Need help designing basement grow.

Hello peeps. I will be starting my first grow in the near future and I would like some advice on my setup. I live in a MMJ state. My buddies are tired of paying too much for 'ok' smoke and plan to make me their caregiver. We are hoping to end up with a 48 plant limit. Being that I am a newbie I wont be attempting that many however after a couple grows under my belt i would like to. So I have a 700sf unfurnished basement that also contains my water heater and furnace(is that a problem with them being in the same room as the grow?). I can use about a third to half of the basement for my grow. I would like to use tents because my home is a rental and i will be having an inspection in Oct. I like the idea of having a sealed growroom that I can take down and setup as needed. And I am not handy at ALL. Btw I will be paying a certified, licensed electrician to make the necessary upgrades to safely handle the added power consumption.

I would like to do a perpetual harvest system. My plan was to start with a 5x5 grow tent with a 600w light over eight plants started from local clones. That would be my veg tent. I would then take clones and put them in half of an 8x8 tent. The 8x8 would be my flowering tent. Like i said i will eventually have a 48 plant limit with 16 plants in all stages at all times. I figured I would only need half the tent for 8 plants. At first i will have 2 600w in there however after third harvest I plan to bump it up to 4 600w and also add more plants from seed. The lights will be air cooled and each tent will have ventilation to exhaust the from air within the tent. Eventually i will add a t5 setup for clones. I didnt plan to work with mother plants.....i wanted to just take clones from plants that will end up being harvested(is that ok???). My house does not have AC so im thinking i will have to add that to the tents in the spring/summer.

I am not your average newbie. I have wanted to grow for the last 15 years. I have read a lot books, decades of mags, worked in an indoor horticulture store for about a year, explored this site for a couple years and pretty much for lack of better words lived in the depths of the black market for the last decade(i took it serious and got very heavy in the last 5 and got out). This has been one of my life dreams and my buddies and I believe im the right guy for the job. Nonetheless I know i am still a newbie. I know will make mistakes.

So I have many questions but my main one is: Is this a smart setup? I know i left some important stuff out but from what i said is this the best setup for my situation, space and budget(sorry forgot to mention but $2-3000 ballpark). Also can i veg 16 plants in a 5x5? I will be using soil and a basic organic nutes to start. G G #4, SFV OG, and GSC are the possible first round of genetics. Thank you in advance for the help. PEACE!

Did I put this in the wrong forum? Newbie forum maybe?

welcome to RIU, FamMan! sounds like you've really done your homework! when are you starting this up? and did i miss it--what medium are you using to grow?

Thanx for the reply Undercover! I am hopefully purchasing equipment in a couple weeks and will be up and growing by Jan15-Feb 1. And soil will be my medium.

Actually if your furnace and/or water heater is gas you have 2 things already. A way to vent and a little extra CO2 from the pilot lights.

I was thinking about venting to to the rest of the house for help with heat during the winter......other than that i was goin to exhaust outside (there are two lower level windows in the basement). i figured the winter time would be the only time to vent inside. i dont have a chimney(however i do have a huge crawl space located right next to the area im using in the basement???). I did not think about the co2 the pilots give off.......INGENIUS! Thank u Gary! Anybody else want to chime in with some info bout my grow plan PLEASE do.

Most modern furnaces use electronic ignition, no pilot.

A pilot won't generate a significant amount of co2.

If in Colorado, a caregiver can't grow a patients extended plant count, only 3 veg and 3 flower per patient. Other states vary.

6 plants done right will fill a 21 x 14' room.

My furnace air handler is in my flower room. Duct mastic seals up the ductwork to prevent heating the grow room.

Why not 1kW hps? Why waste time vegging puny plants under t5, use hps / mh for faster, more vigorous growth.

I planned on vegging under a 600w mh. how can i get more info on being a caregiver in co?

thanx btw snaps!

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/medical-marijuana-caregiver-rules-and-regulations

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/medicalmarijuana

Those will give you a good start at better understanding the situation you're in.

Note, you are not allowed remuneration. Anything more than a smile and a handshake is a violation of state law. You also need to provide services other than growing, like transportation or housekeeping. See rules linked above.

Thanks snaps!!

After doing some tent to tent transfers, Id suggest 2 tents the same size, both w/ 400/600 dual setting ballasts, veg one 400 MH, flower the other 600HPS.
When its time to switch, flip the ballast, swap the bulbs, and your done. Never a damaged plant.....

I wanted to run a perpetual.....so why would I have to change bulbs? Either way than for the input!

You swap the MH bulb for the HPS bulb, and adjust ballast accordingly if necessary. This lets u veg in a tent, use training/screens get lots of bud sites/surface area, then begin flowering. Can even sneak in a week early on tent 2 once in a while n just have clones in a bathroom or something while the finishing is harvested/prepped for veg)

If ur gonna run 2 tents n use one to flower, veg your plants small, I broke many a branch moving from one tent to another. Say 4x8 w/ a pair of 600w hps, run the veg room (2x4-4x4 range) with a smaller MH or a nice 4' 4-8bulb T5...

thanx for the info Flagg.