Ya I will do some shopping around for the different parts on the lighting. I don't know how successful I will be, we have a "ghetto" walmart here. I might try menards or home depot. Thanks for the tips on the plants. I will do 3 naga's and some spices or something, see how it goes. Or I just might say the hell with it and get the kit, upgrading the bulbs of course.
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Habman's going Hydro!
- Thread starter habman
- Start date
So I went to wal mart today and what a pleasant supprise that was. It seems our wal mart is expanding and they have a whole isle worth of fl and cfl lighting now. 
I picked up a couple of cfls for the time being for my 2 plants that I'm overwintering. 2 - 26 watt, 1600 lumen, 6500k, less than $10 for the pair. I plan on getting a 4' T12/T8 fixture with the appropriate T8 bulbs when I get the hydro unit. They have T5 bulbs there but the only fixtures are single bulb specialty applications like under counter stuff.
My question is are the T5's that much better than the T8's? From what I've seen online the fixtures are what kill you price wise. The T12/T8 4' fixture goes for less than $20. I can get a complete 4 bulb T8 setup for less than $50.
So with that in mind, my plans have shifted a bit. Since I have more in my budget I'm think the GH Ecogrower would be a better fit for my needs for just about the same money. I should be able to grow 6 naga's in that thing I would hope. It's pretty much a complete kit, I really only need to buy test equipment and lights at this point.
I love February, it means it's just about time to plant!
I picked up a couple of cfls for the time being for my 2 plants that I'm overwintering. 2 - 26 watt, 1600 lumen, 6500k, less than $10 for the pair. I plan on getting a 4' T12/T8 fixture with the appropriate T8 bulbs when I get the hydro unit. They have T5 bulbs there but the only fixtures are single bulb specialty applications like under counter stuff. My question is are the T5's that much better than the T8's? From what I've seen online the fixtures are what kill you price wise. The T12/T8 4' fixture goes for less than $20. I can get a complete 4 bulb T8 setup for less than $50.
So with that in mind, my plans have shifted a bit. Since I have more in my budget I'm think the GH Ecogrower would be a better fit for my needs for just about the same money. I should be able to grow 6 naga's in that thing I would hope. It's pretty much a complete kit, I really only need to buy test equipment and lights at this point.
I love February, it means it's just about time to plant!
P_Schneider said:So I went to wal mart today and what a pleasant supprise that was. It seems our wal mart is expanding and they have a whole isle worth of fl and cfl lighting now.
My question is are the T5's that much better than the T8's? From what I've seen online the fixtures are what kill you price wise. The T12/T8 4' fixture goes for less than $20. I can get a complete 4 bulb T8 setup for less than $50.
So with that in mind, my plans have shifted a bit. Since I have more in my budget I'm think the GH Ecogrower would be a better fit for my needs for just about the same money. I should be able to grow 6 naga's in that thing I would hope. It's pretty much a complete kit, I really only need to buy test equipment and lights at this point.
I love February, it means it's just about time to plant!
Since you are growing facing the south window you don't need that much extra light.
You want to buy T5 when you are growing full plants in no light situations like in a garage. Then you buy the very expensive T5 fixtures which can be somewhat compared to the output of HID lighting.
Or you can buy 1 or 2 strip bars which contains only one tube and use them for supplemental lighting but they cost around 30-40$ each at the hydro shops.The advantage is you can place each strip exactly where you need extra light (one on top the other one on the side).
T8 is the best choice for you. They are cheap and very efficient but they put out less lumens then T5.If you need more light just buy another fixture.
The general rule for lighting is 30-40 watts per sq feet. That's not really a good way to measure light needs but it's a lot more easy to understand then micromoles per square meter per second.
People usually mix warm-white and cool-white lights to cover the spectrum (1 6500K tube and 1 3000k tube).
cool, thx for your help guys, I will keep you posted on my progress.
habman;20956][QUOTE=P_Schneider said:
Well isolation is one of the reasons. The fact that I live in the frozen tundra and have a fairly short growing season is another. Besides, money I have, patience for putting Elmer's glue on plant nodes... not so much.
Thanks for the advice though.Got a question for you though, you use the Flora line of nutrients don't you? If so, do you use any of the supplements that they have listed on their grow sheets or does the micro, grow, and bloom do the trick by themselves?
P_Schneider said:
I don't use the Flora line. I still have the generic cheap nutrient that came with the Baby bloomer hydro kit(looks like it's working ok). But the next nute I buy will be the flora series.
The micro, grow, and bloom is all you need.
What is great about the flora line is the fact that you can tweak the solution to the need of the plants you are growing by varying the amount of micro, grow, and bloom.
Most brands of nutrients come in veg with 2 parts: A and B and flora with 2 parts: A and B.
Cool, it looks like the flora stuff is what comes with the ecogrower so I should be set. I might swap out the micro for micro-hardwater since that can be an issue up here but we shall see what happens with the regular micro first.
Thanks guys,
Thanks guys,
Well, mark it sold. Just need the lights and the test equipment, but that can wait until next check. I needed to spend $250. for the free shipping at GrowCo but at 29lbs shipping weight it was worth it, plus I need the other stuff anyway. Can't wait to plant!
$9.95 1 General Hydroponics Liquid Pro pH Down - 1 quart
$9.95 1 General Hydroponics Liquid Pro pH Up - 1 quart
$11.95 1 Gel4Plugs rooting gel - 250 ml
$179.95 1 General Hydroponics EcoGrower
$8.49 1 FloraKleen cleaning and flushing solution - 1 quart
$9.75 1 Grodan Rockwool Cubes: 98 wrapped mini-blocks - 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5
$34.25 1 Hot House with heat mat and tall dome
$9.95 1 General Hydroponics Liquid Pro pH Down - 1 quart
$9.95 1 General Hydroponics Liquid Pro pH Up - 1 quart
$11.95 1 Gel4Plugs rooting gel - 250 ml
$179.95 1 General Hydroponics EcoGrower
$8.49 1 FloraKleen cleaning and flushing solution - 1 quart
$9.75 1 Grodan Rockwool Cubes: 98 wrapped mini-blocks - 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5
$34.25 1 Hot House with heat mat and tall dome
habman said:Great but now the hard part is waiting for package to arrive
Tell me about it. I did pick up the lights yesterday. 2 T12, 6500K, 3065 lumen, 4ft tubes and 2 T12, 3000k, 3000 lumen tubes with a T12/T8 75watt hanging fixture and mounting brackets. I know the T8's are supposed to produce more lights but the T12's were actually rated higher as far as lumens go. Plus they had the right colors in T12. Must be the difference in wattage, the T8's are only 32 watts and the T12's are 40 watts. Also picked up an airstone for the bottom of the tank.
The bright side is that I should receive shipment next week which gives me a week for setup before I plant. Only 1 thing left to buy and that's the tester. I have an aquarium with a liquid ph test kit so that will do until I get a digital one.
This is going to be fun!
Just checked UPS, Estimated delivery date - 2/5/07! Very fast shipping for UPS ground from this site.
Update 2006-02-04
I finally got and installed my 400watts Digital ballast with a GE Lucalox HPS lamp(average 45 000 lumens).
So these will be the last pics of my plants under normal 2X85 watts CFL (~10 000 lumens).
They really worked well. A got plenty of growth and flowers and I was even able to grow a chilaca and some tomatoes.
Both the chilaca and tomatoes got some major pruning done on them.
Adjusting the lights for growth was bit of pain.
I probably should have used more red light (3000K). The chilaca plant is way to bushy, it does not look natural(too much blue light?). But that's not a bad thing when growing under restrictive space.
The chilaca pepper is growing at a rate of 0.5 cm per day. It's now measuring about 8cm.
I had one major incident last week which almost put an end to my hydroponic pepper career. A leak on my baby bloomer reservoir, there was a bit of damage to the wood floor but I was lucky to spot the problem early on.
I tried just about every type of glue to fix the problem. Nothing worked. The only thing that worked was CPVC glue. I think I spent 50$ trying different kind of glue. ::Bang head on the wall::
Yesterday I had to remove all my plants from the hydro to fix the leak. They had no water and light for almost a full day. Looks like they will survive without too much damage hopefully the chilica will not drop fruit after all this stress.
Hydro setup
Non-Hydro Hydro
Chilaca size
I finally got and installed my 400watts Digital ballast with a GE Lucalox HPS lamp(average 45 000 lumens).
So these will be the last pics of my plants under normal 2X85 watts CFL (~10 000 lumens).
They really worked well. A got plenty of growth and flowers and I was even able to grow a chilaca and some tomatoes.
Both the chilaca and tomatoes got some major pruning done on them.
Adjusting the lights for growth was bit of pain.
I probably should have used more red light (3000K). The chilaca plant is way to bushy, it does not look natural(too much blue light?). But that's not a bad thing when growing under restrictive space.
The chilaca pepper is growing at a rate of 0.5 cm per day. It's now measuring about 8cm.
I had one major incident last week which almost put an end to my hydroponic pepper career. A leak on my baby bloomer reservoir, there was a bit of damage to the wood floor but I was lucky to spot the problem early on.
I tried just about every type of glue to fix the problem. Nothing worked. The only thing that worked was CPVC glue. I think I spent 50$ trying different kind of glue. ::Bang head on the wall::
Yesterday I had to remove all my plants from the hydro to fix the leak. They had no water and light for almost a full day. Looks like they will survive without too much damage hopefully the chilica will not drop fruit after all this stress.
Hydro setup
Non-Hydro Hydro
Chilaca size
habman said:
Wow, how big of a room do you have? You could probably cook a pizza or something under those lights.
Seriously nice setup though. My little room is still under construction, the kit arrives tomorrow, lights are setup, and my 2 plants that I'm wintering are loving life with all the new light. It actually looks warm and inviting in there which is strange considering it's been below zero outside for the last 3 days now.
I have about 2 weeks yet before I plant so everything is on schedule.
Hi Folks
I built myself a 4 pod Ebb & Flow (Flood and Drain) system, let me know what you think.
the link is
http://chillisgalore.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2942&highlight=
I built myself a 4 pod Ebb & Flow (Flood and Drain) system, let me know what you think.
the link is
http://chillisgalore.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2942&highlight=
It asks for a login.NagaMad said:
well the first part of my setup showed up yesterday. The rooting gel, ph up and ph down, and the florakleen all showed up frozen solid as a rock from sitting in the UPS warehouse over the weekend. I contacted the guy and he said that freezing wont bother these liquids. Does anybody know if this is true? I'm a bit concerned about the rest of the shipment which should be here today or tomorrow. The nutrients come in that shipment and I can't help think that freezing would be bad for those.
Awww, how cute!