Hi all…well Im just about ready to pull the trigger on my first indoor grow…have grown outdoors off and on for years…I think I have all my stuff picked out and am going to post list for the groups 2 cents worth…
Grodan Stonewool Delta Starter Mini-Blocks – 2 inch x 2 inch x 1.5 inch
ExHale 365 Self Activated CO2 Bag
Advanced Nutrients Hobbyist Bundle Starter Kit
Zelda Horticulture PerfectpH Natural Ion pH Balancer Capsule
Mother Earth Hydroton Original 50 L
Super Sprouter Double Thick Tray No Hole 10 x 20
Super Sprouter Ultra Clear Vented Germination Dome 2 in
Measure Master Graduated Round Containers
Syringe 100cc (Case of 10)
Oxygen Pot Systems Super-Flow XL Digital 6 Site
Plant House Indoor Grow Tent - 4’ x 8’ x 73"
Hurricane 4 inch 171 CFM Fan + Phresh 200 Carbon Filter
Common Culture 4 inch x 25’ Black Lightproof Ducting w/Cla
Aluminum Duct Tape 120 yards
Grodan Stonewool Delta Gro-Block 4 3 inch x 3 inch x 2.5 inch
still undecided on lights but heavily leaning to led because of power advantages and heat…I also am installing an APEC reverse osmosis system at home…and one last thing I decided to get a temp/humidity control box… Inkbird ITC-308 Temperature Controller with IHC-200 Humidity Controller with Outlet for Mushroom Humidifier Dehumidifier Reptile Planting Home Brewing…any input welcome and lets get our grow on! lol
Sounds like you have put a lot of time and thought into this. You’re off to a great start.
I’d say skip the CO2 bag. I put one into a 3x3 tent and it raised the CO2 ppm from about 400 to just over 600. In a 4x8 I can’t imagine it would do anything noticeable.
Your fan is going to be very under sized. Rule of thumb is the volume of your tent multiplied by 1.25, which would get you at about 500cfm. You’ll need an appropriately sized filter to go along with it.
If you’re running 6 plants in that system you’ll likely need more than 50L of hydroton.
I would definitely encourage you to get the controllers for humidity and temperature. Plants won’t grow well if they’re not in the proper environment. Having a heater/air conditioner and humidifier/dehumidifier attached to a controller takes a lot of stress out of the grow. If the room the tent is in is cool and dry you can control both temp and humidity with some ventilation fans.
Do you have fans inside your tent? You’ll need some kind of wind to keep the plants transpiring healthily.
Thanks for the suggestions devjyarn will skip the co2 bag and upgrade the fan …I wasnt sure on the hydroton what amount do you think I should have? I am definitely getting a controller and that leads me to the next question how many sq. feet in 4 x 8 I think it gives you 32 sq feet of grow floor but I dont know if thats right or not want to get a dehumidifier thats big enough to work for that space sand yes I have fans to use
Each pot is 5 gallons, which is about 20L, and you’ve got 6 so I’d get two 50L bags to have enough to fill the system and a bit left over. If you wash the medium between grows it can last a really long time.
You need to get a dehumidifier that’s sized to fit. Full grown plants can drink up to a gallon per day, and they transpire exactly the same. 6 plants putting out a gallon a day means you need 40 pints at the absolute minimum.
I am ordering everything in less than two weeks…so it might still be a minute before Im off and running lol…been thinking of planting three strains… gold leaf as I have some experience with it outdoors…super silver haze first attempt at this strain and purple haze also first attempt at this strain…two of each…was wondering about when I germinate Im using the groden stonewool mini blocks then was thinking of moving them to the groden 3 x 3 x 2.5 when I put them in pots thought a little bigger block would give the plant better stability in the hydroton …is this valid reasoning new to ebb and flo systems…or will starter blocks be ok till I put in pots?
I strongly suggest you check with the growers here when you have decided on a light system. That will be your most expensive buy and the one that makes the biggest difference and there’s sh*tloads of false info out there. I got burned, so please don’t. You will enjoy your experience a lot more with decent lights!
The fun thing with this forum is : you can check what the people advising you are using…
Just check their journals, if they have one, and you will get an idea of what that particular technology can do for you…
And don’t forget, technically you can grow with a couple candles… It all depends what you are looking for and how much you are willing to pay to get there! And there’s a point of diminishing returns where you have enough lights but need to add other things to supplement them (like Co2) I you want to get the full advantage.
I havent really cruised many profiles yet there is so much chatter about lights it makes my head hurt…I was considering 2 of these to get me going
Sunnewgrow 2000w LED Grow Light for Indoor Plants, Triple-Chips & Dual Switch Full Spectrum LED Plant Growing Light Fixtures for Professional Greenhouse Grower. (Daisy Chained Function) (2000 watt) ok let the fun begin lol
The funny part about planning out your first grow. You tend to over buy or buy inappropriate items. The one piece of advise I’d offer is in regards to airflow. Especially around exhaust. I would suggest a six inch exhaust fan with a speed controller and set on a timer.
Depending on set up. You could run negative or positive pressure system. My preference is negative. However its not true full time negative ,due to it being on a timer. The six inch at full power will do 440cfm. We don’t need to evac the air fulltime as its just a waste of electric and extra wear on equipment. So I have mine set to run for five minutes every thirty. And five minutes for every hour when sleeping.
Just something I do. It does help on electric costs. Especially since its running around fifty percent when it actually on due to the speed controller.
Choose a light that doesn’t have a fan on it. It’s just one more thing break, and they use electricity that’s not helping your plants grow! Any of the quantum board, panel style lights that have a mixture of white and red LEDs, is the next big step in LED lighting. Anything that uses just red and blue LEDs is old technology. Everyone has an opinion or testimony about what one is best, but picking something in that style will get you on the right track and make sure that you only spend your hard earned money once on lighting, rather than upgrading in 6 months.
Make sure whatever you buy can put out enough light to completely fill your space.
1000 watts of quantum board fixtures, I think. Others have have more personal experience than I do with them and can recommend more exact numbers.
You could also do CMH or LEC fixtures. Two of the dual bulb 630w lights will do a great job in that space. You might even be able to do three single bulb 315w. Some of the dual bulb fixtures let you have the option of running one or both bulbs, so you can turn one off for veg then turn on both during flower.
opps forgot to paste it lol iPower GLFANXEXPSET8D25CHUMD 8 Inch 550 CFM Inline Carbon Filter 25 Feet Ducting with Fan Speed Controller and in response to @devjyarn I am staying away from cmh and that style is because of heat and energy costs so went looking for what you recommended ,do you know much about it? MARS HYDRO TS 1000W Led Grow Light 3x3ft Sunlike Full Spectrum IR Grow Lamps for Indoor Plant Commercial LED Grow Hydroponic Growing Light with Updated 342 LEDs Dimmer Thermometer Hygrometer Timer…opinions?
I have 2 of those lights in my tent. There’s better options out there, but these are really nice to start with.
You’ll get pretty decent buds with them!
The mars is great especially since you are new. The eight inch I’d drop down to a six. Other then that your good I think.
I don’t agree about chm. But that’s just my opinion
been digging a little more how do you think 4 of these bad boys would do? HLG 100 V2 uses our custom designed High efficiency white light Quantum Boards. With a total of 192 pcs Samsung LM301B LED’s, this fixture produces 15,000+ Lumens with just 95 Watts of power. Equivalent to 220W T5 or 300W CFL output or 200W metal halide.
