SpaceGhosts RDWC Multi Strain Grow

[jandre2k3]

I don't see why fresh air would need to come in if you're enriching with CO2, unless it's for human entry. If that is the case, personally if it it were me, I'd DIY a manifold to the intake of the A/C and put a duct near the ceiling so that it can pull air in from the outside. That way as the A/C cycles it is pulling in fresh air as well. You can put a sliding damper on the inlet for the duct outside the GR that blocks airflow back out when the AC is off, but opens up as as needed to allow the A/C to pull air in when you want to enter.

Now, on the inside, I would put a "Wye" split in the duct that also draws from a can filter to help control odor, as sealed rooms are never really sealed, and odor seeps out eventually with the changing of the seasons. This way when the damper is shut outside, the A/C can still breathe, but it is also acting as odor control as well. Just be sure to attach a can filter that is rated above the CFM of your A/C fan.

 

[jandre2k3]

You'd also want to filter the "fresh air" coming in if it is open to the outdoors to keep pollen, mold, and pests from infiltrating through the outside duct. There is a Shroom filter made especially for this and it touts "ZERO CFM LOSS"

 

[SpaceGhost]

I don't see why fresh air would need to come in if you're enriching with CO2, unless it's for human entry. If that is the case, personally if it it were me, I'd DIY a manifold to the intake of the A/C and put a duct near the ceiling so that it can pull air in from the outside. That way as the A/C cycles it is pulling in fresh air as well. You can put a sliding damper on the inlet for the duct outside the GR that blocks airflow back out when the AC is off, but opens up as as needed to allow the A/C to pull air in when you want to enter.

Now, on the inside, I would put a "Wye" split in the duct that also draws from a can filter to help control odor, as sealed rooms are never really sealed, and odor seeps out eventually with the changing of the seasons. This way when the damper is shut outside, the A/C can still breathe, but it is also acting as odor control as well. Just be sure to attach a can filter that is rated above the CFM of your A/C fan.

I like the ideer of the a/c and carbon filter hooked together. The a/c sure runs a lot more.

Ya I'm suking fresh air in for a/c just like the hoods, same wall. but I'm blowing it in the furnace room, probably not the best place, but I ran out of $$ and need some 6" to exhaust it with the hoods.

The ballasts are creating heat, co2 generator, a/c is rated for 2x1000w in a 10x10...... how many I got (lmao) ain't going to be no heat bills hear this winter

I'm hoping to limp through winter with 1 a/c and purchase a mini split 24,000 or 36,000 unit and then might as well use the a/c as a dehumidifier.

But until then I was thinking blasting some cool air in every hr or so to help with temps. Don't foreget still got 2x1000w not even running yet. and the 1200w veg room is down now too right now.

 

[jandre2k3]

Are you running a propane CO2 gen?

 

[OG13]

Fall is coming Spaceghost.....then winter. Duct all that hot air upstairs from the lights (can also pull the air from the floor upstairs to feed the hoods) in essence heating your house. Your AC is only pulling moisture out if it has a drain pan or hookup for a line.... You are getting me confused when you keep saying nuts when you mean nutes.......I keep thinking about the nuts and bolts hanging from the branches.....I thought you used the 40 pounds of ice to cool some nuts and put them in your reservoir. lmao

 

[Tokist]

damn dude, lovin your setup. i'd kill to have my temps that low, lol.

plants are lookin real good! cant wait to see them colas thicken into lil logs

SUBBED!

 

[SpaceGhost]

salad any1? Trimmings from the spin pro. Does an1 else get a headache trimming?

 

[SpaceGhost]

Are you running a propane CO2 gen?

It's a natural gas unit. Taped right into my house. .....it'll be the only thing creating a gas bill this winter. the furnace will probably never fire up. Wish I had one of those wood pellet burners, instead of our fake gas fireplace, I wouldn't have any heat bill.

I'll probably go with the fresh air intake on a timer, if the a/c has any trouble keeping up with 6 hoods through winter. I'm afraid with temps in the 85's that my buckets will eventually get warm from they hillbilly chiller not being able to keep up. I'm afraid my next investment needs to be a reservoir chiller so that I can basically flow the nutes the whole time the lights are running to keep the buckets cool. right now I run a 1/2hr on... 1hr off and then run 1/2hr again and so on for a 24/hr period. It works for now but I don't know about when there is 2 more hoods running and more buckets on the floor. (this is why I was working on my own flow N grow)

 

[SpaceGhost]

jandre:
Is there any reason to ph the water I use to flush? No additives, city water filtered (not R/O) with 180ppm.

 

[jandre2k3]

You could actually run your nutes through a heat exchanger in the ducting drawing in air from the cold outside for the winter months, reducing your electric bill by not having to run a chiller. Nature made it cold, use that to your advantage.

As for a fan bringing in cold air from outside, I would suggest a thermostatic controller, rather than a timer. The timer will come on, no matter how cold it gets. With a termo, you could set it for a good temp, and when ambient rises above that, it'll kick the fresh air fan on. Check the site that shares its name with a rainforest and huge river basin in South America for one that I'm looking at. It's a little wonky, but one of the reviewers writes a good review detailing how he got it to work effectively. Just read up on how to make it work right for your situation.

 

[SpaceGhost]

You could actually run your nutes through a heat exchanger in the ducting drawing in air from the cold outside for the winter months, reducing your electric bill by not having to run a chiller. Nature made it cold, use that to your advantage.

As for a fan bringing in cold air from outside, I would suggest a thermostatic controller, rather than a timer. The timer will come on, no matter how cold it gets. With a termo, you could set it for a good temp, and when ambient rises above that, it'll kick the fresh air fan on. Check the site that shares its name with a rainforest and huge river basin in South America for one that I'm looking at. It's a little wonky, but one of the reviewers writes a good review detailing how he got it to work effectively. Just read up on how to make it work right for your situation.

I'll see what I can come up with on something passive to help the Hillbilly chiller out through winter, chiller will still be needed by summer, and if I don't get it this harvest, its going to be tight for a while, wont be able to afford any mistakes or miss spent $$$

The fresh air intake I have is now hooked to a temp controller. the thing with that is it conflicts with the co2 burner. one makes the other run more, it's a viscous circle to no end. the co2 generator warms the room, the fresh air intake turns on to cool room, co2 generator runs because not enough co2 in room warming room, causing fresh air to run more

this is why I was thinking timer. Ak1's controller would solve everything

 

[SpaceGhost]

hey I just got a Ideer there jandre

How about I pick up a timer for the fresh air intake and plug the temp controller into that? set the timer to run every :30 min/1hr or so for 10/15 min and if temps cool down in that time the unit would turn off.

Co2 unit kicks on every 30min or so with no room ventilation going on.

 

[Alaskan1]

Sorry your having issues Space. And NO, you can't have my controller lol
I was thinking of going the same route as you but if your having heat issues I may not.

 

[SpaceGhost]

Sorry your having issues Space. And NO, you can't have my controller lol
I was thinking of going the same route as you but if your having heat issues I may not.

Ya I don't know dude, I really gota watch my $$. I need to get it so I'm pulling 2 hoods every 3 weeks. I got a patient now that I am responsible for, free oz every month. bills are going to be due (electric), Nutes

It's a big room 16x15 or so. The magnetic ballasts probably create more heat than yours too, and it's warm here. temp is supposed to fall here, tomorrow. Never thought I would be looking fwd to some 30deg weather.

The room just seems to want to stay at 85 and I'm good with that, just need to keep Nutes cool and would like to cut cost of any a/c through winter as much as possible.

I'm going to run the dehumidifier during the lights off as thats the only time it is really needed. (controller)

 

[SpaceGhost]

tonights pics

BC

Red chunk, I'm sure I will be pulling this one in a day or 2. to bad.

the rest of the girls
day6, the hood has not moved. the 1st hoods that get suked through run much cooler than the hoods that are being blown through. there is hot spots in the second set of hoods. I will look and see if there is any way possible to set hood ventilation so every hood is drawn through not just 1/2 of them

 

[SpaceGhost]

see the other issue I'm going to run into and this is why I need to get a chiller dedicated to this reservoir tank is, I'm going to have more water/Nutes out in the buckets in the room than in the reservoir, not a good thing I am predicting. (85deg room temps)That is why I was trying to design my own flow n grow because I was already planing this room and fore seen this issue.
remember my reservoir works for the Nutes/water level of the buckets, it's all of maybe 10gal, this was fine when I only had 8 buckets hooked up but now look I could end up wit maybe 36 buckets out there. I need to come up with something.

 

[SpaceGhost]

here is a pic of my reservoir so every1 can understand what I am talking about. the water level controls the water level in the buckets. the more you put in the fuller the buckets get. (only run 2" up your net pots, Max) there is a water pump that circulates the water/Nutes to all the buckets and then there is a 2x 3/4" return line for the water/Nutes to flow back to the reservoir (RDWC). there is a temp gauge that is in the water that activates the hillbilly chiller to regulate the reservoir temps.
The custom flow n grow would give me a larger reservoir, be able to control ph and temps better. My system works but needs some help to step up to a grow of this size.

any1 looking to set up their 1st RDWC it dosen't get any cheaper or easier than this.

 

[jandre2k3]

increase the temperature on the thermo... just nudge it up ever so slightly until it pops off. Also, if you can relocate it to the middle of the wall, instead of the top, that'll help with the CO2 burner tripping the thermo. You need it to be a bit warm in there anyway, just not hot. As long as you don't go over 92, with CO2 you'll be fine. Just watch your plants for heat stress and react quickly if it happens.

 

[jandre2k3]

see the other issue I'm going to run into and this is why I need to get a chiller dedicated to this reservoir tank is, I'm going to have more water/Nutes out in the buckets in the room than in the reservoir, not a good thing I am predicting. (85deg room temps)That is why I was trying to design my own flow n grow because I was already planing this room and fore seen this issue.
remember my reservoir works for the Nutes/water level of the buckets, it's all of maybe 10gal, this was fine when I only had 8 buckets hooked up but now look I could end up wit maybe 36 buckets out there. I need to come up with something.

You'll need two trip switches, one for drain, and one for fill... That'll keep the levels from going over in your buckets. Then set the switches on a timer and time it so that it allows it to fill and then drain, and then cuts power. Or hell, Set the pumps on two separate timers so that it fills for three or four minutes, however long it takes, then cuts off, and a few minutes later the drain pump starts and empties the buckets into the res again.

 

[SpaceGhost]

You'll need two trip switches, one for drain, and one for fill... That'll keep the levels from going over in your buckets. Then set the switches on a timer and time it so that it allows it to fill and then drain, and then cuts power. Or hell, Set the pumps on two separate timers so that it fills for three or four minutes, however long it takes, then cuts off, and a few minutes later the drain pump starts and empties the buckets into the res again.

Ya....that's why I was just going to buy the cap Flow N Grow and disassemble it, and reinstall it into my reservoir. It doesn't work like Ak1's Flow N Grow titan system. it works off a timer that you can flood and drain as many times as you want in a 24hr period.
I think I can still make this work 4 me. or build one, I found all the parts that the cap uses