Greenheart Grows Back !

It's been a few years! Recreational has hit the scene and my child has finished high school. I'm excited and ready to start a new run.

At the end my last setup was a indoor perpetual vert in a 5x9 RLOS bed (coot variant). I was vegging with 400w CMH and finishing with 1k eyeblue HPS + (2) 500W Halogens. (yeah I know we all have our fetishes right?)

I was using a 10" vortex at full speed with a passive intake just below the bulb keeping things cool. I can say I was happy with my results but it was noisy and more expensive on the electric bill than necessary. My ladies were probably c02 starved as well. The fan would shut the door with the pull it had. My bedroom was always too cold in the winter as well due to the exhaust setup.

This round I want quiet and efficient.

Total Workspace is 4'Wx7'Lx7'H

I'll be working with 7 in bloom, 1 grafted mum, and 8 seedlings for my max allowance of 16 plants.

I want to stick with recycling organic soil. I'm starting with smartpots but not against going back to a bed for bloom. I just got the wormbin set back up so it will be awhile before I get to that stage.

I'm thinking about using 4'x4' for bloom and the rest for veg. Not sure how much height I want to work with. Thinking about keeping it a cube with 4x4x4 so I can set up a bit of space above the bloom chamber for storage or clones or something. Likely starting 12/12 when they hit about 12-16" depending on how much they jump. It might be a lofty goal but I'm hoping to get about 1 ounce per plant every 10 days growing perpetual lollipops.

Now for the fun part!!!

Advice on equipment.

Do you think a 4" fan will be enough? I'm just under 200cf total space so I'm hoping yes. It's not necessary but I want to filter the exhaust. Do you think I should bump it up to 6"? It's a little more cost but doable. I do like the idea of a 40W fan instead of 150W. I also like that filters are only $60 instead of $150. My worry would be that the filter chokes the exhaust on the smaller 4" setup and I don't get enough CFM refreshment.

I'm likely going to use a 400W mag setup for the bloom cycle. Do they still have mogul socket cmh bulbs? my local shop said no go. I have a switchable hydrofarm powerhouse. Any bulb suggestions?

I have a cool new cob on the way but not expecting much for $20. I'm hoping it will be good for mum or nursing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0833KCQBX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3QFMJ2CT4ZEMZ&psc=1


The clone/veg area above the bloom chamber will likely be t5's or led tubes. Maybe rope style cob?

Anyone have a good link for DYI cob fixtures? Is it even worth looking at? I saw one guy who looked to be killin' it with them. The local garden shop said they are junk. I suppose it is like anything else. Depends upon the setup and components used. I think I like this idea though. I saw one rope light that is screaming to be stuck on the sidewalls of a bloom cab imo.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KG9FCZK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2B1GWL61YM799&psc=1


Feel free to criticize tear apart and shoot down everything I posted. I'm hear to learn after all.

Pond liner on the way. Old junk cleared out.

I decided that I should build with the future in mind. I know I'll go back to a bed.

Can anyone help me answer this one?

Does this mean I can use my old mag 400 with the new 315 style CMH?

315-Watt CMH Grow Light Socket Adapter PGZ18 Converter for E39 Mogul Base

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759TVWG9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Also do you think a 4x4 is too small for a 1k? I don't have ac in the house so summer could be a bitch without good exhaust.

I was hoping to use the 400w mag I already have. I'll start with that and old bulbs for now.

I was also reading other threads and thought maybe investing in some of these new leds mars is putting out. I might go with a 3x3 instead. I'm pretty sure my 400w will suffice for that much right?

I feel like such a newb it's been so long. I'm asking questions I should know the answers too from the author of the damn sticky I read it from ffs. What's out there what's good. About the only thing I know anymore is soil and even then I made the initial batch too hot and forgot I needed something gentle for the babies.

I've been looking at the Mars lineup on amazon. Like anything it has a bag of mixed reviews. It's the internet so a certain amount of negative opinion is always expected.

A few things caused me some concerns. People talked about their lights being "fire hazards". One showed a picture of a burnt fixture. There was bend on his reflector so it may have been damaged in shipping. Another person claimed where the power cord attached to the fixture it started melting. A third said something about one of the drivers overheating. A fourth said it was a "fire hazard" without really going into details on why.

There was also quite a number of complaints about damages in shipping.

Another person said the 3 year warrantee is not as legit as it claims. That it is actually only 3 months and then you have to start paying the shipping fees if the product is faulty. Myself I like things with a solid warrantee. Like Vortex or my Powerhouse ballasts. To me a 5-10 year warrantee tells me they put some quality in it. 3 months is barely enough time to complete one cycle.

So all you MarsHydro fans. Please chime in. Is this light safe? It obviously performs. Have you had many issues with them? What kind of real life span can I expect for the hundreds of dollars I might invest? Is there other companies out there putting out quality prefab Led fixtures.

My main issue is safety. I used to run those extra large CFL's until I saw one blow and the ballast almost caught flame. Am I better off with open fixture rated HID's? That tech has been around a long time and is pretty well figured out at this point. I had one of those phillips CDM 860's arrive from Spot Lighting with a bunch of glass rolling around in it. When I called them on it they refused to replace it and told me to fire it up anyway. When I did and it blew like I thought it would there was nothing that made me feel like it was a fire hazard. I won't buy from "spot lighting" in Long Beach again but at least I feel safe using the bulbs.

I would go with the 6" fan and a fan speed controller to run it 60% which will keep the noise down and room to play with speeds until your temps are dialed.

Mars makes a helluva light. Check out Unclefishstick, links to Mars results are in his thread.

I do not think you can use a 315 in a 400 ballast. I could be wrong but pretty sure you can't. I personally did a side by side with a 630 DE CMH and a 1k Hortilux, 4x4, No contest the 1k destroyed it. That was then end of CMH for me.

I use a 1k in a 4x4 tent with a 6" vortex fan and it works great.

Check eBay for fan filter kits. I get the Vivosun or iPower kits that come with 6" fan, filter, speed controller, hygrometer, hangers, duct and clamps for 150 shipped. Killer deals!

Welcome back to growing and icmag!

Greenheart said:

Another person said the 3 year warrantee is not as legit as it claims. That it is actually only 3 months and then you have to start paying the shipping fees if the product is faulty. Myself I like things with a solid warrantee. Like

Click to expand...

I will verify that....even though Mars admitted there was a bad solder joint which caused my failure (<200 hours), they wanted me to pay shipping back for repair. Wouldn’t even send me an empty box for me to ship it back in.
I chunked the piece of shit in the garbage.

Go with HLG or someone that actually backs their warranty.

@ Lester

Thanks for the advice sounds pretty solid. I knew I was fooling myself with the 4" pipedream.

The old style CDM are 330W running on 400W ballasts. I was hoping the adapter was the ticket.

I agree uncle fishsticks rocked it hard! It was a pretty convincing show. A good number of those LED guys were crushing it. Looks like I need to wait a bit longer until the tech is safer and more reliable. Sounds like it is HID for me. That should free up some funds for the other areas of the build.

@Unregistered I appreciate you taking the time to stop in with your experience and picture.