Hello! First off, I love your name, funky granny lol. Welcome to riu (rollitup)!!! There are tons of knowledgeable people here that are more than willing to help walk you through every process, and give you tips and tricks along the way. It really isn't as bad as it seems once you begin to get acquainted with everything.
You're already making a smart move by getting the electrical side of things sorted out first. It may look like a lot, but there actually isn't as much as you might think. Especially for a small grow setup that is meant for just one person, you will have a lot less cords/wires than a lot of the bigger commercial setups. You can probably get by with having just one 6 outlet surge protector.
As far as the wiring goes, if you are going to hire an electrician then he should be able to make sure that everything is safe. I would recommend either having him install a larger circuit breaker (only IF the one used for that closet is small or old-- I just installed a 20 amp and it works fine for my 1000 watt setup. Again, if you are growing for yourself a 400 watt would be more than enough. Another option you might consider, is asking the electrician if he can split the closet up onto two separate breakers-- often times easier said than done, however. But if your circuit breaker is rated for 20 amps (hell, even 15 probably) then I doubt you will run into any problems. I installed a 20 just to be safe.
As far as equipment goes: there are a few basics that you need to get familiar with. The main items used for most grows are:
Light-- includes your bulb, the hood (or reflective wing), and the ballast (think of it like an electric guitar amplifier, but for the light). The bulb screws into the hood, the hood plugs into the ballast, and the ballast plugs into the wall-- so you will have 1 chord from this that will need to be plugged up (the ballast).
Now, these lights can produce some heat, and so ventilation will definitely be required. Also, the plants will definitely smell...well, like weed, and ventilation (a fan and carbon filter combo) can also solve this problem. When people talk about "air cooled hoods" or "cool tubes", they are talking about a light enclosed within a hood, that has some type of fan pulling air through it. The air carries the heat out of the hood, and wherever you exhaust it to.
You can kill two birds with one stone (as far as ventilation is concerned) and have a fan that not only pulls air through a carbon filter (eliminating odor) but then also pulls that air through the hood, eliminating the heat from the light at the same time. Its very important that you have the heat under control if you want a nice crop. Here is an example of my ventilation-- keep in mind, I have an 1100 watt light, so my equipment will be a little bigger than yours:
The air is being pulled by a fan outside of the tent (exhaust fan). You will definitely need more than just the bathroom fan for exhaust, but again it will serve two purposes: eliminating heat and odor. In my picture, the air is being pulled in through the carbon filter (white thing), and then its pulled through the hood before leaving the grow area.
Enough light and proper ventilation are the two main things you will need for a nice grow, and so far you only have two things to plug in--the ballast (light) and an inline fan (Google it, there plenty to choose from. This is the type of fan needed to easily connect the duct work for your ventilation.)
Sorry if this post is really long, but a lot of times it can be hard to find all of the info you will need, and in an easy to understand form. You will probably need to add a couple more things, like a fan blowing on your plants (by making them "dance" in the wind, it strengthens the stems and they can hold bigger buds).
If you havr any more questions then keep 'em coming. There is still a lot more to cover once you get started, in order to grow some nice big beautiful buds, but none of that can happen til we get this grow room setup!
By the way, there are some nice full system setups out there, where you make one purchase and it comes with everything you need--lights, fans, advanced nutrients, hydroponic systems, etc).
I hope to see you around here in the near future posting pics of your beautiful ladies! I am a beginner on my ffirst grow, and this website has taught me a lot. Tons of useful information, and useless people
