76 F or lower with what ever lighting decision you make keeping tents cool is tough depending with what conditions you face

i know from exp now not to grow in a tent that the temps dont stay in that range plants dont like it at all its a waste of time in my mind you gotta get your temps just right or your not going to accomplish what you have in my mind

i hope you have a good PH pen and the calibration liquid

figure out temps with a 400W and a cooled hood and airconditioning has to come in to play one way or another hot air=hot temps is a no no
good luck

STAY FREE STAY SAFE



i

 

[seeingthings]

Temps are currently 74.5 ambient, 75.6 in tent.

I was under the impression that PH levels didnt need to be monitored with hempy buckets using RO and nutes.

 

[ydijadoit]

Volcanic nailed it on the temp issue. If you can vent the heat from the tent outside of the room it occupies (Not just the tent), or you have either central A/C, or a window unit in the room housing your tent, you should be fine with a 400 HPS.
As for having enough lumens, you would be fine to veg your plants under plain old Home Depot 6500k CFL's. In a small space like that, depending on strain, you will likely be flipping them 12/12 at around 12" tall.
All that said, you would be hard pressed to do better than a digital 400w setup, with an air cooled hood. As for decreased bulb life, I wouldn't sweat it. Bulb replacement is cheap for a 400w, and you will get more than enough light for your purposes. I just picked up a couple Phantom 600's, that I like very well so far. Unfortunately, their 400w ballast isn't dimmable. Maybe Lumatek would be a good option for you.
I like the dimming feature alot, as it can be a real lifesaver when/if temps rise out of range.
For what it's worth, I ran a modded Stanley blower for the first 3 years I grew. 24/7, never shut it off. Now a buddy has my old Stanley, still running!
When finances allow, do yourself a favor, and pick up a decent 6" inline fan, and a speed controller. This will give you more options over temp control.
I know nothing about hempy buckets, but I will say the plant pic looks a little hungry, and the twisted leaves look like a PH issue. I'd post that pic under plant problems, and ask for opinions...
Best of luck, hope that helped!

 

[Twist1]

I would probably go for a 250w HPS (cos I'm all about running the least powerful, yet most efficient system possible), but you could go for a 400w and go all out. It sounds like your tent is well ventilated so it should be able to handle the temps - like the other guys said, it would be ideal if u could vent to outside the room. I wouldn't worry about bulb life with dimmable ballasts - bulbs are cheap and u should replace them regularly anyway.

Peace

 

[seeingthings]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I had my eye on 250W HPS, I agree with least powerful/most efficient.

It seems that most 250W systems are just as expensive if not more expensive than 400w systems.

 

[Twist1]

You can get dimmable 400w ballasts - you could run it dimmed at 250w with either a dimmed 400w bulb, or with a 250w bulb as far as I know.

If I were you I would get both bulbs so that you have options i.e. veg/early flower with 250w, and then mid-flower, crank it up and switch to the 400w bulb to really fill out the buds. You can go back to the 250w setting for the last few weeks to simulate the fall sunshine losing gradually losing intensity.

 

[seeingthings]

Thanks Twist!

Just found out tonight that PH on my tap is 9. Will running through a PUR filter and adding the 3 part nutes bring it down?

Do I need to vinegar or ph down to bring it down after adding nutes?

 

[BpbbyZero]

Thanks Twist!

Just found out tonight that PH on my tap is 9. Will running through a PUR filter and adding the 3 part nutes bring it down?

Do I need to vinegar or ph down to bring it down after adding nutes?

Yeah bud, if you don't have a ph meter get something like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/General-Hyd...069&pid=100005&prg=7683&rk=3&sd=230617735149&

cheap as chips. Some ph up and down to adjust also rather than the vinegar imo.

 

[ydijadoit]

Oh my, 9 ph? Yeah. You are gonna need a good way to measure PH. A good tester is worth the money.
I have primarily used Botanicare and GH Flora series nutes. At proper mixing ratios, they both bring the ph of 7.0-7.2 tap water down to 5.8-6.2.
If you are starting out at 9, you will still be way high, even after mixing the nutes.
Highly agree with BPBB above. Pick up some ph down, and the smallest container you can find of ph up (You will need wayyy less of the up).
That, and a good ph meter, and you should be rockin' in no time.
Best wishes

 

[seeingthings]

Got some PH test kits today. Yep, around 9.0 out of the tap.

Used some PH down to bring it into the 6.0 range and flushed out my pots with it.

Then created another 6.0 mix and added nutrients. Tested PH again, still within the 6.0 range. Watered the plants with nute mix and tested some of the runoff. A bit higher than 6.0 but much, much better. I figured I dont want to swing the PH too much too fast anyway.

Next watering should bring it down to optimal levels!

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[Rambro]

id get a 600w dimmable ballast. its better to have and not need than to need and not have. plus if you decide to upgrade in the future(which you will) youll already have a light. my 600w is dimmable to 50% and 75%, so if its too hard to cool just run it on 300w!

 

[MoeBudz^420]

I use a 600w aircooled in a 4x6x6 tent with 3-4 containers. In basement, vented outside - temps run in low 70's in winter and low 80's tops in summer. (a little high but acceptable)

Here is results,

From this:

To this in 65 days:

My 600 is dimmable but I use it full strength from seedling to flower.

knowing your PH and PPM/EC are very important if you want happy plants from start to finish.

Best of luck in your endeavours...


Peace

 

[wantaknow]

use sensi part a and b it self adjust ph ,keep using distiled water ,if your room has a window move the tent by it and install a window shaker a/c ,a 600 watter is good to start with less heat and good lumins if keep close