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LF Advice on First Indoor Grow

BlackMagic66

New member
Heya Folks, not sure if it would be better to post this in new growers or here, but since I have some experience outdoors from decades ago, I figured this would be ok even for a site-noob..:D

The grow I am preparing for is going to be a 1-2 person medical grow, limited to 6 flowering 6 veg. I will be using LEDs and either D2W or recycling smart pots with coco.

My primary focus right now is designing the grow room in a garage space located in a state with high temp, high humidity summers, and the potential of below freezing winters.
My plan is to section off an 8x8 corner of the garage and put up a makeshift frame covered with R13 insulated panels and insulated sub-floor. Then I can put a flower tent and a small veg tent up inside as well as my reservoir, an oil heater if needed, etc...


My plan for exhaust is to run 6 inch insulated ducting 15-20 feet to a goose-neck roof cap. Intake will be pulled from inside the house after about a 30-35 foot run to a spare beedroom. This way I can be putting 70-something degree air into the room rather than pulling from a possibly freezing garage.

The fans I am considering are the Vortex 6-inch S-line.

I know almost everyone swears by only using passive intake, but do yall think my setup seems workable?

I will need to use manual fan speed controllers on each fan and then just leave them at that speed 24/7 correct? Using a day/night fan-speed temperature controller with both active intake and exhaust is pretty much a pain, right?

Also, I am going to install a MERV 13 intake filter, but I am unsure if I should locate it closer to the fan or closer to the other end of the intake.

Sorry for the wall of text.. thanks if anyone read it all... :tiphat: going to be building the room this month, home to crack seeds in Oct... appreciate the help...
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Welcome to ICMag!! :D

You're in the right place for information, and indoor is definitely enough of a difference to trigger noob status, so you're in the right place. :)

Personally, I run passive intakes using large intake filter sizes. I use the large (at least 20"x20") 3M, high micron furnace filters mounted to DIY plenums. (Cardboard box, 6" ducting starter collar, aluminum cornering for drywall and a roll of aluminum tape).

One of the main benefits to using powered exhaust is the negative pressure created. This tends to suck the smell through the ducting system. So, if smell is not an issue, positive intakes will work just fine for you. :D
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
My plan for exhaust is to run 6 inch insulated ducting 15-20 feet to a goose-neck roof cap. Intake will be pulled from inside the house after about a 30-35 foot run to a spare beedroom. This way I can be putting 70-something degree air into the room rather than pulling from a possibly freezing garage.


You sound way more advanced than me, but if I may make an observation, it seems like using the house air to heat/cool and exhausting it outside is a waste of energy. I think this might be a time a lung room setup might work really well?
 

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
AgentPhothead, you make a good point. I forgot about the environmental conditions he mentioned.


With your outside temps and humidity being high, your house cooling costs will definitely be much higher. Operating your flowering environment, within a room you're controlling the environment in will help a lot. (The lung room AP mentioned) An appropriate sized window A/C or (even better) a mini-split will keep things cool. Dehumidification will be important as well. Keep in mind any setup soil/hydro will have plants transpiring water along with evaporation. That can add up to a lot of water.
 

BlackMagic66

New member
Thank you much for the responses all!


The main issue with building a lung room would be that I am very limited on space. Right now I only have about a 6x8 corner of a garage. I could push that out at max to like 8x10.
I need to fit a 5x5 tent for flower and a 2x4 veg tent as well as a 55 gal. drum, an oil heater an a small shelf for my nutes so they arnt just in a below freezing garage. I'm still leaning towards just pulling air from an unused room inside the house.



What I really hope I might do is end my first run around Jan/Feb, and my second run around May and then stop for the summer. This way I can have a supplemental heater inside my grow area for the really cold nights, yeah?


I'm just not sure what other ventilation methods would work for the specific limitations my grow will have...
 

AgentPothead

Just this guy, ya know?
If heating is cheap where you live, it might be worth it. I really can't speak to stuff at this level, like I said it is beyond me realistically. Hopefully somebody with real world experience will step up :D
 

BlackMagic66

New member
If heating is cheap where you live, it might be worth it. I really can't speak to stuff at this level, like I said it is beyond me realistically. Hopefully somebody with real world experience will step up :D


Heat IS actually very cheap here now that I look into it!!:jump:
It seems like my heater is constantly on every dang winter anyway even without pulling some air away. I will probably also try supplementing with a small heater outside the tent...
 
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