???i need help with my setup.???

jimsremoval

Active Member
Here are some pictures of my setup. i have my emily's garden by hydrofarm on my right(my hydro setup) and my soil plants on the left. i also have my germination mini greenhouse setup on a shelf above my soil and hydro setup. they are located in my closet. i ahve three fans going. one 8", one 6" and one 4" fan. two fans up top pointing down. and a fan at plant level to circulate. i am using CFL lighting. i plan to use it thru harvest because i heard it was important to keep the same lighting setup all the way thru harvest and that changin it will stunt and slow growth. i am using 8 CFL bulbs. 5 of them are 42 watt(real watts, not equivelant) and the others are the next size down. the 42s put out 2700 lumens each i think. My closet is about 4'by3'by 10'tall. i ahve lined it with tinfoil. I am using green pads that emit Co2 when i mist them. For nutes i am using flora-micro- and flora-grow right now. when i trun to flowering light i will change the flora-grow to flora-bloom. soo ill start using flora-micro and flora-bloom together a week before i introduce 12/12 lighting. i ahve about two more weeks till i start the 12/12 soo if u guys have any suggestions( wich is why i posted this thread) then please leave them here. This is my first real grow soo i could use them. thank you.










my hydro setup by hydrofarm(emily's garden)

 

jimsremoval

Active Member
the third picture down was taken before i moved the germinating box above it. so this is what it really looks like now just look at the first picture.
 

SmokesLikeBob

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry, i know you probably took a lot of time to put up the tin foil, but it's totally useless...foil may look extremely reflective, but what it reflects is heat which is bad, it only reflects 35% of light, flat white paint reflects about 70%, and mylar insulation reflects 98% i believe...so your better off with the regular white walls, i made the same mistake my first grow. After that i spent more time researching this art, than growing!
Other than the foil, everything else looks absolutely awesome, good luck man!
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
yeah other people have told me that aabout the tinfoil. that it creates hot spots on the foliage and everything. when i get the money im just going to switch it to mylar. but everything else looks good? ive never done this before and i dont want to waste my money on my whitewidow and lowrider seeds.
I'm sorry, i know you probably took a lot of time to put up the tin foil, but it's totally useless...foil may look extremely reflective, but what it reflects is heat which is bad, it only reflects 35% of light, flat white paint reflects about 70%, and mylar insulation reflects 98% i believe...so your better off with the regular white walls, i made the same mistake my first grow. After that i spent more time researching this art, than growing!
Other than the foil, everything else looks absolutely awesome, good luck man!
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
i am getting more lights as the time goes by. everyweek when i get paid i go and buy another bulb and an outlet splitter so i can get two bulbs out of one socket. every week i just add another one when i get the money.
you might need more lights as they grow...
 

FarmerNinja

Active Member
changing the light to a stronger light wont stunt the growth or harm your plant the only concern really is the extra heat you'll get and controlling it. if you can i would switch to a HID high intensity discharge light when they get bigger and you will see a huge difference in growth and yield for sure. CFLs are good for seedlings and starting clones/ small plants but you won't get the growth you'll see with a HID light. cheers!

oh and if you have to stick with the CFLs then i would invest in getting some that are designed for indoor growing you can find them easily for around $10-20 each for decent bulbs check these out
these are what i use

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001AZOV9K/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
 

Mr. Blue

Active Member
A couple things I noticed:
-CFL's equal tough times.. Florescent 4' fixtures work much better with that stretching you've got going on. And they're much cooler in temps. Like he said before me, switching your lights don't hurt the plants. You want different spectrums of light for each stage of growth. Your veg state CFL's will work fine however they have a redish spectrum and alot of heat. This is why they're stretching. You need a cool white (blueish) spectrum to veg in. When your plants are flowering they prefer a more red/orange spectrum. HPS lighting is prolly your best choice however more expensive its worth every penny.
-Multiple plants in one planter is never a good idea. You'll cause root damage when you try to transplant them and if you dont transplant them they will choke each other out.

I have the same size Veg room as you. Without any ventilation my room stays under 80*. I have (3) 4' floro fixtures that I can put right ontop of the plant canopies and they stay short and stubby. Try putting just 1 4' fixture in there instead of yet another CFL light and watch the difference in the plants directly under it.

And yeah.. get rid of that foil!! Mylar is very cheap.
Good luck friend
 

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jimsremoval

Active Member
Does anyone have have any suggestions? My temps keep getting to 85 F when the door is shut so i keep haveing to open it a foot. i have three fans goin at all times inside. Im getting reafy to cut a friggen vent hole in my closet door. some one please help me so i dont do that.!!
 

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
It looks as though you and I have the same type of grow space going on. I'm growing in 3x3x8 closet. I'm using a 400 watt MH/HPS and without proper ventilation it's gonna get real hot in there my friend. If you want to have a successful grow room, ventilation is a key component to making it successful. Sometimes you gotta do things that you don't wanna do. I had to learn from trial and error and I wish I had someone to point me in the right direction in the beginning.. Here are a few of pictures to put you on the right path to a successful grow.

Fist off your gonna need some good exhaust for proper ventilation. That's 2 blowers rated at 60 cfm venting into my attic. You always want to go with more than you think you will need. I had to buy the second one because 1 was just not enough to do the job. My room is 72 sq feet and I thought 1 blower would be enough but it wasn't.



Next your gonna need some fresh air coming in. I didn't want to do this either but it was the only choice I had. If you have a solid wood door you can just save your cutouts to repair later if needed with wood putty, sandpaper and a new coat of paint. This is what's called a passive intake. I took a 3 in hole saw and cut 5 holes in the bottom of my door and temporarily covered it with a strip of furnace filter.



Here are my intakes now. I put some Velcro around my holes and just stuck some scotch brite pads on there to filter the air and block light.



And here is a pic with the light out so you can just get an idea what it will look like.



I was experiencing 95 deg temps until I went this route. Now my room stays around 75-80 degrees.

I'm not saying this is the only way but it certainly helped me to maintain proper temps.

Good luck to ya.

Peace:eyesmoke:
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
thanx man im going to cut a 4'' hole at the top and have an exhaust fan blowing out. i wish i just had a good intake spot. i really dont want to have to cut another hole in the bottom of the door
 

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
thanx man im going to cut a 4'' hole at the top and have an exhaust fan blowing out. i wish i just had a good intake spot. i really dont want to have to cut another hole in the bottom of the door
That I can understand but your gonna have to have an intake to bring fresh air in if you want to have it properly ventilated. And you don't have much of a choice as far as intake placement, it's either the door or through a wall and I guess you'll have to decide what will be easier to fix if you were to move out.

Here's the math. Lets just say you have one 4 inch hole exhausting you'll need to double that number for the intake. So you will need two 4" holes for a total of 8 inches for intake.

My exhausts are 3" each for a total of 6 inches so that means I need a total of 12 inches for my intake. I have five 3" holes for a total of 15 inches for my intakes. I have 3 extra inches I allowed for my filter/lite block because they do block some of the air flow.

Peace.
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
does anybody know where i can get a cheap in and out fan. i need something to take air out and then bring fresh air in. something cheap if u can. my temps r gettin crazy and i cant keep leaving the door open so im going to cut two holes one for intake and one for exhaust.
 

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
Well eBay is a great place to start. Or your local Lowes, Menards, and Home depot all carry some sort of exhaust fan's. Just keep in mind unless your in an air conditioned home the warmer it gets this summer the warmer it's gonna get in your closet.
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
so what would u suggest. gettin an air conditioner for my room? is there a cheaper way to bring the temps down?
 

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
so what would u suggest. gettin an air conditioner for my room? is there a cheaper way to bring the temps down?
Yeah I'm not suggesting that you get an AC but there are people the do use them. I'm just saying that if you are gonna buy a fan I would choose wisely because You don't want to buy something that wont do the job. I know cheaper is better for you right now but you only get what pay for. I'm just trying to save you time and money buy doing it right the first time. Not to sound rude or anything like that but I'm not trying to help you find the cheapest parts available for your grow.

This is what I'd buy if I were you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/265-CFM-ActiveAir-BLOWER-FAN-EXHAUST-SYSTEM-HYDROFARM_W0QQitemZ180485384926QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a05c46ade


Or even this it's only a few dollars more and nearly twice the cfm.

http://cgi.ebay.com/465-CFM-ActiveAir-BLOWER-FAN-EXHAUST-SYSTEM-HYDROFARM_W0QQitemZ180485384936QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a05c46ae8


You should get great results with either of them.

Then I would just make sure you cut enough passive intakes. You will need them because you don't want to create any negative pressure. You don't want to be pulling more air out than what's coming in. You want to be trying to get equal pressure. Air that's coming in as fast as it's being sucked out.

Alright man I got to go for Easter brunch, Check ya later and you have a happy Easter as well.
 

jimsremoval

Active Member
thanx bud. i just went to home depot and got a n exhaust fan. like for a bathroom. i got two. one for the intake and one for exhaust. im going to cut the exhaust at the top to let hot air out. and a hole in the bottom for intake. hopefully this works. i plan to get an ac for my room too, but until then i hope this does the trick
 
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