Need help please! General questions inside

DrCali420 said:

First off, I would like to say, very nice site here. I have been lurking for a bit but this will be my first thread/post. I have a few grows under my belt, but it has been a few years now since my last. My previous grows were soil, and now I think I wan to switch to hydro, well aeroponic I should say, however, I am up for suggestion

Lighting Questions

1. Magnetic or Digital? Is there an advantage to either. I remember reading a article in high times about how people should stay away from digital ballasts, but I don't remember why

2. Bulbs for flowering- When I grew I used a 1000w hortilux eye. I see there are quite a few different types of bulbs on the market, but what is the best? I plan on having a separate veg room, so would I want a enhanced spectrum bulb?

3. Bulbs for veg- Again I see so many different options its almost confusing. CFL's, T5's, metal halide, or something else? I will most likely grow all indica from clone so I would like nice tight nodes.

4. Coverage Area- If I go with this aeroponic table, would (2) 600w lights be enough? It holds 30 plants, so Im thinking this may not be enough light. If not, should I add another, or get a light mover on rails, or use a different combination of lights?
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/aeroflo_series/af30/

Growing style

I was thinking I wanted to go with aeroponics, again, something like this
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/aeroflo_series/af30/
But I am confused (since Ive only grown in soil). How is it you can fit so many plants together so closely? Is this possible, or are you supposed to space these rows further apart? I am hoping to get about 1oz per plant dried, right around 2 pounds. Would this kind of table the way it is shown in the pic be able to produce this amount, or are these made for much smaller plants? Im hoping for a short veg, no more than 3 weeks.

Ventilation

1. Light cooling- I plan on using sealed air cooled hoods, so should i take air from outside the room straight through the lights and out? Do I need a carbon scrubber at then end of my lights, or because it all sealed there will be no smell?

2. Exhaust- I will be growing in a room around 10 ft long, 6ft wide and 6ft tall, inside my 2 car garage. Last time I tried to exhaust through my attic, but Im not sure that worked well. I have heard you should not exhaust through the same room you pull air from, but because the garage is so big, and the room only like a 1/3 of the size of the garage would it be ok to take air from one side of the room and exhaust through the other?

3. Intake- Do i need an intake fan, or should I just have a hole in the grow room and let the exhaust fan do all the work? With that size room i should be using a fan around 500cfm (right?) to exchange air once per minute, so would that suck fresh air inthrough my intake hole?

4. A/C unit- Running the lights at night, 7pm to 7am the temps are pretty cool, but during the day (lights out) it gets kind of hot in the garage and I may need to use an a/c unit. Last time I had the unit in my grow room with the exhaust going out (would that cause smell, because it always smelled pungent during flower), is that how it should be, or would I be better off with the unit outside the room forcing air in? Does the AC when inside the grow room steal air to make air? I just dont understand how they make the cold air?

Thanks for any help! I have read like 3 books on growing, but it seems like the more I read the more confused I get.

Click to expand...

DrCali420 said:

First off, I would like to say, very nice site here. I have been lurking for a bit but this will be my first thread/post. I have a few grows under my belt, but it has been a few years now since my last. My previous grows were soil, and now I think I wan to switch to hydro, well aeroponic I should say, however, I am up for suggestion

Lighting Questions

1. Magnetic or Digital? Is there an advantage to either. I remember reading a article in high times about how people should stay away from digital ballasts, but I don't remember why

From what I gather, Digital ballast have a tendency to mess with RF frequencies that at a high enough voltage can cause shit to go haywire like cellphone signal, internet and cable. Oh yeah, I've heard of cases that they have exploded,

http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-marijuana-growing/347312-my-digital-ballast-caused-widespread-net-outage.html


2. Bulbs for flowering- When I grew I used a 1000w hortilux eye. I see there are quite a few different types of bulbs on the market, but what is the best? I plan on having a separate veg room, so would I want a enhanced spectrum bulb?

Been out pf the game for a while but they sell bulbs with the light spectrum indicator charts, highest in Red7orange is where you want to be.

3. Bulbs for veg- Again I see so many different options its almost confusing. CFL's, T5's, metal halide, or something else? I will most likely grow all indica from clone so I would like nice tight nodes.

T'5 are great if you have the space, especially for cloning. All in all, I say CFL's are the way to go... IMO

4. Coverage Area- If I go with this aeroponic table, would (2) 600w lights be enough? It holds 30 plants, so Im thinking this may not be enough light. If not, should I add another, or get a light mover on rails, or use a different combination of lights?
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/aeroflo_series/af30/

Growing style

I was thinking I wanted to go with aeroponics, again, something like this
http://generalhydroponics.com/site/index.php/products/systems/aeroflo_series/af30/
But I am confused (since Ive only grown in soil). How is it you can fit so many plants together so closely? Is this possible, or are you supposed to space these rows further apart? I am hoping to get about 1oz per plant dried, right around 2 pounds. Would this kind of table the way it is shown in the pic be able to produce this amount, or are these made for much smaller plants? Im hoping for a short veg, no more than 3 weeks.

That's a nice set up, I see what you mean about the space... the more compact the more short and dense the buds would be so it can help in limited vertical space issues. The yield your looking for could be attained other methods with out the need of so many plants under the control of just one nute scedule (unless your growing all the same strain)... just saying

Ventilation

1. Light cooling- I plan on using sealed air cooled hoods, so should i take air from outside the room straight through the lights and out? Do I need a carbon scrubber at then end of my lights, or because it all sealed there will be no smell?

errr... well If you where pulling air from outside, into the light, then to a scrubber, ur really accomplishing nothing as far for the smell (because you just cleaned the ''outside'' already clean air) Ideally you want to pull the air grow your grow box in this order. OUTSIDE WHERE FAN IS==SCRUBER=ducting=Hood/bakearound w.e==ducting===. There are diff ways though.

2. Exhaust- I will be growing in a room around 10 ft long, 6ft wide and 6ft tall, inside my 2 car garage. Last time I tried to exhaust through my attic, but Im not sure that worked well. I have heard you should not exhaust through the same room you pull air from, but because the garage is so big, and the room only like a 1/3 of the size of the garage would it be ok to take air from one side of the room and exhaust through the other?

Exhaust through your attic with scrubber in there and fan sucking through it, which is also connected to the cooled light .

3. Intake- Do i need an intake fan, or should I just have a hole in the grow room and let the exhaust fan do all the work? With that size room i should be using a fan around 500cfm (right?) to exchange air once per minute, so would that suck fresh air inthrough my intake hole?
FRESH OXYGEN... plants will love you for it... try to add couple small computer fans by bottom stems.

**NOTE: the idea is that you want to create negative preassure in order for ventilation set up works to par, I would suggest research a little more about that since I have no Idea what your working with.**


4. A/C unit- Running the lights at night, 7pm to 7am the temps are pretty cool, but during the day (lights out) it gets kind of hot in the garage and I may need to use an a/c unit. Last time I had the unit in my grow room with the exhaust going out (would that cause smell, because it always smelled pungent during flower), is that how it should be, or would I be better off with the unit outside the room forcing air in? Does the AC when inside the grow room steal air to make air? I just dont understand how they make the cold air?

Thanks for any help! I have read like 3 books on growing, but it seems like the more I read the more confused I get.

Click to expand...