flooded tube vert questions

[jfart]

ok i need some help from the icmag vert growers.

i have some questions about a flooded tube vert simular to heath robinsons. i have many questions but thankfully a lot of them were answered by miraculous meds.

set up:
flooded tube vert
stacked x2 600 bare bulb hps
added fan blowing through the vertical unit.
inside octagon 4'
outside octagon 5'
room size 1176 cubic feet/12 by 14 by 7 tall

im told to have my exhaust fans pull the rooms cfm twice a minute. to keep everything at a good temp.

1. would i really need to run 3 or possibly 4 720 inline fans? to keep this room cool? sounds like over kill to me

2. would i have to double that number if i want to add a second vertical unit

3. could i get away with one 720 cfm exhaust per vertical unit if i put this unit in a 6' by 6' by 7' tall tent.

4. in the summer when its 95 out side do i run a ac unit in a room like this without co2/closed or would pulling the rooms cubic feet air twice a min keep it cool in temps that high? i feel like it would suck the cold air outside faster than a a/c unit could cool it.

 

[Oti$]

I'd maybe do two ten inch can fans or maybe a twelve or fourteen inch can fan. I use single twelve I can fans fans, it gets me close enough to 2exchanges/min. My rooms range from 10x10 to 11x14 and with 4-6 lights burning I stay within 6* of the ambient temps in the house. In the cool/cold they stay pretty close to ambient.

 

[5th]

how tall is your octagon?

 

[Oti$]

ho many levels and how many plant sites per level...id love to see some pics if you don't mind posting some. There isn't much cooled than seeing a good floded vert grow

 

[jfart]

to oti$ and 5th

still hav'nt built the octagon so i open to all advice.

was thinking 4 tears with 4" pipe. but im told that a 5th tear would a lot more productive with the stacked 6's. problem is my ceilings are only 7' tall so i don't know if il be able to fit a 5th tear. heath used 14 gal res but risked overflow if power goes out. miraculous meds used a 32 gal. trash can and it worked great for overflow. i think id rather not risk overflow for a lower yield. but if i can fit it il have a 5th tear.

was thinking i could use two 14 gal res and have a overflow on one using some kind of float to open the second res back into the first. hoping that will keep res height down and allowing me to have a 5 tear.

il post pics of the unit when it is built. im just now getting supplies and designing room. trying to get the unit planned out too.

any advice on a fan and filter. iv never seen a 14" fan/filter. where would i get one? or 10"? i already have x2 720cfm hydro farms and one 750 phresh philter.

i dont have a hydro shop near so have to order probably.

 

[5th]

Thats 4" PVC. 4 tiers. With 2 600w's. Less then 48" interior diameter. (40" maybe?)

Heath did a few different designs, but used dam's between levels as far as I recall. So flooding because of pump failure wasn't an issue.

As you can see, 600w bulbs aren't exactly ideal in this type of set up.

Not enuff' light at the top or the bottom.

4+ tiers = 3x400w bulbs.

or run two 6's and 3 tiers.



Fuck...maybe I should dig mine out....

 

[jfart]

View Image

Thats 4" PVC. 4 tiers. With 2 600w's. Less then 48" interior diameter. (40" maybe?)

Heath did a few different designs, but used dam's between levels as far as I recall. So flooding because of pump failure wasn't an issue.

As you can see, 600w bulbs aren't exactly ideal in this type of set up.

Not enuff' light at the top or the bottom.

4+ tiers = 3x400w bulbs.

or run two 6's and 3 tiers.



Fuck...maybe I should dig mine out....

5th. Please dig your up. I want to nail this first try.

I already have the x2 600 Hps so want to use those. Is it not worth stacking 2? Would one 600 be enough light for 3 levels? I could make a second vert but really don't want to.

 

[5th]

Is it not worth stacking 2? Would one 600 be enough light for 3 levels?

Hell yeah stack 'em.

The one 600 for 3 levels is a loaded question dude.

How far apart do you want your levels (height)? Veg time? Plant count?

The closer you can get the light to the plants the better right? Well you can only get them so close before no light is shining up or below...

Alot of variables dude...

 

[jfart]

i wanted to follow heaths plans as close as possible for this first run. then i can make any needed changes the second. the only real difference i wanted to start with was stacking 2 600's instead of the one.

heaths thread is still there but there isnt pics anymore. i did find this web site that put the thread together if anyone wants to see it.

http://www.bestseedbank.com/heath-robinsons-flooded-tube-vertical-garden-part-1/

 

[5th]

Perfect.

Heath's design with an extra bulb. Sounds like a win/win to me dude.

 

[Oti$]

Two lights will exponentially increase your yield, I also think that a 5th level would fit in 7ft. Numbers dictate yield, and you are already going to be running a ton of clones so what's 15-20 more

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Ok so 5th's vert room was 40" on the inside and ur going to do 48" so 600's are ideal anyway. Also u need to put the bulb at the top pointing down like 5th's but point the bottom one up. If u space them to where the bottom of the bulb is even with the edge of the canopy at top and bottom u will have great bud production from the top, bottom, and middle cause the middle gets overlap light from the top and bottom. That for 4 levels, with 5 levels ud move ur bulbs 6" closer. Basically just split the difference of the extra 1' from adding another level.

The dams wont catch all the extra water that's running over them during turning the pump off for cleaning or pump failure. So extra reservoir capacity is nice, to not have wet floors. lol

Stacking lights is essential to increasing yields.

If I missed anything, ask away.

 

[jfart]

Ok so 5th's vert room was 40" on the inside and ur going to do 48" so 600's are ideal anyway. Also u need to put the bulb at the top pointing down like 5th's but point the bottom one up. If u space them to where the bottom of the bulb is even with the edge of the canopy at top and bottom u will have great bud production from the top, bottom, and middle cause the middle gets overlap light from the top and bottom. That for 4 levels, with 5 levels ud move ur bulbs 6" closer. Basically just split the difference of the extra 1' from adding another level.

The dams wont catch all the extra water that's running over them during turning the pump off for cleaning or pump failure. So extra reservoir capacity is nice, to not have wet floors. lol

Stacking lights is essential to increasing yields.

If I missed anything, ask away.

We'll said. I agree.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Jfart,

I was reviewing ur post and noticed the fan question. U can throw up some studs and make a smaller room for less cubic ft, or just use some reflectix around the exterior of the system, tape it up and force the air to come from the bottom up to ur exhaust fan, making the system its own little room basically. I ended up using a 8" HO. about 750cfm.

stick with one of those little low power fans on low to create that invisible cool tube effect with ur exhaust fan.

And the biggest thing when u start to run it is have ur clones nice and healthy so u don't have to spend time vegging in the system, cause once the roots get so big u will deal with water coming right out of the net cups. usually requires u to slow down the pump.

The one thing I didn't do was set up a jig or something to guarantee that my holes I cut for the net cup where all in line. U want them aiming straight up, the plant will naturally go toward the light.

Also Id space out my plant holes to where I didn't have to cut in the 45 degree fittings, its a pia, and the angles get overcrowded easy anyway as the plants grow inward.

 

[5th]

Yeah Med's hit the nail. And it's the point I'm driving home. If your octo/paragon isn't to size...

And as far as this "600's will out yield" ......that's inexperience talking.

 

[jfart]

5th and Meds: thanks a bunch. that was my plan but wasn't sure if it would work or not.

i stumbled upon a new problem though. first off im in the US. Heath used sewer and drain pipe. in the US its called sewer pipe and its green. in heaths picutres it looks like his angled fittings are female and have a gasket on the inside. iv gone to two local hardware stores and the only sewer pipe they have is green. the pipe comes in 10' sections and the ends of the pipe are female with a gasket on each female side. the fitting are male and slide into the female pipe.

i dont see how i can use this pipe for the octagon. am i looking at the wrong pipe or is it only a UK thing where the fitting have the gasket?

so now im thinking about using pvc pipe if i cant use sewer pipe. if i use pvc how do i make a adjustable dam?

after two hours of hanging out in plumbing i thought of one idea for a dam and its like a overflow pipe on a flood and drain table, only the overflow pipe is height adjustable. there is a 1" to 1.25" flange. this flange is made of plastic, threaded with a threaded cap, cap has a 1" pipe hole in the it. the 1.25" pipe slides over half the flange. a 1" pipe slides up and down inside the flange. the threaded fitting screws tight to hold the 1" pipe where you want it. unscrew the flange and move the pipe to a new level and tighten flange to hold. it works kinda like a compression fitting/farrell fitting for copper. this fititng is called a (compression coupling.) problem is the biggest pipe size i could find it in is 1"

if i cant use sewer pipe would this fitting and 1" pipe work to adjust the water height in each pipe. it would hang out the bottom of the pipe where the water would leave the pipe into the next level. the water would fill the system pipe until it reached the top of my compression pipe and then would drain down to the next level. would 1" pipe move enough water through the system fast enough without overflowing?

how did you guys build your dam?

 

[5th]

I cut out a piece of plastic from the lid of a pail. Used silicone to hold it into place. Water pressure from the tubes knocked it over.

This time I'll use thicker plastic n' proper glue.

 

[Miraculous Meds]

Use the aquarium silicone, and I did what 5th did. Any half way solid piece of plastic will work.

I used the green pipe. just cut off the bell end. U can use regular fittings and glue them. Or u can order the gasketed fittings. They are pricey but that's what I did. U can find some places to order them online that are more reasonable.

Also have u seen an aeroflo? They have a 1 1/4" uniseal, where u just pull up a piece of 1 1/4" pipe to raise water level or lower it. that would work in place of a dam as well.