Please criticize this design before I spend my money

I'm about to set up my first grow. I've been reading up hella and think I've settled on a design. Please criticize this design as much as possible.


-Room is 52 inches deep, 50 inches wide and 8 feet high (162 cubic feet). There's a window in the wall that i'm going to put an air conditioner in. I'm getting an AC that should be more than capable of cooling the hell out of the closet.
-The grow table is a 48 inch diameter circle that I'll be rotating 54 degrees a day (one full rotation every week).
-8 plants, soil, in 5 gallon smartpots.
-For veg, they'll be under a 400w and a 250w CMH, which from everything i've read better imitate sunlight than MH. They'll be in fixtures with built-in ballasts and reflectors. AC in the window for cooling.

-I also already have two 28w LED panels that I'll put in there if i'm not using them for clones or something.
-I want to SCROG them all with galvanized chickenwire. I'll be directing them towards the center mostly. I'm planning a 6-8 week veg cycle.
I have a carbon filter and 178 CFM inline fan already, I'll be scrubbing the air in the room with them.
-For flower, I'll put the 400w CMH in the center of the room. I've read they produce tastier buds, but have lower yields than HPS. So outside the 400w CMH, in its dark spots at the ends, I'll put a 250w HPS and a 150w HPS that a friend gave me, also with a built-in ballast and reflector. Also the two LED panel's if I'm not using them somewhere else.

The purpose of using both the CMH and HPS is to get the fuller spectrum of the sun from the CMH and the higher ratio of red spectrum from the HPS. I'm considering putting UVB lights in during flowering as well.


I have a smaller space I want to put one plant in (don't need help with that room); it would be a strain much more devoted to quality than quantity. If these 8 plants don't fill out the center, I'll put my high-quality plant in there. I think the strain I want to grow for the main 8 is California Orange. I'm considering Western Winds for my single.

So, please, any criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, and btw I just learned how to give rep haha

what type of ac will you be getting? heat will be a big obstacle to overcome unless you have a ductless split ac unit which aren't exactly cheap. window unit just wont cut it

monkeybb0yy said:

what type of ac will you be getting? heat will be a big obstacle to overcome unless you have a ductless split ac unit which aren't exactly cheap. window unit just wont cut it

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The AC I want to get is 5,000 BTU and supposedly can handle a 150 sqf room, my room is 20 sqf: http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FRA052XT7-Mini-Window-Conditioner/dp/B003F4TH6G/ref=sr_1_2/186-7530247-9092533?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1281992940&sr=8-2?ie=UTF8&tag=smallairconditioner-20

not a big expert on ac but from what ive read those things give off as much radiant heat as they cool so change in temperature is minute. of course the temp may be higher or lower depending on the size of your room but im no expert haha just wait for one to stop in here,

sweetarded said:

The AC I want to get is 5,000 BTU and supposedly can handle a 150 sqf room, my room is 20 sqf:http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FRA052XT7-Mini-Window-Conditioner/dp/B003F4TH6G/ref=sr_1_2/186-7530247-9092533?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1281992940&sr=8-2?ie=UTF8&tag=smallairconditioner-20

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Hey, Sweetarded! The 5000 watt AC is WAY more than you need, which is great. They do give off a lot of heat, but not into your room, it goes out the window. I have a 7x9x9 growroom and have an 8000 watt widow a/c. When I first started out, I have over 1000 watts of light over about 6 plants and I didn't vent, and the room could get like a meat locker if I wanted it to. Mine is a Frigidaire, too, and the econo mode is great because it only turns on when the room gets above the temperature you set. Now I run 2 600 watt air-cooled HPS, I have an intake on one side of the a/c in the window, and exhaust out the other side of the a/c. I spray painted the inside of the vent boots white and have a white a/c filter over the intake and exhaust ports. Looks totally normal from the outside I have a carbon scrubber inside the room for odor, and the a/c easily takes care of temps in the summer. Good luck!

P.S. Those 8 plants will WAY outgrow that space, esp. if you top them. You'll probably grow half that next time. Remember, you have to be able to move around for maintenance without breaking branches

that's a good point. current plan is 1.5 square feet per plant. i might go down to six, that makes it 2 square feet per plant. the rotating table helps me access the plants easier, but i'll probably need to get behind them at some point.. hmm. thanks for the AC info, i'm glad i picked a good one.

Hey sweetarded. Good to see you have plans sorted out but I just have one piece of advise regarding the rotating table. A rotating table will be great up until the point where your plants totally fill out your space. Once they have stretched out fully you are not going to be able to mess with the canopy like that because it's just too delicate. I suppose it depends on how you prune and train your plants etc, but to get the most from your space youll want to be creating a canopy that fills the space totally evenly. Pulling the canopy around when it's full of heavy colas is a bad idea youll just mess up the canopy and damage it.

Plant numbers and pot sizes etc are all going to be a steep learning curve for you, working out veg time etc and how much medium, how much watering and how often etc. All of these things you will dial in over the course of a few grows. For example when I went from 6 plants down to 4 plants my yeild has gone up and my medium and nutrient use has gone down plus it's a 3rd less work to do. You will become more efficient over time.

Also I think maybe a scrog net would be way better than a rotating table, but you may want to grow your first round out first so you know you wont have probs trapped in tangled under a net. Scroggsy.

thanks scroggsy. i do want to do a scrog net; i'm gonna mount it to the table so i have a rotating scrog oreo. the table and canopy are the chocolate wafers, the stalks are the cream, and the whole oreo turns as one. delicious.
should be fine, right?

PMSL

haha i hope that's a good sign. i'm pretty sure i'm going with 6 plants instead of 8

sweetarded said:

haha i hope that's a good sign. i'm pretty sure i'm going with 6 plants instead of 8

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I am a definate fan of fewer plants in a scrog. Everything about having fewer plants is an advantage.

I have a 600W HPS in a closet and a 5000BTU window ac unit which I got for $99. No problem controlling the temps. Keeps the room at 75F while running on low cool so it has plenty of spare capacity.

I'm not sure how an AC can put more heat into a room than it extracts unless some nitwit just tried to put the whole AC inside the room. That's pretty much like trying to cool the kitchen by leaving the fridge door open. The hot side of the AC unit has to be vented into a different space, idealy the great outdoors by sticking in a window or framing an opening in the wall the way it is supposed to be used. Otherwise you need to set up duct work to extract the heat from the back which is what I did in my closet.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/432521-fixing-grow-60-day-wonder.html#post5872832

Hey guys. Good thread. I'm trying to run a 600 watt hps in a 3x3 tent i made in my apartment. The problem is, my windows don't open so I can't vent the heat anywhere except right back into my room. However I have a 5500 window AC unit, and from what I've read in this thread, I think it should do fine cooling the room. My concern is putting too much power in one bedroom? I don't know very much about electricity, but is it OK to run a 5500 btu window AC unit, a 600 watt light, and 100 watt fan? Might as well add another 100 watts for other stuff too...

Can my bedroom easily handle all that? I just wanna be safe. Thanks

I looked up a 5500btu window AC just now. That unit (a Friedrich) draws 5 amps for appx. 500 watts power draw. How many amps rated is yours; do you know? If comparable, then Yes. Your ac and light will be running appx. 1200 watts, leaving you a few hundred extra for accessories - fans and whatnot.
cheers 'neer

ps The beauty of AC is that watts used is less than watts of heat dissipated. A window unit can keep up with a coupla kilowatts thermal load ... which is what comes through the walls on a hot day anyway. Jmo