First attempt need help with setup

So like many others I'm tired of paying for bud and would rather grow it. So after looking online, I noticed that there just isn't a guide to which light setup and which bulbs would be best for any tent.
I have[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][SIZE=-1]a 96" X 48" X 78". [/SIZE][/FONT]Since I've never grown before, I'm wondering what else I would need for my setup, any tricks you may know to help me along?
The tent has 6" fan venting as to reduce the smell which carbon filter fan would be best?

I know the number one question is how many plants do you plan to grow? Too answer that I plan on starting out with about Twenty. Due to the tents width, would I be best with a duel light setup and focus on say two groups of plants or just line them all up? Yes I'm a noob and I'm trying to learn. Thanks for any help that your willing to throw my way. Thank you!

even if you had 10 plants to each 1000w light, they would have to be small plants / one per square foot. Look up 'sea of green' growing if you really want the high plant count.

Ok so what would be a good number of plants to manage for the space allowed in the tent?

your lookin at 32 sq. feet. thats plenty for 20 plants! u decide what size pot? its more important then #,s. whats your $ situation.. as far as lights, fan, scrubber?

$ isnt an issue although I would like to keep my costs under a grand, since this is my first grow and all.... I assumed 20 plants would be fine for the size of my tent, but that is also why I am asking for help and not just attempting to do it myself and just committing a giant waste of time and money. As for pot sizes, I have been looking around at what others are using, but i'm not sure due to the lack of knowledge on which configuration would be best for a growing setup.

Like i stated above, this is my first setup, I have the $ for startup, but I want to make sure I do it right. Thanks again.

bump TO THE TOP!

You could grow one giant plant in your tent or a SOG of 100+ on a one week perpetual cycle. No way is better, it just depends how much work you are willing to take on.
My advise to you is to read a lot of different grows that include a tent like the one you have and model your grow after one that makes the most sense to you. I would do this before buying any equipment.

My problem is after reading peoples logs, I see they keep amazing track of the plants progression, but lack a lot of the basic information a newbie such as myself is looking for. They make a lot of sense for others to follow once you have a setup already going, but I havent found a log that goes over how to setup a grow tent roughly my size that is done correctly. With which lighting systems to use for how many plants? The log says for example "I used my 1000w on 8 plants for 12 hours a day during the vegging stage".....That isn't a log that will help me. I am thinking 5 gallon pots for my plants, unless they will get too big? See logs don't cover will I need 2? 3? 1000w light setups? Which light setup would you recommend? Which bulbs? How far apart should I space my plants for optimal growth for say 20 plants? Which size pots would be best for my 20 plants to make the biggest and best plants available for tent capacity? You know, for air filtration, which 6" carbon air filter will work best to eliminate odors? I have read books and Logs, nothing answers questions like a person. Due to the fact a person is judgmental, they learn from their mistakes, learn short-cuts, and how to make life easier. While a book cannot answer anything other than whats already been asked. Thanks again guys!

not being a downer but i think you should try maybe a 5 plant grow before you go for 20 (im assuming this is your first grow). also there's alot of good info on this site i only have had 2 grows and i know what you mean when you say that its hard to get unless you know what there talking about and that its lacking a lot of basic info. but the info on here you just need to look hard. sorry i didn't really give you any info your really looking for. ive never done sog so i cant really help but wish you best of luck with your grow.

I will try my best at this question. Ok so you have a pretty good size tent. This is how I would set it up. This is just me and my opinion. For a first time grower I would get an 8inch sunleaves windtunnel fan because it only takes 142 watts and its quiet. That is for exhausting from the carbon filter to the air cooled hood to the fan then out the tent. Next I would run two lights in that large tent but for now as your first grow just get one reflector. I would try to see if two hydrofarm raptors will fit in your tent and if so buy one raptor. If not get one either hydrofarm radiant 8" or CAP lumair 8" reflector for now and a second for the second grow. For the carbon filter I would get a phresh brand 8inch hole by 39inches long one. For bulbs you want to veg in 18 hours of light and 6 hours of darkness and for veg you want to run a MH bulb. I would grab a 400 or 600watt MH bulb. Then after they get around 18in high make the light on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours and use either a 600 or 1000 watt HPS bulb. I use lumatek ballast and you can either get the ballast to run 400-600 watts or 600-1000 watts so choose the right ballast and bulbs to match how many watts you want to use. I would put the plants in 5 gallon pots. Get an ocilating fan to run 24 hours a day on the plants and run the exhaust fan for 24 hours a day also. water every 4 days with 2 red party cups and when your about 30 days into flower water 3 red cups every 4 days. For your first grow plant one plant per 100 watts of light so you can choose how many watts you want to run with that. A far as spacing run them as close as you can to each other without blocking the light with shadows. Run the 600 watt HPS bulb about 16-18 inches from the plants and a 1000 around 24 inches. Use insulated ducting from lowes or where ever you want. Use metel tape to seal them. Use metel elbow when the duct needs to go up towards the ceiling. For air intake run a hole that is twice the size of your exhaust fan to run 2 8inch intake holes. Use about half of the suggested nuetrients that the company says to use and use plain water one time then nuetriented water the next. You can use more nuetrience if you try after about a month and see how the plants handle it. I run fox farm ocean forest soil and it has so much nuets in there already that when I add more it fries the plants. If you want to run soil look up subcool super soil and make that. Buy seeds from the attitude website. Dont buy clones( they are infested with bugs and are dont produce crap most of the time so that the despensararys can sell you more weed). Did I leave anything out? You can make a box for your exhaust fan out of MDF and that will make it much quieter. Dont buy a duct silencer just use the fan box and insulated ducting and it will be quiet. What seeds are you going to order?

Wow, see that response was exactly something like I was looking for. So what seeds to order is kinda a funny question. I'm getting some Clones from my friend (he lives inland a ways) which will be nice (un-infested of course). Thanks for the hook up on all the info you provided man Greatly Appreciated!

Currently for seeds I have from what I can remember: Romulan, OG Kush, Skywalker, Blue-Dream, Fucking Incredible, Herojuana, Master Kush, Grape Ape, White Widow, Green Crack, AK-47 and a few more. Luck fully I know roughly about which 4 of the seeds are which. haha
For Clones I'm Getting: Alien OG and 818. Probably going to run 8 of each for my first harvest.
So my friend is trying to get me to go hydro, so that will change my build just a lil with my expenses. Is there any place you guys recommend to buy lights and the whole shebang cheap? Any hydro setup worth investing in, or should I make my own?

Now I have to look into hydro systems as well, I'm thinking bumping to 12-16 plants now.

If your friend knows how to grow and how to use hydro that would be the best person to ask about this stuff since he has hands on. I like to use google shopping and put the product I need and buy it from them. So you are going to grow 12-16 plants. That is going to be a lot of work my friend. Im serious on this. I take it that you are going to get two reflectors and use 400watt mh for veg stage and 600 watt for flowering stage? I know nothing about hydro since its easy to f up on it I stay away and I like to go on trips around the world and with the 5 gallon pots I can water them a lot before I leave and can be gone for up to 7 days. Hydro would make me feel like im trapped to stay at home and f with that set up all the time. Next grow im going to use subcools super soil mix and just water. thats it. Also start from seed on the 12/12 cycle. Prob about 9 plants about 2.5ft high that are easy to control. I dont like growing tree's. Way to much work adjusting the lights all the time and training the branches to all be the same height. I heard blue dream is easy to grow and lots of buds but I have never smoked it. Lots of great seeds you have there. have you been buying them for a while and just waiting to grow? Also try ebay because google shopping does not use ebay as a listing.

The problem is my friend is so damn un-reliable! I understand Hydro will be a little more time consuming, but heck I have a dog. Its not like i'm going anywhere for too long anyways. As for my seeds, I've just been collecting over the past 2 months or so from bud I've been getting at the dispensaries out here in Cali. .

if you are near growannex.com he has great prices. I got my reflector through him since the shipping cost on the raptor hood is way too high. He also knows a lot about how to grow. Smart guy. He is off the 55 and 405 freeways. might want grow in soil first. Are you going with 600 or 1000hps? two of one reflector set up for the first grow? Before you start you should get your set up ready and check your ph of your water. Also get a good measuring shot glass or something like that. Are you going to sell the stuff or going to try to smoke 15 plants worth of weed? If you are going to clone I got some stuff from lowes that is called rooting. Its a powder and so far 6 for 6 clones have lived. 7 or 8 bucks too.

I'm thinking if I do a sog grow, It will cost me an arm and a leg getting the whole hydro setup. So yes I think I am going to do a soil grow. Now with this decided, I was looking into the Raptor hoods, but there isnt too much information on them anywhere. Minus there size is Giant Measuring 30x 40. So If I run a raptor I know to run HPS bulbs but does it matter which?, I was looking into Fans, and the was wondering the Phresh brand you recommended, 8x39" For the setup, Can, Filter, Pre-filter? I didn't notice combo packs when I was looking last night and it made me wonder if I was looking in the correct place, because who would want to buy a Filter that is actually ready to just hook up and go?

Now since I have 6" ducting in my tent, will it be a problem to reduce to 6" or would it be better to just cut my tent and run 8" throughout the whole thing?

One thing centrifugal fan or inline fan?

inline fan 8 inch if your going to use two lights your going to need tons of air moving!!!!!!!! The presh filter has everything you need in the box, just take it out hang it up and hook up the hose and no more smell. Yes the raptor hood is huge! Your tent might not fit two. Use the metel elbows from lowes and point the straight up to make the raptor as narrow as possible and keep the air moving fast through it. You might want to get a CAP brand xxxl reflector. The glass might come off easier to clean it. The raptor I have you have to take the reflector out of the tent, then turn it over and remove the glass. I know on some models the glass is hinged. I need to clean my glass but dont feel like it because of all the work. Maybe tomorrow. When I hooked up the presh filter it got a bunch of carbon in the reflector so when you first hook up the filter do it before the light to clean it out and then put it after the light. It will save you a huge clean up mess.

that raptor hood will be very tight with 96 inches wide. Might want to get a radiant or lumanair

What would you recommend for bulbs? an HPS and an MH, but which brand/style?

there are a lot of good bulbs out there, hortilux, digilux get mh and hps bulbs