Help me plan my LED ultra-grow?

Hi Friends,

Brand new here, so hi everyone. I'm planning to upgrade my current grow, and want to make sure everything is in place before I start spending the $$. I'm assuming that there's some folks on here who wouldn't mind giving some input? I figured not, so here we go:

BACKGROUND - Previous grows

• I've been growing for almost a year now. Previous experience area is in hydro, but I'm going organic in the future (for anyone asking why, I believe there's a quality difference... from everything I've observed... I know this is a matter of personal opinion, but at this point I'm not interested in turning this into a hydro vs organic thread)

• 5-6 grows using hydro, always using 1000w HPS. Cooling has definitely been a problem using this lighting.

• 1 plant per light, grown under a scrog in 3' x 3' area

• General Hydroponics nutrients

• CO2 enrichment (like really not that much, not monitored, may as well be nothing) provided by yeast bucket

• Genetics for previous grows are in question. Clones used from unreliable source

• Grows using above system have been averaging 14-15 oz per plant.

• Quality using this system have been--in my opinion--poor

NEW PROJECT DESIGN

• Grow room dimensions: 11' x 14'

• Grow area will be a tent within room: 48"x48"x96"

• Lighting will be provided by SolarStorm880

• Tent will be a "sealed" environment. What I mean here is that there will be no air exhaust, and no passive air intake.

• CO2 enrichment will be provided to tent using 20lb CO2 tank, maintained at 1500-2000ppm during day-hours only.

• Dehumidifier with 30L capacity will be used in tent to maintain 40-45% relative humidity.

• Expected ambient room temperature (outside tent area) is expected to stay around 77 deg F. This is based on previous experience with 1000w HPS

• Tent Temperature is expected to climb 3-8 degrees based on what I've read about LED lights in other forums. Expected tent temperature is therefore 80-85 deg F without supplemental cooling or ventilation

• Air movement in tent will be performed by 2 oscillating clip on fans

• Clones, seedlings, and mother plants will be kept outside flowering chamber, inside main room

• 2'x4' grow table will be used for all clones, seedlings and mother plants

• 400w MH light will be used for mother plants

• 79w LED will be used for seedlings

GENETICS First grow will consist of 2 strains:

• Heavy Weight Fruit Punch Fem.

• Barney's Pineapple Chunk Fem.

QUESTIONS, UNKNOWNS, ETC

• Preferable media for organic growth?

• Opinions on high quality organic ferts to use?

• Supplements?

• Will I need air/CO2 exhaust from the tent and fresh "air" intake periodically? I've read both opinions.

• What should I use for pest and mildew prevention? I've run into a problem with Powdery Mildew on my last grow. I believe this is due to high humidity from the hydro system coupled with unknown genetic brought in. In the future, I'm starting from seed, but what's good preventative measures beyond what I've planned above?

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll be changing and altering my plan as I get better ideas, and will begin purchasing this material in the next week or two once my current grow is harvested. I've attached a drawing I mocked up so you can see what I'm thinking. Any thoughts or advice would be welcome!


MissingCow

There is someone on youtube who did a tent grow journal with the XML 350 light. I'm not sure of the name but I remember the plants looked good and yielded well. In a 4x4 you can get good numbers with LED lights. Four big plants with lots of space, soil, and light and you're in business. You may want to consider the Lumigrow Pro 325 too. It's $300 cheaper and you can customize the light with the adjustment knobs -white, blue, red. It also has a longer warranty if that is a consideration. All you need for that tent is a fan and filter and you're ready.

As for soil you can make your own or buy bagged soil. There is a great soil making thread in the organic forum. Mixing your own soil is a lot cheaper. I grow organically and use General organics grow and fox farm big bloom. There are other good ones out there like Pure Blend Pro, Biobizz, etc.

Good luck to you,

-Funk

FunkBomb said:

There is someone on youtube who did a tent grow journal with the XML 350 light. I'm not sure of the name but I remember the plants looked good and yielded well. In a 4x4 you can get good numbers with LED lights. Four big plants with lots of space, soil, and light and you're in business. You may want to consider the Lumigrow Pro 325 too. It's $300 cheaper and you can customize the light with the adjustment knobs -white, blue, red. It also has a longer warranty if that is a consideration. All you need for that tent is a fan and filter and you're ready.

As for soil you can make your own or buy bagged soil. There is a great soil making thread in the organic forum. Mixing your own soil is a lot cheaper. I grow organically and use General organics grow and fox farm big bloom. There are other good ones out there like Pure Blend Pro, Biobizz, etc.

Good luck to you,

-Funk

Click to expand...

Thanks for stopping by Funk and for your opinion! I have checked out the lumigrow pro 325, and I do think its a great light. For this grow though, I will be testing the Solarstorm 880 as part of the grower feedback program. If yield and cost to run are not where I want them, CLW will take it back for a full refund. At that point, if I'm dissatisfied, I'll re-evaluate my options... Which in 100 days will be vastly different from today with the rate at which LED technology is growing.

I forgot to mention that I do have a carbon filter and ducting to circulate air inside the tent only. I will not be ventilating or drawing fresh air into this tent. Explanation:

- I plan to supplement with co2 during daytime hours only. Co2 will shut off 1 hour before lights to allow plants to photosynthesise he co2 into O2 for root growth at night.
- supplementing with co2 allows higher operating temp at 80-82 deg. Which I calculate is reasonable with this light and tent size (which I have now increased to 8'x4')

SO there have been a few changes in my design. I will now be using an 8'x4' tent. Inside this tent, directly in the center, will be a 48"x48"x72" PVC structure. This PVC structure will be wrapped in panda film to reflect light into the 1 meter squared growing area. Plants will be on a 3' x 3' grow basin with a drain to waste in the floor. This structure will be called the grow "module" within the tent.

As mentioned, the grow module would be centered in the 8' long tent, with 2' of open space on either side. This open space will accommodate the carbon filter (ducted to the other side of the tent for air circulation), the 30l dehumidifier, and two oscillating fans on the floor aimed up through the canopy on either side of the module.

Make sense? I'll post a drawing when not on mobile.

Thank you everyone for your stopping by. Funk I will check those notes and media thank you. Any feedback is appreciated!

I finished the grow module yesterday. The dimensions ended up being exactly where I want them, right at 48" x 48". Should fit very nicely in the tent.

This entire structure will be wrapped in panda film except the very top and bottom for air circulation.

That is a cool PVC grow module you've constructed. It sounds like you've got some good ideas on how to do this thing. Best of luck to you.

-Funk

Today I had a chance to install the tent and assemble the grow module inside it. I cut the structure down to 3.5'x3.5' which works great because it fits waaaaay more handily in the tent. Turns out 48" doesn't fit into a 48" structure very well.



With the SolarStorm consuming 650w in bloom mode, I'm now at 650w/12.25 sqft = 53w/sqft I think. At just above 50, my fingers crossed are that it will be sufficient.

Well if not, worse case scenario I say Thank you very much for the trial to CLW and go back to 1k HPS. 81.6 ought to cut it.

All the plumbing in the room is installed. You can see the drain to waste system in this photo.



I've been draining my DWC hydro system down this pipe all year but just had the Studor vent installed. Evidently water displaces air as it drains and needs a place to vent. The more you know.

This should work so, so much better than before. And it needs to, because the dehumidifier and table will both be permanently attached to this, eliminating my need to empty the dehumidifiers tank, and it will always be ready for waterin

Unfortunately, the plumbing still doesn't work. I tried to drain down here, and it simply backs up. I have another friend coming to look at it tomorrow, and I have my fingers crossed that I don't have to call an actual plumber. It seems like something is clogging up the drain, like gravel or something. The house is less than two years old and nothing else has ever been drained down there.... I'm just scratching my head trying to figure out what it could be and how to fix it.

The solar storm arrived, so I installed that into the tent and ran an environmental test. So far, with the Solar Storm on, and the dehumidifier cranked all the way down, the heat rises to a high of 95*F, while maintaining a low humidity of 35%. With the dehumidifier not running, the temperature seems stable at 91*F. Both are within the optimal CO2 temperature range, so I am happy about that.



It seems that I will likely have to use a heater during the night cycle to keep temperatures within 5-10*F of the high temp when lights are off to decrease internodal distances. Since this is my first CO2 grow, would that indicate a night time optimal temp of 80-85*F?

Any opinions on that would be appreciated. Thanks!

All other environmental systems have been installed, including a carbon filtered air circulation system, oscillating fan #1 and a humidifier on the right hand side.


Also installed are a de-humidifier, oscillating fan #2 and the CO2 monitor on the left hand side.


CO2 enrichment is disbursed via the halo above the light fixture.


The entire grow space looks like this.


As my seeds have yet to arrive, I'm officially quite behind schedule in my attempt to test the solar storm fixture during this grow cycle. I will have to make my determination whether to keep the fixture or not before harvest, which is not ideal.

Nevertheless, onward we go.