[gorilla ganja]

Seems like too nice of a space to put tents in it.Just build a dividing wall or 2 and your good to go. Would make life a lot easier to work the plants and you could get more plants in there as well.
If most of the cellar is under ground and you insulate the outside wall, it probably would not take much to heat it and keep the temp constant.

Peace GG

[Speed of green]

Ive only has the misfortune of having to grow in a tent one time for a couple months vegging some plants, other than that ive been spoiled with 10' ceilings in my grow rooms.

If you have the opportunity to do it right the first time then i would, tents may be an affordable option now but a framed wall, with a real door is going to last for years.

speaking of doors most of them are going to come in 80" setup, you are looking for a wood solid core exterior door and cut it down from the top & the hinge side. Any woodshop can do this for you for basically nothing, or if you have a jointer you can do it yourself.

To start you off in the right direction we need to properly assess our potential grow space and cross a few roads.

100 amp Electrical limitation, with a 6k you are looking at 42amps plus 2x 10 amp circuits for accessories... A heating and cooling 2.5ton mini split will draw roughly 25 amps depending on the model. This is good and leaves you some wiggle room electrically speaking.

How do you plan to grow the plants? im guessing coming from outdoors you are used to large plants in soil... 6' is not a ton of head space, add in a light and some trays or pots and you are limited to 24-30" plants max.. vertical lighting or sea of green may be a viable option.

Sealed or ducted lights, This may or may not be an option if you are able to run ducts out of the building, but this can be a nice way to cut down on electrical costs. ducted lights can get you closer to the canopy (larger plants) than open fixtures. on the other hand you get some lumen loss from the glass and the ducting is a bitch, plus you will need an extra fan for the ducting itself.

realistically going the flip flop route on 6k is going to cost you more in buildout and headaches trying to light proof both spaces and heat/cool both spaces rather than just running all 6 lights in one room and getting a decent mini split to heat and cool the space.

If it were me id run all 6 lights right down the middle of the room, this will leave you a small walkway to train and maintain plants from both sides, life sucks when you are doing yoga for hours trying to train plants through 4' of canopy. Access is critical, your back will thank you.

as for keeping the roots warm & off the floor you can construct the best cheap 4x8 flood trays out of plywood, 2x4's and EPDM pond liner. place these flood trays on some cinder blocks or bricks and viola you are off the ground & containing your runoff.

spray foam is your friend for sealing cracks and holes, its also light proof once you spray paint it black

A dehumidifier will be critical as well id start with a 70 pint and if thats not cutting it then buy another one.


Hmmm i guess thats all ive got for now, fire back with any questions or if you want any clarification on what im talking about.

[MountainBudz]

Originally Posted by Speed of green

Ive only has the misfortune of having to grow in a tent one time for a couple months vegging some plants, other than that ive been spoiled with 10' ceilings in my grow rooms.

If you have the opportunity to do it right the first time then i would, tents may be an affordable option now but a framed wall, with a real door is going to last for years.

speaking of doors most of them are going to come in 80" setup, you are looking for a wood solid core exterior door and cut it down from the top & the hinge side. Any woodshop can do this for you for basically nothing, or if you have a jointer you can do it yourself.

To start you off in the right direction we need to properly assess our potential grow space and cross a few roads.

100 amp Electrical limitation, with a 6k you are looking at 42amps plus 2x 10 amp circuits for accessories... A heating and cooling 2.5ton mini split will draw roughly 25 amps depending on the model. This is good and leaves you some wiggle room electrically speaking.

How do you plan to grow the plants? im guessing coming from outdoors you are used to large plants in soil... 6' is not a ton of head space, add in a light and some trays or pots and you are limited to 24-30" plants max.. vertical lighting or sea of green may be a viable option.

Sealed or ducted lights, This may or may not be an option if you are able to run ducts out of the building, but this can be a nice way to cut down on electrical costs. ducted lights can get you closer to the canopy (larger plants) than open fixtures. on the other hand you get some lumen loss from the glass and the ducting is a bitch, plus you will need an extra fan for the ducting itself.

realistically going the flip flop route on 6k is going to cost you more in buildout and headaches trying to light proof both spaces and heat/cool both spaces rather than just running all 6 lights in one room and getting a decent mini split to heat and cool the space.

If it were me id run all 6 lights right down the middle of the room, this will leave you a small walkway to train and maintain plants from both sides, life sucks when you are doing yoga for hours trying to train plants through 4' of canopy. Access is critical, your back will thank you.

as for keeping the roots warm & off the floor you can construct the best cheap 4x8 flood trays out of plywood, 2x4's and EPDM pond liner. place these flood trays on some cinder blocks or bricks and viola you are off the ground & containing your runoff.

spray foam is your friend for sealing cracks and holes, its also light proof once you spray paint it black

A dehumidifier will be critical as well id start with a 70 pint and if thats not cutting it then buy another one.


Hmmm i guess thats all ive got for now, fire back with any questions or if you want any clarification on what im talking about.

This is great info my man...

I will get back with you more on this later this evening when I get a chance. Got a busy day today but, I did make a rough sketch of an idea on the room lastnight. It may be a good layout or it may be worthless but for what it is worth, I am going to throw it out there for you guys to look over.

[Bobby Boucher]

Tents really are awful.. Ive bought them in most shapes and sizes and the 3 or 4 footers are the only ones that I will probably ever buy again. Any bigger and you actually have to step into the mf'er to train your plants, which I can't even really do anymore due to a neck injury.

I really miss working with more headspace, but I just got sick and tired of tearing down and setting up bigger build outs everytime family came to visit or I had to schedule a visit from the cable guy or whatever. It does make a lot of sense to go the tent route in illegal climates.. Was always a huge weight on my shoulders knowing it would take me all day to clean up.

Flip flopping does make sense in your situation, but it's going to be a pretty penny to do a permanent build out. In tents.. a lil cheaper and less time consuming. If you don't have the time to postpone your harvest for the build-out and nice little cushion to cover the unexpected.. flip flopping might make more sense in theory than in practice.

If I was trying to put on a show, I'd go the DJM coco trees route and try to fill the whole room, at least once, but I'm just going to butt out at this point. I don't know enough about what I'm saying to keep going in good conscience.

[Douglas.Curtis]

Panda plastic sucks for walls. I grew in a 4x4 home-built tent with it for a few years. I highly recommend panda plastic for a lot of things, walls for a flowering room is not one of them.

Speed of Green is right on the money, build it right the first time and you'll always benefit in the long run. You can always start with building out one flower and one veg room and go from there.

[Drop That Sound]

4x8 rigid foam insulation panels can be a quick cheap way to go. Many ways to connect them and don't need as rigid of a frame, if any at all. If i ever bought a tent I would slap some of them on the sides, which makes me wonder why I would even buy a tent, and just build a simple box with the panels instead..

Reflectix is nice to wrap around curves but expensive and needs an air gap for any real R value benefits. A one inch wall frame with reflectix on both sides works good to insulate, and reflect the light. It does easily scratch up and get punctures though, possibly allowing light leaks. I quit using metal tape to seal inside corners of reflectix lined rooms, and now use a thick bead of elastomeric caulking instead, and it looks and works so nice!


Being under ground has a lot of benefits you could take advantage of. Like if you bored long holes through the walls.. out and away into the ground, you could run pipes, long tube coils, etc. Or maybe heat a large res to store heat, and radiate it back into the room when needed. Makes my head swirl with ideas thinking about it..

[MountainBudz]

I notice that they actually make a device for a flip-flop style grow. They are quiet expensive and me being non electrically inclined, I have no idea nor would I attempt to build a DIY device.

Why could one not just not simply run one room on one breaker and the other room on another breaker and just set the timer on room number one to 12am to 12pm and then on a separate line set room number two to 12pm to 12am??? What is the problem doing that way? I personally don't see any hazards or reason it would not work. What is the point in people using a flip flop device?

I have 4 1000 watt lights, 4 air cooled hoods, 4 1000 digi ballasts and two inline fans. Running all of this 6 inch.

[Speed of green]

Originally Posted by MountainBudz

I notice that they actually make a device for a flip-flop style grow. They are quiet expensive and me being non electrically inclined, I have no idea nor would I attempt to build a DIY device.

Why could one not just not simply run one room on one breaker and the other room on another breaker and just set the timer on room number one to 12am to 12pm and then on a separate line set room number two to 12pm to 12am??? What is the problem doing that way? I personally don't see any hazards or reason it would not work. What is the point in people using a flip flop device?

I have 4 1000 watt lights, 4 air cooled hoods, 4 1000 digi ballasts and two inline fans. Running all of this 6 inch.

the flip box allows one ballast to run two lamps.
most flip flop grows have more lights and not having to buy extra ballasts is cheaper than a flip box.

you can totally run your lights on separate breaker and timer. what you want is a two pole contactor. it uses a trigger cord 120v to power an electromagnet and connect a larger circuit. extremely simple to wire. or you could get a 240v timer for each room, only issue is that most of these timers do not have battery backup so if you lose power your lighting schedule will shift.

[MountainBudz]

Could someone possibly draw me out an idea on how they would personally design and vent the room?

[Bobby Boucher]

Here's a bathtub doodle I made trying to find a good size for your lung room so that it's footprint was equal to either other room, after framing and drywall etc.. should you decide to go through with framing out a flip-flop. I remember that ratio being important..

How you have to cool, warm, humidify, dehumidify depends a lot on your climate, intake/outtake possibilities, legal situation, financial situation.. AC's and dehueys get 'spensive.

I don't really know enough about any of this though.. Just thought Id share my doodle.

Edit*

On second thought, I really don't even know what a flipflop lung room should look like. If I'm remembering correctly, a lung room should be at least as big as your grow space, but I got to thinking that this ratio probably doesn't apply directly to flip flops, on account of the strain the lights off room would also be putting on your lung room.. If I had to guess, I would probably take another 6" from your grow space, but I would try an ascertain this information from someone who isn't a babbling idiot.