New room in progress, suggestions wanted...

killabrown420 · Nov 2, 2008

Hi all, I'm in the process of designing and soon to be building a new growroom. I have ordered or bought most of my growing gear, I just need to get down to building a suitable grow room.

My space is a spare bedroom, with two small closets, and 4 windows. I haven't measured the exact dimensions but that's not so much important as is the design I will be using, which is what I'm focusing on now. I would guess the room is somewhere around 10x10x8.

I've built a sketch up model of the room that will be used. While the dimensions are not exact, it is meant to merely show my intentions. What I need from you guys is any potential problems you see from this setup, or any tips you think would help.

The flower room will be a room within a room. Using 2x4's and black poly. Mylar will line the inside.

For ventilation I will have a 424 cfm inline fan which i believe might be enough to vent the lights and the room alone, but if not i also have a 265 cfm blower that could be used as well. The plan is to pull air through the lights in the flower room along with the air outside the flower room and up through the attic into a carbon filter. Cool air will be brought in through the window by the negative pressure in the flower room.

Lighting will be 2 400 watt air cooled hps for the flower room, and for veg, ~120 watts of t12 floros. I will have a oscilating fan in the flower room, and one small desktop fan in the veg room. For intake I will have a window cracked open, with a light diffuser of some kind over the window so that no light escapes. I'm still researching possible solutions to this problem, but any links would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help, and if I can get a hold of a camera I will post some pics of the build. I've used all the great threads from OG and IC to come up with design. Hopefully I can pull it off.

Killa

yamaha_1fan · Nov 2, 2008

I dont know if that fan is going to be big enough to create alot of negative pressure. Not enough to keep the window cracked.

And speaking of leaving the window open in your flower room.... Does not sound like a smart idea. Power failure= air coming out the window

BTW if you are going to do all this, why not use 600's or 1000's?

killabrown420 · Nov 2, 2008

thanks for the reply...

i will test and see if the fan is strong enough to pull air from outside the window. the window will be kept open by a L brace or something...the fan will not have anything to do with keeping it cracked ajar. The window is the only source of fresh air I forsee, unless i drill a hole through the floor.

To address the power failure possibility i was thinking of some kind of box that would act as a go between from the window to the flower room, and using this box maybe the intake could have somekind of flap like a dryer hose exhaust that will limit the amount of air escaping. That all depends on having enough negative pressure to lift the flap and allow air to come inside.

The reason for using 400's and not higher lamps

1. cost effective, i can run cmh lamps for veg and beginning of flower
2. low wattage - my house is old and the wiring is anything but up-to-date I wanted to keep total wattage for the entire room @ under 1500 watts.
3. low heat, closer to the plants. I have grown w/ 400's and know how to squeeze every last ounce out of them.

Pseudo · Nov 3, 2008

put your tables on wheels and push them together so they benefit from sidelighting, maybe rig up some kind of reflectix curtain

Pseudo · Nov 3, 2008

kinda reminds me of my room, but i have one rolling table with dual 4x4 trays, and my veg area built into/under table, and 600s

killabrown420 · Nov 3, 2008

the room looks rectangular, but it's more of a square than the drawing i did. the lights will definately be closer than what it looks in the drawing. it's basically going to be 2 of these boxes together in a room.

Quazi · Nov 3, 2008

That's a sweet setup from the looks of it.

However, it appears that you are pulling air from the vegetative area before you get to your lamps. Considering air follows a preferential path, aren't you worried about most of the air being pulled in there and not much air being pulled in at the end where your intake for your 400Ws will be? It would seem that keeping your flowering lamps cool would be as high, if not a higher priority than the lamps in veg.

Keep us posted on how it turns out man.

-Q :rasta:

killabrown420 · Nov 3, 2008

thats a very good point. i've been trying to think of a way to cool the lights and veg area with one fan and using one scrubber. but it does seem to pose a problem as far as air flow in the flower room.

one solution would be to isolate the air traveling through the hoods by having the intake directly into the open window and exhaust into the veg area using a seperate fan, and then use the inline fan/filter to scrub that air, and the air around the veg area.

would an air diffuser on the end of the veg intake maybe help match the resistance of the flower room ducting? something like this?

Lagertester · Nov 3, 2008

you may wanna put a filter in the fresh air intake to prevent bugs sneaking in, I grew in a shed once that used fresh air and I had all kinda mite troubles. Since I have gone sealed room no more mites!

Quazi · Nov 3, 2008

That air diffuser idea is an interesting one but it sounds like it'd be more of a pain in the arse to try and figure out that equalization point (even if you could find it).

I took a bit of liberty with your image, I hope you don't mind. The yellow is where you could place fans, and the blue indicates direction of air-flow:

Here's the idea. Split your exhaust cabinet into two halves. Put the first fan in the lower half of the exhaust cab and have it blowing into the upper half. Also, have the veg room exhausting into the upper half. You won't have too much heat in there, so you can use a pretty small fan or two to get the job done there.

Now you have a single room where both sources of air are running into. Now you just need to exhaust that small space with your final fan on the other side of your filter at the top.

You would still probably need a single, decently powerful fan for pulling through the 2x400W, but the other fans wouldn't have to be near as powerful. This reduces running cost and noise. Really, your cost will be pretty close to the same as having one gnarly-huge, powerful fan to run the whole thing.

In addition, you'd be in a better position to avoid the single-point-of-failure scenario.

Just an idea.

-Q :rasta:

killabrown420 · Nov 3, 2008

Thanks, that is all very plausible.

I have a 265 cfm squirrel cage blower that would take care of the lights. The other fan for the veg area could simply be a cheapie duct fan since there will be no resistance or much distance to travel.

And the fan i'm ordering is 424 cfm's which should be overkill for scrubbing just the small closet. But with a fan speed controller I should be able to dial it down enough so it gets the job done quietly.

Quazi · Nov 4, 2008

Y'know, I just thought of another kinda kooky idea. If you used the same length of ventilation you used for the side pulling for the 400's and just coiled it up in that exhaust closet before hooking it to the veg chamber, I think it'd work.

The reason being: both the flower and veg exhaust tubes are an equal length so the path of travel will become the determining factor for preferential airflow. Since the tube going to the veg chamber is coiled up, it'll take the path to the 400Ws preferentially but also take a path to the veg chamber.

That's how you could easily do it with just one fan.

Logic and science -- not diffusers :wink:

-Q :rasta:

killabrown420 · Nov 8, 2008

i don't know why i didn't think of it before...

another option would be to go the opposite direction with airflow. i could have the inline fan exhausting out the window, pulling air through the hoods after being scrubbed by the carbon scrubber. This would put the scrubber in the flower room where most of the odors would be. The intake to the flower room would suck in what little stinky air there is in the veg area, thus scrubbing the entire room.

+ no holes in ceiling
+ no bugs to worry about getting in from outside
+ all air in room gets scrubbed
+ control of intake temps vs. outside temps
- noise from fan a concern
- have to construct some sort of insulated box for the fan to sit in..any ideas?

killabrown420 · Nov 17, 2008

Construction- Day 1

Construction- Day 1

Today the frame is going up that will split the room in half. I still haven't decided on how to ventilate this room though, but I'm leaning towards having the fan in the attic after looking at a few other threads. My biggest concern really was the fan noise. So I will probably use the closet. The other way would of been a PITA to hang from the ceiling and vent out the window b/c of the positioning of the lamps. For the first month or so I won't even need to vent so I'll keep working on that after the room is built.

Here is what the room essentially looks like right now, minus any plastic sheeting or mylar tacked up. I decided I'm going to use the extra 400's I have laying around and eventually have 2 tables with 2 trays each, with each tray getting it's own 400w. I'm going to hang mylar panels that will completely encase each table. When I want to work I'll just lift up and have a latch I can hook it on to the wall and keep it up. It should be pretty pimp once it's all finished. Now I just have to hang lights and ventilation, that should take a couple days this week and a few trips to lowes. Hopefully by next week I have the first batch under light #1.

Next question I have is how important are additives? It seems like every grow thread I read people are using a handful of additives on top of the regular nute regimen. I've never used anything but basic fox farm 2 part, or PBP 2 part. I got a free sample of humboldt county superbud, or bushmaster. I think I will try it on one or two plants and see if it really makes a difference.

killabrown420 · Nov 18, 2008

Don't everyone reply at once!

Don't everyone reply at once!

:muahaha:

So here are some pics from yesterday's construction. Today, after a trip to lowes I will get some more work done. I have to staple up black poly everywhere and then get to work on hanging the lights and setting up ventilation. Should be fun

tgpfarm · Nov 18, 2008

Just so you know, there is a good chance that smell would get into your air if you do filter before lights then out the window.

Quazi · Nov 18, 2008

Hellllz yea.

That looks awesome man.

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

When you say additives, are you talking about soil amendments (meals, guano, etc.)?

If so, you should take a look in the Organic Soil forums to find out all the information you'll ever want to know about soil amendments.

I personally use soil amendments and feed on top of it if the plants ask for it. I have grown in soil without amendments and find that I just spend more time guessing what the plants want.

Anyway, can't wait to see how this turns out man.

-Q :rasta:

killabrown420 · Nov 18, 2008

Hey Q, thanks for kind words. I started out in soil and used to make my own mix with stuff like that in it. I had a huge soil graveyard at my last place and I'd like to avoid that if possible at my new spot, hehe. What I mean by additives are all the extra products nutrient companies have been coming up with. I see nutrient mixes that do any number of things like make the buds taste sweeter, boost flower production, boost root growth, stuff with enzymes, stimulants, superbud, etc.. i was just wondering if using these things really increases yield or taste, etc.

krushonkush · Nov 18, 2008

Hell yea! I think your plan is well thought out. You got a shit ton of
work ahead of you too bro. I'm sure you been thinking about this 24/7
keep up the hard work! I'll be checking back soon. all the best bro its
going to be sweet!!!!

:joint:

killabrown420 · Nov 21, 2008

test burn...

Got most of the room finished today. All that's left is ventilation, the door, and building the ebb and flow tubs. Oh, and I have to get some chains to hang the veg lights too.

PICS! (sorry they suck, i'm taking them with my laptop :bashhead:

)

New room in progress, suggestions wanted...

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