Lo to all at UK420,

I have £1000 to spend on a setup, and I'm not entirely sure what to buy, i have an idea but i am not certain.

I was thinking of getting the following list

4/6/8 hydropod system

1.3m x 1.3m x 2m grow tent

400watt hps kit

hesi nutrient kit

100mm rvk, carbon filter and ducting

desk fan for circulation

grow medium

Can anyone tell me whether theres anything else major i need. Do I need an intake fan? do i need a sulphur burner?

Also i will be at work for most of the day, is it safe to leave the system running while i am not at home? is there any risk of fire or water getting into the electrics of the hydroponic system?

I have seen cooltube reflectors as well, and i couldn't work out whether i'll need a separate rvk to blow/suck air through the tube? or whether this scan be done with my single extraction fan?

also can some one tell me how the hydropod system works? and is it the best form of hydroponics for a small space?

Also i do not have a separate space for vegetating, will i be able to put rockwool cubes into the hydropod system and carry out the whole grow in these pods, or are the pods too big?

Any help or opinions will be appreciated.

Thanks, caned & able

for that size tent i would gt a 600watt light and a 125mm fan and ducting and filter
i have a 120x120x200cm tent and i am using a 400watter and im gonna upgrade to a 600watter,the temps was fine even when i had my fan controller set to slow

EDIT TO ADD: if you do get a bigger light it will be worth while investing in a fan speed controller as summer is commin

yo danthebadman thanks for your input

yeah i agree that a 600watt hps would be ideal and would increase my yield, but is this more likely to attract the suspicions of the authorities, having a 600watt increase in my power usage?

Also can i use a standard plug adapter that splits into a row of 4 from the mains?

Also can anyone answer some of my other questions from my first post in this topic, as i thought i would cram all my questions into one post rather than spamming out the forum

Thanks for your time, caned & able

a £1000 would get you a really powerfull computer, dual graphics cards, 2 gig memory, 4 hard drives 650w PSU, and you probably wouldn't think twice about leaving it on for days on end while downloading films etc, so surely there is no real difference in power consumption so i wouldn't worry about it m8

My hint: You've obviously been looking at Esoteric Hydroponics's catalogue, and my advice would be - do *not* buy your stuff from there - they are one (if not *the*) most expensive hydro shop around - ever. They've been skinning uninformed growers out of their hard-earned money for quite a few years now, along with their sister businesses like 'The Doggie's Nuts' seed shop and a few others.

Look at the prices at the UK420 shop (button @ top right-hand corner) and contrast and compare.

cool, yeah thanks for your answers KayToo and Scribble

is the only other way the police can catch you, apart from word of mouth, thermal imaging, or is this an urban legend

And also, yes i have seen the esoteric hydroponics catalogue, but i have done most of my browsing in the UK420 shop

How the hell id u know that scribble about the catalogue XD

And why is it safer buying from here than anywhere else?

Thanks for your help again, caned & able

If you've a 2KW grow in a 2-ply box in your yard running 24/7, or similar in your badly-tiled loft, with all the excess light streaming out into the darkened street below, then you may be running a risk of getting caught that way.

IMO, police helicopters are too busy chasing car thieves and monitoring crime scenes to be looking for growers - the only ones they would be able to catch this way, anyway, would be multi-kilowatt grows in poorly-built enclosures.

You will need a contactor for the light if it is going to be run of a timer.

Other things which are important are pH and EC. You could buy a cheap pH test kit and just guess the nutrient levels (the levels stated on the bottles are normally too high).

I have run a similar setup, 1.2m square tent, with 150mm carbon filter extraction and 125mm input on a 600w air cooled light.

I have had an NFT system converted to drippers and a Flood & drain converted to dripper system.

Some of the hydroponic systems and eC & pH meters are expensive.

When I first started I just grew hydroponically and watered the pots manually to save on outlay.

Good luck

Cheers dude, that's reassured me

btw, how didya know about the esoterics hydroponics catalogue?

thats some psychic shit,

and also, can anyone answer my other questions in the first post?

Yo CyrstalFarmer, thanks very much for your comments

A contactor whats that? and yes it will be run on a timer

I hear alot about EC i dont know what thst is either, is it something to do with the amount of nutrients in the water?

You say you watered manually at fisrt, didnt the hydroponics system come complete with a reservoir and other necessary parts to water with?

Also is it necessary to have an intake rvk for a grow of this size, or would a passive intake or a 12cm computer fan do the job?

Another thing, I will be out most of the time and i will have to leave the lights burning and the water pumping while i am not there. If anything goes wrong, are there any safety cutouts in the equipment to avert disaster, like fire?

Thanks for your time, caned & able

The timer will fail if it tries to turn on a high power light. It could possibly be dangerous. You should buy a contactor or I think you can get timers with a built in contactor. Basically the timer turns on the contactor which turns on the light. Without one there is too much power going through the timer as the lamp ignites and it will blow.

EC is electrical conductivity, basically when something is disolved in water, the ions (charged atoms) conduct electricity. The EC meter measures this conductivity, and thereby telling you the strength of the nutrient solution. Without one, using a resevoir you will not no what the concentration is and will have to guess initially. You won't know how much nutrients the plants are taking up. For example, after the plant has been drawing up water, you could check the pH & EC and rebalance them if the levels are inappropriate.

Hydroponics is basically direct feeding the plants with ionic feeds as opposed to using compost where the bacteria in the soil convert the nutrients to a form which can be taken up by the plant.

Therefore, my 'passive hydroponic' grow (if you had a resevoir that would be an 'active system') consisted of a couple of trays, some pots filled with Canna Coco and some perlite and then I just watered them everyday.

It is best to run the lights at night, that way you can take advantage of the cooler nighttime temperatures rather than running during the day when the sun is out. The electricity can be cheaper this way and you have the advantage of being in the house when the lights are on. Get a smoke alarm in there just in case.

It would depend on the tent really. I have used a Green Room, Home Box & BudBox, the Homebox & Budbox have good passive intakes but the greenroom had an intake fan.

Air cooled lights are the business, I extracted into the carbon filter then through the light and out of the tent.

You can buy an RCD 'trip switch' that will trip the electricity but you should have a modern fuse box anyway.

My advice is to be careful with the ballasts, these can get extremely hot (depending on which one you have) and are the main problem. The worst thing is if the power cable comes out slightly, it will generate a lot of heat and could melt the plastic or set the ballast on fire. I always ensure that the power cables are secured properly. One of my ballasts has a direct cable and a locking mechanism so it doesn't come out but the other one has a join in the power cord and the power cable could easily come out of the ballast if knocked.

I think it costs about 24 grand to get a police helicopter in the air, they aren't going to be flying around wasting our tax payers money looking for a little heatspot.

I extract now straight into the loft.

Best wishes.

CF

Thanks very much Crystal Farmer

Thats very helpful.

Make sure you buy quality kit and install it correctly, and you should be fine. You definitely want the contactor. I would strongly recommend the uk420 shop, fast, reliable, discreet, and Joolz only sells quality kit.

Not sure what a sulphur burner does, but you don't need one.

600 W is actually not a lot in terms of heat imaging, it's a lot less than a fan heater, less than a toaster. So long as they aren't breaking your door down every day during breakfast and arresting your toaster and your kettle you should be fine.

Seriously, they can only catch commercial-size grows, thousand of watts, via thermal imaging. Most people get busted because they can't keep their mouths shut. Don't tell anyone what you're doing.

Cheers squirrel

So when i buy from the UK420 shop there is no chance what so ever that these transactions can be traced?

And also when the packages arrive in the post, the packaging of the actual product is inside another box, so the nosey postman doesnt suspect anything. Coz i don't look like your average horticulturist

i have ordered plenty of seeds from the uk420 seed bank and i have never had a problem and the delivery is very very fast.

your set-up will come well packed and stealth unlike some hydro store who put there stickers all over the outta packaging.

and not many of us look like your average horticulturist