High-Tech Grow Op

[Dark Phoenix]

First of all I want to say Hello to everyone and that I am glad to become a member amongst such informed people. I just wanted to let you all know that I am a daily steamer and I am currently testing my first grow in red dixie cups..... This is just to satisfy the immediate curiosity as to if I can really do it. Now that I am almost two months in, doubts are beginning to disappear and I am now afforded an opportunity to nurture what I am so fiendishly smoking. I want to go Hydro; let me clarify.... COMMERCIAL hydro.... 5 pounds or more. I want to do SCROG or SOG I am not sure. I am uploading a list of supplies as well as a sketch of how I plan to lay it all out. I have been researching this for a little over 18 months now so I think I am getting deeper.... I was always the guest that read through the posts and never responded; purely educational, never interactive. Now I am interacting and I am asking the entire Marijuana community to help me. I will be supplying my closest friends. We will no longer smoke the mockery that the weedman chooses to push off with water sprayed on it to make the weight. Please take some time out of your day to read through my dreams. Tell me what you think; I worship constructive criticism. I place myself at the mercy of the Cannabis Gods. HooRah!



View attachment Supply List.txt

 

[HydroFarmer]

Sounds interesting...good start on the supplies...what are you doing for odor control with 72 ladies blooming?

Nevermind....didn't see the Can you had listed on your text file...

 

[Lazyman]

Ok, let's go into this in more detail. You have a 9'6" square tent for flowering, with two 1000 watt lights, right? That works out to about 90.25 square feet of growing area, and 22.16 watts per square foot. You need to double that at least (shooting for 50 watts per square foot, some guys do up to 100w/sqft!) This will affect your ventilation scheme.

I've heard Lumatek ballasts are not as reliable as the Quantums, and the Quantums are less expensive to boot. What height plants are you going to grow? If SOG or SCROG I'd recommend using 8 (yes 8) 600W lamps instead of 4-5 1000W units, less heat, more efficient and will penetrate plenty deep enough for short plants. Cool tubes and their replfectors pretty much suck for light distribution. I heard that they have a new cool tube that is built into a regular hood, but I'd suggest Radiant AC hoods for best light concentration and penetration. Mix in a few MH bulbs so your babies get some of the blue light, helps reduce stretching. You'll want a timer like the CAP MLC-8t to run all these lights, which needs a ~40AMP 240V circuit for power just for these lights. THe veg rooms will use less power and make less heat, but you're still talking quite a bit overall. What do you have for air conditioning outside the tents? How will air get in and out of room the tents are in? This room will heat up quickly.

Check my sig for how to get water into your room, or reply here with obstacles that need to be overcome. Buying Fiji water will get ridiculous and expensive fast, get an RO filter and use that if possible. I'd wait on the ozone gen and co2 system until you have EVERYTHING dialed in well, wasting money otherwise. Grab a bucket of Ona gel for smell emergencies! I'll think of more stuff later...good luck man!

 

[Lazyman]

Oh and I'd skip the light movers, makes it much harder to air cool lights and it is NOT a substitute for having enough wattage in the first place. They also are one more thing to buy and maintain, and moving parts in grows are usually the biggest risk. These will fail on you in some fashion at some point!

 

[Dark Phoenix]

AhA!

AhA!

Lazyman - Thanx for the reply! I was at a crossroad between lightrails and four HPS bulbs. You really think I'll need 8? I know there is a significant connection between lumens per square foot; do you think this will make substantial difference in overall yield? 4 lights vs. 8? I have also considered the MH/HPS combo as well but hit another fork while researching the lumen output of T5. I was not, however aware of the perks of combining these during my flowering stage.

HydroFarmer - Thanx! I will keep you posted as soon as my grow begins.

 

[Lazyman]

Well, 8 600w bulbs gives you 4800 watts, or 53.3 watts per square foot. THis will give you a more even canopy, fewer shadows and less stretching, and less heat than 5X1000w bulbs. Just air cool all the hoods and you should be fine. If you veg em for a week you should be around .5 grams per watt after 60 days flowering, which works out to 2400 grams or 5.3 pounds roughly. If I were you I'd try a single large veg room and two medium-sized flowering rooms so you can harvest one every month, and run 4 lights per flowering room or something. Depends on how much power and cooling you can afford, but if you can do even 4 X600w lights and harvest monthly you'll get about 2.5 pounds a month, and as much as 5 pounds a month (1gpw) if you get it perfect. I use half and half HPS and MH in mine, lots of color overlap means they all get a pretty balanced light spectrum, and they are more frosty then when I did just straight HPS.

 

[Dark Phoenix]

100% solid!!!!! Let me ask you something; should I cool all of the hoods or could I connect 4 hoods to one powerful fan? Something with a higher CFM but still appropriate? I am asking because I am concerned for my 100 pound weight limit on the Growlab 290..... I like your suggestion of mixing light spectrums; you have won me over! I am thinking 2 standard HPS bulbs, two enhanced HPS bulbs, 2 standard MH bulbs and two enhanced as well. Keep them in an assymetrical pattern....... Your thoughts???

 

[yortbogey]

I sense BIG thingz comm'in her....nice thowdown...with the serious style and mission.....i'll bet U accomplish these goalz........
steady as she goez.......

 

[Dark Phoenix]

yortbogey - Thanx bro! I'll smoke one in your honor... Stay tuned later for photos! I had to pawn my girls camera; touch - screen w/ ultra high resolution. When I get it back, I will upload my current dixie cup grow. Then when the big op is set, I will start my first journal.

 

[Anti]

Tell me what you think; I worship constructive criticism.

Constructively: Your signature picture is pretty cool, and descriptive of your name... but it takes up half the screen! How about shrinking it down a bit?

As far as your plans... leaving that square of unused space in the middle of your grow space lowers the "in use" area that needs to be lit, reducing your overall wattage requirements, doesn't it?

If the room is 9'6" x 9'6", that means if you look at the space as if it's a grid, he's got a total of nine 3.16' squares inside that total space, and one of the nine is completely empty. So by my math, instead of a total of 90.25 square feet trying to be lit, he's really only trying to light 79.88 square feet. So 25w/sq ft. Not a big gain, but a gain.

If you went with 8 600w, as suggested by Lazy, you could get one at each corner of the square, and one in the center of each row. That would be pretty even light penetration all around your area at 60w per sq ft. (Basically, one 600w per each 3.16 sq ft grid segment, with the center segment empty.)

Take my thoughts with a grain of salt, as I am not attempting anything that large myself, and never have.

 

[Lazyman]

100% solid!!!!! Let me ask you something; should I cool all of the hoods or could I connect 4 hoods to one powerful fan? Something with a higher CFM but still appropriate? I am asking because I am concerned for my 100 pound weight limit on the Growlab 290..... I like your suggestion of mixing light spectrums; you have won me over! I am thinking 2 standard HPS bulbs, two enhanced HPS bulbs, 2 standard MH bulbs and two enhanced as well. Keep them in an assymetrical pattern....... Your thoughts???

Ok, here we go: Air cool as many hoods as you can, air cooling is cheaper, quieter and uses less electrickery than air conditioners, every day. Use one 6" fan per four hoods works fine (I've tested it, just adjust the fan speed until the discharge after the fourth hood is about 100*) No need to use 4 kinds of bulbs, Super HPS and Super (daylight) MH is all you need, most guys do 3:1 HPS to MH, I do 2:2 but yes, stagger them so they all get some MH and some HPS light.

 

[MAZEinaHAZE]

this thread has SO much valuable info already....and we haven't even broken ground yet ))

Dark P.....i'll be with ya throughout the entire process. May the force be with you.
Lazy....Your info and take on the situation is stellar. We ALL thank you !

 

[MAZEinaHAZE]

Hey Dark P...almost forgot.

What strain (s) will you be growing ??

 

[Dark Phoenix]

Anti - Is this better? Took me hell to figure it out but then again I am sort of high so it figures..... I like your light setup idea; especially since I will not be using Lightrails! I left the open space in the middle of the tent in case I need to creep inside and work in a 360 degree fashion. Thanx!!!!!!!

Lazyman - That sounds cool! What are your theories on CO2 and ventilation with these Can-Fans? You say .50 gr per watt? I have heard wind that this is accumulated in one month. Is this so or is it .50 gpw realized over the two month flowering period?

MAZEinaHAZE - Thanx for the encouragement!!!!!
I was planning on some White Widow, some type of Kush strain, and leaning towards Bubblegum. WW is definite but the other two are up in the air.... Can you recommend any high-yielding strains for beginners? I prefer Indica dominant, heavy-hitters.....

 

[Dark Phoenix]

New Grow room setup!!!!!!!!

New Grow room setup!!!!!!!!

Thanks to various contributions, I have revised my grow-room. Please provide your input!

 

[Anti]

Anti - Is this better?

Yes. Much better, thank you!

I left the open space in the middle of the tent in case I need to creep inside and work in a 360 degree fashion. Thanx!!!!!!!

That's what I figured. Sounds like a good idea to me. Might also be a good idea to put your tables on casters so that you can move them around easily in order to get to all sides of your grow easily.

I look forward to seeing what develops.

 

[Dark Phoenix]

Much appreciated Anti!!!! I will definitely keep you posted when everything develops!

 

[Lazyman]

Anti - Is this better? Took me hell to figure it out but then again I am sort of high so it figures..... I like your light setup idea; especially since I will not be using Lightrails! I left the open space in the middle of the tent in case I need to creep inside and work in a 360 degree fashion. Thanx!!!!!!!

Lazyman - That sounds cool! What are your theories on CO2 and ventilation with these Can-Fans? You say .50 gr per watt? I have heard wind that this is accumulated in one month. Is this so or is it .50 gpw realized over the two month flowering period?

MAZEinaHAZE - Thanx for the encouragement!!!!!
I was planning on some White Widow, some type of Kush strain, and leaning towards Bubblegum. WW is definite but the other two are up in the air.... Can you recommend any high-yielding strains for beginners? I prefer Indica dominant, heavy-hitters.....

Ok, looking much better. FOr the air cooling, make sure you draw your intake air from OUTSIDE your tent, then blow it back outside (preferably outdoors) so you aren't sucking your CO2 out. Seal up your hoods tight, use aluminum tape if you need to.

The formula Jorge Cervantes uses is .5 grams/watts every 30 days of flowering, which would actually be 1 gram per watt every 60 days. This is our goal, but it's fairly difficult to achieve. Having CO2 will help a lot though! Most of us are in the.4-.7 gpw range every 60 days, but with SOG and CO2 you're much more likely to get near that 1GPW mark!

Some guys with vertical grows are eclipsing 2GPW with their setups!

For strains, look for northern lights, haze, skunk (if smell isn't an issue) and powerplant. Romulan, big bud and trainwreck also tend to yield pretty well, but if you can, pick 1-2 strains to grow over and over so you can excel at them! Very hard to do 1gpw if you keep changing strains or have a mishmash.

 

[Lazyman]

BTW, i like your little circle in the middle for work, probably takes up less space than a walkway all the way around, but if there is ANY way to eliminate it, you should! Wasted space is wasted money. Can you get to the tables from the outside through doors and windows? You could grow another 10 plants in that space probably, at two ounces each you're losing over a pound per harvest for it!

 

[Dark Phoenix]

Lazyman - Wow! Thanx a ton!!!!! I was leaning on Compact fluorescents for Veg. I think they are a little cheaper. I am tall but I have doubts about reaching all the plants from the outside.... Not sure, maybe after the first grow is done and I have a better picture as far as space requirements. Also, this grow will commence in an apartment bedroom w/ attached bathroom; do you think it safe to run so many lights? I will be using a CAP atmospheric controller.