Rookie move

[elious]

Very specific, detailed, and extremely helpful information! Mad props man!
Okay, so the bottom line is the T5's are more than capable of vegging and are comparably cheaper to buy and run than a "quality" metal halide setup. The turn around is that the metal halide is better for vegging if you're willing and capable to pony-up the dough for the "quality" setup. And in the end they more or less even out because the expense you're saving on the T5's you're looking in grow time and effectively the time it tales to harvest. The same goes for the MH except in reverse. Other pays off in the end bit it'll cost you what you're reaping in return for MH. Well, shit man. I'm still not decided. But the bright side is your information educated me and at least I know what the pros and cons of both are. Thanks again Wiz! Totally appreciated!

 

[WizHigh]

Very specific, detailed, and extremely helpful information! Mad props man!
Okay, so the bottom line is the T5's are more than capable of vegging and are comparably cheaper to buy and run than a "quality" metal halide setup. The turn around is that the metal halide is better for vegging if you're willing and capable to pony-up the dough for the "quality" setup. And in the end they more or less even out because the expense you're saving on the T5's you're looking in grow time and effectively the time it tales to harvest. The same goes for the MH except in reverse. Other pays off in the end bit it'll cost you what you're reaping in return for MH. Well, shit man. I'm still not decided. But the bright side is your information educated me and at least I know what the pros and cons of both are. Thanks again Wiz! Totally appreciated!

Lol unless you want to spend $150 x out the MH. Now you have a choice between the T5 & CMH bulb which works in a HPS ballast. CMH bulb is better than any MH bulb and its a lot cheaper. You can use the CMH bulb for veg and flower. I would say if you have 2 different grow rooms, one for veg and one for flower than get a T5 for your veg room and get a HPS for your flower room. But if you only have one room to work with go with a HPS ballast and lamp and just buy a CMH bulb and a HPS bulb.

I think that's where I confused you and my self because I don't know the space your working with and also if your tryin to save money or price doesnt matter lol

 

[iSmokes]

Just think about everything before you start doing anything. Don't decide on items individually. First and foremost decide on you grow area, make sure you don't overcrowd it, and then plan accordingly. This is just my opinion, of course. ONE of my rookie mistakes (not that i'm done doing them) was planning each part by itself. I ended up changing my setup over and over and over...
The type of lights you choose depend more on the area you're growing and the number of plants under it more than your preference or any chart out there in my opinion. If you're going over 2x4, then you should just go with the good old and proven HID combo. I don't know, I really want to stay away from giving specific advice, that's just an example I guess. Best of luck on your move indoors There's tons of info and journals on this forum. You'll love it here

 

[elious]

What does CMH stand for? And how high of wattage do they go? I'm guessing I could Google it. CMH... Its new to me man. Oh, wtf is plasma lighting all about? The cost is f@#%&*@ ridiculous but I'm just curious about what the story is on those things.

 

[iSmokes]

I'm not sure but I'm thinking conversion metal halide? If you're going with a digital ballast you can just get a pulse start MH and it plugs right, I'm not sure if CMH has advantages over regular MH. Plasmas are actually a little cheaper than quality LED's. I don't know much about them tho .

 

[elious]

You know you're right iSmokes. This is what I'm talking about. Great perspective! Having someone to say, don't forget to put the horse IN FRONT of the wagon. Very good man. You see, I have a 10x10 room that's split into two rooms. One being 10x6 and the other being 10x4 (not counting the small space taken up by the wall built between the rooms, dividing them.) Now, I'm looking to have 12 vegging while 12 are flowering and if I can ever figure out what I'm going with cloning, that leaves me oneore plant as my momma plant. All in which puts me right where I need to be in order to keep it within my legal boundaries. Here in northern California we can grow as many as 25 plants as long as we have a note from the doctor. So, a lawyer once told me that if your going to do it make it worth your dam trouble and do it right. What's your guys suggestions? Wiz told me what he thinks he would do and it sounds about right. I didn't have any issues with heat from my small grow recently. It was okay... For a rookie! But I want to go for the throat on this next one and "DO IT RIGHT!" So... What is the right way to do it?

 

[WizHigh]

Ceramic Metal Halide, they only go up to 400w so yea you might want more wattage than that. 400w is good for a 4x4 area. As Smoke said the wattage will depend on the room size. The bigger the hood the more footage it will lose though. Better foot print and lumens is in a medium size hood. Light starts to fade bought time it gets to the further end of the hood if its to big. To cover more footage just raise your lamp. The closer it is to the ground you'll lose footage. It's not always the size of the hood.

 

[iSmokes]

I'm sure Wiz had great advice for you. I didn't read the comments to be honest, I just skimmed through. I found your question spot on so I thought I'd toss my 2 tokes on the topic . In my opinion, if you're going all in on this one, and you want to do it right, go with proven classics. Please don't take this as advice bro, merely a noob's opinion. For a grow that big I wouldn't think of any other than MH and HPS. You need a lot of light in there, and HID is by far the best in lumen/watt efficiency. I know there's a big debate about lumens meaning nothing and PAR is what you want, but I'm sure a lot of grows prove the effectiveness of vegging under MH and flowering under HPS. Some like to mix up spectrums during flowering as well, focusing more on HPS red of course. You have so many options man.

You're definitely looking at multiple lights/area. Your veg is 10x4 and flower is 10x6. That's huge I hope you see baseball bat sized colas in there man. Another thing you should consider is the plants you're trying to grow. Your overall wattage will mainly be determined by the area covered, but the lighting style will vary depending on the plants. Are you trying to grow plants or trees? This will make a big difference. Since you're allowed 25, I'm guessing you want to go full capacity?

 

[WizHigh]

Yea Smoke is right. For a size room like that and alot of plants MH is better for veg. As Smoke said the more light the better. and thats where the lumens come in. MH is minimum 45,000 lumens where as T5 are 22,000 lumens. I didn't know you wanted a big grow I thought this was for something of a 4x4 room. Me and Smoke will have you tip top shape.

 

[iSmokes]

I was just going through your comments Wiz, you obviously thought this was a tent grow lol. This is huge, man I'd keep 4-5 momas in a smaller veg space and go SOG 20 clones in a big flood and drain. Elious I'm jealous man.

 

[elious]

Ceramic Metal Halide, they only go up to 400w so yea you might want more wattage than that. 400w is good for a 4x4 area. As Smoke said the wattage will depend on the room size. The bigger the hood the more footage it will lose though. Better foot print and lumens is in a medium size hood. Light starts to fade bought time it gets to the further end of the hood if its to big. To cover more footage just raise your lamp. The closer it is to the ground you'll lose footage. It's not always the size of the hood.

That an interesting tip man! I was totally under the impression that the larger the hood the bigger the footprint. Wow! I've got some changes to make already. That's really good advice and I'm going to apply this advice for sure.

 

[WizHigh]

I hope more new growers stop by this thread you made to pick up o. This stuff. I didn't know known of this stuff when I first start growing. Rookie mistake

 

[iSmokes]

1000 watters will fill up big reflectors, there's also multi-bulb reflectors you can check out. You have a lot of options man, think it through and check out bigger grows like yours. It's very different than smaller grows (especially the setup). CO2? Sealed grow? Exhausted? Grow style? I have no experience with bigger grows so I'll refrain from giving advice, but I'll sure direct you to some grows/videos/examples to check out once you start forming a solid plan to follow.

 

[elious]

Thanks a lot to both of you. Not just for the advice but also for the incite on what kind of potential I have available to me. I don't I definitely want to run these babies at full capacity and it may take another grow before I have the cash to maximize the potential of the space I have to work with. 12 full blown plants could easily fit in the flower room but its going to take up pretty much the whole room. I won't have the light exposure to reach the whole room obviously. I'm only going to run one light per room on this trip. Its just a money thing, I can't afford more than that...yet
I'm going to have to cut off their Veg cycle before they are too big to make sure they will fit in the area I can cover with light.
So for now I've got some great feedback to consider and many thanks for it guys. I really do appreciate it

 

[iSmokes]

Best of luck man, I'm glad I helped somehow. You're very welcome I hope we'll see a nice journal and juicy nugs

 

[Buckshot]

Where do I start? I have made SO many mistakes.

I did not check out my first light vendor... big mistake.
I used Foxfarm products...big mistake (with exceptions)
I decided to "push it" one generation and feed "more"... foolish
I did not control RH during budding... huge mistake, bud rot
I did not control PH for germinating seeds... huge mistake, death
I did not use a silicon nute for leaf structure... big mistake, mold
I decided to use MH for veg... $20.00 mistake, I will go CMH

Those are the glaring ones, I am still making mistakes come and watch

 

[WizHigh]

Lol good one Buckshot

 

[elious]

I was deciding what I wanted to do and I came to the conclusion that I want to do an aeroponic set up but I'm confused how omit supposed to keep the roots from getting into the water. The idea behind aeroponics is that they are allowed to get plenty of oxygen. So how would that be the case if the roots are hanging down into the water? WizHigh?... ISmokes?...

 

[iSmokes]

I have absolutely no experience with hydro, but I have read A LOT because I'm planning to switch soon. IF I understand aeroponics correctly, it's actually just misters around the roots while they hang in air (O2 heaven for roots). Deep Water Culture is where the roots hang in the water with air stones around to keep O2 up. Again with hydro the number and size of plants will pretty much dictate what method to go with. Larger grows go with a one resevoir system to make it easier.

 

[iSmokes]

Check out Ebb & Grow and Flo-n-Grow and similar products. That would be pretty sweet for your room because each of your plants gets its own space . I'm pretty sure you have tons of options with hydro.