Planning a grow room. Need ideas!

geeklife

New Member
hello everyone. i'm new here. i'm also new to growing and these forums have been extremely helpful to my education, so i just wanted express a little gratitude to everyone who participates here, newbies and experts alike. i've learned much since being here. a ton of thanks to you all.

pardon the expression, but i'm a little green when it comes to growing. i've been consuming as much information as time allows on the topic, but there's still so much that are big question marks for me. i have started to do a little planning and procuring, and have decided to go the Deep Water Culture route thanks to the influence of these forums on my thinking.

i know that building one's own hydroponics system is a rewarding experience and is easy and yadda yadda yadda, but for me, buying makes more sense than building. when i have the luxury of time, i probably will build my own. but for now, i decided to go with the stealth hydroponics' Deep Water Culture system and have bought the following items from them.

400W HPS Ecostar Deep Water Culture Kit w/ Switchable Upgrade
SH Hydroponics, Inc. > 400W HPS Ecostar Deep Water Culture Kit

Secret Jardin DR120 Grow Tent
SH Hydroponics, Inc. > DarkRoom Grow Tents - Large

Powerful Vortex Inline Duct Fan / Four Inch 175 CFM
SH Hydroponics, Inc. > Powerful Vortex Inline Duct Fan

Pro Filter Carbon Filters
SH Hydroponics, Inc. > Pro Filter Carbon Filters

at this point, i have the tent set up and i gotta say, it IS bigger than I realized it would be. no matter, i have the room for it, so it's all good. however, now that it's setup and i've placed that tiny little 6 gallon reservoir inside there, i see that i have tons of space to work with. and that got me thinking... is it better to start with only 6 plants, or should i really try to maximize the space and increase the odds of success by introducing additional grow sites? ideally i want the largest yield possible, but i also want to keep the amount of work involved manageable. i have no more than hour a day (sometimes not even that) to devote to this project. can't really spend more time on it than that. i do have a little cash budgeted for expanding the system, but i do want to be smart about how i spend it.

so if you were me,how would you go about planning out this grow room for maximum yield?

thanks!
 
Well looks good man looks like you've done your homework!!!:thumb: just a few suggestions!! get everything setup and check temps and air flow with scrubber attached, make sure your res temps are stable. Also a good PH meter and TDS meter will be essential as well as some ph up/down. What kind of seeds are you using? if using feminized i would say just go for 6, if using bagseed or regular seeds might want a few more due to males and herms!!!i spend about an hour or so every 2 days but im using soil plenty more work with hydro!!! check out my journal im using a 400 currently in a dresser!!!
 
yo. thanks for the feedback and the sage advice of dry-running the system before introducing plants. i'm pretty much in the design/planning phase at the moment, and implementation and testing will soon follow. the goal for me is pretty simple: grow 4-6 respectable plants from seed to smoke and learn as much as possible about the art and science in the process. i don't want to build what is easily bought. my interest for the moment is growing, not building. i'm also supremely interested in not getting hassled over my new hobby. i've been arrested and/or robbed a total of 0 times and i intend to keep it that way.

anyhow, with those basic goals in mind, i've begun designing, and here's what i have so far. starting with a complete inventory:

1 x Spare Bedroom (w/ A/C if needed)
1 x Secret Jardin DR120 (4x4x6.5)
1 x Stealth Deep Water Culture System which includes:
1 x 6 Gal Reservoir (w/ Drainage Kit)
1 x Sunleaves DuraPump Water Pump (160 GPH)
1 x Sunleaves DuraPump Air Pump (28 GPH)
1 x 12" Penn-Plax Aqua Mist Air Stone
1 x CAP Valueline 400w MH/HPS Switchable Ballast
1 x Yield Master II 6" Air-Cooled Reflector Supreme
1 x 6" Valueline 435 CFM Inline Duct Fan
1 x Pair of Pro Grip Rope Ratchets
1 x Sunlite 400w MH w/ Mogul Base
1 x Sunlite 400w HPS w/ Mogul Base
1 x 4" Vortex 175 CFM Inline Duct Fan
1 x 4" ProFilter Carbon Filter
1 x Sunleaves TDS essential Digital TDS Meter/Pen
1 x Milwaukee ph 600 Digital PH Meter
1 x Honeywell TM005X Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermo-Hygrometer
1 x Set of yet-to-be-determined Nutrients
1 x Small Oscillating Fan
1 x Small Stationary Fan
1 x Bag Hydroton
6 x Rockwool Cubes


the tent occupies a medium-sized spare bedroom in my apartment. the room temperature is currently around 73-78f/40% humidity without anything on or running. i expect things to get real hot real fast once everything is up and running and it's summertime. so i decided to go with the air cooled hood to keep temps down. plus, that'll let me get the lamp closer to the plants which i hear makes a big difference. so i got to thinking, what's the best way to vent the heat and improve airflow given my setup, and a few different ideas came to mind. In terms of orientation, my intake is on the left, and exhaust is on the right.

Option 1:
Carbon Filter > 4" Fan > Duct to outside tent (through tent's top right vent hole) and down to floor
Left Side Vent (Passive) > Duct > Reflector > Duct > 6" Fan > Duct > Right Side Vent

Option 2:
Carbon Filter > Duct to outside tent (through tent's top right vent hole) > 4" Fan (sitting on top of top right vent hole) and down to floor AND
Left Side Vent (Passive)> Duct > Reflector > Duct > 6" Fan > Duct > Right Side Vent

In both of these options, the light is cooled with air from outside the tent. The second option moves the 4" exhaust fan out of the tent, which I like because I'm clumsy and hit my head on shit all of the time. The 3rd option is probably more economical:

Option 3:
Carbon Filter > Duct > Reflector > Duct > 6" Fan > Duct through Right Side Vent

in this option, the light is cooled using air from inside the tent and gets rid of the 4" fan altogether. well, that's the theory anyway.

my hunch is that during the summer, the challenge is going to be to keep the room cool, so either option 1 or 2 is probably what i'll end up going with for this grow. come winter i may need extra heat, so option 3, or not eventing the light at all may be the best option. again, this is all theory. what i'll likely end up doing is moving things around until i can get the environment to stabilize. any thoughts on this?

i haven't ordered any seeds yet so which strain(s) are up for debate. my working assumption is that i'll go with a nice/easy/high-yielding indica. still doing my homework, but probably northern lights or something similar. i also haven't decided if i am going to grow more than a one strain in a single reservoir. as much as i like variety, it seems like a bad idea. maybe 2 different strains with similar characteristics might work? i don't know. thoughts?

i'm also on the fence when it comes to nutes. haven't done my homework on these either. i got some nutes with my order from stealth hydroponics, and roseman says he grows with them, and he lays out a good template for using them in his tutorial. that seems like a safe bet. on the other hand, i've heard great things about advanced nutrients too. so who knows. i'm always open to suggestion!

btw, digging the dresser design. when my eyes aren't about to slam shut from exhaustion, i'll read the thread in earnest!
 
to me the hardest part is the venting.... on my setup i vent the hood thru the ceiling and attic all the way out thru the roof. on the intake i run it from the window into the grow space. it sounds like your trying to vent the tent into the room and not to the outside. renting an apartment will always be somewhat hard to do a clean install becase of the remodeling needed to do the venting, but if u installed the window ac yourself u should be able vent thru the widow in the same manner
 
to me the hardest part is the venting.... on my setup i vent the hood thru the ceiling and attic all the way out thru the roof. on the intake i run it from the window into the grow space. it sounds like your trying to vent the tent into the room and not to the outside. renting an apartment will always be somewhat hard to do a clean install becase of the remodeling needed to do the venting, but if u installed the window ac yourself u should be able vent thru the widow in the same manner
 
Here are some pics of my progress so far:

IMG_0478-resized.jpg


IMG_0481-resized.jpg


IMG_0485-resized.jpg

(I've since replaced that reflective tape with a stronger duct tape)

IMG_0480-resized.jpg


IMG_0474-resized.jpg

(I've since moved the ballast right next to the 6" fan to cool it down)
 
So that's what my little environment is looking like at the moment. Still working on it, but it's coming together I think. The ventilation and lighting is the best that I could come up with, given my limited knowledge of these things. Next thing I'm going to do is assemble my little Stealth Hydro Deep Water Culture system and get that in there so I can start testing the complete system, and learn how to fix whatever problems I happen find. If all else fails, I do have an A/C in the room, but that's the more expensive approach for sure.

Anyone have any suggestions on how how I can improve what I have so far? Or have any additional insights?

Thanks
 
Love that air-cooled reflector though. Moving 475 cfm of air across the bulb seems rather effective. The entire reflector is cool to the touch. Both metal and glass. The drawback is that the 6" fan is louder than I expected. If anyone has ideas on how to get that fan to operate quieter, I'd love to hear them!
 
ok just a few suggestions. why not just use the 6 inch to pull air thru the filter>hood>fan>exhaust out the tent. it will muffle the 6 inch fan a little bit, and you wont have to run a second fan. may save you on electric, but if whats set up is working for you then just leave it alone. as for you asking about yield, if you want them to get as much as possible once they are done veging running dwc with no more water pump and your ready for bloom put each plant in its own bucket. go out and get some 2 or even 3 gal buckets with lids and a few more air pumps and stones. put them in there and youll be able to space them out more allowing more light, rotate them and lst them. i used the 2 gal buckets and 1 and a half gallons of water to each bucket. i pulled 2 oz of each plant on 1 barneys farm blue cheese 2 plants of dinafem blue widow and 4 oz off of 1 sweet seeds jack 47. this was under a 400w light, in a 20x30x60 area. other then that it looks good to me and i hope everything goes well.
 
everything is perfect except the res size. you could do so much better. look up Roseman. He and his DWC/Deep Water Culture setups are on point
 
ok just a few suggestions. why not just use the 6 inch to pull air thru the filter>hood>fan>exhaust out the tent. it will muffle the 6 inch fan a little bit, and you wont have to run a second fan. may save you on electric, but if whats set up is working for you then just leave it alone.

i like that idea and i'm all for simplifying and saving money. definitely worth a shot. it wouldn't be too hard to re-route things in there. thanks for the great suggestion!

as for you asking about yield, if you want them to get as much as possible once they are done veging running dwc with no more water pump and your ready for bloom put each plant in its own bucket. go out and get some 2 or even 3 gal buckets with lids and a few more air pumps and stones. put them in there and youll be able to space them out more allowing more light, rotate them and lst them. i used the 2 gal buckets and 1 and a half gallons of water to each bucket. i pulled 2 oz of each plant on 1 barneys farm blue cheese 2 plants of dinafem blue widow and 4 oz off of 1 sweet seeds jack 47. this was under a 400w light, in a 20x30x60 area. other then that it looks good to me and i hope everything goes well.

sounds like good advice to me. just to be clear, i should transplant them into dwc buckets between veg and bloom? i would think that doing it that late would be difficult due to the roots being all tangled up with each other and a giant mess to work with. or is this theory totally bogus? i was thinking the transplant would occur earlier in the lifecycle, when the roots of each plant are developed but distinct and sill relatively separate in the reservoir. but i'm just talking out my ass, so care to enlighten me further? :grinjoint:
 
everything is perfect except the res size. you could do so much better. look up Roseman. He and his DWC/Deep Water Culture setups are on point

I'm sure you're 1000% right. What do you think of the idea of just getting things started in there, and then moving over to single plant dwc buckets? Or do you prefer a single, larger reservoir with multiple plants?

Thanks for your input!
 
I kind of have two threads going about this setup, which is unnecessary. This is the other thread:


Gonna be journaling progress in this thread from now on, so why don't you meet me over there?

:slide:
 
yo ill follow your other thread but just answering your question, the time to transplant them would be best right after you remove the water pump and the roots can support the plant with out needing to be feed water. for me i only veg about 3 weeks or so, so my roots dont get tangled up. but if youve been reading rosemans stuff then you know if it does happen you wont hurt the plant by cutting the roots back, they will regrow. so when you transplant them is up to you.
 
Back
Top Bottom