Introduction and First Time Grow Plans - Seeking Advice for Equip

Hello all. Wanted to start out by saying this is a very informative area and I appreciate all the info that is here. I've spent the past few days researching my upcoming project, and right now I just want to know what I need to buy. I've made lists, but I keep getting stumped on lighting configs and venting.

I've read up on some soil-less ideas and they have me excited. I have a gigantic list of things I need to buy (and will buy as soon as that tax return comes back =P) and right now I just want clarification on everything

I'm planning two separate grow tents. Small tents for personal medicine. Cheap tents on amazon have made me decide to go with a small option, I'm trying to keep this under $300-400.

I was going to go with a small veg tent measuring 62" H x 36" W x 20" D. I figured this would be the right size to keep one mother and 3-4 clones at a time. If I'll need something larger for this amount please let me know.

I haven't decided on a tent size for flowering, but I'm thinking something bigger.

Lighting and ventilation is my main concern right now. I've thought of every lighting solution, but right now I'm leaning towards CFL for the veg room and some type of HID in the flowering room.

What lighting system would be best for the small areas I'm working with and the tight budget?

As far as venting goes - should I have intake from an outside source? Do I need a carbon filter if I'm venting into my own house? I plan on just running a vent out of the top perhaps with a 6" in line duct fan, since the tent has 4" holes, I will have to use a reducer to make it fit with 4" ducting..sorry to ramble. This is how my brain has been functioning the past 3 days non stop as I'm planning my shopping list. Never obsessed like this before.

As far as Soil goes, I've decided to mimic a growers book that I've recently read, and he went with equal parts of cocnut coir, peat moss, perlite, desert sand, vermiculite, and pebbles. As far as fertilizer miracle grow organic choice for the flowering, and alaska morebloom 0-10-10 for blooming. I heard to use liquid seaweed in place of nitrozyme, does anyone have experience with this?

use hps they are cheap

Thanks for the tip.

Here's what I got so far.

One of these http://www.amazon.com/LED-Wholesalers-GYO1001-Reflective-Hydroponic/dp/B00283Q59M/ref=sr_1_2?s=garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1329691344&sr=1-2 for Veg growth

Still undecided on a bloom tent but I will certainly need one. Might just get two of the above if I can't find anything else...they're freaking cheap.

For my veg lighting system I've decided on filling the tent up with CFL's, around 6-12 roughly, most of them 6500k, maybe 1-2 5000k. I want to have lights on the sides and also a couple from the top. I'll be sure to post pictures in a new thread as soon as I get that project moving along. I haven't completely decided on how I'll set up the sockets in the tent yet, so I've been imagining a lot about that.

For my bloom tent, I decided I want to go with a 600W HPS system, but only if I can find a good deal. I found a sick deal on a 400w HPS on htg supply: http://htgsupply.com/Product-HTGSupply-400-watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Grow-Light.asp (please let me know if that one is completely garbage btw) but after looking at how many more lumens you get with a 600W system and how people tend to just upgrade from a 400w to a 600w for better flowering I decided it may be better to just go with 600W from the start.

I live in a cold, dry environment (mountains) it probably doesn't get over 70 in the house unless I get the heated floors really going. For the tent, I'm not too concerned about heat, even with a 600W HPS system. I plan on just running a fresh air intake, so cold mountain air is coming in. I'll have to run a humidifier or something to keep it humid in there though. I might supplement the HPS system with CFL's, especially if I get a 400W system.

Any thoughts? Anyone know any cheap deals for a 600W HPS system? Or at least cheap components for one?

Edit: Found a 1000W HPS system for cheap on ehydroponics, but I doubt it would work well in the space of the tent I have. Unless I can blow in a lot of cold air and get a cool tube...
http://www.ehydroponics.com/?action=product&id=8614&cid=491

I can't find a ballast under $140. That deal for the 400W HPS system just seems like it blows the value of a 600W system out of the water. I want those 90,000 lumens though!

Best value I've found on a 600W system - http://www.atlantishydroponics.com/Complete-MH-and-HPS-Lighting-Systems/ViaVolt-600-Watt-Economy-Electronic-Grow-Light-System.asp if someone knows of a better deal, please let me know. This seems pretty solid for a 600W system...also cheap, but hey...ballast comes w/ a 5 year warranty.

Been thinking about it and have decided that the 400W system will be much easier on my wallet and if I help the light out with CFL's then it should be fine for flowering. Too bad the 600W's are an extra $80. It's worth it, but at the same time it would really push my budget over the edge.

All the big ticket items (tents, lights, ventilation) should cost under $350 with two tents, a 400W HPS system, 6-10 CFL lights, and an inline fan and ducting.

The soil-less stuff and fertilizer along with other random materials with cost a little over $100, and seeds should cost around $50. Not a bad start up cost at all. Wish I could cut it down a bit, but hey.

i just bought a 400w cooltube hps/mh kit for 150$ us
my 1000w for 250 had to down grade -.-

If you're going to use a small grow tent for flowering, I think you would want to stick with a HID light that is 400w or less or you might have heat problems.

As for a carbon filter, I would use one, but its not something you have to buy until you are ready to start flowering. So if you're tight on cash now, you can save up for one over the couple of weeks you're vegging. If you dont mind your house smelling like weed and never have company...you might be ok without one...but I think you will be better off with one.

4ft x 4ft x 6.5ft tent 136.00 after shipping. accesshydroponic.com

As for the cold mountain air, you don't want air that is too cold hitting your plants (<60 degrees F). Just something to keep in mind.

Thanks for all the great tips. I'll make sure to return the favor w/ pics of the build room, etc.

Not a bad deal on that 4x4x6.5 tent, I think I might stick w/ the two small tents tho, especially since I'm leaning towards the 400W HID system, $$ is an issue. I'll use a cheap reflector to start out and upgrade to a cool tube depending on the temperature.

As far as the cold mountain air hitting my plants, I guess I'll stick w/ my indoor air as an intake then, since it can be cold enough in here to cool my plants down.

Really appreciate the tip on the carbon filter. Right now it's just me and my lady in the house, and occasionally my dad stops by but we're all in the know on the operation...I might throw down on one down the road though.

As far as plants go.......right now I have some small Casey Jones clone purchased from a local dispensary sitting under 1 T12 and 1 T8 fixture (super improvised, no air flow or humidity control). Used MG crappy potting soil and it was all done on a whim.

As soon as I get the growing config shipping to me I will order some seeds off of Attitude, and probably pick up another local clone that's ready for flowering. Right now I am definitely considering a 5-Pack from TGA Subcool, haven't decided on a strain yet but I am leaning towards the Qleaner, Space Bomb, Deep Purple, or Qrazy Train. Bums me out they aren't feminized but w/e. I'm going to purchase during the March promotion and I'm going to get one seed pack from TGA and like 2-3 pick and match seeds from a breeder who I have yet to decide.
Anyway, as soon as I get the seed order I will try to do 5 seeds at once and try to make one mother out of the bunch. Hope all goes well! Been planning non-stop for this .

Just for reference's sake -

Shopping List:

Grow Area and Lights -
2 Cheap Grow Tents - Under review =P
Cheap 400W HPS System
10 to 12 of these CFLS. Seem like very good value, please let me know if there's better prices out there though
1 to 2 of these CFLS Is 6500K + 5000K best combo for vegging?
3 to 4 of these CFLS
Sockets and Clamps for the CFL's

That means I should get out for around $80 for all of my CFLs, and $130 for the HPS System. $210 for a decent lighting system IMO

Soil-less:
Coconut Coir, Peat Moss, Perlite, Desert Sand, Vermiculite, Pebbles

Fertilizer:
MG Organic Choice for Vegging, Alaska Morebloom for Bloom

Misc.
Thrive
Some type of PH Up and Down
Liquid Seaweed for growth enhancer
Hygrometers
Jewler's Loop
Buckets 1, 3 and 5 gallon
Soil Test Kit
PH Meter
Coir Pots
Jiffy Pots
Gardening trays
Humidity Dome
Cloning Gel

I'm going to be broke

I might try to cut some corners...

Here's a pic of my tiny Casey Jones clone, just for fun...she's been sitting under that light at 18hr/6hr about 2-1/2 weeks now. The T12 is a 4100k (lol) and the T8 is a warmer color, not sure on the bulb exactly. Can't wait to get my setup going in those tents w/ CFLs all over the place. BTW the leaf burn is prob cause of the MG crap soil (and one tip was pretty burnt when I got her) and the fact that I am not fertilizing it. One pic is when I first got her, other pic is like 2 days ago. Not very high hopes for her but hey, it's all good. Spilt some water on the leaves in the first pic...oops..

Listen to me.... DO NOT SKIMP on the tent. Buy a tent that has metal bracers and connectors. If you get a cheapo plastic connector tent off of amazon it WILL break and send your lights into your babies and could cause a fire. I made this mistake when buying a tent. I bought a lighthouse hydro (not to be confused with hydro farms lighthouse) tent and it broke from the light, crushed my plants and lucky for me i heard it or I am certain it would have started a fire if I had not heard it break. Budget or not you need to be safe and a tent is one of the most important things you buy after soil and light.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/508697-warning-do-not-buy-lighthouse.html

Appreciate the tip

I had it figured that they all would pretty much be cheap as far as the build goes.

Got a recommendation on a budget grow tent setup?

How much more dough would you recommend forking over for a more reliable tent? Totally understand that $70 was cheap for a grow tent, and I am willing to invest a little more primarily because of safety. Especially for my bloom tent since it will have a 400W HPS fixture...

This is what I use for veg. http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=9032 It's a bit pricey, but you literally could do pull-ups off the roof bracers on this tent, and I would rather spend 400 beans on a tent then explain to the police what was growing in it. I suggest whatever you choose to buy get ALL Metal construction, this includes the connectors.

http://www.htgsupply.com/Category-Grow-Tents.asp

my tent is the 39x39

Veg Tent
Bloom Tent

How does that look? It looks like plastic, but the description mentions metal connectors and rods...also seems better than the amazon POS I was eyeing earlier..

Not saying these are a big step up in quality, but it's a small jump in price. Hopefully that veg tent can hold 1 mother and 3-5 clones

yea the only thing i wish my tent would have is some kind of connector pieces as of now there is just 2 bars that go across the top that u can hang things from but im not using chain at the moment so it is a bit of a pain to jerry rig up a adjustable ballast but wire seems to be a great temp fix. can hang stuff from the wire that is looped up over the bars. Havnt had any troubles with it yet just a pain to adjust height is all. Take some pics when you have it all and set up im curious to see what u get set up!