15,000 watts and a few questions. Suggestions?

[HBxNLmaster]

wow this big of a grow is just amazing to us easties, it seems to me like you know a good bit but you should hire me to come and fix all the bugs and take care of your plants for ya....lol you really need to get that humidity under control like yesterday, you could lose that whole crop just because you didn't invest in a dehumidifier or run the exhuast while the lights are off. I would definately run the fans while the lights are off this would take care of your prob with no added expense. God im jealous i wish i could have a grow this size, with my experience and understanding i could really throw out some quality nugs.

 

[grow nerd]

Yes a ductless split A/C system is the way to go.

As for the Santa Fe Classic 100ppd, it's roughly $1300 delivered. Kicks serious ass, removes more water than two 70ppd portable unit and uses about the same energy as one.

With your size grow though I'd recommend you get two, or maybe a larger unit such as the Max Dry or a larger Ebac model.

Where you grow, you're gonna run into PM every single time if you don't treat it, stay on top of it, and have a good environment (good air flow, good RH%, etc.) For the size of a grow you have you should either know how to intake clones properly and/or be self-sufficient; you can't blame the source, believe me on this one.

 

[joe fresh]

just thaught id add some of my room specs, and a video so you guys may see it in a better perspective
2 rooms each working alternativly on 12/12, on room is actually 2 11x11 rooms with 5 lights each, the other room is 11x14 with 9 lights in it
all lights are 1k watt hotilux super hps
magnetic ballasts located in a separate elec room, ballasts are on relays so technically they are always on
res in a separate water/work room
3 ton/36000 btu a/c in each room http://www.thermoplus.com/dev/html_en/product_pdf/WCHeatPumpsAirCondCat.pdf
3-4 oscilaring fant in each room
50 or so plants in each room
and in my vid you will see only the one room that is 2 11x11 rooms in one, the other room was lights off so i didnt go in it, but the pic is the other room
heres the vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lie4j7BD-Es[/URL]

here is the pic of the other room

 

[dtfsux]

The Sante Fe's kick ass, I would suggest the classic or to be safe, the Maxdry. I had 1 classic in each room, and found they were still challenged, so upgraded to the maxdry, in one room and moved the classic to the other room.

I would suggest sealing the room and adding CO2. It will be a challenge and cost some bones, but a 20% increase in production on a 15k grow will pay for itself in 1-2 runs regardless if this is commercial or medical/club.

On air cooling the hoods, instead of going to 8 or 10" hoods, which decrease light, change the manifold design. break the room in half. A big 16" exhaust down the middle (perpendicular to the tubing between the hoods, or so it would cross the flex ducting). Then one 12" duct on each side. (two 12" ducts total). Air would come inthe 12' duct, through 2-3 lights, then exit the 16" duct. Same on the other side.

I ran an op like that, worked great

 

[theweedman.fr]

This thread is a brilliant read with great contributions. I remember a 'bunker' grow on over grow, and at the end of the grow he made 3 bricks of different grade hash from the plants, best view ever those 3 monster bricks of hash.

Are you planning on making any hash with the trimmings?

 

[Thaniel]

What do you guys think of scrapping the hoods all together, hanging the lights vertical, and dropping my plant number down to 10-12. I really want to give this a go, and I was thinking about it for next run. I might even swap out some of the 1k's for 600's, so that I'll be running less wattage, and then have room for a decent a/c unit.

I have had the image of krusty's vertical grows stuck in my head for years... I really want to do this. Why don't more people grow like this? I don't get it. Is it really not that much more efficient?

Note: Plant count is not a concern of mine at all, but I think doing a vertical grow like that, 10-12 plants would work best...

 

[Sam the Caveman]

about the Krusty style grow, the plants have to be vegged for longer which lowers the overall efficiency of the grow.(harvests per year) That is unless you have a separate veg room in the same orientation as the bloom room, say using 600s in the veg room and 1ks in bloom room.

but, I like to look at it from the perspective of how much space do you have available to use and then use as much wattage you can fit in there.

a 3kw tandem vertical grow takes up an 8'x8' area, but horizontally you could put 4kw in an 8x8

which is more power efficient? I'd say the vertical
which will yield more? hard to say, but I'd put my money on the horizontal

 

[joe fresh]

hey thaniel, you see my plants back there in the vid, this method was borrowed from an old family friend, hes got 16 lights nd gets 48lbs every 10 weeks start to finnish, 3 weeks veg and 7 weeks flower, if you look at my plants they are in their first week of flower, or their 4th week total and they are huge, like 3 ft tall and just as wide

 

[Rednick]

Note: Plant count is not a concern of mine at all.

If plant count wasn't a concern of mine, I would be running horizontal SOG and chopping shit down every week.

A lot depends on personal preference. Vertical/colliseum grows look fucking cool...but automation is a bitch.

That is where horizontal really makes sense.
Automation, gravity controls water levels.

 

[grow nerd]

Yeah a flat perpetual SOG would be such low maintenance.

One day I might experiment with verticals but for now I'm stuck at the flat garden w/ reflectors.

 

[cannaboy]

Thats 1 cool set up man.. I bet you can get some serious poundage off that,,,

 

[Norcalpurps]

Med, I'm pulling fresh cold air through all of those lights to heat my home. Since its a sealed system, no need to clean that air. As far as keeping temp regulated for the room itself, I'm using a huge filter with blower on a thermostat, which can be seen hanging in the middle of the room. I hate how I have to run an extension cord all the way to the middle of the room, and then hook into it the thermostat control, and then another long extension cord all the way back to the blower, but it is quite effective.[/QUO


You must live in a cold area. i would need a 5ton ac to cool all those lights. consider your self lucky man. heat is a growers worst enemy.

 

[Mile Hi Dave]

for a/c i got a thermoplus 3 ton watercooled a/c but they only run when lights are on and i have a hose that runs the condensation into a pit with a pump that leads to a sink, i only got 1 dehumidifier and it too has a hose running to the pit, but the dehumidifier only drops the rh by 10-15%. and to tell you the truth i just built this grow and im kinda in the hole($$$), so i cant really afford much till harvest, and at 300+ for a good dehumidifier and i would need atleast to the way i see the one i have works, i seen a 130 pint per day removal, but at 1000$ plus worst of all is the size

so when the lights are on its ok, but when lights out the a/c compressor stops working but the fan stays running, but no water removal happens at night , only in the day. so that is one of the reasons why my rh is up at night

ps just thaught id say sorry if im jackin the thread, i just figured i seen someone with a room similar to mine that i might get some answers here.

just thaught id mention im not in hydro, im in a promix style medium

Your problem is the "water-cooled" ac...it increases humdity

 

[Mile Hi Dave]

....man this is one clean lil setup...I am definately subscribed!!

 

[grow nerd]

My most happy upgrade was the installation of a regenerative blower instead of all of the stupid air pumps that I used to use. This is so much easier.

Almost forgot to ask... tell me about this regenerative blower / air pump setup?

 

[Thaniel]

The Sante Fe's kick ass, I would suggest the classic or to be safe, the Maxdry. I had 1 classic in each room, and found they were still challenged, so upgraded to the maxdry, in one room and moved the classic to the other room.

I would suggest sealing the room and adding CO2. It will be a challenge and cost some bones, but a 20% increase in production on a 15k grow will pay for itself in 1-2 runs regardless if this is commercial or medical/club.

On air cooling the hoods, instead of going to 8 or 10" hoods, which decrease light, change the manifold design. break the room in half. A big 16" exhaust down the middle (perpendicular to the tubing between the hoods, or so it would cross the flex ducting). Then one 12" duct on each side. (two 12" ducts total). Air would come inthe 12' duct, through 2-3 lights, then exit the 16" duct. Same on the other side.

I ran an op like that, worked great

Co2 is something I will eventually try. In the meantime I need to work out how I'll seal it is off and keep the room cool. About your hood air cooling technique, this is exactly what I've thought about doing. And yup, that would effectively solve the issue. For me right now I don't need to change it yet...

 

[Thaniel]

I have a 40 pint and a 70 pint dehumidifier in there now, and humidity was about 50-55 during the day (night for plants) today... I think this should be fine. I'll also be pulling air through the whole room a few times during the day, now that it should be getting a bit warmer. I just didn't want to be doing this all the time when it was 50 degrees outside, because a temp drop of over 20 degrees can't really be that great of a thing...

 

[Thaniel]

grow nerd, check one of the other pages here. Page 2 post 18. Its a whitewater ww60 blower. Air exits the pump in 1 inch PVC, which I have in a loop between the buckets, and from there I tapped into the PVC and ran a tube to each of the buckets... let me know if you need me to take some more photos...

Joe fresh, your friend gets 46 pounds from 16 lights every 10 weeks? I've never heard of that before. He needs to send me and everyone else here those clones!

 

[joe fresh]

origional cut of the sssc m39

 

[mcattak]

Note: Plant count is not a concern of mine at all, but I think doing a vertical grow like that, 10-12 plants would work best...

If plant count wasnt a concern..I would do a scrog for sure...