Hi,

Currently designing a growdrobe for my first attempt at growing, however money is tight and i wondered if it is safe to run a 250w hid off a 400w digital ballast? This is to avoid buying 2 seperate ballasts. The digital ballast is a brand new canatronics 400w hps £70.

The growing space inside the drobe is 4.5 height x 2.5 width x2 depth (feet) i was thinking a cooltube is probably best but i dont have the funds for the extra rvk fans it will need to cool it. So i was thinking until i can afford the extra stuff, i could run a 250w with a heatshield for my first grows then switch to a 400w watt cooltube setup with the extra rvk's. I want to grow 2 plants in two 25 litre DWC pods.

I have budgeted for one 5" rvk and carbon filter for extraction with passive intakes. Is there a way of rigging it up so i could just use this one fan for extraction and cooltube cooling simultaneously and still be efficient?

i.e. carbon filter > fan > cooltube > outlet.

Would adding a 120mm pc fan after the cooltube to aid air flow through the ducting be a feasible idea or would the heat be too great?

Any advice and ideas would be much appreciated, cheers!

P.S. feels good after months of reading to finally post !

Not sure about HID lights but I ran an enviro light 200w straight from the wall socket with no problems, not sure now if that was wise or safe will have to check. I wouldn't risk it with HID though, could be a completly different energy output, someone will know for sure whether you can or not.


Good luck with the grow, welcome to UK420.

no you cant use a 250 in a 400 ballast

if you cant afford another ballast get a 250 enviro

T1

Damn that sucks, makes sense though. I'll have to bite the bullet and go with the cooltube first thing. Better in the long run i guess.

Do you have any ideas bout the single fan solution or should i ask this in the 'environment' section?

(Forgot to say I already have a 200w envirolite and reflector for vegging, the hid is intended for the flowering only).

cheers



Hi,

The envirolite i've bought is self ballasting so it is ok to plug directly in to the wall, not sure if they are all like that though....

oops.

Can you really not get more height ?

It isn't just about extracting waste heat. You can't get your money's worth from a 400 watt lamp in that height. I use 250 watts in 5 foot 6 plus a foot for extraction - so 6 foot 6 total.. with a 400 watt you want an extra 3 inches or so ...

hey dude,

The wardrobe is a bit taller than that, i meant the actual grow space. It has a shelf inside which i was going to put the extraction fans and electrics in so they are seperate, so that's a full 4.5, possibly 5 if i raised the shelf slightly still allowing for the fans etc. Is this not enough? I thought if i kept them short and used heatshield/cooltube this would be ok? The thing i was worried about is the height of the dwc buckets....

cheers

Anything's possible, but I bet you could get a whole wardrobe for the price of a cooltube .... That 400 would be almost the ideal lamp for the space if it was 15 to 18 inches taller ...

I'm dead lazy though and I also like to grow sativas as well as indicas.

Hi,

I know its not ideal but it'll have to do, i already bought the wardrobe £60 so i'm stuck unfortunately. I'm kicking myself cos b+q sell ones with the same height but more depth and width for £40. I was inspired by these posts which use similar wardrobes and they seem to be having success.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=52895

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...=88921&st=0

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=107118

It's height you're short of.

It may be possible to grow with limited height, but that doesn't mean it's sensible - I'm guessing it's usually not people's free choice.

The thing is most of us start with a full 8 feet of room height available ...

It's never too late. It pays to remember that the electricity for a grow will cost you £100 - so best make sure you have a successful grow.

--------------

Sorry if I sound unhelpful - it's just that I grew for years in a 4 foot 6 cupboard with a 250 watt lamp and don't wish it on anyone.

In my current space I can grow pretty well what I like in terms of genetics without mucking about with SCROG .

Far from it, its just i thought grow space was the least of my worries, you've just given me more to think about which is exactly what i need. I do not earn alot of money in my job so a £500+ investment has to be done right.

The problems are that i don't own my current dwelling, so i can't build permanent structures, even an ominous looking wardrobe in the corner will raise eyebrows! Its rented from a family member who wouldn't be too impressed, they'd never dob me in to the law but they'd object. I already have a reputation as a bit of a stoner and they wouldn't put it past me. I'm walking on eggshells before i've even begun!

So, it has to be stealthy, and collapsible when i relocate. I think i'm stuck with scrog method. No matter how much a pain it will be, it will not be as much of a pain as scoring off dealers and i've got to start somewhere. Hopefully someday i'll have my batcave!

You have me think of some serious cupboard modifcation plans though, some of which i've just thought of while typing this!

Have you got any pics of your setup? What was it about the scrog that was a pain? Were you getting good yields off 250w?

I'm thinking if i use a 250w (instead of 400w) there won't be as many issues, for example heat and running costs, plus i'm only wanting to do 2 plants. Not sure if this'll effect yield too much...

SCROG works best when you grow from cuttings and know how the plant is going to behave - though there are people here who've done successful ones from seed.
I've never done one myself - but I watched a very tidy 250 watt grow on here a while back where I was expecting the yield to be much better than I get by simply slinging a few plants in a cupboard, but it wasn't ...

250 watts will easily produce 4 ounces.... 400 watts should double that because bigger lamps are more efficient.

Don't just take my advice. I'm basically lazy and a cheapskate, and one of the few benefits of having no life is that I can do whatever I like ....

cool mate, cheers for the input