Is all this sufficient for a 10x10 6kwh tent?

Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, been in the process of designing my next (and hopefully steady) grow.
I've done a few decent scaled grows but they've fucked up one way or another. I do have extensive knowledge as I spend hours a day reading and have seen many a grow rooms that's run like they should.

What I want for myself is this tent :

http://www.greners.com/secret-jardin-dark-room-grow-tent-dr300.html?___store=english

It's just about 10x10x6.5, which I believe to be plenty for 2 4' x 8' flood tables. Give you a 2' walkway in the middle to do watering/pruning/spraying.
Each table will have 12 plants in 5 gallon smart pots. 6 plants per 1000w vegged until they have a nice and full canopy.

4 1000's (cant decide between the magnum xxxl's, radiants, or sunsystem 2 reflectors, any input?).

This tent will be a closed environment (sealed) so I could run a 4 burner co2 generator to keep co2 levels at 1500 ppm for flowering. Are grow tents capable of keeping co2 contained efficiently if all zippers are closed?

Each table will have 1 8" inline fan pulling air from outside the tent, through 2 hoods, and exhausting it outdoors. This way I can vent most of the heat generated from the lights without wasting precious co2.

I'm going to be using a portable AC as well as a dehumidifier in the tent. This is were most of my worry lies.
http://www.heartlandamerica.com/browse/item.asp?PIN=99721&SC=WIF10001&

Will this unit (10000btu portable ac / 60 pint per day dehuey) handle the grow tent?
I need to know from somebody whose experienced in using portable ac's to cool multiple lights if a unit like this will be enough to keep temperatures between 78-85 with 4 lights as well as a co2 generator running inside the tent.
I've always aircooled my lights, but they still produce plenty of heat which quickly builds up in a sealed environment. Is a 10k btu ac enough to deal with it?

I'm also curious about the dehuey. It claims 60 pints per day, is this enough for a sealed room in the heart of the flowering cycle? There's gonna be a lot of water in these pots, a lot of air movement too but I realize it can get pretty humid in there. Will I need to buy a more expensive dehumidifier to keep up?

Not really relevant but there will also be a Phresh filter (12") scrubbing constantly either inside the tent or in the room the tent shall be in.

Thanks for the read as well as any feedback you may give, smoke on :joint:
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
Hi,
You kinda have a lot of question that really do require detailed answers but ill post a quick reply since I run 10kilowatts in my flower room and I do have experience with Ac units being portable and large 240 wall mounted units as well. I know a thing or two about air cooled system since I work with them too. I do not use CO2 since its a fucking waste of time for a lot of people. If you bring in fresh air in, and create an very optimal environment, you will see good growth in veg and flower, hands down making Co2 look silly. I know a few commercial grows that use CO2 burners but they do it because their environment is hostile with heat and they cheat by adding it to help respiration lol.

Your ten by ten room sounds just fine for your flood tabes and four 1000 watt HPS. Your 6.5 foot roof is what really spooks me! But on the other hand, you are using aircoold shades so that helps. I would really keep five gallon buckets around just for holding water or growing outside. Use two or three gallon pots. I know this 100% for sure. If you have a flood table, five gallon pots you are going to have NO room to grow vertical once your in flower! For this reason I beg you not to use five gallon.
If you buy an AC unit, remember you HAVE to duct the exhaust outside. If you just pump it outside your grow tent you are wasting your time. I dont know if you have used a portal stand up AC unit before but let me say the exhaust will be like a six inch fan flowing very hot air out with alot of smell.If will be your worst nightmare. Now I would only ever buy the best stand alone AC unit rated at 13BTU at 120V in your case. Keep fan speed on full blast and put it to the snow flack for cool. I dont know if your in a basement or in a bed room, were ever you plan to put this grow tent but remember plan everything for heat. One big thing on your side is that your AC unit will act as a dehumidifier- NO worries their! Just buy a good AC unit, and believe me that will save you alot of problems. I think your AC unit will cool the ambient temp around those lights, IF you exhaust the AC somewhere out of the basement or bed room were your grow tent is. Good enough were your CO2 will be usefull. But i would really cut the CO2 out until you run your system once. Than if it goes good add it so you can see the benefits.

For air scrubbing, you have to use the best fan you can get to pull alot of volume of air through the filter to scrub. If you are to filter the air, try and moved the recommend standard in CFM though the filter-your air flow will be slower but it will filter better. Their is a big difference between scrub and filter. Scrubbing is a back up plant. So if you filter out the room, to outside the house, you would want to let another filter with a fan sit on top scrubbing the air, but remember that fan needs to pull more CFM than the filter fan.

One last thing, maybe go 9 plants per bulb so 18 per table. This will help take the stress of yield. For me, nine is a good number, I used to relay on 4-5 a bulb and got close to four 0z a plant but to keep that up for years is tough. Now I keep more constant yeilds with nine plants in two gallon pots per 1000watts
Best of luck.
 

Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
With further research I've gotten the impression that with a sealed room the measly dehu wont do nothing for the plants during the night cycle.
Since co2 isn't really needed during night, I could open one of the flaps and run a fat fan to exhaust all the humid air, or maybe use it as an intake and try to blow tons of outside air through the tent. I'd still be worried about botrytis during the day though as I'm not sure it would be able to keep up.

Do I need to shell out $700-$1200 for a commercial dehu?
As well as maybe a 25k btu window ac thats ghetto rigged to vent out the hot air?
I really don't want to struggle with 90+ degree temps and 60-70% humidity as that could be a very stressful and counterproductive 2 months.
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
Hi, yea you do need to spend around 700 bucks for a dencent portable 120V 13BTU AC unit, But it will act as a dehumd. If you are in the 60% range, do not worry at all. I bet you would never notice the difference between 50-60%. You do not need that big of an AC unit. You would if you did not have the Air cooled lights. botrytis is not a big concern to alot of people. Only those who read about it lol.. I have never seen anyone with that problem before, only those who have grown outdoors were the morning due sits on the plants for hours, and were their is large temperature swings from day to night. Remeber just keep it simple and your room will function just fine! You remind me when I first started out. I read books, and talk to grow shop owners, and thought I would wake up from a dream with the answer to all my questions. BUT in realilty I was the one making all the questions up that I did not have to worry about. Just make sure you AC unit vents outside the room someone but other than the room were your tent is in!
 

Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
Wow, thanks for all the input. +rep

You may have just steered me away from co2 as well. Buddy I get all my clones from, he just pulled 2.5 lbs under 2 1000's. DANKDANK. He has it vented from Outside - Hoods - Back outside, as well as a Carbon Filter - Fan - Exhaust outside.
All the fresh air he needs with plenty of air movement inside. And his yield was alright, but his bud was SUPERFIRE.

Maybe I could drop the co2 and get me a RO unit for my water and spend the rest on a better ac/nutes, but co2 IS very tempting as it thrives in higher heat and you get fatter nugs >=D but you're right, I could do that the second grow as soon as I get the environment dialed in.

My last grow was Carbon Filter(12", like 1300cfm) - 2 cool tubes 1000's, outside. I could smell pot inside the house but outside it wasn't noticeable.
I figured if I had a sealed room, I could just run the Filter with the fan and have it scrub 24/7 and that would suffice for odor.

Yeah the grow tent is pretty short. I stand at 6'2 and a 6'5 roof seems like it could work if I keep my lights up real high and my flood tables down really low. The strain I have to work with (my own decision, its too good to even try to grow any other strains ;]) is true ATF. Grows super bushy, and I'd train heavily during veg.

I've used 3 gallon grow bags in the past, and didn't like them. I'm definitely picking up plenty of Smart Pots, 3 gallon would probably work for the short atf's. I just thought it might be easier to go with 5 gallons, veg a little longer, and have less plants to worry about. 9 plants per light makes more sense to me though as its rows of 3x3.

The only AC I've had experience with is Central AC with all the vents in the house closed except the flower room. Very pricey for all the electricity it cost, I was hoping to buy a unit and have it be dedicated to the plants. I'd definitely vent the AC outside, I know how treacherous high heat can be. Makes me sad to just think about it haha.
 

Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
Yeah we pulled 10 plants outdoors in october, and we probably had like 2lb of budrot. It made me sad as it only hit the fattest nugs too =[ rip.
I've never grown in a sealed room, but I've always wanted to. It just seems perfect to have perfect co2 levels, light, humidity, temp for a 2lb per light grow. Don't have to deal with bugs neither. I'm a huge believer in Overkill is Underrated. And from journals I've read with closed environments, humidity during the night cycle shoots WAY up as you dont ever exhaust your air or take in new air. Would be scary with co2 supplementation during the day as you have fat buds to work with.

The only reason I'd buy the grow tent was to run it as a sealed room in hopes of 1.5lb per light. If I'm gonna go back to running the simple exhaust outdoors and intake fresh air constantly I don't need to shell out the big bucks. I'm just trying to get it perfect this time.

I'm done fucking around. Light leaks and over ferting have bit me in the ass in the past, and it wont happen again. Thats why I'm trying to figure out the minimum BTU I'd need in an AC for a sealed room, and then surpass it.

There's just so much I want to plan out so I make sure I'm at least satisfied considering all the time that is invested into a well executed grow.
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
HI,
Know what. I hear yea when being tired of fucking around. But for me that means I have to keep things more simple. One thing that I still think is that your house will still get an odor even with the tent. That's unless you can create a passive air intake-that is, air leaving the room is great enough that it pulls air from your house; in which, no odor can leak out your room door.
I have worked with grow bags as well. I have also helped friends that did not have any capital to start up with but gave them grow bags for their first indoor grow. I am sure like you know, a three gallon grow bag is really small compared to a three gallon pot.
What is the strain your talking about? I would like to give it a shot-i like bushy girls. jk, I like busy girl plants! What your bud gets about 2.5LB per two 1000HPS is one of the first honest yields I have ever heard on this forum. I average between 2.2- 2.75LB per two 1000HPS. But in most cases I average around 2.5-2.75 with a home made strain, narrowed down to the right geno type I want!! Best yielding strain I have ever worked with. And I like to think, I have be around the block.

I am not to sure what to think about RO or RO/DI system. I have worked with RO/DI system in a saltwater store but that's because hard and SPS corals are MUCH more sensitive than a plant in dirt- that being said, a greasy person who gives kids pony rides and collects cinder blocks can even grow a pot plant til full fruiting. I also had a bud who took his outdoor investment and built a large shop. He had a natural gas furnace installed with a RO system installed as well. Well his yeilds never went increased. He just felt better adding mycrozyme to his water lol....... For a long time I used creek water from a fish bearing creek. It had high in clay mater material their for had all the micro nuts ever needed, but of course, I still stuck with my feed program. It just helped curve it i guess.

Well it seems to me that if you vent your hoods outside, you vent your AC unit outside, and you also have a 1300CFM 12inch fan exhausting, your going to be fine!!! I can bet your wont have a problem. And as I recall you have one eight inch fan for two hoods! For the future I would think about running three lights in a row :) I know, its greedy but, I was always said, lets make some money! Or, lol you wouldn't sell your hard work would yea? lol

I think your on to something. I think it is going to work out well. Again, not saying that you don't know, but I cannot stress enough buying 2 or 3 gallon pots and I have found putting a little bit of hydroton (clay pellets) in the bottom for your soil really helps. Just put about two inchs at the bottom. This allows alot of air were your roots are and your dirt keeps it moist. The clay also is very porous much like charcoal. I dont know if you said you were going to add air intake, but I bet if you pulled enough air out of the room were your grow tent is in, you will have little to NO smell. I think maybe an air intake will mess that up but maybe a small four inch will help if it was piped right into the grow tent! Over all I see your system as simple enough to work very good. It's just up to you and your shade selection now!! :)
Post some pics!! :) maybe ill post a few to00
 

Zarezhu

Well-Known Member
Hey dude

Well here's what I've found out since we last spoke. I'm gonna get the strongest window ac I can find (14,000 btu probably for a 120v). Window ac's are way more efficient than portable ac's when it comes to cooling power and electricity costs, so I figure I might as well rig up a window ac.

There's a thread that gives a tutorial on how to keep a window ac outside the grow tent, vent the heat outdoors, and have only the tent air circulate within the ac and back into the tent for cooling. It requires the construction of two fiberboard boxes around the actual unit. You rig up a 4" or 6" fan with ducting around the exhaust box, vent it outside wherever you're venting your lights. Then you just need to duct both the intake for the ac and the cold air return for the ac into the grow tent. No negative pressure, no positive pressure. I figure it'd only stink up the room when you unzip the tent. Wouldnt even need my huge ass filter running the entire time I believe.

Strain is Alaskan Thunderfuck. Surprised you've never heard of it, its majestic. A buddy of mine provides all my clones for me. Out of any strains he's ever flowered, ATF is the most crystally. Week 2 in flower and you have fan leaves with trichs. It also naturally branches out. I've grown one before and a 3 weeks of veg and she was a round little bitch. No topping necessary, no training even. It's got an unmistakable smell and lime green color structure to it.

If I was to run 3 lights in a row (possibleeee) I'd put 6 600w's in the 10x10. Just wouldnt know how to drain it as 4x8 tables wouldnt work. It's tempting though as you get a lot more lumens for less electricity. It's just gonna cost a bit more to buy the extra hoods and ballasts. Hmm.

Is the hydroton really necessary with Smart Pots? I thought they're designed that the fabric air root prunes automatically. Any side shoots get root pruned to produce lateral shoots and the ones off the bottom likewise. I've seen people put hydroton on the top inch or so of soil to help the soil from drying out as quick and to keep the water from exposing the top roots.

Those Magnum XXXL's look sooo nice dont they? I'm just scared of them as I hear they retain a lot more heat than most other hoods. I don't want 4 hoods just beaming heat into the grow room without having a better ac, but I dooo want the benefits of the magnums.

As for pictures, this is all just for insight. I have a storage unit with everything growing related that I own, but I'd have to make some more purchases. The tent alone is $900. If I chose to buy 4 new hoods, that'll be $600-$800. AC unit is gonna be another $200-$800. CO2 if I decide on it will be $600-$800. Don't have the money or the apartment yet. This is gonna be happening in the next year, as I'm saving up moolah, tax returns are gonna be nice, and I may find myself someone else that shares this passion with me that will take on some of it ;]

I ran my last 2 light setup in an apartment, and it was cumbersome, but now I know that this whole 4 light setup would work just fine. I'd be using up all the breakers yeah, but only for 12 hours a day. Gotta start somewhere, and once I do it right one time, I'll be able to find myself a much nicer place. Benefit to this though is I'm a prop 215 patient in california, so it's not breaking the law or anything :]
 

JLStiffy

Well-Known Member
HI there,

Good idea about the best AC unit for 120v. Hum, see if your window mount AC unit can run 240v as well as 120. I hope everything goes well for yea. I am not a big fan of air pruning, i mean I have seen seen someone try it. Maybe better if I did it myself :) haha. Since you live in cali and I live in B.C Canada, I do not know what your prices really would look like. I bought my AC unit thats commercial cool 13BTU for 500bucks on sale at Home Depot. I dont know if you have one of those in America. I know you have Rona but not sure what they carry. We have Rona in Canada too. All I can say about were you live it's warmer their now than it is here. I woke up and it was -21 celsius or what ever that is in F. I always wanted to go to California to see the red wood Forrest etc.

I am not sure if hydroton is necessary for the smart pots. I would forget about the hydroton until you worked with the pot for a while I guess. I do like the idea of 6 600HPS in your 10x10. You CAN get a custom flood table made. I did see it on weed world magazine. About Alaskan Thunkerfuck, yea I have heard of it. I had a friend who I think grew it, along with Titanium, fucking incredible and white widow. Although he never could make any money and ended up back to steroids. lol.

I like the idea about your AC and window box. Kinda hard to grasp it all perfectly but I do get the concept. Would be nice to see photo when done. Do you do any outdoor in cali? I do some up here. Can be a hit and miss were I live lol. Dont believe everything you read. Some people do good and get their 500LB and some people get their 40LB. Its kinda hard to say what I get since I dont know how much I can trust these threads. But it's not 500LB :) But above 40.
Have you tried the Chronic strain by Serious Seeds? Maybe ill order the Alaskan thunderfuck. I don't like to trust new things since I can't really afford risk.

About breaking the law. Well I do daily when I drive or talk bad about our gov. lol. Guess thats consider crimes against a nation? We have this really dumb fucking conservative government who makes laws that fit his political party. He holds elections when he thinks he has majority and is a spooky fucking guy. He is very aggressive to anything illigal and tries to put a minimal sentence on pretty much any crime. His political approach was 'get tough on crime' Beilive it or not, our system is pretty normal up here. BUT, most agree this guys a fuck head by now! Up in Canada their will be no legalization for a long time, instead they are uping the price of alcohol. And honestly lol. Dont want it to legalize. The majority will smoke anyway and not be processed due to the defense called Deminimus. And you can have less than 28 grams with out being charged. I just dont want the gov get their hands on the market of pot!

Anyways, keep in touch, hope to see this set up one day with a pic!
 
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