First grow/CFL stealth cab/Short Rider

Damn bro that's a lot of CFLs! They should have a nice yield with all that light.

Yea thats what I'm hoping

I'm also throwing around the idea of a 150w hps with the cfl's I have for side lighting.

The only thing I'm worried about with that is even more heat. I have plenty of room "height wise."

It would be about $60.00 for the 5-42 watt cfls and the vanity light fixture.

Or I could Grab this 150Hps

What do you guys think? I know this is supposed to be a cfl grow but If the hps will get me bigger buds for the same price why not...?

That's your call to make buddy. I personally don't have enough experience with the two to recommend one over the other, but it seems like the general consensus is hps over cfl. If you think you can keep it cool, go for it. They get hotter than you'd think.

Yea thats what I've heard!

I was thinking about it a little more and seeing this is my first grow, I'm most likely just gonna stick with cfl's. I don't want to be changing stuff up during the grow to much.

For now I moved the 42w cfl, that was clamped in between the other 4 27w cfl's, to the side so it penetrates up under the canopies. I can already tell there's going to be a huge difference in growth just from moving that 1 bulb! It really hasn't affected temp that much either so I'll slowly add more 42w 2700k cfl's in there until it either gets to crowed or to hot!

150 HPS all the way.....

Dunno if you are thinking this big, but check this out 250W HPS

They also have a 400W HPS for the same price. Have 150W too, but it's a little more than the one you are looking into and it isn't a Sun System. I have one of their 250's and they seem pretty solid.

That 250hps would fit perfect, the reflector is only 16" long and 13" wide, so it would fit in my cab. The thing is with the 250 I would be able to mount the ballast out of the grow box which would significantly help decrease heat right? You think that would be overkill for a 20"x16"x48" cab though?

When I was looking at that 150 it said it would cover a 16x16 area but I'm pretty sure that has the ballast inside of it which really concerns me with heat issues, specially since I'm just starting to get the temps dialed in.

I'm really putting some thought into doing a 2x2 flowering box with a 250hps now lol..

As far as this grow goes, I'll probably hold off on switching lights around until Im successful and see some buds! I'll be adding some more 2700k cfl's as the plants start to blow up, from what I've read with cfl's, "the more light the better."

chainseeker said:

150 HPS all the way.....

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That was an easy decision huh?

The ones I put up are remote ballasts that are separate from the hood assembly and can be placed outside the cab. You're right, the ballasts get really hot. I had mine plugged in for 10min and it was almost hot enough to fry an egg on. Mine says it is a 3'x3' footprint, but the 250w on your link says 2'x2' footprint. I'm not trying to sway your decision or talk you out of the 150w, just throwing some options out there for ya. The 250w might be a little overkill for the current cab. Sorry if I'm making you second guess, that wasn't my intent, haha.

Don't worry bro I've been second guessing my setup since I started this grow lol!! I really appreciate the suggestions.

I was looking into buying the ballast kit off ebay and just making a cool tube but that seems like it might be more of a headache then its worth. Plus if it gets that hot, I'm not sure if I would want to screw with the wiring etc.. Shit those kits you showed me are cheap enough to get started and I would think I have a lot better chance of not burning shit down lol.. Did you order yours online? Thats the only thing I would be kind of sketchy about at this point.

Did you ever think about making your own DIY hps?

No I didn't order it, my buddy did and I bought it off him. It was brand new and still in the box and he sold it to me for $40! I think after he bought it, he did a little research and decided he wanted something bigger, but it was too late to return it. I looked into it in their FAQ section and they say they ship everything in a plain brown box, so it shouldn't be too sketchy.

I was considering making my own at one point. They really aren't all that complicated. Just a big ass transformer, capacitor, and a few other components. It's just a matter of sizing everything right, but until you go out and buy all the stuff, including the fixture and bulb, you aren't saving much. Seemed to me like it would be more trouble than it's worth, unless you have the time and are really into tinkering with that kind of stuff

sonar said:

No I didn't order it, my buddy did and I bought it off him. It was brand new and still in the box and he sold it to me for $40! I think after he bought it, he did a little research and decided he wanted something bigger, but it was too late to return it. I looked into it in their FAQ section and they say they ship everything in a plain brown box, so it shouldn't be too sketchy.

I was considering making my own at one point. They really aren't all that complicated. Just a big ass transformer, capacitor, and a few other components. It's just a matter of sizing everything right, but until you go out and buy all the stuff, including the fixture and bulb, you aren't saving much. Seemed to me like it would be more trouble than it's worth, unless you have the time and are really into tinkering with that kind of stuff

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40 bucks!! Damn thats a steal.

Okay sonar so let me pick your brain real quick if you don't mind.

So with any hid light, "hps or metal halide" I'm going to need a ballast, correct? Even if its the medium socket that will screw into any old household socket. I'm pretty sure this is the case but I figured i would ask because I am interested and I want to learn about these lights before I start making any decisions.

Chances are I wont bother trying to put a kit together when they have some pretty solid deals out there for everything together.

I decided for this grow I'm definitely going to stick with the cfl's just to keep it as simple as possible. But I'm already starting to put together Ideas to get a little flowering box together with some type of hps running in there.

Thanks again for all the help, If I could leave you more rep I would lol..

Yeah it needs some sort of ballast. I've never seen some of the smaller (75w) hps units they have out, but I would imagine the ballast is in the case. Since they are gas, they need the ballast to regulate current flow. If you screwed an hps or mh with a regular medium base into a standard socket, it wouldn't be good, lol. I'm not exactly sure what it would do, but it would either burn out or possibly explode in your face. Even CFL's use a ballast. That white, plastic case between the actual bulb and the part that screws in is where the ballast is housed. It would be cool if someday they come out with mh or hps with the ballast built in like CFL's. As far as I know, I don't think they make them.

Thanks for taking the time to educate me sonar..!!

I'm going to be changing around some things in the cab so I'll throw some pics up when I get it all worked out!!

Day 28

Well week 4 has rolled around and as promised I've gathered some pics.

A quick update, I added 1 68watt 2700k cfl "for now." Just from this bulb it added 4200 lumens!! So now I'm looking at a total of 218 watts, about 13,000 lumens give or take.

The last picture is of thirsty showing a preflower, taking guesses of male or female starting now!! Whoever gets it right +rep "if I can," sorry sonar, chain, jp and concord lol.. Off the top of my head I know I probably wont be able to rep you guys anymore, but I'll smoke a bowl for you lol

Anyway here's the line up, if you have any question or comments please feel free to chime in!!

1-2.) Pics of light setup

3.) Pic of cab with plants

4.) Comparison Top View

5.) Another Top View

6-8.) Droopy

8-11.) ThiRsTy

*12*) ThiRsTy PreFlower

Enjoy!! Oh and Droopy is starting to smell a little funky!!

Looking real nice and bushy. Great job. I have a tip for those small plants in the cups. Roots don't like the light so get some new cups just like those only red or blue and slip the clear cups in the colored cups. Just make sure the drain holes match up. Other than that I think you have it covered. Well also you could order some Jack's Nutes Dynamic Duo they make things easy on a grower.

I was thinking of a way to get light off the roots and I like the cup idea lol!! I just popped those to practice topping and lst and their going outside eventually so that will work perfect until I transplant them.

I just picked up some FF big bloom but I'll give Jacks nutes a look for next time around!!

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Looking really nice bro. Kind of wish I would have picked some of those Short Riders up myself. Read some sketchy reviews about them so decided not to, but it looks like yours are turning out great.

As for the preflower, The long thin shape makes me want to say female.

Is Droopy showing any yet? My Low Girl showed after 3 weeks and was in full flower by week 4. Although that was outdoors with about 15/9 light to dark. What light schedule are you under? Did you keep it on 18/6 or move back to 20/4?

Thanks Sonar and welcome harth!! I cant stop stairing at them lol.. Lets go with a girl and If one does turn up male I'm gonna drop that beast outside and collect some pollen!

I know exactly what you mean about the short rider, after I bought them I decided to start reading and really getting into it... Shortly finding out I didn't make the best decision, supposedly.. Until joining this forum and finding members that really had nothing but good things to say about it for the most part. I've read its really good bud so for my first time around it shouldn't take much to impress me! Shit I probably would have been happy with the regs plants in the party cups lol..

The lights have been on 20/4 pretty much the whole time, besides the couple days I switched to 18/6.

Droopy is actually showing preflowers but their very small. Hopefully both will be showing by the 5th week and at least one will be female.

3 weeks showing preflowers on the LoWGirLs...!! Thats pretty bad ass, have you grown that strain before or is this your first time around??

plants are lookin great, nice job!!