Need help with first grow setup!! lots of questions

whats up guys! been lurking around rollitup community for about 4 weeks now and gotta say am overwhelmed with all the information and planning it takes to have a succesful grow
have an appointment in a week to get my mm card and am stoked!
looking to setup my first grow and wanted some advice on a good design for what i'm working with
i'm definetly going to go with a tent setup, the 4x4 tents and the 76x76x76 tents are pretty close in price ranger, 4x4 run $120 with shipping and ive seen 76x76 go for $150 on ebay with shipping
space is looking to be not much of an issue but i'm hoping to work with a tent just to have a controlled space for my first grow
next i guess would be lighting, ive decided to buy my lighting used off craigslist just because of the money to be saved, most lights ive seen have only been used for 1 grow cycle or less
so its between a 400w 600w or 1000w
ive seen them all range from $100-$249 with ballast, air cooled hood, and bulb but most of the time only hps setup
so my first question is should i buy an hps setup and then get a conversion bulb for mh to veg or should i get some cheap cfls and then use the hps for flowering
i plan on doing a quick turn from clones 2 weeks veg and 4-6 flower
so basically for $200 right now i could buy a 400w mh setup and 600w hps with everything and air cooled hoods on both

i was going to run a open cycle system so maybe some advice on a design to run that?

basically what is the best watt system to run in a 4x4 tent without having extreme heat issues, i have no problem buying 2 fans but theyd both be around the 200-300cfm rating

so in a 4x4 tent would 400 600 or 1000 watt be the most efficient while still being easy to maintain heat and get a decent if not good yield?

and should i buy an mh and hps set up or can i get away with vegging with cfls and flowering with whatever hps you guys decide is best?

and lastly for now should i step up and buy the 76x76 tent or stay smaller for my first grow?


THANK YOU!

nothing? lol

I'm also wondering the same thing. Does it affect the yield if vegged under cfls and then put under 600W HPS for flowering?

i havent found any posts about it yet

Hey guys, as a tent grower myself, I would probably recommend the 600w - anything bigger (especially in a 4X4) you will most likely battle with heat issues. I run a 400w in a DR120 with absolutely no heat problems whatsoever and I would imagine 600w would be OK too, especially if you plan on running 2 inline fans with 1 cooling the hood.

And yes, depending on your fluros and the height you want to get the plants, you could most certainly veg with cfl's and then flower under an HPS. I personally use fluros for seedlings, clones, and young plants, then switch to MH for Veg and then HPS for flower. Good luck!

Thanx for the info Dagger. Growing under cfls or fluros first can def cut down on electric costs.

thanks for the info man, what amount of cfm should i be looking for at minimum for my exhaust
im thinking
filter/fan/ducting/hood/ducting/outside tent
so if im pulling through the filter what cfm would i need?

anything? lol

I would go with a 6in inline fan.240 cfm.

atleast 400 for that light