Indoor, hydroponic virgin in need of help!

This is my first experience with ILGM and so far it’s been great!!! Got my seeds fast with no problems. I’m a long time outdoor grower but I’m trying indoor, white widow auto flower. I have some questions that may sound dumb to some I guess but I need to know. First off my tent is 24x48x80 I’m growing using hydroponics (also for the first time) I’m wanting to use LEDs.my 2 main questions are how many watts or whatever of light should I have and what nutes do I need to purchase. Is there a kit like fox farms has? Like I said I’m New to all this any and all help will be appreciated. Also where I’m from it will be in the low 50 at most for almost this entire grow, I’m growing in a building with no heat will I need to use a space heater in my tent or will the lights keep it warm enough? Again thanks for the help…

Welcome to the forum. For that size tent you need 400 true watts minimum. Not manufacturer’s advertised watt size. For example LED is advertised as a 1000 watt it’s true wattage is usually around 350. As for nutrients I use General Hydroponics Flora Nova series. I’m in soil but they can be used in hydro as well. A good person to talk hydro with is @Donaldj.

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I would go with 400watt HPS lights. They will help raise the temps.
I use General Hydroponics Flora Series Recirculating feed chart. Here is the chart. The only thing I use in addition to what’s on there is a coupled of products from Dutch Masters called Max FX and Potash+ for flowering and a product by Higrocorp called Pure Flowers and last, a product by Botanicare called Sweet. I follow the week by week ratios of the GH chart and add the other products in at week 4, the transition.

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As far as the heater goes, I have it on a timer to come on 15 minutes after lights out and have the AC where it goes up 5 degrees at the same time. It takes a little tuning to get the heater thermostat adjusted just right so it keeps the night time temp in your tent around 10 degrees cooler than lights on temp but the AC helps keep the RH (relative humidity) level down while continuing to provide a fresh air supply.
I’ve never grown in a tent so that might be best explained by someone who has.

Umm, I wouldn’t put 1000 watt hps in a 2x4. The hid could be a good option though if you need heat, but I would suspect doing something like two 150-250 watt mh/hps or a single 315 cmh would be a much better option.

Going led, is highly budget dependent.

@dbrn32 I did put 1,000 watt didn’t I…? I meant to put 400watt. I use 1,000 watt but like I said, I employ a whole room and have never used a tent. Thanks for clearing that up.

I’m going to edit my first reply so @Its420sumwhere doesn’t get mixed up.

Ya, no big deal. Using them you could expect the ensuing nightmare that would follow haha. They’re kind of a pain even in something like a 4x4 without cooled hood.

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that gives you an advantage in that you are more experienced in knowing what a plant that is growing healthy should appear which is half the battle

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Im sure it will help too. I’ll be happy not having to deal with the bugs, disease, and most of all the thiefs.

I was told yall are helpful and give great advice, it’s true thanks everyone for the help. you’ve helped me fill my shopping list. I’ll try to post some pics and let yall know how it goes.

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Is the temp. drop very important during darkness? I’m not going this way but I’ve read u can give the autos 24 hours of light, so I was thinking if I can keep my tent in the 70s I would be alright. Thanks for bringing this to my attention it never crossed my mind.