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[MEGA] 2010-2011 Community Growing advice, tips, tricks, & experiences

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Edit: here is that web page called Grow Room stools where you can plug in upur room size, penis size, HID light wattage etc. and it will give you the minimum extraction fan requirement for changing the stale O2 polluted (bad for plant growth) air at least every 3 mins. The carbon filter reduces the power (i.e. the suction pull of the fan) so that you need a more powerful fan than you originally assume you'll need.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showforum=166
 
What I meant is that I can run my ballast at different percentages. Which effects light output, I believe.
So , If I have a 600 watt, and only use 50% of the ballasts power, that would be an output of 300 watts right? (Just gonna start using lower wattage, see if I can control the temps, and go from there...

As for vent/air, I can't run duct from my room all the way out to the living room and blow it up the chimney. As for doing it outdoor, I dont see how that would work, This is a closet grow, How would I be able to push air outside? People keep giving me good ideas, but when I ask how, its silent.

Well, I was just planning on ducting the hood/light, and having a fan blow air from one side (air from the closet) across the bulb, and out to the other side in a duct into the wall/attic.
As for the air going bad, well , this grow is also in my room, I have a fan blowing from the hallway, into my room, and a fan blowing that air into my closet, and one fan in my closet pushing the warm air from the bulbs upwards.(thats with my CFLS at the moment)

Why do you keep saying cupboard?? Its 8 feet in length, 8 feet high, and 3 feet wide.
if this was a cupboard, or a box , it would be MUCH easier to vent Im sure. but , thats no the case.


As for seedling /clones, I have some T5 Floros (24 watts, 3 bulbs). I use that when ever Im cloning, or on seedlings....


And as for a fan larger than 4 inches, I was wanting to go from a 4 inch duct to a 6inch or 8 inch to have a larger fan, but , the only thing Im really at a loss here for is how ducting works, which way the air does and doesnt go, I have read SO many different ways and different stuff, Im confused as hell.
 
Don't worry, this is the scourge of many an indoor grower. Here's what I've done - I made a big 5-sided open mdf box surrounding the window with a hole cut with a hole saw into it. I attached a flange which the ducting fits on. I attached a cheap PVC blind between the window and the box so no one notices (just looks like I have the blinds closed). This is one way you can extract th air out of the room.

Dimmable ballasts used to be a shit technology sinc they couldn't get the colour rendering quite right. It is considered a gimmick by some. I'm no ire how good they are now, but I was under the impression you still needed separate bulbs for lower wattages? I haven't looked into the technology since I don't need it.

You have an air cooled hood. The ventilation should really be separate from the main ventilation - this is how most do it. I thought you said cupboard, my bad.

The extraction is the bigger of the two fans and pulls the air out of the grow space and should be at the top of the closet. The intake pulls air into the grow space and is at the bottom near the floor. The air should be extracted outside if possible and the intake can be the air from the house.

The air can go through the ducting either way - I'm not sure what you meant.

Prelude2TragedyII said:
What I meant is that I can run my ballast at different percentages. Which effects light output, I believe.
So , If I have a 600 watt, and only use 50% of the ballasts power, that would be an output of 300 watts right? (Just gonna start using lower wattage, see if I can control the temps, and go from there...

As for vent/air, I can't run duct from my room all the way out to the living room and blow it up the chimney. As for doing it outdoor, I dont see how that would work, This is a closet grow, How would I be able to push air outside? People keep giving me good ideas, but when I ask how, its silent.

Well, I was just planning on ducting the hood/light, and having a fan blow air from one side (air from the closet) across the bulb, and out to the other side in a duct into the wall/attic.
As for the air going bad, well , this grow is also in my room, I have a fan blowing from the hallway, into my room, and a fan blowing that air into my closet, and one fan in my closet pushing the warm air from the bulbs upwards.(thats with my CFLS at the moment)

Why do you keep saying cupboard?? Its 8 feet in length, 8 feet high, and 3 feet wide.
if this was a cupboard, or a box , it would be MUCH easier to vent Im sure. but , thats no the case.


As for seedling /clones, I have some T5 Floros (24 watts, 3 bulbs). I use that when ever Im cloning, or on seedlings....


And as for a fan larger than 4 inches, I was wanting to go from a 4 inch duct to a 6inch or 8 inch to have a larger fan, but , the only thing Im really at a loss here for is how ducting works, which way the air does and doesnt go, I have read SO many different ways and different stuff, Im confused as hell.
Click to expand...

Take a look at this ideal grow room. See the extraction at the top (bigger fan) and the intake at the bottom (smaller fan)?

As you can see the air cooled hood ventilation is separate to the main ventilation.

hydroponics-grow-room.gif
 
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Sorry for all the spelling mistakes etc. This fucking iPod touch is driving me insane. Anyway, that photo is from a book called Hydroponics Indoor Horticulture that I own and I would recommend reading. Everything is fully and articulately explained.
 
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$

Sega420 said:
yes i did read the whole post.


one 400w HPS would be much more efficient than all those wee 23 watters



but this is your first grow, have fun
Click to expand...

Isn't a HPS setup expensive? I would think many 1st timers would want to keep coast low until they know if they enjoy growing and want to continue.

BTW I highly recomend the book Marijuana Hortculture: The Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible. Many growers I know swear by it.
 
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Budget CFL system (250W bulb & refector) - £99
CFL system that holds two 250W bulbs (2 bulbs and reflector included) - £130

600W HPS budget HID system (including magnetic ballast, dual spectrum bulb and reflector) - £112.97.

These figures are from a major grow shop.

So that answers your question. You'll need an HID to flower with unless you want air bud.
 
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Well, I am going to be growing for sure, so, I figured I might as well go big, so I dont have to contiue to uprgrade and upgrade when I want more and more (well , atleast I wont have to upgrade AS many things)


I've got most everything set up, now I just need to work on the ducting.
venting. and what not.

See, I'm getting told two completely different things.
The guy at the shop, where I bought the hood/ballast told me that if I have a fan taking air out of the room (near the ceiling), that it would work better that way, since hot air rises, and cool air stays closer to the ground I was going to have a fan on the ground push fresh air in....

I know your just trying to help with advice, so , Im just trying to understand what works, what wasn't and what would work best in my personal situation, I mean, hell, that pic would be a perfect grow room and I'd do exactly that, if I had the space, but, my grow room is like a hall way, long, tall, but not very wide. My hood only has about 2 inches on each side of it , from the wall on oneside and the closet door on the other..lol
So, not much room to work with...Anywho....Ill try to take pics of how I did my closet, and see if anyone has any ideas for venting or what not (thinking of just buying a portable ac at this point, but, Im not sure if humitidty would be an issue with that)


(This is my second grow, first went well, decided it'd be something I'd want to do, pursue. So I decided to just buy what I think Ill need now, and maybe if I decided to do a few more, Id be able to support it,)
 
Two things : 1st, don't get advice from a grow shop. I frequently hear of grow shop staff giving bad advice (this is however a generalization, but it does hold true rather too frequently though). 2nd, the advic he gave about the air coming out at the ceiling and in at the floor is the same advice I gave. I'm not sure why you're saying my advice is completely different? Can you explain what you mean?

AC costs a fortune to run. If you've go an HID light and an AC running that's just rediculously expensive to run in most cases you won't need an AC anyway if you've got a proper ventilation and an air cooled hood. Why put a bandaid over the problem if you can fix the root of the problem.

I'm not telling you to have your room the same as that ideal grow room, I'm just trying to explain a concept.

I know it's a big job setting up everything but you need to get it sorted rather than doing a bad job on it and it giving you problems further on down the road.
 
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I had thought you were telling me to bring in fresh air from the top fan and push out air with the low fan, which was opposite of what I was told to do, so I was kinda confused, maybe I understood it wrong, idk.
 
where the smoke detector in that room!? omg..dangerous...lolol jk


Ill also be doing raised beds/gardens in my backyard in about a week or two, any advice on those as well?
 
Wellllp, got the ballast and things turned on, lol, it was kinda weird, I turned the light on, and everything in my room became different colors, my red blanket was brown, my red pipe cleaners holding the plant turned brown, haha, weird light effects , anyways...
had it on for 5 minutes, temp went from 84 to 90 , woo this will be realllll fun, I think I may make two vents in the ceiling one for a fan to blow air out, one for a vent for the hood (if you guys think I should do that I will, if not, I wont)
I don't know where to bring my air in anymore, I was having it come in from a fan on the floor just blowing into a crack in the closet (about 8 inches)....

If I were to cut a hole in the wall, about 6 inches, and just mounted a fan there,, would that do anything worth while? or do I need to bring cool air/ac into this mix?.
Ill take pics of my setup right now and post them before I goto home depot.
 
Set1.jpg


Set2.jpg


set3.jpg


Set4.jpg


That might clear a few things up so your not having to picture this all in ur head, thats the space I have to work with, and I can do what I need to do with it, So, let the ideas roll in

(Ignore the droopy plant, it needed water in the morning, looks good now , lol)
 
Looking good prelude.

From that picture it looks like you could lower that light closer to the plant. Put your hand at level with the top of your plants, and use the backside to see how warm things are. If things are just that, a nice warm, not too warm but just right then your plant is at a nice distance apart.
 
I had made it higher for the pics, Ive been keeping it about 12 inches lower than where it is in the pic.

So, Bought one of those industrial fans that are used for drying out carpets (Air mover)
So, It has a pretty small mouth where it pushed out air, but it does push out ALOT of air. I was wondering if It would help if I just cut a small hole in the wall/ceiling , and just mount that fan near there blowing air out, and as for air in, well, Im still trying to figure that one out, lol, the color of the HPS light is SO yellow....It turns my whole room different colors when I have my closet cracked open so that black fan (in the pic) can blow air into the closet from inbetween the two doors...ah....Im stumped.


Edit-
Well, temps didnt go as bad as I figured they would (but Im just using 60% of a 600watt bulb, dimmable digital ballast makes that possible woo..)
Normally around this time temps would read aroun 79-83, but , temps are 86-89 (hasnt hit 90 yet) but, thats WAY to hot for flowering isnt it? Ugh,

I remember someone talking about a window ac and using that, but how would I hook it up so that it doesnt have to be mounted in a window? Or something?

Come on guys, dont make me go buy bags of ice and pour them in bucket and just hope it radiates and cools down, lolol.
 
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Looks like you've decided to not go down the route of extracting outside. This is prefferable but you can still grow without doing this despite it not being ideal.

Get your ventilation set up and sorted before even considering air conditioning. Are you aware of how much electricity they use? Use an air cooled hood before resorting to AC. On top of the cost of running the light and fans, which is expensive to run on by itself, an AC costs a fortune to run. Try and sort the problem out first with proper ventilation and even an air cooled hood before you use an AC.

You need to buy a proper fan. I don't even know if you can use that fan you have, but I doubt it. I was just looking at the fan I think you should get:

RUCK Fan 200mm/8 Inch High Power Version (1095m3/hour) which costs £109.90.

You can have a passive intake (just put a vent/grille on the door to the closet) and sit the extraction fan putting air into the attic on the hatch to the attic with a hole drilled into it with a hole saw and using a flange to fit it. You should get a fan speed controller (they can be cheap or you can build it yourself) as the fans are so loud they sound like jet engines and need slowing down. This will also help you fine tune the temperature to the optimum range.

Just don't do a botch job without the proper equipment.
 
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Dont have to pay electric where I live, so, power consumtion isn't a concern of mine.

I dont think I would be able to extract outside due to the plain fact that, I don't know how, or cant.

The air mover I got is a mini, and I see absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work, lol, it sucks air just like the other fans, and blows it out where ever I want.

Ive looked quite a bit for those fans, but , I haven't been able to find any, and I really dont want to be ordering anything else online.

So, do you have any reasons as to why this fan 'wouldn't work'
First, It pushes quite an ammount of air, second, it has a small hole in which that air blows from, I figured it'd be nicer to cut a small hold in the wall rather than an 8 inch hole...But, I really dont know what the hell works. I wish I did.

So, your saying I should cut a hole in my closet door? Wouldn't that be a little obvious and hard to repair? I mean, Ive fixed holes in the wall, I just cant imagine cutting through a 2 inch thick wooden door to put a vent on it.

Am I confused or just not understanding what your trying to tell me.
 
Well you wouldn't need a passive intake grille if air can get in another way as I doubt it's a sealed room.

The reason the fan might not work is because it might not be powerful enough. What's the rating on the fan? Without proper ventilation you won't get very good results. Since your grow area is relativey large (over twice the size of mine I believe) you will need a larger fan to cope with this large grow room volume. I have a 6" extraction and 5" intake on my DR120 tent and most people agree that this is a good size for my area.

If your fan isn't powerful enough (do tell us how powerful it is) and are not prepared to buy a proper fan then I can't really help you. If it is powerful enough then great, but otherwise you can do whatever you want as I'm only trying to tell you what I know works and what the more successful growers tend to do. You need proper ventilation not only to control temps but to remove toxic gasses given off the plants that is naturally removed by the wind in nature outside. If your ventilation is not up to scratch the plant won't get enough CO2 etc and will grow poorly. This is why you can't use an AC to fix the problem of poor ventilation since you need to remove the air for reasons other than needing to lower the temperature. We are trying to replicate the environment the plants would be in naturally outside and even supercharge it in some cases to improve yield.

It's easy to buy these fans I'm talking about. Any good grow shop sells them and they're perfectly legal. If you get it from a reputable online store it is very safe.

If you make the hole smaller than it needs to be and use a ducting reducer you are significantly reducing the effectiveness of the fan. It is easy to cut through the wood using a hole saw of the correct size and a flange. I've done it and it's simple. Just get the hole saw that fits onto a drill and use it.
 
480 cfm
Im not saying that Im not going to accept your ideas or anything closely related to that.
I am very confused on what your trying to tell me,

So I'd need to buy two 6-8inch high power inline fans?

Does intake go up high on the wall? or was it the out take?

im confused in which way this air is supposed to be blowing, what I thought was, I need air from a fan being vented into the room up high, and one extracting air down low? or was it the other way around? I thought hot air rises and cool air goes to the ground, you see, you can tell me different parts I need all day long, I dont know what to do with them if I get them,

Im not trying to argue with you, Im trying to understand what your saying so I can actually take advice from someone on this board thats trying to help me get this shit together because I dont know what Im doing.
It doesnt bother me if its going to take time to get all of this stuff to work, I was running the room last night with the light on about 350watts, and kept the temps down to about 89-92. Thats with a fan blowing at the plant, one at the light, one fan blowing out of the closet to remove stale air and one fan pumping air into the closet from my room, what I want to be doing is having all of those INSIDE my closet so I dont have to crack my Closet door 8 inches and let TONS of light out when its pitch black in my room. , If I were able to close the closet doors, completely, and not let light leak out into my room, I would be happy, thats all Im trying to do. If its not possible, fine, Ill do it how ever it needs to be done...

Guess Ill just go read up on ducting and hope I find some info...blah, what a day today has been.
 
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well, as Ive kind of mentioned before, theres not many shops around here that are strictly growing, I found one, where I bought my hood, they have speed control for the fans, but no fans, Ive been to 4 other stores that all have ducting equipment, but no inline fans.

In the directions , it does say it can be ran continously , and it has a breaker/reset.

If its not going to work, thats fine.
But tell me what will, Im sick of just being told "oh that wont work, go buy this" without knowing why what ever would even work better. or how it works, or what to do with it.

Guess Ill go store shopping for the thousandth time this week.
 
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