help fast! $1,500 to spend

Okay, so after my first grow with four 42 watt cfls and some other bullshit I'm ready to upgrade.

I have $1,500 to spend on everything. That's lights, soil/hydro, seeds, nutes, and etc.

I have the cloning equipment already.

I have ample space too. I really want to maximize this grow and grow two types of weed... something that has a nice stone and something that has a nice high.

how big of area do you have

about 10'W x 10'L x 10'H

We would need a lot more info to help. Do you have ph/tds meters? How is your water situation? Do you need an RO filter? What kind of wiring do you have for your room? Do you need to upgrade? What medium do you want to grow in? Hydro? Dirt? Do you need to do any construction work to your room? If so do you have all the tools necessary?

You get my drift. Look around, if you have a nice space and can vent it find a light, hood, ballast, fan, filter and try and keep it under 800. The rest you will need for miscellanious things as you build your room. If you find some deals and have the space/means, buy 2 lights. But be aware there is a lot that goes into building a grow room proper and it ALL costs money. So plan accordingly.

If sound and appearance aren't an issue...Big ole light and big ole fan with a big ole filter

With only $1500 to spend you will have a hard time getting alot of equipment. I would recomend by used equipment off of craigslist. I would buy t5's and make two seperate rooms. but your biggest expense is temp control. i would make a 5gal bucket system with 8 buckets (probably cost 400 to make buckets,air pump, stones, etc.) run 10" net pots and you could harvest 6oz to a pound a plant if you do it right. T5s with a full spectrum setup would work great.

Are you wanting a one time harvest or continueous harvest?

Honestly, I am a little worried about the electrical system in my building. It's older so it might not be able to handle a 1000 watt HPS and pumps/fans/etc at the same time.

TDS and pH meters are part of my "etc." and no I don't have either but I will need both. Speaking about that does anyone know if that ZeroWater pitcher is like an RO? I know my tap has a high PPM so I need a way to bring that down.

Appearances don't mean anything haha.

And I'm not sure if I want continuous harvests or one timers... Whatever is cheaper I guess.

Oh and for a SOG setup how many plants can I fit under your average 600 or 100 watt HPS.

How many times a day do you think folks at a hydro shop hear that statement?

"step right this way, sir..."

Depends on where that hydro shop is. Not too often where I am because this isn't legal. That's why I'm asking the people here.

if your worried about pwr, get T5s, buy the badboy 4'x12 lamp and run blue and red spectrum lights (500 out the door) and run bubble buckets. gonna have to buy seeds everytime though. without more money i would try to have a mother

Spend 1000 dollars on 2x 600w Aircooled DigiBallast lights. Rest on the 6" duct, intake fan, Pots, Soil, *Veg* nutes, water. and begin. you will obviously need more equip. like more Nutes.. Fans, Timers & Meters.. but you can get your girls going and a month in Veg buy the rest of equip

I agree with Jake55, but my Bad Boy 8 bulb is heavy enough- it slipped and crashed into one of my plants wacking 3" off the top. Not to worry, 2 new tops took its place. Consider 2 of the 8 bulb Bad Boys Mine covers a 2 X 4 area, so you will wind up with ~ 4 x 8 leaving room to move within the area- and believe me, you WILL need to frequently. Get 16 bulbs of each spectrum. This allows you to play Sun God. You simply add the appropriate mix of bulbs to approximate sun light spectrums found during spring planting through harvest.

The Big Quesiton How many plants are you planning on, or asked another way, how much do you smoke in 3 months?

Check out my High Pressure Aeroponics thread. This systm will run less than $300 and can easily handle 4 x 30G totes. Each tote can accomodate 3-4 plants. Can't imagine anyone smoking that much product. This leaves you pleny of money for PPM/pH meters , a Merlin RO with autoflush, and high quality nutes. I am now using Dutch Masters Gold series. PM me and I'll tell you where I shop at a decent discount

hth

OR... you can go the other way around, spend 500-1k on your Equip, Meters..Fans..Timers..Mylar and stuff making the grow room Clean and Professional.. but then you would be lacking on the light power.

What size switch are you running on?
I run a two light perpetual grow on a single 15amp switch.

I flower under a 600watt hps cooled by a 6 inch fan.

I veg inside a tent that is light by a 4 foot t5.

My set up cost about $1500.

The 5 gal systems ive seen have costed no where near $400... If buyin all at the shop maybe but you can get it for 1/2 off that if I'll wait and buy online

jake55 said:

With only $1500 to spend you will have a hard time getting alot of equipment. I would recomend by used equipment off of craigslist. I would buy t5's and make two seperate rooms. but your biggest expense is temp control. i would make a 5gal bucket system with 8 buckets (probably cost 400 to make buckets,air pump, stones, etc.) run 10" net pots and you could harvest 6oz to a pound a plant if you do it right. T5s with a full spectrum setup would work great.

Are you wanting a one time harvest or continueous harvest?

Click to expand...

titan2011 said:

The 5 gal systems ive seen have costed no where near $400... If buyin all at the shop maybe but you can get it for 1/2 off that if I'll wait and buy online

Click to expand...

8 buckets $5 each - $40
8 Nets $7 each - $56
air pump - $75
8 air stones (quality)- $5 each - $40

You could stop here but when i grow i like it to be low maintence so i would spend $150 on a float and res setup. and around $100 for fittings and poly tube and other misc. ive used this system before, works great.

I wrote a big paragraph answering your questions and asking more to further help you but then I deleted it all. Would be much easier just to show you what you should aim for... download seemorebuds 3 volume video set. or just go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py9pYJG_5_M&feature=related
and watch the 3 parts of each volume. Then try to mimic him and adjust to your own needs and budget.

the real question is r u going to grow smoke or sell meds? because theres a difference.

Tonight I'm checking out my amps. Went to the local hydro store like someone suggested and talked to one of the dudes that seemed to know whats up. He said he could cut me a deal on shit... We talked about stuff and I came to the conclusion, so far, that I might go with these things here. I am going to look into everything else everyone has suggested too real quick.

I'm thinking I might go with:

- Turbogarden hydro unit (nice and compact for this grow)

- a badass HPS bulb like a Hortilux 1000 watt if the breaker can handle it

- not sure about which reflector or ballast yet... any suggestions?

- I'm going to try to get a full regimen of House & Garden hydro nutes (f'n expensive...) if anyone used these and other nutes and can compare for me let me know.

- probably going to make myself a lil tent out of lighting 97% unless I can get a deal on a prefab one

Then all the other little shit like pH, EC, fans, blah blah

I know I'll be using a CO2 supplement. I really don't have the money for a dope system... Anyone know how that CO2 bucket performs?

Seeds... mmm probably a pack of RP Sour Kush and DNA Cannalope Haze. Figured it would be a good opportunity to see what a diesel, kush, and haze are like.

Will get back to you guys with what I choose and a grow journal.