9'2" x 7'10" (110" x 94") room - What now!

[huntingbb]

What would you do with this space?

Ive given it some thought and here's my top two proposals, input appreciated.

Eventually my goal is to be either weekly/biweekly perpetual, or monthly staggered dual flowering rooms.

My biggest limitation is (of course) heat and power - I won't run 2k at once, if that's the solution 1k and dual flowering sections would work.

Currently using a Galaxy 1000w Select A Watt ballast - have a 400CMH that i'll be putting in the current flowering room for my future veg/mom/clones.

base room


current setup


3 lights, most efficient


3 lights, no stagger, big single runs


perpetualized flowering, dual light

^- this one could have flowering split in half (as a 1k - dual 600w could stay) and use two ballasts or a flip flop and a monthly stagger, lost is the tiny bit of side lighting between the two 4-packs

I'm interested in any suggestions, planning on growing in 3-10gal buckets of coco, my current flowering goes to veg, closet goes to dust.


[UPDATE]
mm sadly another alternate, its attractiveness is that i can just hang black/white poly to make it for the most part, just allowing for some in and out ducting.. 10' ceilings though

so would make it 5x9 for flower, 2'10"x5' for veg, and the closet for clones and moms (1.5x5')

 

[huntingbb]

hm, thinking of reversing the second notion i had, instead of closet its the space the door to the room opens in, so while its a minor bitch to get in the room should be 'good enough' (i hope).

Still undecided on 2 4x4's vs 1 4x8 - input would be appreciated.

 

[huntingbb]

I must be some kinda superstar - or no one gives a fark!!
well I'm leaning towards the 6x6, and using my 1k as superlumens
(1100w, dont care if i replace the bulb every grow - just wanna bump it up)
​

 

[phrike]

Well, I'm reading, but I don't personally have experience with more than 400 watts, so what's my opinion worth, LOL.

I built myself a room in the garage pretty close to yours: 9.5' x 7'. I'm using this for stealth cabs but have pondered what I could do by maxing it out.

At a useful maximum of 100 watts per square foot, I might have as much as 6000 watts or so, or reducing to 50 w/sqft around 3000.

I would split the room in half at least to flip-flop 2 flower areas. Say about 4.7' x 7' each. Each side would have 2 or 3 1kwatt lights. I imagine it'd be easier to use just 2, for cooling and just space.

My assumptions don't include any vegging space. But with 10 feet of height I might seriously consider a 2 level grow. I have 10' of height mostly, but one area I have about 15' or so. If cooled decently, an upper area could be used for vegging, mothers, seedlings. clones etc.

So that's my amateur opinion, FWIW.
​

 

[huntingbb]

Well, I'm reading, but I don't personally have experience with more than 400 watts, so what's my opinion worth, LOL.

I built myself a room in the garage pretty close to yours: 9.5' x 7'. I'm using this for stealth cabs but have pondered what I could do by maxing it out.

At a useful maximum of 100 watts per square foot, I might have as much as 6000 watts or so, or reducing to 50 w/sqft around 3000.

I would split the room in half at least to flip-flop 2 flower areas. Say about 4.7' x 7' each. Each side would have 2 or 3 1kwatt lights. I imagine it'd be easier to use just 2, for cooling and just space.

My assumptions don't include any vegging space. But with 10 feet of height I might seriously consider a 2 level grow. I have 10' of height mostly, but one area I have about 15' or so. If cooled decently, an upper area could be used for vegging, mothers, seedlings. clones etc.

So that's my amateur opinion, FWIW.
​

sweet!! thanks for taking the time to check in, i'm limited by power in my area, i think i can do a 1k 24-7 but am a bit hesitant to go further

 

[huntingbb]

Well, the good news is i found i'm on 20A circuits not 10A circuits as i previously thought!!

 

[huntingbb]

ok, 99% sure this is the final configuration, will do vert's with 600w, horizontal with 1k, can hold two lights in either config, maybe 4 if 600w since i have 10 foot ceilings; note: includes me taking off the doors to the closet for the veg area..

 

[huntingbb]

this is a convenient placeholder for the containers...

here is a greatly simplified version that is fast and cheap to build. as i did not know what i was getting into and what might be required down the line my original design was unnecessarily redundant. i used those big tubs because i already had them. they already had a hole in in the standpipe position so i put the standpipes there. i did not know i would be linking them. i wanted the center module to stand up on it's own once removed from the tub. there is an alternative for that.

these plastic pieces are cheap, under $15 dollars. there is very little manufacturing to be done.

the only tools needed are 1.5" and 2" hole saws, a 13/16" spade bit, and a 5/16" twist drill to assemble it to this point.

all items from lowes. home depot probably has them too. every plumbing store has the sink parts as they are the most common way of doing what they do under the sink. the 13/16" spade bit is for the 1/2" pvc plug you see. a hole in that position and a baster makes readings fast and easy.

more

Hey, carl!

Sure, it's scalable.

If you are putting together a brand new system you have the option of using a different reservoir operating depth.

I had to find a container that kept the media bucket at about the same height as my existing ones. Because of perpetual harvest I have to implement changes one plant at a time, one week at a time. So I have a 16 week process with each change I make. The float control can only be set for one level, requiring both old and new to be able to be run at the same level.

But if you are starting fresh any depth would be ok as long as you can control the air gap between the surface of the water in the res and the grow container. I find that becomes increasingly difficult as you get more shallow. Less room for the float and pump to work in.

as far as cheap locally available containers are concerned, if you are not height limited like oo, the short 3.5 gal version of the five gal bucket would work fine as a res with a 2 gal bucket on it. With the bucket lid it would be less than 8 bucks a unit for the plastic. You would have to run the res at more depth than mine as it is 11” high. The extra volume won't hurt anything.

I found a receipt from lowes for the pvc fittings.

The sink tailpiece is lowes item # 25627

the “marvel connector” is # 25018



also, I wanted to say that a 7/16” spade bit would work on the tire valves. I showed a twist drill bit that you would have to have a 1/2” drill chuck to use and then realized not many people own drills that size. The spade bit will fit anything.

The 45 gal container that i'm using as a volume tank for all 16 plants now is not going to get me a week between fillings. The big flowering plants are really using some water.

I went in the flower room about 8 hours into the period and checked the drip rate. I did it three times with a stopwatch and got 100-104 drips per minute on 8 plants.

I'll have to add a second drum.



Another thing is that the air gap you run in your system should not be predicated upon what I run in my system. Consider the air gap to be a moisture control tool. You will need to match it to your watering method.

If you are running pure sub-irrigation you should have the res level high maintaining a higher wetted profile in the medium.

If you also are going to run a top watering scheme, up even if it's just hand watering, you should adjust your level downward increasing the air gap to compensate for the moisture coming in from the top. The top watering can be controlled for frequency and volume

Controlling both inputs like this allows you to precision dial moisture content.

forgot the pics and i'm not even high, yet.

hey, snowgro! i have some questions.

did you have to trim the tail piece? is it off the bottom of the tub slightly?

if i understand correctly you have just 2" of perlite in the pot with nothing above it? are you going to use perlite all the way or coco or something else on top?

are you using large and chunky or regular coarse ag grade perlite?

perlite in general dries out very fast. i would amend it with something for this app. like coco. if you do amend your medium make it uniform. by this i mean no layering or stratifying. hydraulic conductivity will be more uniform.

also with more medium in the pot moisture will rise much higher. all evaporation will be forced upward through the medium, especially since you don't have holes in the side wall.

as roots develop moisture is more available in the top of the container.

this is why an adjustable level control system is important. while i adjust air gap to 3" for coco using supplemental pulse irrigation and an air pruning container you might need 1" for 100% perlite with no top feed system and no air pruning holes.

let me know how you intend to grow as far as medium and light are concerned.

d9

hi, if you get that 1k and have an 8x8 space for 4 plants, set up the pulse feed, use an air pruning container, run a vertical bare bulb with 12-16 inches to the plants, a fan blowing straight up past the light, a reciprocating fan on the whole area, and veg 6-8 weeks i think you will get at least 2 lb's per grow. hortilux are the shit. figure 16 weeks total per grow and thats 96 oz's per year.

two people could stay ripped 24/7 with that much weed.

good morning! i've been doing the half jrosek, which is DF at the end of stretch. he does it again at 45 days. i'm doing the end of stretch only, but radically. every fan leaf with a visible stem is removed.

drip rate in flower before any DF was approx 100-104 per minute. now it is around 60 per minute.

i've just started doing the full k33ftr33z with a clone in veg, so we'll see how it goes.

efficacy of the DF technique is heavily dependent on strain and lighting.

some strains are just not going to react well and a lot of folks just don't have adequate lighting to make much difference.

i have a naturally bushy plant and intense lighting so i'm getting a good response.

later

hey, scrog! don't build that first design, it's unnecessarily overbuilt. this is what i'm using now and i believe that if you use a pulse system you can use a 3.5 gal bucket for the top grow container also and still get the same results.

all my containers have tops on them in operation. this is the control, pump, individual plant reservoirs and the volume reservoirs. this helps to minimize evaporation, which keeps the nutrient solution more stable, and keeps crap and bugs out.

let me know if i can help.

d9

you could put the wick in a tube as in my original build, have it come out into the bucket, and put a piece of cloth over the hole going to the tube to keep the medium out.

but i don't know why you would want to as a tube full of coco works great.

i had a long road trip today and i'm still unwinding. my third bowl of unwinding. might have to break out the kif.

later

hi, daggerinmyback! welcome!

ok, lets do it!

you can get black plastic 3.5 gal buckets at www.usplastics.com if you do use these they make what they term a reusable lid. i strongly recommend these as they go on and off easily.

i'm currently thinking about using a second 3.5 on top instead of the 5 gal buckets. it would be a little more stable with a lower center of gravity.

you will also want to order 3/16" id black latex surgical type tubing. i could find it online at several places. google it. fishing and diving supplies.

don't buy that amber 1/4" id tube lowes sells. it won't seal without tape and allows algal growth which can and will clog your lines.

are you going to run a single room for everything? how many plants? how big do you want them? do you want to pulse feed also? looks like you have the pumps.

 

[canadiancracker]

go vert, simple stadium, 6.5 feet wide. 8 feet long, 2k of lights, and youll harvest aboout 2lb a lamp... dont fuck around check out my grows for some insiration...take care...

 

[Greensub]

Hi, hope everything's going well...

I've got a similar sized room myself, 7.5' X 10' X 8' ceilings. I took the trouble to run a 240V electrical drop to the room so I could have some flexibility with different lighting configurations.

I can't do any neat diagrams so I'll try to explain my own plan... 3 or 5 1K lights... Horiverizontical!

I'm planing on not splitting the room and running 3 1K vertical on light rails that would run on 6 ft tracks across the room short-ways. Two at either end and one in the middle.

I plan on turning the whole area of the floor into a raised bed planter about 18" deep... I want to grow some big trees. I was thinking of doing a staggered perpetual placement and place an additional 1K 9Horizontal) over each of the two smaller plants in the rotation as well although this would necessitate moving these two lights every month or so as they mature and I add two more from veg.

Sorry, reading this right now, I know I didn't explain it very well... when I have it upgraded I'll post some pictures.

 

[huntingbb]

go vert, simple stadium, 6.5 feet wide. 8 feet long, 2k of lights, and youll harvest aboout 2lb a lamp... dont fuck around check out my grows for some insiration...take care...

Hey - sorry i've not checked my thread in a bit, i'm 90% at getting two cooltubes to toss the lights in vertical; will check out your grows, 6ft / 6.5ft seems close - my long one is a hair over 9' as you can see from all the diagrams (god i love mspaint!)

Hi, hope everything's going well...

I've got a similar sized room myself, 7.5' X 10' X 8' ceilings. I took the trouble to run a 240V electrical drop to the room so I could have some flexibility with different lighting configurations.

I can't do any neat diagrams so I'll try to explain my own plan... 3 or 5 1K lights... Horiverizontical!

I'm planing on not splitting the room and running 3 1K vertical on light rails that would run on 6 ft tracks across the room short-ways. Two at either end and one in the middle.

I plan on turning the whole area of the floor into a raised bed planter about 18" deep... I want to grow some big trees. I was thinking of doing a staggered perpetual placement and place an additional 1K 9Horizontal) over each of the two smaller plants in the rotation as well although this would necessitate moving these two lights every month or so as they mature and I add two more from veg.

Sorry, reading this right now, I know I didn't explain it very well... when I have it upgraded I'll post some pictures.

wish i could run that much wattage, power is my limiter here, which is good, i need to get efficient, this is only round 3 after all


So - final config time!!!

Light loop will look like



plot layout will look like (Assuming i don't run into any trouble); would like to build a shelf a cpl feet off the ground for the outside loop of girls (would leave 8 on ground, 16 on shelving.)






Vegging atm:



Hey what am i supposed to do??!?!?!?! i overgrew my tent, and i'm not done vegging yet!!! everything in the tent still gets another round of topping >.>

 

[huntingbb]

pump stuff to remember:

just wanted to share this informative link

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/

I was searching for pump info and came across this: http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/pump.htm

lots of stuff to read if you want to learn about how water behaves

Awesome, things i want to remember:

FT.HD. = HP x 2178 / GPM
GPM = HP x 2178 / FT.HD.
HP = GPM x FT.HD. / 2178
HP is brake horsepower
GPM is gallons per minute of flow
FT.HD. is pressure in feet of head (PSI x 2.31 = FT.HD.)

PSI x 2.31 = feet head
Feet head x 0.433 = PSI

Minimum Pressures for Irrigation Systems

Drip Irrigation = 70 feet head (30 PSI) Spray Type Sprinkler Heads = 93 feet head (40 PSI) Rotor Type Sprinkler Heads = 104 feet head (45 PSI)

Technical note: In order to simplify the pump formulas I have factored a pump efficiency of 55% into the value of the formula constant (2178). This is pretty standard procedure, and is a relatively conservative value. Although a new pump will almost always perform better, remember that the performance will drop with time as the pump begins to wear out.

Interesting link for container growing: http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/

 

[huntingbb]

Final Configuration!

Final Configuration!

well, thanks to those who've helped. Specially my construction buddy. I settled on a final design, and framed it in with 2/4's - 23 bucks worth, and some 2x2's which were amazingly far more than the 2x4's; but ended up being redwood so meh.

Ive roughly 4.5'x9.5' to flower in, and hope to get my count down to 6 or 8 per flowering room over summer, breaking this bitch in with a huge run tho (for me). Transplanted all my bitches but two from 2gal pots to 5gal pots, so this will approximate a 5gal SOG, but slightly bushy hehe, pix to follow. A couple more pix will be forthcoming, but i consider this thread more or less finished. :> First room pic:

divided the sucker down the middle, i think i might be able to rotate the veg tent on top left corner 90 degrees, so it sits against the back wall. It vents into the room itself. The flowering chamber (only one ballast in so far) goes from carbon filter -> hood -> hood -> out of the room.

After all that crap was done, i moved the girls in their new home, here's a dozen pix showing where we're at:






You can see below I've put in pond liner, 10mil black poly as a drip catcher, but I'm still putting all pots in drip trays as well. Hopefully this will serve me well - before this thread is officially toast, I've still got to put in my watering, got a pump and some spikes, etc.

FYI the root porn above was the worst of all of them, I've been following the recipe and its sweeeeet, and very simple. I recommend it (as does my construction buddy ☺). FYI - there's about 8" between groups of girls so i can theoretically snake in there and water by hand tonight, and plumb in the water I just spoke of. Oh! and that's 22 5-gal buckets.

 

[CalcioErba2004]

Sick bro! Taking a seat for this one!

 

[huntingbb]

Sick bro! Taking a seat for this one!

thx - will be doing a full diary thread when this rollout is complete, hoping its done by friday, but i'm probably smokin pot

 

[huntingbb]

well got first round of drippers on, using an eco 633 pump, and these blue stakes that are supposed to split the water into multiple streams - total failure. gonna pick up some T's tomorrow at Home De Pot or so, and break out the zip ties

For now i've not tied in the timer, I would like to see a better watering pattern first =[ Hopefully the T's and dual bald hoses will water better, we'll see! Pix tomorrow, i'm dead tired, sorry!


oh yeah... got the second 1k ballast, but have no hood / socket so gotta go buy somethin for the second bulb, may try to do bare... also need more thermometers!
gah; the list never ends!!!!

 

[Anti]

Subbed fo' sho'.

Love to watch a room come together!

 

[huntingbb]

Seems i need an anti-siphon valve, silly me for not thinking about it - came back to have several gals of water on floor! ;_;

Will update tomorrow, plan on getting that delt with then.

 

[huntingbb]

i had to make a new control bucket for the veg system. with the 3.5 gal bucket reservoirs i'm going to have to run a deeper water level and need a higher float valve.

i don't think i've actually shown a tire valve being installed.

drill a 7/16" hole.

the valve tool is at wally's for 2 bucks.





i have never had one of these leak.

just thought i would show the new reservoirs installed. and a few rare shots of plants in veg with the hps off.

please notice the black latex tubing connectors. a big improvement.

the amber ones allowed algae which tended to form plugs or slow down flow. they were also 1/4" id as that was all lowes had. it fit a little loose on the 1/4" od drip line.

the new tubing is black 3/16" id and is a tight push fit on both the tire valve and the drip line, no tape needed. no algae. i cut 3" lengths.

it is available online from dozens of sources. just google "3/16" black latex tubing"

basic concept behind the conversion i need to do...

my #5 pots sit in side 5gal buckets, so ill bring the water line up to the bottom of the coco level... modified bastard ppk

 

[lbezphil2005]

Pretty frigging cool manifold design, bro! +reps for that one!!