a few questions about my new grow room plans

[durky]

Looking to build a much larger Flowering room. Doing research / pricing out upgrades. I am going to be making a 7' x 10' but it will have 2 sections that are 4'x7' so I have 2' in middle to move around / Create a constant flowering cycle. e.g. harvesting one section every 40 days.

attached a picture of potential room.

Question 1;
I am going to be running either 6 600W HPS 3 over each growing section or 4 1000Ws 2 over each growing section.

Now to control heat.
I currently already own a 6 " vortex fan aprox 449 CFM on a 6" air cool tube for my 1000W. It is doing a wonderful job of keeping room 74-78 Degrees and keeping the smell down. It is attached to a 6" scrubber.

What I am wondering, Is if I connect all 6 lights together with ducting, Could it manage my heat levels. or will i have to upgrade to a much bigger fan. with possible an AC or air cooler.

Currently running a 4" passive air intake from outside with 2 osculating fans.

Or do you have any suggestions on how I can manage the heat for my future upgrades.

Looking to yeild 3.5 pounds every 80 days. per section Ideal goal.

Question 2;
My goal is to build a SCROG with 2-6 Plants per section(4x7). Number of plants depending on how well I can top / bend them.

Going to build a DIY aeroponic setup. Should I use a couple Big totes, Or should I use single giant buckets 50g per plant?

What I think, Is that giant buckets will be better per plant. But, will cost more due to needing a seperate pump /timer per bucket. So in theory to keep costs down, I'll need to use a big tote and put 2-3 plants per tote. running 2 pumps per section instead of 2-6 pumps per section.

I figure I can spend 1-3 hours in maintenance a day if needed. So that shouldn't be a problem.

Question 3;
My new room will be 7' tall, How tall should I Grow my plants/ how far up should I put my Scrog?

I figure lights hover around 6' off ground(at end of flower). plants should be at least 2.5' tall going in to flower, 8" tall pots. Screen should be aprox 3.5' off

looking for feedback, or new / better ideas. Thanks.

~Durky


p.s. I own my house, so modifications for better ideas are definitely possible.

 

[durky]

bump, no one has any input?

 

[Dantes Monkey]

I'll take a crack at it. Looks like a very ambitious plan, but I think you're definitely going to need more than 1 fan. I would run at least a 6" fan on each bank of lights pulling from outside the room, pushing across your lights and venting outside the room. I would run your scrubber(s) on separate fans as well.

At 50 watts/sq ft and a 4x7' growing area, you will need 1400 watts per side for 2800 watts total. You could probably get away with 4x 600w, but i think you have the right idea with 6x 600w. 4x 1000w would be cool, but thats a bigger power draw.

Don't forget about your power needs. You're going to need to run a sub panel for your grow and I would highly recommend having your lights and pumps on different circuits. This way, if a ballast trips a breaker, it wont kill power to your pumps. With aero, your pumps going down can be catastrophic. I'm speaking from experience here.

Answer 1: Start with separating your light cooling from your odor control, add a window A/C or mini split as needed. You probably won't know exactly what you'll need until you get it all put together and fire up those lights.

Answer 2: Are your arms 4' long? If so, great! Otherwise, how will you be training the plants under the screen on the far side of your walkway? Check out this DIY aero setup and modify accordingly to suit your needs.
Harvest a pound every three weeks! The Stinkbud way

Answer 3: The screen for your scrog should be 8-12" above your medium. The whole point of a scrog is to limit your height. If your plants are 2.5' high going into flower, you're doing it wrong. You should veg until your screen is about 75% full, then switch to 12/12.

Good luck and happy growing.

 

[durky]

Don't forget about your power needs. You're going to need to run a sub panel for your grow and I would highly recommend having your lights and pumps on different circuits. This way, if a ballast trips a breaker, it wont kill power to your pumps. With aero, your pumps going down can be catastrophic. I'm speaking from experience here.

I'm going to be running 2 30 amp 240V breakers, With a 2 Powerbox DPC-12000 240V HID Controller one for each side (little pricey but worth it imo) for lights and fans.
Pumps will be on 2 15amp breakers. one for each side.

Answer 3: The screen for your scrog should be 8-12" above your medium. The whole point of a scrog is to limit your height. If your plants are 2.5' high going into flower, you're doing it wrong. You should veg until your screen is about 75% full, then switch to 12/12.

Thank you for that.

I'll take a crack at it. Looks like a very ambitious plan, but I think you're definitely going to need more than 1 fan. I would run at least a 6" fan on each bank of lights pulling from outside the room, pushing across your lights and venting outside the room. I would run your scrubber(s) on separate fans as well.
Answer 1: Start with separating your light cooling from your odor control, add a window A/C or mini split as needed. You probably won't know exactly what you'll need until you get it all put together and fire up those lights.

I heard that Sucking was better then Pushing, by almost 30%. Depending on how far away the Fan is.
I figure I'll have to add a AC of some sort. I discussed with some experienced grower friends and they suggest just upgrading to a 8" fan on my 2 6" lines. because the CFM is almost doubled. then adding an AC unit to my passive air intake or buying a mobile ac unit.

as for answer 2, I'll reconsider my design. Thank you for your input.

 

[Dantes Monkey]

I heard that Sucking was better then Pushing, by almost 30%. Depending on how far away the Fan is.
I figure I'll have to add a AC of some sort. I discussed with some experienced grower friends and they suggest just upgrading to a 8" fan on my 2 6" lines. because the CFM is almost doubled. then adding an AC unit to my passive air intake or buying a mobile ac unit.

With regard to your lights, if you suck air through you will create a negative pressure zone in your hoods which can pull in odors and vent them outside. It may be more efficient, but might not be worth the risk of leaking smells. When you push through your hoods, you're creating positive pressure there. This way any leaks will push a little air into your grow room. If you have a separate grow room exhaust, that should create enough negative pressure in your grow room to negate the positive pressure coming in from your hoods.

I guess it just depends on how serious your odor control needs to be.

As for your A/C, I'm not 100% sure but I think portable A/C units can also vent odors outside your grow room. Window A/C and mini splits just recirculate the air inside the room. This way you can have a sealed environment and even add CO2 if you want...

 

[durky]

With regard to your lights, if you suck air through you will create a negative pressure zone in your hoods which can pull in odors and vent them outside. It may be more efficient, but might not be worth the risk of leaking smells. When you push through your hoods, you're creating positive pressure there. This way any leaks will push a little air into your grow room. If you have a separate grow room exhaust, that should create enough negative pressure in your grow room to negate the positive pressure coming in from your hoods.

I guess it just depends on how serious your odor control needs to be.

As for your A/C, I'm not 100% sure but I think portable A/C units can also vent odors outside your grow room. Window A/C and mini splits just recirculate the air inside the room. This way you can have a sealed environment and even add CO2 if you want...

Thanks for sharing your info.
Do window splits have to be hooked up to a window? or can I just mount it in the room to create the recirculated air flow that you where talking about? Odor doesn't have to be tooo serious, But I do want it somewhat maintained. Don't want it smell to bad.

 

[Dantes Monkey]

Nope, you can mount a window A/C right into the wall of your grow room. The important part is: the part that should be sticking out of the window, is instead sticking out of the wall of your grow room. You'll just have to frame it out so the weight will be supported. It will have a condensation line that will drip water so you'll want to plumb that into a drain or collect it for your grow. Its just water that gets pulled out of the air so it should be pretty close to 0 PPM. With a mini split, you'll probably want to put the compressor outside and the A/C unit can just mount to the wall in your grow room.

 

[durky]

thank you.

 

[Dantes Monkey]

Happy to help! Good luck with your grow and post lots of pics as you get it up and running.

 

[durky]

yup, I will be starting a grow journal. Should be ready to go by October.