Hi,
Im new to the forum and very new to growing, ill be growing in my room so was thinking of getting a enviro lamp, because i was thinking it would be too loud with the fans etc for a 400w or 600w, so was thinking of starting small until i move out, and can learn abit in that time.
My cousin has a enviro an to my knowledge i know their rnt as good as HID ones, an i think he said he has blue spec and said it will do for growin but with abit of research i understand you would need both specs to grow.
Can someone please give me some advice on what i should do, would be much apreciated.
Thanks, Dan.

Hi Dan, welcome to uk420. Whatever light you use, you will need a powerful fan and a carbon filter. The plants need lots of fresh air, and they really stink once they are a few weeks old, and I mean stink the whole house out.

A blue enviro is good for starting seedlings with, but you really need something more powerful for flowering to get a decent yield.

A blue enviro can do a whole grow, as would a red one

I have been using a BAL digital (one with the lamp attached to the ballast) which I got for under £70 early last year it's 400w but comes in 600w for not too much more.

Thanks squirrel, how much would it all cost for extraction and fans, i have enough room for a 400w lamp, but thought it would be loud with the fans but seen as tho i need em anyway, why not go bigger, im thinking of making a box to go in a garage, an seems a good plan if its gonna smell that bad, wont mind the room stinkin. , and if i do go with enviro which one would be best t go with, for full setup how much would we be talking.
Thanks agen, Dan

yeah the ones ive been looking at were the lamps with the balst on

Check out the link in the top righthand corner, that will give you an idea of what things cost. The fan and filter deal prices will probably make you wince, but I'll save you a few steps of the noob learning curve : no, a bathroom extractor won't work, yes it's much cheaper but no it really really won't work. You need the filter for security, flowering plants stink the whole street out, never mind the house. Not very stealthy...

You can do a whole grow under enviros, but you won't get anything like the same yield. If you are going for a box in the garage, you'll need heating, the plants can't deal with low nighttime temperatures.

Ok thanks, Ive got my self a 250w blue spec enviro for the time been as am abit cash straped at the min so al just keep upgrading when i can afford 2 an just try and learn as much as i can during this time, ive decided to use a spare bedroom to do it, i understand that you can also use cpl bulbs, if so how would i go about it, and should i get a red spec lamp when it comes 2 flowerin, i do have a 600w lamp i borrowed but nearly burnt the house down with that as i dint know wat a was doin, , so ill wait till am abit more experienced.
Dan.

before you go any further bud you want to get a fan and filter .it could be the difference between freedom and jail time

growing cannabis smells real bad mate !!!!!

peppi

That bad eh , but yeah ive been looking, im not going to start until i have a good setup and idea of how to grow, lots of research yet. Ive seen a few using pc fans would a fan filter package and few pc fans do the trick?

If you have a 250 watt enviro you could just as easily use a 250 watt HPS - same heat, more ganja

(just needs another 6 inches of headroom.)

Yeah was thinking of that but just thought it would of been too hot for my room as i nearly burnt it down am a bit para'd , but im sticking it in spare room so wont bother me, so would it be better vegging with the enviro an getting a 250w hps for flowerin

get a 250watt hps and ballast, and just get a 250 metal halide for vegging, no point forking out 50 quid for a cfl when you can have even better results with a ten quid MH lamp

I keep banging my head against the wall trying to explain it to people on here.
But I doubt our energy minister would understand either. (gawd help us all).

The best growers on here using the most efficient lamp (600 watt HPS) aim to convert maybe 0.2 percent of their electricity into cannabis - the rest is lost as heat.

The best enviro grower probably converts 0.1 percent of their electricity into cannabis.

So there is effectively zero difference in the heat you need to get rid of, but twice as much cannabis.

I know which I choose - and I did - 12 years ago.

250 watt HPS lamps aren't very efficient so I would go for a 600 if you can accommodate it.

If you're going to grow, you might as well get as much as you can for your risk and investment. (electricity alone will cost you 50 quid for a 250 watt grow)

As I keep saying, the only practical difference between HPS and enviro (appart from the above) is a little more headroom.

would be interesting if they could develop low wattage florry tubes with a cool enough surface temperature that the plants could actually be in full contact with the tubes, would make excellent supplemental lighting, running tubes right inbetween plants in rows below canopy level

Right so ive fooked up gettin enviro really, i do have a 600w hps and i have the room to use it in my bedroom, but dont really fancy usin it in my room, and its a built in cupboard so cant really move it into spare room, have to wait till i move to grow that big, and price of leccy isnt a problem at the minute either, i was just thinkin the enviro would do for a small cupboard to start of with, but a hps lamp would of been the better choice, its just my cousin has an enviro and said you dint need the fans an that which i now know you do, oh and sorry compostverte for u havin 2 explain that again

Yep. Internally silvered ones not trying (and failing) to be HIDs

That said, I bet Blab will end up giving me serious competition with his double enviro outfit
But he has the green fingers and I'm a lazy git really.

An enviro is a decent enough option for the first 2 or 3 weeks ...

I haven't had the courage to try a 70 or 150 watt HPS to see how well it compares to fluorescents.

My own heath Robinson effort is flawed in several respects - I made it partly due to my perversity.

ive measured up what i have to make a grow box, and have 3 options, 23"H X 22"W X 14"D, 34 X 18 X11 and 92 x 46 x 19, the last ones the built in one in my room, and if i would be able to use without affecting my sleep and making my room too warm i would use.

well that's a no brainer, the last one!!

ah it's in your room, doh, i take it you don't mind making a few holes into the attic? have all the equipment up there, make sure you get a good fan and speed control it with good insulated ducting, well sealed against light etc

ha, yeah but it wont annoy me or burn the house down will it as it built into my wall, and has 2 doors at the front, no where else, would it be ok

dont know how to edit, so wrote another reply as i seen youve edited yours, i could have it in the attic but its a chew on getting up and down and dont fancy making too many ajustments as its my dads house, thats why i wanted to go small till i move out

no, i mean have the grow in your cupboard, then have two holes cut through the ceiling of the cupboard into the attic for intake/extract of air, with the fan and ballast, etc in the attic, so you wont get any noise

i'd draw a pic, but i'm on a mac, and i don't know how to work it

as long as you do everything properly, and don't bodge things, like having your reflector hung up with bits of crappy string etc, you shouldn't burn your house down

ah right, yeah a wont mind doing that like, if someone could draw a pic or lead me to a link that would be great, how many fans would i need as the quite expensive rnt the


oh and yeah a av them roller things for hanging em

for that space a single 125mm fan should do, bout 50quid+ you'd basically be circulating air from the attic through your grow room, which isn't ideal, as really you want fresh air in your grow, or even better Co2 rich air from inside your house, so if you could duct the intake to a source of fresh air, then exhaust the air into your attic would be best, it all depends on your house anyway, just be creative eh!

well ma cupboards right next to a window but might look abit suspicious, with the duct out of the window

Very naughty I know, but for years I used to just convect through a feck off big hole into the loft.

Straight upwards is good

I had conveniently chain-smoking neighbours with a smelly dog and a shake and vac habit, but it still honked like rotten cabbage when I got through the front door.

ha, yeah handy, mine are abit too straight and would be askin questions if any suspicion, but im sure i will come up with something, ill av to check the loft out when a get chance, dont think ma dad would relise a few holes here an there.

Does he know you're growing ?

not that am planning on no, but he wont mind as ive had a go before when a dint know what i was doing and i got him to water em an stuff, until leccy bill comes , al just av t pay him for it.

anyhow ive come up with a plan, ive got a 250w enviro which ive decided to keep so can use for veggin at a later stage, and i have a 600w lamp but not sure what type, but does the trick. im going to try a full grow with the enviro for abit of practice until i get my cupboard done out with the fans and filter going into the loft, might have it done for when its time to flower.

im gonna do out a old set of drawers for my grow box, put in the enviro with either 4 pc fans 2 in, 2 out, or get the ruck fans and filter if that wont do. What you guys reckon any advice is very welcome, only way to learn.


Dan

The trouble with PC fans is that they aren't powerful enough to pull air through a carbon filter, and the smell of flowering cannabis is overwhelmingly powerful. Trying to do a full grow with no CF is painting a target on your chest and begging to get busted.

Oh right a dint think a small plant would of smelt that bad like but cheers, would the big cupboard i mentioned earlier do for a 600w lamp, i forgot to ask about that, and i will put the carbon filter through the loft


Dan

so sorry to cut in on this thread with questions about intake/extraction but I will anyway .

I used to grow up in my attic but in the last few months moved everything down into a bedroom - have given no thought to extraction or intake of air but I want to get a whole new set up and am thinking about it now. Want to get a large grow tent and put it in my back bedroom but have no idea of how to get air in and out of there. Could you explain (or point me to a link) the "feck off big hole in the loft" idea? I know nothing about DIY so I am nervous about the idea of placing a vent/fan-deal into the wall (is that hard?) but I have a boiler cupboard below the attic. Do I just drill some holes into ceiling of the cupboard? I assume I'll need a fan to pull the air from the attic into the room?

Got myself a fan & carbon filter recently but I have no idea how to use it and the instructions are mostly in german with diagrams of how to fit it into pipes for cookers. No idea about the principles of using this thing; from what I can make out, the tubing would go into the tent and to the fan &filter which would be attached to the wall by brackets. So does that mean that the cleaned air would just be dispersed into my bedroom? If that's the case then what is the harm in opening my window now and then to allow air into the room? Is it a big deal to set up some kind of vent for intake (or is your comment about getting rid of the smell, compostverte? if so, I'm even more confused) in the wall or straight up into the loft - or am I just being a little bitch? Growing in the loft, I never felt I had to do anything about air intake or filtering the smell - sadly, my grows have never been so successful that I deemed it necessary.

If you mean

if that's inches, a 600 would be pushing it, but not impossible. You'd need to have your ventilation well dialled in, and that would mean a bit of noise. If it's centimeters, no chance.

Have a look at Church's classic build a growdrobe thread, that will give you a good idea of what is possible and how it al fits together. Note that although he started with a 400 HPS he found he couldn't control the heat in the space, and later changed it for a 250.

Hi dem_tweeds. What CV is talking about is literally making a big hole in the ceiling into the loft. The ceiling will be plasterboard with a skim (thin layer) of plaster or artex or somesuch over it. You can very easily cut a hole though plasterboard. Most lofts don't have a floor as such, just the plasterboard between the joists, so it's a pretty easy job. I would go and buy yourself a big book of how to do every diy job in a house, that will explain a lot about how houses are constructed. Lofts are deliberately not airtight, so the used air can escape from there. NB without a filter you would risk stinking the street out.


The filter goes inside the growing area. You have ducting which goes into the fan. The fan sucks air through the carbon filter, thus completely removing the smell, and expels it through more ducting. You also need to read Church's growdrobe thread - a tent is exactly the same principle. Because hot air rises, you have the extraction at the top, and the intakes at the bottom.


You can do it that way, provided that the room is fairly well ventilated, but plants need lots of fresh air (they are mostly made of air), so just opening the window now and then probably won't do - you'd be alright for the early stages of the grow, but maybe not when the plants got bigger. If you can duct the used air right out of the room, eg through the aforementioned hole into the loft, then new air should flow into the room under the door etc to replace it, and you're sorted.

ok cheers again squirrel, yeah is in inches, if i have trouble with it ill just drop down to 400w or 250w if necersarry. and no probs with the high jack as im plannin on drilling into the loft and all info would be good help.


Dan

"The filter goes inside the growing area. You have ducting which goes into the fan. The fan sucks air through the carbon filter, thus completely removing the smell, and expels it through more ducting."

Thanks for that Squirrel, you're a star!! I like the idea of picking up a DIY book and working out how to make a hole into the loft but I am unsure of what the priority purpose of doing that is. I assumed it was for intake into the bedroom but if my filter uses the ducting to expel air - where will it expel to? Should I be hooking the ducting to this hole to expel into the loft? And if I am doing this then why worry about stinking the street up; the air has already gone through the filter, right?

PS; to clarify...the ducting is only for removing the cleaned air from the room/tent?