Lighting New to growing

[Peterh1977]

Hi growers,
new to growing but really getting into. Half way through my first soil grow, but hearing great things about Hydro and Autos.
understand that Hydro is difficult but would like a bit of advise,
1, looking at a 2.4m tent with 6 plants and 1200 watts of light. Don't know wether to go HPS or LED. If LED which size lights will I need
2, looking at Forums and people are talking about 24/0. In soil I did 18/6 then 12/12 for flowering (non auto) will it be different for Auto plants?
3,I will be going hydro this time. Single pot bubble buckets. I will be getting 2 pots per plant and refreshing the water daily, will this help control the ph and nutrient levels
4, I have read the forums and there is a term I don't understand, ppm, what is this and how do I measure it

Thanks for anyone's response and help it is all greatly appreciated.

 

[TaNg]

Hay bro welcome to AFN I cant really help with the hydro as I'm soil but I do know ppm is 'parts per million' and its a way of measuring the strength of the food.
Autos will grow under any cycle but most use 20/4.
For the 2.4m room 1200w in HPS will be what you need but far less in LED,if your looking at a budget LED set up have a look at Mars they have a section here and Tina will be glad to help,there are also other Chinese manufactures like Cidley or Bysen that make reasonable lights. You want to aim for about 800w.
There are lots of LED grow lights available so do some homework if you go down that route,homework if fun though as the best way to see how well a light works is looks at grows on here and other Forums,we also have a LED review section.
I should mention I use what I would like to think of as top end LED lights,their Grownortherns Holographic Series 1 and from the results im seeing they are hard to beat on efficiency and the trichome production under them is insane. I'm using two in a 1.2m room and their 75w each but if I had your space I would want 5 maybe even 6 to max it out but that would still only be 450w. Trouble is there is no 120v version yet so if you N America their out of reach at the moment.

 

[Justinsane]

Hi growers,
new to growing but really getting into. Half way through my first soil grow, but hearing great things about Hydro and Autos.
understand that Hydro is difficult but would like a bit of advise,
1, looking at a 2.4m tent with 6 plants and 1200 watts of light. Don't know wether to go HPS or LED. If LED which size lights will I need
2, looking at Forums and people are talking about 24/0. In soil I did 18/6 then 12/12 for flowering (non auto) will it be different for Auto plants?
3,I will be going hydro this time. Single pot bubble buckets. I will be getting 2 pots per plant and refreshing the water daily, will this help control the ph and nutrient levels
4, I have read the forums and there is a term I don't understand, ppm, what is this and how do I measure it

Thanks for anyone's response and help it is all greatly appreciated.

2.4 m what?

2.4m2 as in 1.55x1.55m?

or 2.4mx2.4m?

 

[TaNg]

I'm guessing at 2.4 x 2.4m.

 

[Justinsane]

Yeah I think so to, and then he got 5.76m2 to cover. But we will know when he some online to answer

 

[MedGrower]

Hey bro! If you going to go with hydroponics it would be essential you go and get good and reliable Ph meter and ppm or EC -meter. With the latter you will measure the level of nutrients in your water. Better to change the water once a week and just check and adjust everyday.

I hear a lot that for beginners it would be best to stay at 5.8ph at all times. Lot of debate on optimal Ph though, best would be to start from there. DWC is most easiest way to do hydroponics in my opinion. And fun! I always feel like a mad scientist mixing my chemical soup! muhahaha.

 

[Justinsane]

Or go with hempy bucket for your first runs, an almost fool proof way in to hydro.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=147954

Justin

 

[Justinsane]

I'm guessing at 2.4 x 2.4m.

And in that case he will need 8 hs1 to get the same coverage as you if you still got your 1.2m x 1.2m

1.2m x 1.2m = 1.44m2

2.4m x 2.4m = 5.56m2

5.76 / 1.44 = 4

you using 2hs1 x 4 = 8 lights

 

[Peterh1977]

Gents,
tent is 2.4 x 1.2 meters. I have been looking at 4 x 300w viper LEDs which claim 180 actual wattage per unit. In this I will be growing 4 - 6 autoultimates from dp in bubble buckets. I'll also have 2 tubular heaters @45 watts to manage the heat. Looking also at CO2 as I have access to as much as I need.


i appreciate your feedback and saw Tangs journal on his auto ultimate and the cheeses one. Awesome grow and well impressesd

 

[MedGrower]

Peter, please note that if you are going to supplement with CO2, the plants that enjoy higher CO2 -content have their metabolism going faster. That also means that they generally enjoy a bit higher temperatures and more stronger nutrition. Also a bit higher RH is advisable. I tend to use CO2 in summertime just to make my plants tolerate heat a bit better.