I Have Space and Money, Just Need a Killer Plan

Hey everyone here on the forum. I am new to indoor growing and this is going to be my first medicinal grow so i want to have everything perfect. The space i have to work with is 25' long x 9' deep x 8' high. My original idea was to chop the room in half and build two seperate rooms. ( flower/veg). I need help with ideas to fill the room. I would like to go with 2 ebb and grow systwms one for each room. I plan on just starting with 12 sites in each room and just transfer the veg into flower type of cycle. I want to be able to expand into 24 sites for each room so keep that in mind. The budget i am working with is $4000. I am serious about all of this so please i can use any help. I would like to just start with 24 sites in each room but i am thinking i will need four 1000w fixtures for flowering and buying ballists is killing my budget. Well i woulr appreciate any setup ideas you have. Thanks

bumping it up for you, welcome to RIU, and good luck my bro.

ballasts will kill the budget, but its a get what you put in kinda thing. I run Lumatek and love them. I have a magnetic Sunleaves switchable but i dont like that as much. it was way cheaper though. However i used to have two of them and one ended up with a screaming loud noise. I guess its the first that they have heard of doin that, but either way, that was the first grow on that ballast. On the Lumateks I have no problems plus a super lumens switch. as far as hoods go i would say to get the XXXL ones from i think sunleaves or something of that size. i dont have them but wish i had gotten them. Good Luck though!

You could always use light movers and need less ballasts. You'll still drop about $300 or more on the light mover but if you could drop from 4 1000w hps to only 2 it would pay for itself.

yeah you could get away with 2 1000s on movers for sure with 24 plants

I would say build a bigger flower room compared to veg.And just move ur plants to floer room when ready so you can perpetual. Have the cycles coincide with when your plants out grow your cubes then plug in.As for lighting use cfls or cmh for veg then move up to 2x1000w on mover in flower room or 3 600s on mover.but thats just me.

you could use cfl in your veg area and hid in flower. My buddy was using 4 600w in veg and went to 100w cfl bulbs. After a month they seem to be doing very good. you could also add in cfl's to your flower room and cut down on hid.

With the help here you should do real good. good luck

Split it into 3 sections instead of 2 and the middle section could be your drying/storage room? Just a thought.

Well if you truely have 4k to invest then you should be really good to go. My first suggestion would be to take a look at 600 watt systems. They are much cheaper, they are much more efficient, and will likely work better based on the width of your room. If you go into a hydro store and tell them that you need to buy 6 complete systems and what not, then they should be able to give you a good deal. If your not getting at least 25% off of retail then go someplace else. I scored my dimmable lumatek 600 ballasts for $175/ piece.

Your veg room can be a little smaller for sure and you don't need as much light either. CFL systems are good but IMO, when you start shelling out all that cash for the big, 8 bulb t5 set ups you might as well ust have bought an HID system.

What it really comes down to is the footprint of your grow and watts/ sq. ft. That is where the 600 would probably be a little better for you. A standard 600 throws a USABLE pattern of about 3 x 3.5 feet. Two rows of them in your flower room will yield you a 7' wide growing space and a 1' on each side to get around. There is also the light mover option. When they are well set up a mover works awesome! When you try to work miracles with them they don't work so well. I have three 600's sitting over a 9 foot long and 6' wide space. I have 12 plants in that space. If I wanted to expand I would just make it longer, not wider. While my watts/sq. ft. are in the 54 watts / sq. ft. range, I am growing VERY dense buds and they are quite large. You can check my SCROG off thread in my sig for pictures.

Lastly, I can't over emphasize that you should likely be spending more time figuring out your climate control situation. Lights are the easy part. Maintaining the proper temperature, humidity, co2 concentrations and air movement is much more complicated and arguably, more important. You could have the best lights in the world but if you have cold nights, the plants are still going to stretch.

If I were you I would start doing expansive craigs list searches for electronic ballasts and a PPM co2 controller. Try crazedlist.org.

lol good idea. We went to harvest last year and said oh shit where to dry all this. lucky for me I wasn't using my indoor flower room.

Yeah legally flying is right. Some questions you should ask yourself,

Air cooled or air conditioned? (Id go air cooled)

Co2 or high air exchange (id go co2)

600 watters are the most efficient ballasts in the game and 2 points of light at 600 watts is better than 1000's plus it cuts down on heat bigtime and you can place much closer making them even more efficient. I'm surprised not more ppl use 600 instead of 1000s.

Heat, humidity and ventilation are gonna be some of the most important things that make or break you. And your veg room can be about 1/2 to 3/4 the size of your flower room.

Good luck and I'm sure we will all be looking forward to a grow journal! There's some very smart and helpful ppl here but at the same time be careful with what some ppl tell you.

Thanks for all the info guys...

First, your right room conditions are critical. I wasnt as worried about those because to me those are morr in the room design. I am building the rooms from stratch (studs, insulation, drywall) and i am integrating the exhaust and air intake into that fabracation. I am also sealing the whole outside of the rooms with a 10 gauge plastic to make it totally contained. Imaging giant bubbles with a walls and grow room on the inside. I am also getting a co2 generator for the rooms. My orginal plan was to have a middle area for storage and reservoirs. Space is the problem though. I will try to upload a floor plan for a better idea.

Next, monthly energy bills dont matter to me. I want the best possible quality amd quanity for $4000 (and yes seriously $4000 is what i have). I was always told that you cant have to much light as long it doesnt effect room temp. If i have a 24 plant site, it doesnt seem that 4 600w hps will be enough. And your right if im going to get 8 bulb t5's for veg, i might as well get mh bulbs instead.

I am honestly totally serious about this. If anyone has any ideas where to start looking for or what prices i should aim for i could use the help. Thanks everyone who has posted so far.

Ok, so I busted out a little spreadsheet using the one that I had for my set-up. You really need to comb CL for some deals on the expensive stuff. I got my CAP XGC-1 for $400 on CL. You can also find cheap window uint AC units and dehumidifiers.

So this price list basically gets you a mutha' fuckin pimp daddy set up. If you SCROG, and you know what the hell your doing you will pull 3 lbs every 2 months. If you REALLY know what your doing and you have a high yield strain..4lbs.

I am assuming the space split in 3. A 3x9 drying and curing area and storage at the end of the room. A 13 foot long flower room ( with three 600's in a row illuminating a 10' by 3.5 area). And the rest in a veg area where you have a single huge hood over your veg. You can always put the three hoods on a light rail and grow 18 plants. 24 is probably going to need another 3 hoods, a bigger AC, and AT LEAST one more dehumidifiers.

Oh YEAH. You ARE going to put your reservoirs OUTSIDE the space. NOT inside. OK? NOT inside. Or you can plan on spending another $500 at least in a chiller unit. Keeping your rez cool is paramount for healthy plants. Your already fighting an uphill battle with the ebb/grow buckets as all those lines on the floor love to heat up.

I also forgot to include timers and wiring and a 240 circuit breaker. Here you go....

lumatek 600 balasts 4 $ 180.00= $ 720.00
Ac hoods like a SS II 3 $125 = $ 375.00
one magnum XXXL for veg 1 $170= $ 170.00
ushio 600 USHIO HPS 3 $80 - $ 240.00
Cap 600 watt MH 1 $60 = $ 60.00
6" inline fans 2 $ 110.00 = $ 220.00
50 feet of ducting 1 $ 35.00 = $ 35.00
hood hangers (pairs) 6 $ 8.00 - $ 48.00
Panda film 10 x 100 1 $ 80.00 = $ 80.00
DIY ebb flow systems 2 $325 = $ 650.00
400 gph pumps 4 $ 24.50 = $ 98.00
hydroton 50 liter bags 4 $ 40.00 = $ 160.00
Cap XGC-1 co2 controller 1 $ 600.00 $ 600.00
water cooled co2 burner (complete) 1 $ 300.00= $ 300.00
50 gallon rez 2 $ 30.00 = $ 60.00
60 liter dehumidifier 1 $ 200.00 = $ 200.00
window unit AC 1 $ 150.00= $ 150.00
botanicare nutes for 1.5- 2 grows 1 $ 200.00 = $ 200.00
now your growing solid buds $ 4,366.00

It isn't cheap to set up the mack daddy room but it will pay for itself quickly (like 3 months)

a 600 watt digilux has 95,000. i own a mh and hps version and they are dank. very good lights to grow solid bud with. mh is 75,000

greentiger.usa said:

Your comment about 600's is interesting, do you have any pictures or videos to back up this experience?

Click to expand...

Oh, yeah.. let me spend my time convincing you about the truth. Fucking google it dude. Jesus.

But since you apparently can't read and must see pictures or videos.. here is a video of my 600 on a light rail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEqYXMlq-hI

that's 1800 watts over a 9 x 6 area.

with a 4000.00 budget you will have to slowly build up the system you need to fill that whole room I suggest using 1000wts for your flower for sure...