My kick ass 400w grow tent setup w/ waterfarm

southfloridasean said:

Puff what kind of watering schedule are you using for those water farm buckets?

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Its really simple, the drip system runs when the lights are on. I have looked into a recycling timer. 1 min on 4 mins off would be good, they also have 3 mins on, 5 mins off. But the timer is like $95! I dont need it that bad, but if you had one it would be the best solution.

Puff said:

Its really simple, the drip system runs when the lights are on. I have looked into a recycling timer. 1 min on 4 mins off would be good, they also have 3 mins on, 5 mins off. But the timer is like $95! I dont need it that bad, but if you had one it would be the best solution.

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So as of right now your just running the drip constantly while the lights are on? Im suprised they havent been over watered but then again you are using hydroton & i cant recall if i saw any rockwool in the mix. However plants are looking good.

Its such a nice design I am not even interested in changing hydro systems. If I had to imagine my idea of the perfect design for hydro gardening this would be it. They are modular, easy to maintain, and easily expandable by adding units. Then the reservoir is another piece of simple engineering genius. I love how the two stage reservoir maintains the perfect water level with a float valve. The only thing I don't like is how difficult it is to drain and flush the entire system. I saw the problem before I began but I wasn't willing to build a platform to elevate everypart of the system to make it easier to drain. A platform in the tent was kind of impractical. Yesterday was the first time I have really flushed the system. I'm still learning how to keep the nutes at the right level. I think I'm going to top the system off with water from now on. I was adding a weak nute solution before. Now I see that was probably a mistake. You fill the system completely with nute solution, then top off with water until its time to flush the system again. Dose this sound right to you guys?

ivintheterrible said:

thanks puff, i have been considering that setup. how about ventilation and odor control in those tents?

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You really gotta go with more cfm than you really need. Ideally you want the tent to look sucked in. You place your carbon filter on the intake inside the tent. So far I dont forsee any problems with smell. When you stick your head in the tent it smells great. Outside the tent you dont smell anything, most of the time. You gotta remeber to zip it back up.

southfloridasean said:

So as of right now your just running the drip constantly while the lights are on? Im suprised they havent been over watered but then again you are using hydroton & i cant recall if i saw any rockwool in the mix. However plants are looking good.

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Well the reason they dont get water logged or burned is because the water just flows back to the resivior so its not like the plant is sitting in it..

if the water is highly oxygenated, it wont drown anyway

Damion5050 said:

Well the reason they dont get water logged or burned is because the water just flows back to the resivior so its not like the plant is sitting in it..

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The water level is below the roots, the roots would need to grow down the drain holes to get to the bottom bucket. And I use H2O2 to oxygenate the water, plus it's bubbled all day long in the drip system.

I love my dark room! Its so quiet compared to the noise coming from the closet. I thought the closet was relitavliy quiet. But I cant even hear the dark room's fan over the bigger fan in the closet.

Damion5050 said:

Those tents are nice because they come with pre made holes for venting and belts to hang the cabon filter from the roof of the tent

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Now I know what those straps were for! Thanks!

yeah those tents are setup so that u actually suck air through the carbon filter not push it out the filter.. So make sure you have your fan setup right

Yes its pulling air through the Odorsok then pushing air through the cooltube then out of the tent. Its perfect!

where did you get cool tube

they got em on ebay

KK thx for the info

sorry if i just passed this up, but how many cfm are those blowers? ll be starting my 400w grow and just overall am curious about a lot of shit, with stealth isues and all. Also have much noise do they put out of those tents? thx in advance.

upinchronic1 said:

sorry if i just passed this up, but how many cfm are those blowers? ll be starting my 400w grow and just overall am curious about a lot of shit, with stealth isues and all. Also have much noise do they put out of those tents? thx in advance.

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Man you guys are lazy, nobody wants to read. sighh. Ill post the info again.

The centrifugal fan (if you want to know what kind go back and read) is 200 cfm, the filter is 190 cfm. I am very surprised how quiet it is when everything is running. I tried 3 or 4 different configurations prior to getting it right. If you just copy my setup you will be very pleased. This thing is 2 feet from my bed and I barely hear it. Its kind of a soothing sound, strange huh?

southfloridasean said:

So as of right now your just running the drip constantly while the lights are on? Im suprised they havent been over watered but then again you are using hydroton & i cant recall if i saw any rockwool in the mix. However plants are looking good.

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I went into the garden tonight with my night vision



I noticed one of my plants has stem rot, or the begining stages of it at least. Those plants have there days numbered anyhow. I started using agricultural grade peroxide in my nute solution. I was getting algea but now its gone. I think the stem rot will be less likely with the peroxide too. I was so stupid, I wanted to get rid of some algea and I poured a strong peroxide solution over it. I nearly killed the plant, it literally fell over within seconds. I was so upset, it was my feminized sweet tooth. I emergency flushed the pot it in the shower with the plant in it. After about 30 min it stood back up and I put it back into bucket, only to see if fall over again! I didnt realize you add a few drops to a gallon. I added a few tsps. Sometimes I need to stay away from my plants after I smoke, Im dangerous, lol. Anyway the plant is now standing back up and I did a total flush of the system.

Im going to switch my pumps to a new schedule, instead of running them all day, im going to run them for 30 min on, 30 min off. Ill tweak it from there, but that way I should elminate any future problems with mold, or weak stems from excess moisture.

Puff said:

Man you guys are lazy, nobody wants to read. Ill post the info again.

The centrifugal fan (if you want to know what kind go back and read) is 200 cfm, the filter is 190 cfm. I am very surprised how quiet it is when everything is running. I tried 3 or 4 different configurations prior to getting it right. If you just copy my setup you will be very pleased. This thing is 2 feet from my bed and I barely hear it. Its kind of a soothing sound, strange huh?

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Yes strange, awwww i hear it now, that does sound soothing.

lol, i am lazy, but thanks for hitting me up with the info..

So your saying the filter reduces the cfm by 10?

ALSO, if you dont mind, can you touch the cool tube? That sounds good though, good, that tent must be designd partially for noise reduction cause i always hear complaints about them sounding like jet engines, i just have to find out a way to completly silence my blower,, dont know quite how yet... Just poking here and there untill i hit Eureka. Thanks for the info

I still haven't got the ballast wired yet. I need to change the plug from the cooltube. My buddy is an electrician and I want him to do it. Something like this is going to need more than a piece of black tape. Supposedly the cooltube works better than anything else around. I have head its comparable to cfl lamps, you can get the plants within inches of it. I will have it up and running the week and I will report back how hot it gets, if you can touch it, etc...

The tent may be good at holding the noise, but the polymer casing around the Sunleaves Windtunnel fan has a lot to do with it too. Then when you add a Carbon filter and a couple feet of ducting with a tapering exhaust that muffles the sound even more. The tapering exhaust is my secret trick. I just accidentally discovered that when I was trying different elbows and extensions. I saw a picture of a muffler for ventilation systems and it also consisted of a tapered opening leading to a larger duct then back to a tapered exhaust. Well that basically what mine looks like. It works fantastic! Someone else who has tried this chime in, I would love to hear that I'm not the only one who stumbled upon this.

How effective is that green light? Does it work really well?

southfloridasean said:

How effective is that green light? Does it work really well?

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Yea its great! When you go in my closet and shut the door you cant see the back of your hand. Its pretty dark in there, once you turn it on, it lights up the area. It clips around your ear and shines a bright dual led green light wherever your head is pointed. You can do maintainence or get in there really close to look for preflowers without burning the back of your neck on the 400w lamp. It was like $15 and its proven itself very useful. Its called the "Green Eye". I like to go in there at night and see whats going on, making sure everything is as expected. Its easier to see certain things with that light. For ex/ for preflowers it works really well. It sillohuetes the shape of the pollen sacks, the shadows give you that extra view of the shape. The little balls become much more obvious. When the lights are on full blast, the shapes are hard to tell. Besides, I dress up in full camoflauge and paint my face black. Strap on my Berretta Px4 Storm with laser sights, I go in there on a mission. Maybe Im giving out to much information.