Advice needed: Buying gear for first grow.

Hi all, first time poster here. Hoping to get a bit of advice. I have some feminized white rhino seeds coming soon from nirvana and am getting ready to buy some gear to get my first grow up and running. I'm just going to start with 2 plants. I plan on letting one grow out normal and will try topping and ccob the other one. Hobb's e-book inspired me. I don't have any horticulture experience but I've been doing some pretty heavy reading so hopefully I don't mess things up to bad.
My grow space is going to just be in the corner of my bedroom. I will probably just rig up a cardboard enclosure lined with white poly.
Before I pull the trigger on my gear, I would like to get your guys' opinion. I will be doing my purchase through HTGSupply and am trying not to go to much over 300 bucks. Here's my list, let me know if there is room for improvement (while staying on budget). Thanks in advance for any advice you can throw my way in terms of gear and usefull tips with the chosen gear!

- HTGSupply 250 watt High Pressure Sodium Grow Light
customized to include the following:
- 4 Sided Horizontal Reflector
- AgroMax 250 Watt MH Conversion Bulb
- Sunrise Hi-Low Reflector Hangers
- Dual Outlet Mechanical Timer - 120 Volt

- 10 Foot by 10 Foot sheet of Black & White Poly - 6 mil

- 3 Gallon Plastic Nursery Pots - Dimensions: 11" wide x 10" tall

- FoxFarm's Ocean Forest Potting Mix 1.5 Cubic Feet

- FoxFarm Liquid Soil Formula 3 pack - Quart
-Grow Big
-Big Bloom
-Tiger Bloom

- General Hydroponics pH Control Kit
(Contains PH Up/Down and PH test indicator)

- GrowBright Indoor-Outdoor Thermometer with Hygrometer

- 30X Lighted Microscope

get some real probes for your pH and ppm for feeding.

If space and haet are a problem why not upgrade to a 400 hps from htg supply instead of the 250?

That sounds like you have done your homework and are off to a great start. The only things I can think of off hand would be a fan to circulate fresh air around the plants, and some sort of pans or something to set your pots in if they are just going to be in a corner. I wish you luck!

Hey Jesus, Thanks for the reply. I would like to get some real probes for PH testing but I am already over the 300 dollar budget. I figure the simple ph test kit for managing ph levels in my tap water should be good enough, for this first grow at least while I go through this learning phase. Maybe after tax returns come my way I can upgrade Also, I'm not real clear on the whole ppm concept. Can you enlighten me?

I thought about getting the 400w lamp (it actually came out 5 bucks cheaper, go figure) but I am not planning on having more than a plant or two going at a time. That and the slightly larger electricity bill made me decide to go for the 250 instead.

Heya Spark, I do have a little oscillating fan that I think should do the trick. And thanks for pointing out the pans, the HTG site doesn't mention anything about them so I have to assume they are not included. I guess I will just go to a local shop and pick those up. Thanks for the luck, I will take all I can get!

No problem. Yeah, just a fan moving air around is all you need. Don't spent too much on the pans, just something to keep water off the floor, like dollar store disposable foil cookware or plastic something.

As far as the wattage of the light, 250 is fine for two plants, but if you want to expand a 400 is good too. The electrical usage should only be a couple bucks a month more, but that's only if you want to go bigger. If you start off with the 250, you will have no problems justifying a new light purchase after a few grows, and you'll have a smaller light to veg with once you do.

As far as pH, PPM, I've heard the meters can be pretty tricky to deal with. They have to have special calibration fluids and storage fluids for the probes, and even then they can't be trusted to last more than a year. PPM is the dissolved solids in your water - minerals - too high and the fertilizer you add can't be absorbed. The same with pH, if it is off the nutrients can't be absorbed properly. I use the liquid test kit and pH down, it works fine for me. I will probably spend $10 every 2 grows on pH testing supplies, probably way cheaper than buying test probes and supplies if you are working on the small scale.

if you're trying to cut costs you could skip the mh conversion bulb; veging with an hps, in my experience, works fine.

as for ph and ppm and got two cheap handheld meters off of ebay from china for under $15 each. i wasn't expecting them to last long but its been a few months and they're still running with decent accuracy. personally i don't probe, just ph the water i feed and then the run off

Thanks for the explanation of ppm. I will keep my eye on plant health during the grow and decide if I need one at that time. I'll have to go find a cheapo camera too so I can show off my growing skills for you guys. (or lack thereof most likely, hehe)

Heya Jose, I figured I should have a spare bulb on hand and decided to just make it a conversion bulb so I can make my veg a little more efficient. It put me 30 bucks over budget but what the hell eh? Have you ever used a conversion bulb and if so, do you think the extra cost of $30 is worth it?

my 250 came with both a mh and hps bulb. i've veg'd with both now, always flowering with the hps of course, and my yields have been the exact same, just under 1 1/2 ounces per plant. one thing that i have read about mh bulbs is that since they give off uv rays they can increase bud potency but that's only if they're used intermittently during the flowering cycle (and assuming there's no glass covering on the reflector). i know the science is there to support the claims that mh spectrum is far superior for veg than hps but my own experience has made me skeptical.

as for if it was worth it, $30 is $30. if you have to eat only ramen for a week because of it id say it was probably a silly purchase but as long as we're not buying grams for 20 or getting ripped off on some poorly cured chemical tasting buds, i think whatever we invest in this amazing hobby is well worth it

happy thanksgiving btw