first indoor grow

I'm planning on starting an indoor grow and hoping to do it in the easiest and most efficient way possible. I'm moving into a new house soon and will have a 15x15x8.5(h) ft room available for use. I'm looking for the highest yields and the best quality, but I also do not want my electricity bill to be suspicious, (even though the grow will be at least almost entirely legal), and I would also like the set up and maintenance to be as simple as possible. I have a decent amount of money to startup so startup cost is not much of an issue.

Could anyone help me decide on what direction to take? I would most likely be interested in ordering a complete system, but I'm wondering, aero or hydro or this bubbleponic system? http://www.stealthhydroponics.com/product.php?xProd=100&xSec=34

I'm also probably going to use a combo of CFL's and this 400 watt Son agro HPS with 30 watts of blue light. (unless suggested otherwise).

thanks in advance! Any info helps cause I'm really trying to do this right.

Ok so you say your room is 14x14 but how much of that do you want to dedicate to the actual garden?? How many plants do you plan to grow?? need alot more info really

Well I can use the whole room and I can grow up to 24 mature plants and 24 immature. I'm really just trying to use the simplest and most efficient way to grow the best and most herb possible given the area I have to work with.

I realize Ill need more lighting if I were to use the whole area but I don't think using anymore than one 400 watt HPS light would be a good idea. thats why I wanted to throw in the CFL's for mothering and cloning and maybe just to compliment the HPS. Also, I realize I probably won't be able to grow all 24 right off the bat but the more the better lol. I guess I have a lot of general questions and I'm, really just looking for any info to help formulate my strategy.

well you aint going to grow 24 plants with a 400w maybe ok for a short while in veg but in flower not a hope in hell you will need adleast 2 600w i would personally use 3 for that ammount of plants and there are people who will use a lot more than that. Its a big question your asking to be onest mate. How much electric are you willing to use ? Is it your first grow ? If soo i personally wouldnt use hydro for your first grow too much can go wrong too quickly.

if your only willing to use a 400 mate then 6 plants is really overkill i wouldnt even go for 6 to be onest. cfls dont really make a diffrent unless you use the 100watt or the 250 . Dont get me wrong you can grow with a 10 watt cfl but the outcome will be poor

I agree with RollaJoint. Use Soil because it is less 'setup and maintenance' also more forgiving if you forget to top up the nutes etc.
Also you will not be OK with a 400W for an entire room. I have a 120cm x120cm budbox and 400W was a little lacking even for that. Now I have upgraded to a 600w and get much better yields.

My tips are: Clean the room out nice. Set up a 9 plant grow under the 400w. Use CFL for Cloning and vegging the small plants and then have the 400W on constant 12/12 and just keep adding/removing plants when they are done. I've seen loads of 12/12 from clone grows which use just 3-7 days vegging. They end up awesome and you can fit loads of plants under a single HPS.

Having said that I envy you having an entire room

Good advice money .

noreallimits said:

I realize Ill need more lighting if I were to use the whole area but I don't think using anymore than one 400 watt HPS light would be a good idea. thats why I wanted to throw in the CFL's for mothering and cloning and maybe just to compliment the HPS. Also, I realize I probably won't be able to grow all 24 right off the bat but the more the better lol. I guess I have a lot of general questions and I'm, really just looking for any info to help formulate my strategy.

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So why dont you want to use no more then a 400w?? you think the power compay will notice or somthing?? they wont if thats where you thinking.....Is it a money issue? is it a Pg&e money isse you dont want big power bills ever month?? i dont understand why you say you only want 1 400w but then go on to say you want this big room full of plants...lol cant have both........

You need to figure out how much of that room will be canopy before you start picking lights...... Are you going to get a tent or somthing and put that in the room?? I grow in an apartment in a 4x4 tent and i use 1 1000w light just to get max yield out of a 4x4 area.......If you are talking about going big in a big room well you will need alot more then a 400w light and why a 400w? better to get a 600w almost same amount of amps but twice the lumens......

You might be too noob to pull off a grow as big as what you are talking about......

also like the others said dont do a active hydro set up too complicated for someone that hasnt even learned lights and basic growing yet..... I would suggest a soilless mix and simple smart pots........

Thanks RollaJ! I'm realizing now I was clearly overestimating my capabilities. This is my first real indoor grow but I was really hoping to try a hydro set-up right off the bat. Would a hydro set-up really be that difficult even if I used a kit set-up of sort?

money- that seems like an excellent set-up. Too start off I'll probably end up going with something like that. Even thoguh I'd really like to try a hydro grow lol but I guess it would be a good idea to learn the ropes before moving onto hydro.

Footclan- yeah, I'm somewhat worried about tipping off the electrical companies, not so much because of the electrical usage, but more because of the fact that the lights will be on timers. With that said, your probably right that I may as well go with a more powerful light source but I also like the fact that the light I'm looking at contains 30 watts of blue light, but I guess that can be added in other ways if needed.

This is all helping me a lot btw everyone. I'm definitely looking at this with a more realistic eye already. My knowledge of the topic thus far has really only come from what I've read online and what I read years ago in an outdated grow book I have.

noreallimits said:

Footclan- yeah, I'm somewhat worried about tipping off the electrical companies, not so much because of the electrical usage, but more because of the fact that the lights will be on timers. With that said, your probably right that I may as well go with a more powerful light source but I also like the fact that the light I'm looking at contains 30 watts of blue light, but I guess that can be added in other ways if needed.

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theres no way the power company is going to be tipped off from your grow........My buddy does 4 1000w lights and pays his bill ontime every month ......you will find that most if non have problems concerning the power company......most problems are from friends , family, and cops

no prob noreallimits . Its not the setting up that will catch you out mate its the nutes that will get ya . I would persoanlly stick with soil for adleast a grow and just learn wat you can on here there are people with great knowledge on here. Jus read and read and read more lol it soon become an addiction trust me haha. Any probs give me a msg .

Awesome! Yeah its already becoming an addiction and I havn't even started growing yet lol