Some advice on my set up please...

After some advice please lads n lasses. You can see from my journal I was off to a rocky start but am now under way with a few strains, some from cuttings, some from seeds - approx 30 plants in total to go in a 2..2 x 2.4m grow room (5.28m sq), height is not an issue.

I'm after some suggestions:

My grow area is about 2.2m x 2.2m (4.8m sq). I currently have one 1000W MH light (unbranded) and a one 250 Envirolite. I was going to alternate the position between the two so all plants got the same light distribution but I was thinking about replacing them both with 2 x 600w HPS which are supposedly good for veg and flower (I might use my enviro as a side light until I am ready to take my next cuttings.). Another alternative I'm thinking about is to use four 250W envirolites.
If I go for the 2 x 600W, which are the best bulbs and which are the best ballasts to go for? I was thinking of going digital on the ballast so I have the option to alternate between MH and HPS next time around but this time will prob just us HPS, whichever is recommended.

In case it makes a difference I will be using cooltube reflectors (might upgrade these to a better air cooled reflector next time) and will be extracting my grow room air through these in series. My carbon filter will go on before the lights so I am not pushing hot air through the filter.

Initial cost issues aside what are your thoughts?


Second dilemma - my last grow we used a dripper system with clay pebbles. From memory we timed the dripper to go for 15 mins ever hour I think. The thing is this time I am using Rockwool which seems to hold a lot more fluid than the pebbles. What is the general rule of thumb for drip feeding into rockwool. Also my local grow shop guy told me to place the end of the dripper deep into the rockwool. Isn't it better to drip from the top?

Last but not lease - I am using 3" rockwool cubes in rockwool slabs housed in aquatrays. You all probably know these aren't that deep for a big root system - baring that in mind and that I am cramming 30 plants into my fairly small space how long would you veg for, max, before flowering?

Appreciate your input boys and girls - thanks

Well I've been racking my brain on this and think I'm going to bite the bullet and go for 2 x 600W. I;m thinking of going for the digital ballasts but am unsure on which bulbs are the best spectrum. The Phillips Son T plus kick out 95,000 lumens but are 1.95 CCT (is it CCT? - spectrum). Would these be the best choice? If not which are.

Thanks

MJ

2x 600w would work great for what you want to do

good luck

Does anyone have any info on the best ballasts and bulbs?

Lumatek for ballasts, Hortilux Eye Super HPS bulb.

Thanks Tetra.

If anyone else is looking at this for advice I just came across this on another forum (UK420 - username = oldtimer1) credit to the original poster:

"Ub I helped with some trials in 96/97 using 3 identical 3 x 4ft grow chambers side by side. Three 600w lamps were tested, a Phillips Son-T Plus an Osram Nav-T Super and an Osram-Planta.

The kit was, inline extraction, homemade AeroFlo type hydro, general hydroponics 3 part nutrients. A commercial bubblegum clone line as the plant source, with matched rooted cuttings.

Three grows over 30 weeks. The lamps were swapped between rooms each grow, so each room did one grow with each lamp to eliminate local environment differences.

The planta was slightly in front during veg every time, but the others caught up and rapidly jumped ahead during flowering. The planta plants did look slightly more healthy through each grow. But the plants were smaller, had less leaf and more to the point rootmass.

The planta averaged------- 398.25 grams 14.05 oz per grow.
The son-t plus averaged--- 579.82 grams 20.45 oz
The nav-t super averaged-- 670.40 grams 23.65 oz

The interesting thing at the time was that, there was no signs of the plants stretching in any of grows. The word at the time was just sodium caused stretching during veg, it was not true, there was absolutely no difference.

The osram nav-t produced the best buds quality and density wise, closely followed by the Phillips, the planta buds were more airy and less dense, but in my opinion slightly more potent.

There were other trials which I was not involved in, using American colour enhanced bulbs and the osram won again. 400w trials the Phillips son-t plus won the agro was badly beaten by a son-t.

I was not offering a subjective opinion but info from solid based comparative trials. Others did similar trials with ordinary lower light requirement type plants like beans and other veg and got very similar results.

I don’t care what manufacturers say about their lights, hence the whole bluestripe lamp debate. Its what the plants do when they are grown under them, the buds produced, the quality and weight that counts for our members in the real world.

I don’t feel uk420 should promote things on behalf of any manufacturer or reseller or the myths that are constantly being spread around the cannabis community. Do you think it would be good if uk420 could do its own trials, maybe its something we can look into when the laws change.

Sorry correction, the average for the planter was 458.42 grams 17.12 oz

The 398.25 grams 14.05 oz was the lowest planta yield of the three grows."

I run two 600s in my flower area, 4.5feet X 11.5feet, do you have a pic,I'm a visual person, I'd like to see your area.

There are some pics sort of showing the area in my journal but in feet the actual grow area in the room is 7.2ft x 7.2ft = 52sq ft. So we are exactly the same area just mine is more square as opposed to your rectangular shape grow.
From the info I found above and your recommendation on the ballasts I will be ordering from Growell on Monday I think. I have one cool tube reflector already but my other reflector will be a sputnik air cooled. I'll probably upgrade the coll tube at a later date.
I'll be using the Osram's for vegging too this time around but next time might invest in some metal halide's. The guy I got the quote above from recommends to use "venture clear HQI-T halides" but I can't find anything about them on the web or where to buy them.