Lighting LIghting options...best bang for the buck?

[G.Leave]

Hey ladies and gents!

Okay here is the situation...the medical grow rules in my country have changed and growing will be allowed for all medical users that need meds. This recent shift has changed everything for me. Though I do the outdoor gig, I would like to concentrate on an indoor setup this winter to be able to test out a number of different strains for my med issues. Last season I did an indoor microgrow in a stealth cab under 3 lights 2 are GalaxyHydro 100X3w and one was an old Marshydro 100X3w. Though I am happy with the results from both lights, this new proposed space is not vertically limited, and I will be allowed to grow between 10 and 25 plants at a time(plant number to be determined after I see my Doctor next week.) No longer will I be limited by vertical as the space has 6.5 feet of head room.

Okay....so not going to bullshit you. I am pretty damned poor, so I am on a limited budget for this setup. I initially wanted to do an autopot or dwc setup, but quickly realized that I don't have the extra cash to make that happen, so I decided to do the first run using promix in homemade 5gallon airpots. I figured it might be wise to run a system I am familiar with the first run. The envorimnet is cool and dry...should be perfect for any type of lighting really, heat should not be a major concern.

Alright so lighting...ive heard a lot of buzz about 315cmh lately. There is a seller on ebay with Phantom cmh for just over $300. How much space would a 315 cover? How close can the plants get to cmh lighting? http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Phantom-315W...312738?hash=item36051232e2:g:lC0AAOSwaB5XiEw3

Alright street lights...HPS...a 1k will cover a 4X4 area well and they are cheap. But for power consumption is this as good of a choice as LED?

And finally LED...quite happy with the old cheap GalaxyHydro's, but need more power for canopy penetration. Galaxy produced a fine light for the money, and I have been looking at their 400w cob units.http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PopularGrow-...225308?hash=item281e6e1f5c:g:N6MAAOSw65FXrSkl

So bottomline...I would love to run a hybrid light setup(perhaps LED/cmh). I am not stuck on any one type of lighting, in fact I am not even stuck on doing 25 plants at a time even if I get the right to grow that many. I would certainly do a perpetual harvest so not to overload myself with harvests. The first run I would do varied strains(from 60-100 days) to break up the harvests. Planning to run portal dragon strains, DP auto strains(from night queen to ultimate), and some Dinafem and Bomb.

A couple of fellas I would love to hear from on this
@A4
@A-Train
@Fairlynew
@derek420colorado

 

[A-Train]

What's up man. Congrats on your new setup.... Ok to cover the most area the cheapest the 1000k hps in my opinion will be the best option.

But at the same time it'll be the worst as far as power consumption and efficiency. And you have to have that thing vented or in a cool tube with fan because they get hot

If you can start with it and upgrade to led later that would be great.

Here's how it all works. Lol the more efficient and more quality led you get the more ya pay for it and you usually get what ya pay for if ya know what I mean so the money part is a big deal. I would start out with a 1000 hps and your current led panels. And as you can save the cash up find quality replacement LED panels for the grow area.


Now my best suggestion is to use this time to STUDY DIY cob lighting. If you are handy at all you can build your own lights. When you do this you take the price of a QUALITY led and cut it more than in half.

For instance if company X has a cob fixture on the market for 1200 bucks. You can buy the same components from one of the AFN reccomended dealers like the cobs and drivers and heatsinks ...... the same ones in the 1200 dollar lights for less than 600 and build it your self. Just do your homework and use folks like arty and atulip they are good with that and atulip is the best I've seen.

Watch growmau5 on YouTube that's the best way to learn

That's my 2 cents for what it's worth my man. DIY COB is the future of growing on a budget. Twice the light half the price

 

[BR549]

No suggestions here, but I just had to toss out a congratulations on the good news!

 

[G.Leave]

What's up man. Congrats on your new setup.... Ok to cover the most area the cheapest the 1000k hps in my opinion will be the best option.

But at the same time it'll be the worst as far as power consumption and efficiency. And you have to have that thing vented or in a cool tube with fan because they get hot

If you can start with it and upgrade to led later that would be great.

Here's how it all works. Lol the more efficient and more quality led you get the more ya pay for it and you usually get what ya pay for if ya know what I mean so the money part is a big deal. I would start out with a 1000 hps and your current led panels. And as you can save the cash up find quality replacement LED panels for the grow area.


Now my best suggestion is to use this time to STUDY DIY cob lighting. If you are handy at all you can build your own lights. When you do this you take the price of a QUALITY led and cut it more than in half.

For instance if company X has a cob fixture on the market for 1200 bucks. You can buy the same components from one of the AFN reccomended dealers like the cobs and drivers and heatsinks ...... the same ones in the 1200 dollar lights for less than 600 and build it your self. Just do your homework and use folks like arty and atulip they are good with that and atulip is the best I've seen.

Watch growmau5 on YouTube that's the best way to learn

That's my 2 cents for what it's worth my man. DIY COB is the future of growing on a budget. Twice the light half the price

Thanks so much for the response and suggestions Atrain. Really appreciate it man. Yeah its been a shame having a very useable space just sitting there(and a wifey not cool with an indoor grow, but with legality she is on board! woohoo). So the space is similar to a silence of the lambs type basement...kind of a scary place tbh...lol..I was just down in the "Dungeon" and realized that its not quite as high as I though. Rather than spending hundreds and hundreds on tents I will board a room up. I can get away with 6'X12' area easily, and can make the one end of the room extend in an L shape, so picture a 6X12 room with a 4X4 attached to the one end(entrance and equip supply, drying, with veg room possibilities when/if I choose to do any photos in the future)

I do hear what you are saying about hps and the upgrade in the future, but honestly I would rather not invest in equipment that will only be used short time. I figure with the 3 panels I already have I would get away with those until I get something better(kind of upgrade as they out grow the current lights). Just from previous experience I agree that heat from the HPS would be an issue in a tightly enclosed space, and i would prefer to buy final lights right off the hop.

I like the idea of DIY Cobs...i used to be a cabinetmaker and without a doubt I could handle a project like that, though lately i have been pretty short on patience. I currently use LED's in stuff i make these days, so soldering, resistors ect i am quite familiar with. Unfortunately we have the worst internet imaginable and i cannot view utube vids...its a total pain in the arse! What i would really like to avoid is the high power cost vs efficiency. Though i would like to continue running a 24hr schedule i will change it to a 18 or 20hour to miss the peak hours(during 8am-4pm power cost is much higher). Even if i miss some/most of the peak period, I will save a lot of cash.

So this is what i am thinking
6X12 space - 18" walking isle, so that leaves me with 4'6" of growing space X 12feet. I figure 4 bigger autos(ultimates daiquiri, mazar ect) would cover 4'6" X 6' easily(2'3" X 3 feet per plant), and another 9 smaller autos would cover the other 4'6" X 6' perfectly. The useable vertical space once the room is built will be 5'6". This will leave some flex for plant numbers both ways(if i only get 10 plants no prob, just grow bigger strains, if more i don't really want to do more than 15 at a time anyways) Potentially i would consider having an optional divider that coud break the 6X12 into two separate rooms, but additional fans would be needed if i went that route.

No suggestions here, but I just had to toss out a congratulations on the good news!

Hey thanks man...it is true victory for all med users. The way it was set up before was ludicrous, $400 an ounce and you could only buy from a single licenced supplier...couldn't see the bud even before buying for $400 an ounce??? LOL...hell they sell the LEAF for $8 a gram.

@Atulip @arty zan I would love to hear some input from you gents!(thanks for the reminder/heads up on those two Atrain!)

 

[A-Train]

Northern grow lights .com

 

[Discretepete2676]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh green skell buddy!!!!! I think I might have something very helpful to you.... Let me grab you a very very useful link to help you with EVERY question above almost....ok so I don't have Adobe flash player on my phone so I can't get to where i need to.... Hopefully your on a computer still.... You should be ok than....
Anyway go to your internet search bar and type in "sunlight supply lighting layout calculator" should be the first link. If not you can Also visit sunlight supplys website and go to the "tools" option and it should be under there....I think you will find what your looking for....

 

[diggum]

The sun!

Bahaha hey tomhillskell! Hope your indoor is going to be great. Come update us on the portal too. Saw your Frisian dew drying rack? How many kilometers big was that screen! Hahah

But if I had to say best bang for buck I'd do some cobs. growmau5 cutter special is a good deal. Unless you have room in the future to do verticle then it would be CMH Phillips 315watters, 3100k. (Which I already know that answer) haha

Cheers

 

[G.Leave]

The sun!

Bahaha hey tomhillskell! Hope your indoor is going to be great. Come update us on the portal too. Saw your Frisian dew drying rack? How many kilometers big was that screen! Hahah

But if I had to say best bang for buck I'd do some cobs. growmau5 cutter special is a good deal. Unless you have room in the future to do verticle then it would be CMH Phillips 315watters, 3100k. (Which I already know that answer) haha

Cheers

Haha hey man! Will be starting a portal thread when the indoor is fired up...wayyyyy too busy to deal with that right now. I am starting to second guess whether my vertical space will be enough to do a vert grow(little less than 6') Still thinking about a LED and CMH hybrid setup though. Will check out growmau5 , so far I am gearing toward the great value from populargrow for 800w cobs(380 real watts), but not set. They are around $250 per unit, and I would grab 3 to start.(with a plan of adding a 315cmh)

 

[diggum]

sounds fantastic!

 

[BigSm0]

Coooooooobs

Citizen clu048-1212's are 13 bucks each and with the different wiring options you could score a 4 cob driver for $40