First Grow with 250 watt Hps

I'm currently in the process of building my box to attempt my first grow. I have a 2'x2'x4' box that I built to stay in my closet. Originally I was going to use CFLs but now after doing research I've decided to veg with the 125 watt cfl I already have and a 250 watt hps from Htg Supply with Growbright lamp. For ventilation I have a 4 inch valuline inline fan with a carbon filter and a passive intake system. To grow I am going to be trying some bagseed I have as long as they germinate. I'm hoping to try topping and lst on the plants. I will upload photos tomorrow when I get the box back out of the closet. The light and fan should be here this week. I am going to try getting the seeds started in the next few days. I will either use this thread as my grow log or start a new one in the proper forum.

My questions are as follows:
1. I was planning on trying to grow 4 plants in this box using 3 gallon pots, do you you guys think this is too many or should I try for more?

2. Do you think I will have any problems with heat or should I be fine?

3. Are there any other suggestions on what I should do?

For more specific information here are the links to the equipment I ordered:
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/phat-12x4-200-cfm-carbon-filter-p-3016.html
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/valueline-inch-171-cfm-centrifugal-inline-fan-p-2259.html
http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-HTGSupply-250-watt-High-Pressure-Sodium-Grow-Light.asp

My fan and light should hopefully be here wednesday or thursday. Here's a picture of my box. I was originally going to use a 6 inch axial fan that you can see in the upper left corner, but it wasn't strong enough to pull through a carbon filter. It has a 4 inch passive intake, but I'm thinking that I need more intake holes. What do you guys think?

I got the rest of the components in today. I have the box assembled and ready to go. Just waiting on seeds to germinate. Out of the 10 bag seeds I've tried, only one has germinated. I started more today hoping at least 2 more will germinate. Test runs of the box show that I might have a heat problem with it getting up to 93 degrees with only the exhaust fan. It was in a room that was 80 degrees, where as the room it will be in primarily is 74 on average. Will this room temperature make a big difference? I only have one 4 inch intake right now. I was thinking about adding like 2 more 3 inch holes and a pc case fan to blow directly on the bulb, along with a fan to blow on the plants. Do you think this will help with the heat problem?

What are your guys' opinions on this setup?

Very nice set up i think my opinion is this ....IM GOING TO STEAL THE DESIGN LOL, no mate its very good and very neat, i am sure you are going to have a very good harvest if all goes well. Good Luck with the grow

I think it'll help a lot, what kind of temperature gauge are you using, cause some mess up from direct light.
try to get this thing stabilized before its needed it'll save a lot of hassle and worrying.

Nice setup! I'll keep watching.

steeZz said:

I think it'll help a lot, what kind of temperature gauge are you using, cause some mess up from direct light.
try to get this thing stabilized before its needed it'll save a lot of hassle and worrying.

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I am using 3 different temperature gauges from wal mart. I have on standard red fluid, and two digital. The one digital has the outside(inside the box) temp and inside(surrounding room) temp and the other digital has just temp and humidity which will be put int he box once the grow starts. I'm just getting some seeds to germinate so I am trying to get all the kinks worked out before I get the plants in there.

Thank you all for your comments and I will be keeping this thread updated more with pictures once I get my camera back(I'm using my phone right now).
The pics of the thermometers:

We've got similar growing areas. Mine's wider but yours is deeper. I think you're going to need more passive intakes. I think the rule of thumb is 3-1 when using a centrifugal fan. I think this is going to be especially important in your case since your reflector isn't air cooled. I think 74 degrees for your intake is going to be two warm with this setup. Without an air-cooled hood I think your temps are going to be in the 80s.

Ok am I am still having problems with heat. I'm int he high 80's with a high of 90. I don't have enough money to buy an air cooled hood. But I think I can make one. I have glass and everything but a separate fan. Do i need special glass for an aircooled hood or will standard glass work? And will this fan work to cool just the light with its own intake and exhaust with this fan? http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100073963&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100073963&ci_src=14110944&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D26X-_-100073963&locStoreNum=254

If your hood has a direct intake into it, with no resistance, then that fan should be enough to keep the hot air exhausting.

Read the reviews on it.... It's being reviewed by growers more that anyone lol...

stumpjumper said:

Read the reviews on it.... It's being reviewed by growers more that anyone lol...

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I was reading the reviews and I found that ironic.
After more research into it I won't be able to convert the reflector into air-cooled like I initially thought. But I did remove one of the end reflector parts and mounted a small fan on it blowing air directly on the bulb. Now after doing that and with 1-4inch and 2-3 inch intake holes, i got the temps down to 80 with it being 75 in the room. just a little more tweaking of the setup and fan placement and I should be in business.

On another note, only one of my bagseeds has sprouted and just got its first set of leaves after the cotyledons today. I also ordered a 10 pack of northern lights from nirvana, so hopefully those will be in within the next two weeks. I will post pics later tonight.

Could always just buy an air conditioner? Or bump your AC in your house a little more.

Thats my excuse to have the AC running, "Baby the plants need it....." winning.

Turtlehermit said:

Bro, what state do you live in?

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florida? random question lol

steeZz said:

Could always just buy an air conditioner? Or bump your AC in your house a little more.

Thats my excuse to have the AC running, "Baby the plants need it....." winning.

Click to expand...

Well the room I am getting ready to move it into has a window unit so I will be able to use that to help keep it cooler, and I will be able to vent the exhaust outside instead back into the room. I was planning on running the lights at night and have the dark period during the day since the room it will be in usually usually stays about 68 all night with the window unit.

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, I got caught up in some things. But I've got the temps under control now. The box is in a room with a window unit set to 70. The box is always under 80 now and usually averages about 77. I have one plant that is a week old, one that is about 3 days old, and 3 that just broke soil today. They are currently under a 125 watt daylight cfl, and 2 23 watt daylights. The only problem I've had is the edges of the week old are starting to point up kind of like cupping. I read about some nutrient deficiencies and gave it some half strength veg nutes and the leaves are already looking better. I think the problem was the plant was too close to the bulb and a nute deficiency. I was planning on vegging for only 3 weeks or so to help keep plant height down and for the fact that I will have to leave town for thanksgiving, so I wanted to make sure they were done and cured by then. If you guys have any suggestions or questions just let me know. Now onto the photos.

Ok the grow is going well. trying to get the other 3 plants to catch up to this first one that has a week on them. I wanted to do some lst and topping or fim with this grow. I am limited on height and I should probably start training this older one. I just don't know if I should top or fim. I am planning on starting to lst it tomorrow. Should I top or fim? Should I do that before or after lsting or is it ok to do both in the same day? And if I top it, at what color dot should I top it?

Ok so I ended up LSTing the oldest plant and it has turned into a freaking bush. I also topped one of them and am lsting the other two since they don't have enough nodes for toppping. I am planning on starting flowering monday with the 250 hps. I hope these all turn out to be females. They are already starting to smell quite a bit.

First day of 12/12 with the 250 HPS and so far no problems. temp is 77 in the room and 82 in the box. ac just got turned on so the box should be under 80 soon. It's running a lot cooler than I originally thought it would

Been flowering for 8 days now. Temps reach a maximum of 81 in the room now, usually hover around 77. Out of 4 plants one has shown signs of male, it has been removed. The biggest one has shown signs of being female and the other two are too early to tell still. I'm hoping bud production picks up a lot soon. I'm thinking of going and picking up some cfl's for side lighting this week. The small one in the yellow pot on the boxes is from topping one of the plants. I put it in a seed starter jiffy plug to see what would happen and it rooted so i put it in a pot and am hoping it's female with the one i topped it off of. Hoping i can get some bud off of it. I was originally hoping for an ounce per plant, but now I'll just be happy getting 1.5 ounces out of the grow. I've already decided to make some changes for the next grow. Thinking either a 250 watt ceramic metal halide, or if money allows get a 400 with an air cooled hood. I'm leaning towards the 250 for because of money issues, but if I go with the 250 then i will definitely be trying scrog. Here's some pics of the progress for now.
The fourth pic is of the plant i determined to be a male.