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trying to decide what to buy, ballast, hood, etc...

jonezin

Member
I was wondering if some of you can help me decide what to buy. I'm not worried about the cost. But I don't have 10 grand either. I'm only going to be growing up to 25 plants or so, and during the first grow I will probably only do 10-15. Should I get a Lumatek ballast? I found a site that has the 600 for $179, or the 1000 for $299. I want to get 2 lights and ballasts. Unless you think that they're absolute overkill for the number of plants I plan on having. What hoods should I get? I want the best performing hoods you can buy. I thought about getting cool tubes, but won't full size hoods work better? I was looking at those Yield Master Supreme hoods. I plan on using Fox Farms soil. I've grown before, but it's been over 10 years ago. So I'd appreciate some advice on the best products. Thanks.
 

jonezin

Member
What is the best performing bulb money can buy? Should I use a HPS in one and a MH in the other? When I grew before I used mh bulbs for vegetative growth and HPS for flowering. But this time I either want to split them or use all HPS.
 
I personally bought the HTG supply 400watt system. They give lots of options to custom the system you want. I went with the HTG brand, which is the really cheap one, as it was all I could afford. But it sounds like you are will to spend more and they have a lot of other brands at really good complete system prices.

Only bad thing I found was that I upgraded the bulb in my system to the Agromax brand and I had major issues w/ getting a good bulb, they eventually sent me a Growbright brand one. I would try the growbright or sunmaster bulbs they offer in the systems.

They have complete 1000w systems by Agrostar starting at 300, by Coolstar starting at 382, by Growbright starting at 240, and Electronic ballast systems starting at 314.

I liked the 10$ light hangers option. The growbright bulb is a cheap effective horticulture bulb that I like so far. They had great customer service w/ my bulb issue and very fast shipping, including the return label for the bad bulbs I got.

I was impressed, so go here and check it out: http://www.htgsupply.com/growlightsubcategories.asp?categoryID=1

Good luck to ya!
DM
 

NorCalFor20

Smokes, lets go
Veteran
The HTG supply 400w system is a good system for 400w and you can get the hood and ballast for 100 basically everything you need without the bulb. Then I reccomend getting a CMH bulb from advancedtechlighting they fit into HPS ballasts. But then you need something for flower, so I would go with a 1k system. I like hortilux super HPS bulbs. I spent about 1600 setting up mine including my 400 and my 1k so if moneys not a problem I reccomend something like that. The only reason I would use the 400w at first is depending on where you are power is expensive, and its not cost effective to sprout seeds under a 1k and the CMH is a good spectrum for vegging and not so hot that you need a air cooled hood that you got to spend a lot of money on. Over all I used

Sun System SuperSun 2 (best 1k hood IMO)
Sun System 10 1k Ballast (or use the sun system 1 its a bit higher quality)
Vortex Fans (I used 2 6inch ones 1 for 6in 40# carbon filter)
You will need ducting, and light hangers other misc stuff so prepare for that.

you can develop your own plan but just wanted to share how i do my garden
 

Hold Your Fire

Finding my way back home
Veteran
I second the nod for the SS 2 reflector and the vortex fan. Best going IMO. Go with 1000 watters for flowering. I'm glad I did.
 

jonezin

Member
So none of you recommend electronic/digital ballasts? Why is that? I've read a lot of good things about the Galaxy ballasts. I've read some good things about the new Lumatek too.
 
I say the old school ballasts seem to be what everyone recommended to me. Actually this is the one thing me and the hydro shop owner in my town agree on. A friend of mine has access to a free line filter, which works amazing. It takes almost all the noise from my ballast and is supposed to make it perform better. When I unhook the filter, it's not real loud, but I can definitely tell a difference. These are rather expensive for what they do. But the Magnetic ballast is what I would go for.

Good Luck,
DM
 

NorCalFor20

Smokes, lets go
Veteran
You could get something like this:

-Super Sun 2 (for 1k hortilux super hps)
-Sun System 1 or 10 depending on how much you want to spend on a ballast (no digital ballast, I wouldn't recommend it) You need a ballast for your 400w CMH (this if for veg, buy 400w hps ballast- thats what kind cmh uses) And also the 1k Ballast of course
(you could use the super sun 2 hood for your 400w when your vegging...)
-You will most likely need 2 6 inch vortex fans one for air cooling your hood and one for your carbon scrubber to clean the air...
-Of course a carbon scrubber as mentioned above
-I would try to get clones if possible, if not then get some good seeds from a reputable vendor (pm me if you want to know companies that work for me)
-You will need ferts, I use fox farm everyone has their own favorite.
-PH up and down, and testing solution
-Soil if your doing soil, or hydro setup if your going that way...

So thats a good run down of what you need if you wanna grow 1-2 lbs every 3 months...
 
L

LolaGal

I like the 400 watt MH/HPS ballasts, then I can switch for the price of an extra bulb.
 

Hydro-Soil

Active member
Veteran
You sure you need 25 plants flowering?

Are you SURE you need 1Kw of flowering power?

How much were you planning on harvesting from each of those 25 plants and about how much do you need a month?

In this hobby, bigger isn't always better, especially if you don't live in a friendly state for this kinda stuff.



Personally I would recommend starting with a 400W Ceramic Metal Halide and growing a few plants first. Say 4 or 6.

400w will make a great harvest and will also be VERY useful for vegging your clones when you upgrade to a 1000W.

Finishing a grow or two under a 400W will also make you MUCH more prepared for dealing with a large number of plants under a big ass light.

I HAVE a 1000w HPS. As soon as I have 4-500 dollars extra I MIGHT think about spending it on the fans and air-scrubber DIY parts that I'll need to properly use it without getting busted.

Most people SERIOUSLY underestimate the power of the 1000W light. I had great reservations about pulling it out a few months ago from storage and managed to pull of a successful grow on a shoestring budget.

I just upgraded to 220w of PL-L CFL lighting and have put the 1K light back away.


So...... :)

How much did you say you needed again? :cool:
 

wvkindbud38

Elite Growers Club
Veteran
I just got a Galaxy 600 watt Ballast (I've not used it yet). I have a Super Sun reflector that's great. I just replaced a Maximizer reflector with a new Yield Master 2 from sunlight supply and it's very very good also a huge difference from a Maximizer to a yield master reflector. My Super Sun reflector is with my SunSystem I 430 HPS ballast. I also have a Sunsystem X eco 400 HPS ballast. I've ran these 2 ballasts for over 6 years without any problems.....I'm also new to the electronic ballast game......I got a 6in. Can Fan that is also a super good fan. I like everything from Sunlight Supply....I'm sure Hydrofarm has great products also. I would stay with Sunlight Supply or Hydrofarm Ballasts and reflectors.....I recommend the Super Sun reflector, or the Yield Master 2 .....any Sunlight Supply ballast or reflector you decide on is gonna be very good with a good warranty.....I like Hortilux and Philips Bulbs, I really like the 6in Can Fan. Ocean Forest Soil by Fox Farm
 
Y

yamaha_1fan

Skip the digital ballast. Some people have great success with them, some dont. They cant get certain bulbs to fire, the unit doesnt work etc. I cant see any reason to spend extra money on an item that is unreliable.

You could get a switchable ballast and run MH for veg and HPS for flower. The hortilux bulbs get a good review.


YOu have not mentioned what you want to do so everyone is shooting in the dark here. Are you going to SOG or grow big monsters. I could flower 25 plants under a 400 since I SOG. But if you veg them for 6 weeks, thats a different story
 

jonezin

Member
Hey thanks again for all of the help.

I'm planning on growing monsters. I don't want to do SOG. I can legally have 12 plants. As soon as my friend gets his recommendation from his doctor I'll be able to have 24 plants though.

After all of your input I've decided on Sun System 1 ballasts, Super Sun 2 hoods, 1 or 2 can fans with one of their filters. I don't know how big of a filter I should get for sure, but I was thinking about just getting the Can 66 with the 6" HO 440CFM for the filter. Then I need to decide what fan to get for the lights. I want that Can 66 because I will have more plants later on. I'm sure I don't need that for just 12 plants. Do I really need a 2nd fan for cooling the lights? I thought I'd be able to just use 1, even if I needed a huge one. I'd rather have bigger fans than smaller ones too because I don't want this stuff any louder than it needs to be. And I know using smaller fans running full tilt are gonna be louder than using a bigger one that's not running full bore.

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I'm doing for my room/grow space. Until my friend goes and gets his f'ing recommendation from his doctor I can only legally have 2.5 ounces at one time that's ready to be used. After he gets his it'll double to 5 ounces. So it'll make it a little better. But I guess I need to have a veg area with maybe a CMH light in that, then my flowering area with a 1000 watter in there. I know I probably don't need that much light right now, but later on I will, so I'm just going to get it now. This 2.5 ounce limit really blows. What the hell am I supposed to do? Flower one plant at a time? :1help:

There's so many choices with all of this shit that my brain is overloaded. That's why I asked you guys to help me figure it all out. I'm glad I asked because I was going to buy Lumatek or Galaxy ballasts. But I'm not going to now.
 

jonezin

Member
DRKN_MNKY420, I considered HTG supply stuff a few months ago when I didn't have much money, but since I'm gonna be able to buy whatever I want now I'm gonna get a different brand. If I was strapped for cash I would definitely be looking at HTG Supplies stuff though.

NorCalFor20, Since you mentioned the Sun System 1 ballasts and the Super Sun hoods I did a lot of reading about them and decided that that's what I'm going with. Along with that Hortilux Super HPS bulb. I think I am going to get one of the CMH bulbs too. I read most of that 157 page thread on here about them quite a while ago, but I had forgot about them already. I wanted to get either Can or Vortex fans and I think I'm gonna get the Can fans. I don't know if it means anything but I saw a video where a guy hooked a can and a vortex together to see which one could overpower the other one and the Can brand won. Thank you for the help.

FreezerBoy, thank you for the links.

Hold Your Fire, thanks.

LolaGal, thanks.

river rat01, thanks for the link, but I think I'll pass.

Hydro-Soil, I'm not sure about anything yet totally. But I'm in Michigan and I just got my recommendation from my doctor so I am now legal to grow 12 plants. I am also going to be a "caregiver" for at least one other person (as soon as they quit dicking around). I want the 1000 watt, or maybe two 600's because I might end up needing them later on (if I end up being a caregiver for more people I mean, you can be a caregiver for 5 people total), and I have the cash to buy them right now. No matter what I am getting a 400 watt light, so if that's all I end up needing to use then that's all I will use. But I want to at least have the other stuff because after my tax money is gone I'm going to have a hard time coming up with the money to buy any more of this stuff for quite a while.

wvkindbud38, thanks for the reply. I plan on using Sunlight Supply for sure. They've been around a long time and I want quality stuff. I'm also planning on using Hortilux bulbs for flowering. The 6" can fan I plan on getting along with Fox Farms soil.

yamaha_1fan, thanks for the help. I've seen some of your grows, I hope mine look at least half as good as yours do. I'm not going to get any digital ballasts now. I wanted to, but I'd rather have shit that's reliable. I'm not into having to send shit back or having to drive a couple hours to exchange it.

rocketman, I have already checked them out quite a bit. I plan on going in there soon and buying some stuff.
 
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