i hope you don't mind a few suggestions from me...
Cropping levels isn't going to give you the desired effect... You shouldn't be pulling your plants out, b/c you could damage the roots and unnecessarily kill plants... So rotating them to the upper levels isn't a realistic option... Which means when you pull a level, the one below it is going to block out the new clones above. It's a much better idea as far as canopy management to crop walls at least, if not the entire room...
Secondly, if you have 16' ceilings, why don't you make a solid octagon with enough space to crawl under to get in? Hint hint... Lol... Or at least 1 removable rack. If i'm ever gonna hit 10lbs off 1800w, no space can be left in the canopy... Including the floor. Good thing blumats don't need drains...
Bobble, its great to hear from you!
Thanks for explaining, I am getting a little better grasp as to what I need to do here. I actually am just as clueless as I seem! The crawl under entrance will work best Im sure! Im going with blumats for my outdoor, as soon as I figure out what I need to order,lol. Thanks bro!
Well maybe the split between the two halves needs to be in the middle of a flat wall as well. wouldnt be hard to do with a solid structure.I understand Haze what your thinking, but like bobbles pointed out about new flower clones goin in the system with already mature plants would make it super hard to manage the canopy running perpetual on different levels...in a square.
Im not saying it cant be done, but i think if you truly want to run perpetual and your set on it, I think running each wall seperate would be alot easier,,, but even then the corner plants with fresh clones will be dwarfed by the mature plants on the wall next to it.
Now an octagon would be a different story and i would love to see it! octagon has 8 sides (walls). I think hydrosun did some math a while back about the footprint sq footage needed to build my system into an octagon. cant remember the number. my racks are 5ft wide. So maybe somebody could enlighten us? Anyhow....once we find the sq footage we can figure out if there is adequate watts per sq ft with vertical bulbs in the center. I think that might be the reason i ultimately figured a hexagon might be even better. Cant remember.
So an octagon running perpetual would allow you to split the system in half and run 4 walls off a reservoir, and the other 4 walls a month or so behind on its own system. I think with the octagon and the space it will allow, you could get away with smaller plants on the adjacent 4 walls without to much problem. Man!! if i had the space i would love to build me an aero octagon! Hell if i wasnt so set on dialing my system in i would get to work on it right now.
When i first built my system I hadnt worked with raingutters before,, and it just takes doing it. For me i just started building and tweaking. If ya try to blueprint it all out it just becomes more of a headache. I hope you do it man..i would love to see it!
Hey after watching you save that crop, I think you have about mastered that system, and automated too? FTW. If I had yours I wouldnt change a thing! I will be happy if I am to the point of dialing a few strains/phenos to this new system by next summer.
I will learn to work with gutters, just didnt know what was posible, thanks bro!
I'm building an octogon . Took DHF's design and broke it into 8 2' wide racks instead of four 4' wide racks. I did play with the idea in google sketch up so I could visualize placement. The inside diameter will still be 6', but my racks should in theory have more even placement around the light. I'm hoping this will reduce shading in the corners. As far as wanting to run perpetual, I think it would be easier to just build multiple smaller rack setups, each with it's own single res, and harvest a month or so apart. That way you can monocrop while still having different strains, and not worry about crazy uneven canopy and dialing 4 different reses. Would be more efficent yield wise, and alot less work trying to keep everything happy.
LOL, I have dialup and cant even download sketchup!(Net zero bites azz) Sounds like you have a good plan.
DHF's design? I guess i need to do some searching.
Multiple systems makes more sense to me after hearing everyones input. FHC also has a point though, The multiple chillers would be the downside. I think I better go with an octagon vert system, one res, one chiller, mono crop to get things rolling. Might take a year to get things the way I want em! Would appreciate seeing your progress! Thank you for sharing!
Wondering if using earth temperature might be feasable (gotta 425 gallon tank doing nothing right now), Im doing a lot of thinking in this area right now (head may explode from data overload).The price of a chiller would go a long way towards other things, I have about 5k max to throw at this. I will get some pics of the new place within the next few weeks and pm you guys invitations to my selfhelp thread.lol. Thanks for helping me out guys!Only problem is having to chill so many reservoirs. With aero you almost have to use a chiller or risk root problems and crop failure. Not to mention every reservoir and wall will need its own pump too. Is why i suggested just cutting an octagon into 2 systems. But it can all be done..just what is the KISS method?