First Time Indoor Grower (4000W Basement Setup)

Well as the title states this is my first time growing indoors. I have grown outdoors for the last 5 years and figured it was time to venture indoors to enjoy the fun of growing year round. So heres some info on my setup...


Lighting:
- 3 1k hps
- 1 1k mh
- 1 4ft 8bulb hydrofarm t5 for clones
I will veg and flower under the 3 hps' and the 1 mh as I do not have a veg and flower room but just one 8x8ft growing space.


Electrical:
I had a friend of mine who is an electrictian install two 40amp breakers and run all new wires and outlets to the basement. All the ballasts are run off of 240v and everything else is run off your standard 120v.


Nutrients:
- roots organic grow and bloom
- gh calmag
- spray-n-grow (foliar fed once a week with coco wet)
I am currently feeding at about 400ppm ph'd at 5.8. Yes I know thats a little low to most but my plants are nice and dark green so I don't wanna mess with it til I switch over to flower in about a week or so in which I'll up it to about 600ppm, maybe more depending on how they look. My tap water comes out at 7.0 and at 43ppm, so i didnt see the need for r/o. I first add the calmag and bring it up from 43ppm to about 150ppm then add the grow until it gets to around 400ppm. I then adjust ph and aerate for 30 minutes and feed. I hand water from the top every day and feed with every watering. Every other day when they are real small.


co2:
- 10lb tank with regulator, set at 2scfh, controlled by c.a.p. air-4 controller


Cooling and ventilation:
- 1 8" 750cfm inline fan & 1 4" 350cfm inline fan cooling the four lights
- 1 6" 435cfm inline fan exhausting the room (also controlled by c.a.p. controller)
- 1 4" 200cfm booster fan for fresh air intake
- 1 wall mounted oscilating fan
- 2 regular oscilating fans
- 1 small clip on fan


Medium:
- CocoTek bricks (some clones were in roots organics soilless mix before transplant into straight coco, hence the perlite.


Pots:
- 2gal black plastic bag pots


Strains:
- 40 blue dream (20 smaller and 20 bigger ones)
- 20 gods gift (the other 20 bigger ones)
- 20 gsc (the other 20 smaller ones)
I received 40 clones for free from a friend which is why half are way bigger than the other half. I got them before my room was setup and ready for them but I couldnt turn down free healthy clones. so i finished getting my room setup and got the other 40 about 2 weeks later. Ideally they would all be the same size, next run they will be.




Well here goes some pics, let me know what you guys think... all questions and comments are welcomed.

Blue Dream


God's Gift


GSC


Accidental SuperCrop


Seedlings for outdoor
-Juicy Fruit
-Banana Kush
-GSC (bagseed)


So... what do ya think?

Sweet... very nice... I do think you're gonna go through that 10lb tank pretty quick though. It'll get annoying. Grab a Co2 gen when you get the chance.

Thanks... and ya I was planning on getting a bigger tank for now at least n then possibly investing in a generator in the future. I got this tank for free n it was full so I figured I'd use it til its gone, sell it, n then buy a 50lb tank... or at the very least a 20lb. Hopefully since I got it hooked up to a controller it won't waste too much. The only function that my controller lacks that I wish it had was a shutoff for when the co2 ppm got high enough so I didn't waste any. When I get some extra cash ill prob get a nicer controller. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

It looks like you just jammed a bunch of the plants in the room? How are you going to support them when they get bigger? You're plants are going to leaning and falling on each other. You gotta leave yourself some room to work in there

It doesnt look like you have any cooling. I think you're going to run into heat issues. Especially during sacramento summers.

No support, just co2 to thicken up them stalks. No a/c. With co2 u can let ur temps creep up a lil higher plus I run my lights at night. The high is my room yesterday was 85, low was 70. Plus coco tends to stay pretty cool even if the room is hot so as long as the roots stay cool and my plants dont show no sign of heat stress im good. Plus its in a basement so it stays pretty cool compared to the rest of the house. And yes those plants r a little bigger than I'd prefer. As I stated my boy gave me 40 clones before I was ready for them but I didn't wanna turn down free clones. Ideally I wouldve flipped those over two weeks ago but I'm waitin on the smaller ones to get about 8inches before I flip them all. And I got plenty of room to work in there, the actual room is 12x10 and n I'm only using 8x8 so its all good.

Looks good man. Lotta green.

Thanks goose! But ya I feed them bitches everyday they better stay green haha...

That's gonna be a helluva yield!!! especially with the types and wattages of lights that you're using, I'd worry about heat issues with those too, but if you've already got them all running and don't have heat issues now, then you should be good Are you gonna filter the exhaust air? or are you not worried about it?

Thanks chuck! I was filtering the exhaust but I found with the drop in cfm that the carbon filter caused my room wasn't exhausting as quick as I'd like it to and my co2 wasn't running enough due to that so I took the filter off and now the exhaust fan only kicks on for a little bit when it does so I'm getting a lot more co2 into the room now. Im not too worried bout people smellin it cuz a bunch of our neighbors grow. I was gonna try to hide it but not at the expense of my room not functioning the way id like it to. And ya heat hasn't been an issue yet n I have the lights on 18hrs a day now from 5pm - 11am. So I figure when I cut it back to 12/12 it really shouldn't be a problem then. I'll have em on from 7pm-7am. When I first set up my room I only had one 6" fan coolin the lights and I ran a 24 hr temp check n it got up to 102! I then switched the 6" for an 8" with twice the cfm and added another 4" fan to cool tbe lights and the room hasn't gotten above 88 yet. The glass on the hoods is warm to the touch but I could keep my hand on it all day n it would never burn me. If I have to I have a small 5, 000 btu a/c that I can slap in there but I'm trying to keep the running costs down as low as possible to increase profit margin. If I have to hook it up I will tho, just trying to avoid it.

Looks like a field of dreams!

Well half of it literally is... blue dreams that is...

Zero.... Fucks... Given!


Damn SSB! You are gonna kill it! No rippers this year!!!! If you need any help smoking any of that let me know.
Good to see you around!

Haha thanks abm... ya gettin half my outdoor ripped two years ago was the main driving force in getting an indoor op up and going. Theres nothing I enjoy more than growing under the sun but this indoor stuff definitely has its perks. And we will def have to meet up in a couple months when they're done so u can sample some... it should be some dank, all really good genetics that I've seen grown out so I have a good idea of wat they will turn out like. Hows things goin over in that angry black world ur livin in? Ru gonna be doin a journal for outdoor this year?

Naw man I got fucked this year. The ex found out I was growing and called out the Sherriff. I ended up pulling all that I had ready for the season as well as the clones I had just taken. It was that or deal with her and the courts. I may get something started again this season but I will have to do it backyard guerilla style so I can keep a low profile. No journal this year.

Good thing you are indoors. A little birdy told me that our outdoor growing days are numbered here and to sort out a way to take it inside.

southsacboy916 said:

Thanks chuck! I was filtering the exhaust but I found with the drop in cfm that the carbon filter caused my room wasn't exhausting as quick as I'd like it to and my co2 wasn't running enough due to that so I took the filter off and now the exhaust fan only kicks on for a little bit when it does so I'm getting a lot more co2 into the room now. Im not too worried bout people smellin it cuz a bunch of our neighbors grow. I was gonna try to hide it but not at the expense of my room not functioning the way id like it to. And ya heat hasn't been an issue yet n I have the lights on 18hrs a day now from 5pm - 11am. So I figure when I cut it back to 12/12 it really shouldn't be a problem then. I'll have em on from 7pm-7am. When I first set up my room I only had one 6" fan coolin the lights and I ran a 24 hr temp check n it got up to 102! I then switched the 6" for an 8" with twice the cfm and added another 4" fan to cool tbe lights and the room hasn't gotten above 88 yet. The glass on the hoods is warm to the touch but I could keep my hand on it all day n it would never burn me. If I have to I have a small 5, 000 btu a/c that I can slap in there but I'm trying to keep the running costs down as low as possible to increase profit margin. If I have to hook it up I will tho, just trying to avoid it.

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Just get ready for that power bill. I'm not sure you're going to be able to go without an AC once the temps rises. Its only in the lower 80's and your temp is 85 in the room. Another 15-20 degree outside is going to wreak havoc brother. At least you got a small AC to use.

Ya I'm hopin I don't have to but if I do I will... I'm probably just goin to hook it up now and just have it ready to be used as soon as its needed. I was hoping since its in a basement n with co2 and running lights only at night I wouldn't have to... but we will see.

And abm that's a bummer sorry to hear that... but it almost sounds like it would be fun, guerilla growing in ur own backyard that is. It would have the excitement of guerilla growing without the hassle of hauling and hiking. Hope everything works out for u so we can get a journal up from u sometime again. This is prob my last year growin outdoor in sac. Me and my cousin are lookin for some property out towards chico so we won't have so many restrictions. Thanks for stopping by tho, ill be posting pics probably once a week or whenever anything changes.

Thanks man. I may get something going. I just have to decide if I want to take the risk this season. I will be keeping an eye on this. You and Mwooten took it indoors this year so I am seeing the shift starting now.

Well if this year is anything like the last couple years I think u might just get somethin goin even tho u got good reasons not to u always say ur gonna take a break lets see if u actually do now haha... but ya hopefully everything goes well wit the indoor this run n if it does I got another room in the basement that's 14x12ft ready to get flipped out. Probably got enough room for 6 1000w lights. Here I go thinkin ahead again tho need to just focus on getting this one done first. As a matter of fact I need to head over there now n go feed them bitches. I'm gonna transplant the seeds I got in cups goin for outdoor into 2gal pots. I'll keep em in there for about another month before they go outdoors. At that time ill be starting up a journal in the outdoor section as well. Its gonna be a busy year this year. Thanks again for stopping by abm. If u had a journal goin u know I'd return the favor.

Juicy fruit is the bomb!!!!!

gweddo6868 said:

Juicy fruit is the bomb!!!!!

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Indeed it is... this will be my third year in a row growing it outdoors. Its always one of my favorites every year. Ima take clones off of the seeds once I sex em n ill do some indoors on the next cycle.