Get a Harvest Every 2 Weeks

Status
Not open for further replies.

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
hey Al have you seen this!
The ultimate grow room
I had not seen this, but a closed-loop atmosphere is a possibility I eliminated early on for my op.

Why?

Obviously, large commercial grow rooms depend on industrial-strength air conditioning (A/C) units.
Aircon is tremendously expensive to run in a grow op. Worth the power consumption of at least one and probably two 1000HPS.

An effective aircon system for my op would require a split system, which requires freon tubes be run from the indoor to the outdoor unit and then the system charged with refrigerant- by a professional installer. I don't think I want an aircon man in my op unless he were blind, deaf, noseless and had the world's worst short-term memory. ;)

The article rightly points out that it's hard to control scents in any way when you are reliant upon moving atmospheric air through your op, but I disagree on their opinion on ozonators. They work brilliantly for me.

In theory, a closed loop system is ideal. It allows total control of temp, RH & CO2 as well as blocks any entry for insects and pathogens.

In practise, unless you're running a monster op and can afford the cost, aircon is usually impractical. My intake air temps are usually low enough (normally 23C or well below) that I don't need aircon for cooling. Also, there's effective ways of controlling the scent emitted from ops the size of mine (which contrary to popular belief, is really pretty small in the overall scheme of things) that don't involve the ongoing cost of aircon.
 

bigal10

Active Member
I had not seen this, but a closed-loop atmosphere is a possibility I eliminated early on for my op.

Why?



Aircon is tremendously expensive to run in a grow op. Worth the power consumption of at least one and probably two 1000HPS.

An effective aircon system for my op would require a split system, which requires freon tubes be run from the indoor to the outdoor unit and then the system charged with refrigerant- by a professional installer. I don't think I want an aircon man in my op unless he were blind, deaf, noseless and had the world's worst short-term memory. ;)

The article rightly points out that it's hard to control scents in any way when you are reliant upon moving atmospheric air through your op, but I disagree on their opinion on ozonators. They work brilliantly for me.

In theory, a closed loop system is ideal. It allows total control of temp, RH & CO2 as well as blocks any entry for insects and pathogens.

In practise, unless you're running a monster op and can afford the cost, aircon is usually impractical. My intake air temps are usually low enough (normally 23C or well below) that I don't need aircon for cooling. Also, there's effective ways of controlling the scent emitted from ops the size of mine (which contrary to popular belief, is really pretty small in the overall scheme of things) that don't involve the ongoing cost of aircon.
I just thought this article was pretty cool and wanted to share it with you guys. Yeah it would have to be a massive op in order for it to be worth it. Good read though!
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
It is pretty cool. It does give the casual reader a bit of an idea of how large commercial ops are set up- and how big they really are. These guys are fitting out entire houses as grow ops.

Whole house grows get busted a lot. There's a number of reasons for that from suspicious neighbours noticing that no one lives at a given house and a person only shows up every few days, windows poorly camouflaged, fan noise, etc.

Then there's the problem of an op that BIG- more than one person will be involved. That dope is being sold, not smoked amongst a small group of stoners. When there's big bucks involved, squabbles happen and it all comes to tears when an aggrieved party dobs in the other/s to the coppers. Happens all the time.
 

bigal10

Active Member
It is pretty cool. It does give the casual reader a bit of an idea of how large commercial ops are set up- and how big they really are. These guys are fitting out entire houses as grow ops.

Whole house grows get busted a lot. There's a number of reasons for that from suspicious neighbours noticing that no one lives at a given house and a person only shows up every few days, windows poorly camouflaged, fan noise, etc.

Then there's the problem of an op that BIG- more than one person will be involved. That dope is being sold, not smoked amongst a small group of stoners. When there's big bucks involved, squabbles happen and it all comes to tears when an aggrieved party dobs in the other/s to the coppers. Happens all the time.
I agree that is the way to go down. You are absolutely right on every point.
 

cmak40

Well-Known Member
hey al regarding your moms...are they in your pad totally somewhere else or did you rig that 1x5 area in the space available and just seal it off? does it have its own ventilation? i built my room 7x13 with a 4x8 flower area in one corner and didnt really think about sealing the veg from flower til now....both of which are to be in this room. the rooms damn near done jus odds and ends to finish like the last 2 flood tables so i gota do something here in a couple days or so. ive thought of a couple ways to do it but the moms would get a shortage of fresh air...or i can make it so the flower gets less frsh air but id rather the ladder.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Yep, the mums are just in space avail in the flowering area. Only enough space cordoned off for the mums' flood tray and the circ fan, which doesn't even have enough room to osc, just blows on the plants.

There's a double thickness curtain of panda film between the mums and flowering plants. The mumzone has its own thermostatically controlled 150mm exhaust blower and a circ fan. It has a passive intake from outside the op, but could (and probably should) suck dehumidified air from the flowering area.
 

We TaRdED

Well-Known Member
whats up al?

why dont you use your regular batwing reflectors during the colder winter months instead of recirculating the air back into your grow room?
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
The standard lampholders were removed from the batwings to make room for the cooltubes. I would have to remove the cooltubes and ducting entirely to refit the original lampholders. Even if I recirculate the warm air back into the op for winter, I still want the cooltubes right where they are, taking heat away from the main mass of plants. I'll reintroduce the warm air at some far corner of the room- and may not bring all the warmed air back in.

If I'm way clever, I may work in some sort of cable operated vane system, a bit like what is in your car's dashboard, to control mixing rate of warm air back into the op.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Ah- it's not a Goldberg if it does something useful with the fewest steps possible- that's totally anti-Goldberg!
 

cmak40

Well-Known Member
Yep, the mums are just in space avail in the flowering area. Only enough space cordoned off for the mums' flood tray and the circ fan, which doesn't even have enough room to osc, just blows on the plants.

There's a double thickness curtain of panda film between the mums and flowering plants. The mumzone has its own thermostatically controlled 150mm exhaust blower and a circ fan. It has a passive intake from outside the op, but could (and probably should) suck dehumidified air from the flowering area.
k this soundslike what i have to do EXCEPT i cant really get the mom area its own exhaust. i was thinking just letting the panda film down to about 2 inchs from the floor so fresh air comes in and out. im in a basement so goin up is out of the ? and the 2 walls its against are cement. the room is pretty much done and thats what i have to do because the flower area is far from dark in the off time
 

cmak40

Well-Known Member
never mind i could go duct it out but thats another exhaust fan and another 150 watts and more noise. this sucks i have the six inline for the cooltubes and a 4inch squirrel for exhaust. and you can hear it upstairs with no tv on, a little. i gotta put insulation in the ceiling to fix that but anopther fan geez...and another carbon filter(i will need one right?)
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Use a couple of pieces of duct to take air from your flowering area and dump it back in there as well.

You can make a couple of serpentine light traps with cardboard boxes and a hot glue gun.

Kindy art time again-



Spray paint the interior bits flat black before assembly.

Use one of these at ceiling level with a blower to exhaust the mums' area. Use another at floor level without a blower to create a light trapped passive air intake path to the mums.

This will save you doubling up the exhaust & filtering systems.
 

knowledge seeker

Active Member
thanks al i anticipate another week before i can take cuttings, then i will be up and running.. al i live in the states i think it is a 120 service, i myself am not versed in electrical, however my best bud is a licensed electrician, my plan is to add a breaker to the box what size do you suggest.. and would i be able to run everything safely off of that...2 1000w 1 400w 60 w flouresent and multiple timers, pumps, basically everything to run the op thanks al
 

insanestang4life

Well-Known Member
Ok well, I got my hydro system all setup. I had 10 euforia seeds sprouted in rockwool 10/10. Under fluorescent grow bulbs 3 of them. I had the light about 1 inch away 24 hrs and 1 on the side even. I had a fan on them and they were looking good got a little tall I think but not sure. The plants got about 3 inches in 5 days. I had a heating pad under them and hand watered the plants twice a day to maintain 28 grams wet rockwool cubes. They were doing great working on 3rd set of leaves when I decided to put into my hydro system. I filled the pots up with hydroton to about 1inch over where the water level reaches. Then set the rockwool cube on the hydroton and surrounded the cube with it. I didnt put hydroton on top of the cube just on the side. I then put a 400hps lamp 1 foot away and watched temps and humidity temps stay 73 degrees and humidity is 40% my ph level is great I have been using 1/4 strength nutes since day one Fox Farm. I leave them for about 5 hours and come back they have all wilted away and fallen over flat. What happened?
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
thanks al i anticipate another week before i can take cuttings, then i will be up and running.. al i live in the states i think it is a 120 service, i myself am not versed in electrical, however my best bud is a licensed electrician, my plan is to add a breaker to the box what size do you suggest.. and would i be able to run everything safely off of that...2 1000w 1 400w 60 w flouresent and multiple timers, pumps, basically everything to run the op thanks al
ks, it's been so long since I've had my nose in an American breaker box that I don't know what to suggest to you in specific terms of standard breaker values. However, I can say that you should not load a ckt any more than 80% of the breaker protecting that ckt and can ballpark you on what you should use.

A 1000HPS draws about 1100-1150W from the mains. At 120V, that's about 9A. That's the continuous operating current; it will draw about 30-40% more on startup for about 5-10sec. If on 120V, I'd have each 1000HPS on a 15A bkr to prevent nuisance tripping. Each 15A ckt should be wired with 10-12GA Romex.

Your op is going to draw about 3500W with everything running, including exhaust & circ fans. I'm guessing you may want 3x 15A ckts to support that draw. Your pal will know the real gory details for US wiring standards. ;)
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
I then put a 400hps lamp 1 foot away

[...]

What happened?
You cooked your tender seedlings by having the 400 WAY too close. Baby plants can't take being hit with a ton of light and radiant heat.

Raise that light to about 3-4' for the introduction of younguns to big lights. When the seedlings have fresh, lime-green new growth, perhaps a new pair of leaves or two, it's then safe to start dropping the light down.

However, without a cooltube, a 400 should get no closer than about 18" from the leaves of 'sun hardened' maturing plants.
 

insanestang4life

Well-Known Member
Damn!!! On seedlings I know you use clones but you gotta start somewhere should I put in rockwool like I did in a seedling tray under flurescnt with the heat mat then transfer to the hydro like i did if so how ong should i let them sit under the flurescant. Or should I sprout the seeds put in rockwool then put straight into the hydro with 400w 4ft away. If I put into the hydro should i burie the cube till its covered or just the sides like i did. thanks again for taking the time out of your life to help everyone.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top