Hi folks - I've always used HPS in the past, last grow was 3000 watts across 3 tents, one before that was a single 600 watt in a 3x3 tent that yielded a little over a pound. I've had some good success with this. The real test for me is whether the Solarstorm 880 can meet my expectations in this new grow - a 4x8 tent with a light mover. I have a 4x4 tent with a 600 watt MH and each month to six weeks will move 8 plants from there to one side or the other of the 4x8.

I have a 750 watt HPS as a backup with a 40x30 hood and am considering doing a parallel flower of the same strains in the 4x4 tent for comparison. Just not sure this is relevant, you're either happy with your yield or you aren't, comparing it to another one might be useless. We'll all know by the yield if it works or not.

I'll also be using my own inventions for watering and environment monitoring. I designed a drip system for soil that uses sensors to determine when to water each plant so it goes off feedback from each plant instead of a timer. There are a number of innovations there, I'll show pics when the time comes. Basically it is the closest thing to me hand watering each plant exactly the same way and only when it wants it and only until it is saturated- which even I cannot do. Other circuits I built monitor temp and humidity, kick the ac on and off, etc. Money was an issue at the time and it seemed easier to learn electronics than figure out a way to pay for what someone else already made.

First batch: Solarstom 880 in veg mode in 4x4 tent - at flowering moved to 4x8 tent with same light
Second batch: 600 watt MH in veg mode in 4x4 tent - at flowering moved to other side of 4x4 tent, light mover engaged on Solarstorm

Strains: Blue Dream, Master Kush, Sour Diesel, and a as yet TBD strain

Expect final results in November, will post pics and appropriate diatribes in the coming days and weeks. I'm pretty stoked at the possibilities!

Luckman

Hi,

Sounds like you already know what you're doing so I'll just offer one piece of advice on the LED. You'll probably get about 15 to 18 inches of penetration with it. Outside of that range and you'll be getting fluff/popcorn buds.

Good luck! I'm curious about your watering sensor. Post some pix and info on it when you get a chance.

RKY

rkymtnman wrote:Hi,

Sounds like you already know what you're doing so I'll just offer one piece of advice on the LED. You'll probably get about 15 to 18 inches of penetration with it. Outside of that range and you'll be getting fluff/popcorn buds.

Good luck! I'm curious about your watering sensor. Post some pix and info on it when you get a chance.

RKY

Thanks! I'm going to train them into a 8-cola configuration per plant, maybe 16 if I have time. We'll see what happens. I am just getting set up this week so I'll have my plant stock tomorrow and be in full swing by the weekend. Right now I'm running the 880 in bloom mode just to see what the temps run without me doing any custom ducting on the light. It's currently 81 degrees, up from 79. I'm adding boost fans for intake so that should help, another portable AC is also hooked up. The ducting I had hooked up to a 600 watt cooltube (pictured) I'll reroute somehow to the light - I saw someone's DIY ducting but I'm going to try to avoid that. Mainly because I've seen enough ductwork already for three lifetimes.

I added a cooling duct and boost fan, temps are now cool enough that the AC will kick off soon. The AC is a 1200 watt window unit. The temp readings are very nice, this means the light is not putting out alot of heat because I am *not* pumping alot of cool air in yet. Pictured is a webpage that gets served by an Arduino microcontroller which communicates via RF to a temp sensor in the tent. (Ignore the CO2 reading, that sensor is not hooked up) This way I can keep tabs on things without going in there and the server will also kick on and off the AC when temps are above/below 76. That setup is a relay and a house plug wired up to another microcontroller and wireless setup. It's all still breadboarded so it's ugly as hell so I won't picture the circuits unless someone specifically asks.

This is impressive.

To be clear, what I mean by boost and ducting for cooling is a MaxFan 330CFM 6" running from the AC unit vicinity to the bottom of the tent. To the right you can see the temp sensor. Right now it's running cool enough that I don't need to mess with the light fixture. But we'll see once we get plants in there.

Welcome to the forums!

Xylem wrote:This is impressive.

Thank you! I'm happy to share details about it since I am a free information kinda guy but I'll also want to be careful about going off-topic - especially early on. Feel free to msg me sometime if you want details or I'll post more as time goes.

SisterMaryElephant wrote:Welcome to the forums!

Thanks SME, I look forward to your critiques.

Day 1, just got the plants home.

2 Bubba Kush
2 Blue Dream (Tom Estes cut)
2 Afghani
2 Sour Diesel

4x4 tent, standard ventilation scenario - nothing special. Light is way up there so as not to shock, in veg mode obviously. I have thermostats keeping the temp under 76 and humidity under 50 for now. I apologize on the front end for the crappy phone pics, I have another camera that I'll dig out since this one seems to suck.

In a few days I'll replant into their final home and take more pics, along with the rest of the setup details. Have a great day!