I've been reading up on Hydro for a while now but simply don't have the space yet to do anything with it. I've had two seasons on somewhat successful outside gardening and feel like I'm getting the knowledge I need to be a decent gardener.
I also set up an indoor greenhouse in a spare room in my house to grow this and that during the winter.
The equipment I have collected, over time, is as follows:
I have:
Pondmaster Model 3
[img]https://www.sdpondandgarden.com/images/categories/C591.jpg[/img]
I have two of these - Ericsson High Bay Temp. Construction Lights - 400W MH (an electrical contractor on one of my projects gave them to me!):
[img]https://ericson.thomasnet.com/Asset/1004-MH-R16.jpg[/img]
I had to buy the reflector, and only have one. So I really only have one light with the reflector and one other fixture with the standard wire guard. The reflector is 16" at the opening. The lamp base is Type O.
I have a digital timer that programmable to the minute, but I'll need another to run the light and pump separately.
I used to have a pseudo drip system set up on the balcony of the condo I used to live in that simply was a larger tube with smaller tubes to each individual plant on the balcony that watered them daily for 15 minutes or so. Simple watering only system that was not recirculating. I had to fill the source bucket every other day. I'm quite handy, so even more difficult builds are not difficult for me.
The pump is rated at 350gph and a 10.5' max head. The ballast on the Hi Bays will not drive a HPS, at least I don't believe so. I haven't tried as I've heard the wrong bulb might muck up the light. The color temp of the standard MH bulb for this ficture is 4000K. Will the 4000K MH work for the entire growing of a particular plant or will I ultimately need to provide a HPS light spectrum for fruiting vegetables? I imagine something like lettuce and herbs would grow just fine under the 400W MH?
I'm thinking that it wouldn't be terribly expensive to get into this?
I also am curious as to how many different systems I might be able to run off of the single pump and what system would most likely be best for the pump I have?
Is it possible to sit several ebb/flow systems side by side, piped together horizontally and achieve the filling from one reservoir? I have a wire shelving rack, one of those heavy duty costco jobs that I was thinking I could make my enclosure from since it's already allotted to the greenhouse. I have also rigged the light to hang from a shelf, and is height adjustable. I had the greenhouse set up with the light at top, then another shelf about 4' below with my plants sitting on it and they did great - I just didn't have them automatically watered, nor did I have an enclosure around it all.
I have no venting system and have questions about that as well. Since I'm stuck with the fixture I have, and it would get rather hot in an enclosure, how would I best vent it? Could I simply inlet and outlet duct to the reflector and leave it open (at the bottom of the bell/reflector) for the most part with a fan in the inlet duct and a fan in the outlet duct that are rated the same?
And what happens to the hot air that would now be venting into a room? Does that create problems at all in the room it might ultimately be placed in? How do you control temp inside the enclosure itself or will the MH, if vented, pretty much keep the temp where you want it?
I'm in the process of building a new house and I have options since a portion of the basement will remain unfinished. Would the off gassed heat affect a finished room (say, an office)? Alternatively, if I actually build a room for this project in the basement, it would probably be limited to a size of around 10' x 5'. Over time, I could amass several of these setups (shelving rack, shroud, pump, light, etc) in a single room. Again, would heat become an issue with, say, 2 or 3 400W MH lamps in vented enclosures venting into an unfinished space? Should the walls that aren't concrete be built with regard to anything special, like durarock wallboard or 'purple board' (mold resistant)? Am I better off just partitioning off a room and skip enclosures - and just make the room a hydro indoor greenhouse? I've even been thinking about splurging on a cfl fixture to reduce some of the heat... If I do this, and simply put a fan in the room, would it work?
How does one achieve the correct humidity in the enclosure, or does the presence of the water flowing take care of that?
Okay, that's enough for now I think. Quite enough, I imagine...
