Low cost SoG setup?

Haha. Wow, thanks man. That was spot on! I appreciate it. The one thing not on that list that's expensive as shit, are lights.

weednublet said:

Haha. Wow, thanks man. That was spot on! I appreciate it. The one thing not on that list that's expensive as shit, are lights.

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You can get away with CFLs. I think my 70w HPS bulb and 70w HPS ballast cost around $50. The cost of running a 70w HPS here at $0.09 per kw would cost no more then $3.00/30 days to run it. You could use a single 41w CFL for that 1 square foot space. I didn't list lights because you said you didn't have the money to drop for a new H.I.D. setup so I didn't list it

read most of this thread and i can say sog is pretty easy to do and has the potential to maximize even the smallest of lights, i like sog when working in tight spaces because usually you are not looking to get a veg room up and going the size of your flower room, hints long vegging plants that double in size during flower doesnt really sound like thats a option for you. DWC is best for larger plants vegged longer, with sog you could literally cut a veg room out of the equation and just keep mothers going in a small space to keep the op up and running. if i was working in your space i would do a flood tray crammed with zero veg clones in flower (basically just root the clones and in to flower they go), maybe like a 3x3 tray with say 32 plants in it over a 400w light (see pics below to get idea of plants), this would give you a great yield.

Toolage 87 said:

You can get away with CFLs. I think my 70w HPS bulb and 70w HPS ballast cost around $50. The cost of running a 70w HPS here at $0.09 per kw would cost no more then $3.00/30 days to run it. You could use a single 41w CFL for that 1 square foot space. I didn't list lights because you said you didn't have the money to drop for a new H.I.D. setup so I didn't list it

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drgreentm said:

read most of this thread and i can say sog is pretty easy to do and has the potential to maximize even the smallest of lights, i like sog when working in tight spaces because usually you are not looking to get a veg room up and going the size of your flower room, hints long vegging plants that double in size during flower doesnt really sound like thats a option for you. DWC is best for larger plants vegged longer, with sog you could literally cut a veg room out of the equation and just keep mothers going in a small space to keep the op up and running. if i was working in your space i would do a flood tray crammed with zero veg clones in flower (basically just root the clones and in to flower they go), maybe like a 3x3 tray with say 32 plants in it over a 400w light (see pics below to get idea of plants), this would give you a great yield.

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@Tool: Would a 70w HPS light be able to flower say, 30 plants at a time? Mind you, they're babies but wouldn't I be better off with one 400w HPS? I want to be cheap, yeah but I also want to be effective. Right now I have a setup put together at a total of 700 bucks, obviously I'll have to get it bit by bit.

@Drgreen. Would a single 400w HPS be good enough for all four of the rotating trays with say 5-8 plants per? I budgeted for two.

So let's say I use your setup tool. Say I spring for a decent light. I want to harvest about 2 ounces every about 2-3 weeks or so. How many plants would I need in each phase to accomplish such a thing? That will determine my scale and my lights

Would my clones and mothers be ok under cool floro? Say 2 100Ws?

weednublet said:

Would a 70w HPS light be able to flower say, 30 plants at a time? Mind you, they're babies but wouldn't I be better off with one 400w HPS? I want to be cheap, yeah but I also want to be effective. Right now I have a setup put together at a total of 700 bucks, obviously I'll have to get it bit by bit.

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If you put the 70w HPS light on a light mover it could do 30 plants since it can do a 1 foot x1 foot area. If you wanted to go with a 400w HPS you could run almost 6 70w HPS lights for the amount of power the 400w would draw wattage wise. So area covered the 70w HPS would be better and the amount of area that the 70w HPS can cover you can get the light right down to almost 6 to 8 inches from the tops but cool tubing is best to do to help protect your plants from growing into the light.

weednublet said:

So let's say I use your setup tool. Say I spring for a decent light. I want to harvest about 2 ounces every about 2-3 weeks or so. How many plants would I need in each phase to accomplish such a thing? That will determine my scale and my lights

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I wouldn't know. Putting a freshly rooted clone in a 2 inch rockwool cube into a 2 inch netpot DWC seup at the least you could harvest 1/4 to 1/2 ounce every week roughly with a single 70w HPS but if you did 5 of them you could pull 1.25 ounce to 2.5 ounces roughly per week. Don;t forget my numbers are just rough math with min yield per plant. Depending on the light you use and the condition you could yield more then that.

weednublet said:

Would my clones and mothers be ok under cool floro? Say 2 100Ws?

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To root clones you don't need alot of light. A single 13w CFL should be able to produce enough light for the clones to root under for 2 to 4 72 cell clone houses.

I'm renting, I can't install anything like a mover since I'm completely surrounded on each and every side. Mover isn't really an option. So you said a 70w HPS can do a 1X1 area, if my grow area is 4X4 ish, I could buy four and still come out far cheaper than with a 400w but will my bud yield suffer? I'm not sure what cool tubing is.

Another question.

You know how the SOG system has four sections ,each increasing by two weeks, what if I planted a new baby every week and just harvested one per week? I'd cut my plants down to about 9 and I'd get maybe half an ounce a week, which is fine by me, if it's not I could just add a few more.

I think running a couple 75s would be the best idea. Now I just need to rundown a 3X3 grow tray, haha.

weednublet said:

@Tool: Would a 70w HPS light be able to flower say, 30 plants at a time? Mind you, they're babies but wouldn't I be better off with one 400w HPS? I want to be cheap, yeah but I also want to be effective. Right now I have a setup put together at a total of 700 bucks, obviously I'll have to get it bit by bit.

@Drgreen. Would a single 400w HPS be good enough for all four of the rotating trays with say 5-8 plants per? I budgeted for two.

So let's say I use your setup tool. Say I spring for a decent light. I want to harvest about 2 ounces every about 2-3 weeks or so. How many plants would I need in each phase to accomplish such a thing? That will determine my scale and my lights

Would my clones and mothers be ok under cool floro? Say 2 100Ws?

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well you are working in a 4x4 area correct? if you can spring for 2 i would say go for it i was using 3 over 2 2x4 flood trays end to end (so like a 2x8 area) and it worked great, prably a bit overkill but hey its better to have more than less when it comes to lighting.

Wait, even one 400W HPS light for a 4X4 area with about 10-20 plants is too much?

Also, can't find 75 watters. Would a 150 be best?

Thanks for all your help guys. I thoroughly understand the ebb and flow system now, I just need to nail down lighting.

Edit: haha, nevermind I get ya.

So just the one 400w, in your opinion drgreen?

Thanks for all your help man. Truly. I think I have my setup pretty much completely done. Now I just need to find some tutorials on the finer details, like how to use coir and the like.

I've spent three days on this forum asking constant questions and you all have been so kind and clear and patient. I want to thank each and every one of you who personally helped tutor me. I feel like I'm ready to begin and I have no real questions as far as operation is concerned. I will post a thread detailing my babies once I get them growing and each and every one of you will be given credit. =D

Thanks again guys.

Your welcome and good luck with your finished setup.

Hey, real quick, what kind of light do I want on the mothers to keep the just veggin out?

Once the others are shot, either not growing anymore clone material or they've been used too much, can I slap them under grow conditions and salvage something out of her?

weednublet said:

Hey, real quick, what kind of light do I want on the mothers to keep the just veggin out?

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Some people use CFLs, some use the tube flor depending on the size you can use low wattage MH light(s).

weednublet said:

Once the others are shot, either not growing anymore clone material or they've been used too much, can I slap them under grow conditions and salvage something out of her?

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Once the mom pplants get to a point where they are soon to be either to big for the grow space, to big for the pot or all that's pretty much left is mostly the very top growth people will take clones get them rooted and replace the moms with a bunch of clones and over time once the main mom gets big enough they will either flower the mom replacement clones or take them completely for clones and leave how ever many moms they want and flower the clones that were taken off the replacement moms that they didn't want.

I got these shitty lights of america 17w grow lights, one for the moms and one for the clones or is that too little? It doesn't give off a whole lot of light.

Thanks for the pointers =D

weednublet said:

I got these shitty lights of america 17w grow lights, one for the moms and one for the clones or is that too little? It doesn't give off a whole lot of light.

Thanks for the pointers =D

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Are they CFL , tube flor or what kind are they?

Toolage 87 said:

Are they CFL , tube flor or what kind are they?

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http://www.conservationmart.com/p-431-loa-24-17w-grow-light-stick-7020gl-under-cabinet-light.aspx?utm_source=google&utm_medium=Product_Search&utm_campaign=google_base Those.

I want to go over my entire setup to see if I'm missing anything at all.

So I'll be getting two five gallon rubbermaid tubs and two ten gallon tubs. The fives for cloning and mothers and the tens for the growing. I'll be getting pumps for each and drilling a hole in the lid, putting the tubing into the flood tray as well as installing an overflow tube through both. I'll be getting and putting four airstones in the big tubs and two airstones in the smaller ones. They hook up to air pumps(Aquarium pumps, right?) I'll cut a square near the edge of the lid of the res and put a hinge on it, for easy PH testing/neuts. So my reservoirs are covered with water/air pumps and drain/add tubes.

I'll use 2inch rockwool cubes After the Rockwool has been soaked for about an hour in 5.5 PH water I'll dip the cut end (45 degree angle) in clonex in a shotglass for about 30 seconds. I'll put a bit of rooting powder on the bottom then put her in the rockwool and let it chill in the cloning area until I see roots coming out of the bottom of the cube. For this part, do they need to have a grow tray regularly flooded with water/neuts or what? Then I'll put them down in the netpots in the grow zone after putting a small layer of coco croutons at the bottom. I'll cover the rest of the netpot with coco and put a lid on her. I'll have 1 70w HPS light over top of each growing tray, so only two really.

weednublet said:

haha, nevermind I get ya. So just the one 400w, in your opinion drgreen?

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i think the one would do "ok" but 2 250 watters would do much better IMO. believe me when i say 400 watters do not generate much heat at all im running 7 and almost 400 watts of t5 right now and have no heat issues, the lighting is all you my friend if you want to get into the most efficient bulb out well then 600 is the way to go, 1 600 would do your space and some, also the 600 doesnt generate much more heat than a 400. i cooled 2 400's with a 90 cfm squirrel cage fan and you could touch the glass it was so cool. venting will be a must with any light in that space just get a good fan going and you will be good with any light you choose.

So, why should I use a 400 over 4 75s, like Tool suggested?

Ok I did some number crunching and here's the cost to run the lights for 180 days for 12 hours per day

400w HPS = $77.76
Four 70w HPS - $54.43

The amount that you can save running 4 70w HPS $23.33

400w HPS cost per month = $12.96
Four 70w HPS cost per month = $9.07

----- Cost of the Bulbs -----
70w HPS = $10
400w HPS = $20


So you can buy roughly 2 70w HPS lights for the same cost as a 400w HPS light. Now yes that's only 2 lights but take into account the amount you save running 4 70w HPS lights you have $23.33 savings so buy 2 more bulbs and that's $3.33 you saved in your pocket.

Another thing that is good if you want to use four 70w HPS is that you can time them so that they come on all at once or you can do what I'd do is to have 2 of them come on for 12 hours but stager then so that when 1 of the first 2 turns off the one that is off can turn on then when the 2nd one turns off the 2nd light that was off can turn on. Or you can have 2 of them come on for 12 hours (1st flowering section) then when those turn off the other 2 come on for their 12 hours (2nd flowering area). My method could help you with heat problems depending where you live.

Toolage 87 said:

Ok I did some number crunching and here's the cost to run the lights for 180 days for 12 hours per day

400w HPS = $77.76
Four 70w HPS - $54.43

The amount that you can save running 4 70w HPS $23.33

400w HPS cost per month = $12.96
Four 70w HPS cost per month = $9.07

----- Cost of the Bulbs -----
70w HPS = $10
400w HPS = $20


So you can buy roughly 2 70w HPS lights for the same cost as a 400w HPS light. Now yes that's only 2 lights but take into account the amount you save running 4 70w HPS lights you have $23.33 savings so buy 2 more bulbs and that's $3.33 you saved in your pocket.

Another thing that is good if you want to use four 70w HPS is that you can time them so that they come on all at once or you can do what I'd do is to have 2 of them come on for 12 hours but stager then so that when 1 of the first 2 turns off the one that is off can turn on then when the 2nd one turns off the 2nd light that was off can turn on. Or you can have 2 of them come on for 12 hours (1st flowering section) then when those turn off the other 2 come on for their 12 hours (2nd flowering area). My method could help you with heat problems depending where you live.

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I think I'll go with the 70w because I can buy them piece by piece and I can use them later on down the road for other shit.

Thanks a ton guys, for all your help. Now I need to find a whole unit to buy. The 400w has a hood with built in ballast and shit, hoping I can find one like that for 70W