With our first harvest under our belt, and some killer Chem Dawg for our troubles, Its time for some shiny new hydro equipment. We decided the best approach was to upgrade everything…Starting with the walls. As chic as wood paneling, and garbage bags are, I decided a 4′x4′ hydro tent with reflective Mylar walls is a little more energy efficient.
Now for my sun, Sunlight Supply’s Magnum XXXL 8″, or as they affectionately call it, The OCHO.
Its the biggest reflector in their line, and probably the biggest I have ever seen. It almost entirely fills our tent. Light distribution smooth, even, and intense. Running a SolarMax HPS we are spreading 147,000Lumens across a 4′x4′x2′ garden.
As for the ballast, we decided to go with a magnetic ballast t to save some money in the short run. Digital ballasts reduce power consumption, so if you plan on growing for a while, you will definitely appreciate the digi.
The tray is Botanicare’s 48″x48″ tray. What they don’t tell you is that 48″ is the bottom measurement, at the top it is actually 52″x52″ so good luck fitting it into a 48″ tent. I had to take off the edges with a Skil saw, and it still doesn’t fit with the door closed. Measure your parts before you take them home! For the time being, a slightly larger door is being cut out of panda film. Next time I’ll have to decide whether to buy a new tent 3″ larger or, a new tray almost a foot smaller. It’s a good thing I seem to enjoy shopping for this stuff so much.
Outside of the tent is an Oracle Revolution 6 455cfm duct fan. The fan performs multiple tasks; it provides fresh air, by replacing all the air in the tent 3-4x a minute, it air cools the light, without it the light would overheat and explode, finally it force feeds all of the air coming out of the room into a Can50 38-Special carbon filter. The insulated ducting helps quiet it down, and keep your exhaust from warming up your room (Home Depot carries it cheaper than anywhere else).
After careful inspection of our power bill, we realized about half of our consumption was coming from a 25yr old built in air conditioner. This time we went with a window mount energy star a/c unit. It is more than enough for our little room. It can also be run on low to help lower humidity. The efficiency we gained from the air conditioner should negate the cost of upgrading our light from 600w-1000w. It’s always good to keep electricity usage as stable as possible.
Now all that’s missing is the herb. My next article will detail the building and use of an aeroponic cloner.
