Birth Of A Grow Room

[matt79]

600 sqft garage. Was infested with raccoons and had massive water damage to the foundation due to settling, neighbors run off etc.

Eradicated the coons, built the foundation on cinder blocks, built an insulated subfloor, put r19 in walls and r40 in the cieling. Built a partition wall to veg on one side and have a lung room. Will he use 3x3 air cooled reflectors dumping outside, and a 12000btu ac to cool the bud space(400 sqft). 2 years in. Almost done!

[Kingdiamond]

Don't forget the filters and air conditioning both very important to being stealthy and keeping your girls cool in the blistering Michigan heat unless that's a massive window air I see your going to need a big unit to cool that space sufficiently.

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[matt79]

I think with air cooled lights utilizing outside air a 12000 btu oughta be enough? I also have a 5000 btu for backup. Ill be running the lights at night so that oughta help things

[trichcycler]

should be fine.

depending on lights, insulation.

 

I used to run lights at night for similar reasons, then I said screw it, on at sun up and off at night, and I sealed the room up, no more light venting for me. I love it.

the venting through the lights and using outside air caused me untold issues, helping me make the decision to seal it up.

[matt79]

Id like to know what issues u had using outside air to cool the lights? Before i purchase the refle tors!

[Kingdiamond]

One issue using a fresh air intake for your hoods when its 90 + degree the hoods are going to get blistering hot drawing in that hot air and I use a 9000 btu AC in a 7x7x10 foot flower room and sometimes on hot days I have to open the door on the flower room to let some of the cool basement air in .

[trichcycler]

doing it all over I would skip the fancy expensive hoods(mine are for sale, tubes, xtra big, etc.) and stay with cheap wings or even bare bulbs, and spend my money on a bigger ac unit at the time. Since the beginning I have replaced my cooling once, and took down my hoods.

 

Condensation, molds/mildews, filthy glass reflectors were my issues. I never need worry now with the sealed room. Temps and humidity are the same year long and no more drips/fuzz at the inlet/outlet. I no longer have an issue with smells outside of the grow room, but did need to employ a few larger stink socks.... and a better all around experience for me.

[matt79]

Now your making me think....

If i didnt air cool the lights, and added a 2nd a\c, would 24000btu be enough to cool 8 600 watt bulbs?

[mibrains]

sometimes yes

 

sometimes no.

 

if you plan accordingly... and run at night.. you might get away with it.

 

24k is not a lot of air for such a large space when your adding 4800 watts during "on time"

 

when it gets hot outside this summer your girls may feel it and you may need to add additional resources.

 

i use parabolic hoods in my space and i LOVE them.

 

 

you are talking the correct amount of insulation for your remodel..

you should be ok a significant majority of the time with your new enclosed environment.....keep in mind you will not be able to keep up with peak needs during the extreme shifts with such a minimal amount of air cooling capacity.

 

you should for certain try to prepare for "just in case times" like when its 110 outside and your units are not able to keep up and you need Max cooling.

 

your space looks awesome so far and i am very glad you are learning to grow your own medicine.

[matt79]

I was looking at those parabolics as well

[trichcycler]

Now your making me think....

If i didnt air cool the lights, and added a 2nd a\c, would 24000btu be enough to cool 8 600 watt bulbs?

 

 

when I have 5 patients I keep two of my six lights off, just sayin'

[wildman69]

Last summer I was bought a12000 btu AC and was running 2 600w and a 1000w and couldn't get my room below 85'. I have now switched over to all 8" air cooled tubes that were about 75 bucks a piece and am running 6 lights. using outside air going through the lights and then back outside. On the intake side I used an existing window hole that was exactly 16 inches by 30 and fits a furnace filter real nice. so far everything seems to be working well.

Edited April 20, 2015 by wildman69

[trichcycler]

 I use the same btu currently, with 3 1000, and 1 600(12/12), and 1 2x4 T5(24hours). I accidentally set it for 70 once and noticed the freezing weather inside the next noon in the summer and  put the temp to 82. the ac unit is on near 6 hours daily, summer and winter for around five years straight.  The heat is set to 65 year round. The dehumidifier runs near 6 hours daily.   Consider a split ac unit?   I would have done it but the outdoor visible unit was a deal breaker for me. I exhaust my "window" unit

 inside of the building that my room is built in, through the wall. I dug a dry well and filled it appropriately outside the same wall for all my draining needs.

[wildman69]

Did the same thing with the drywell and a condensate pump. Im now also running 2x1000 and 4x600. I will upload a pic of my air intake set-up.

Edited April 20, 2015 by wildman69

[wildman69]

Looks like I am do to change my filter.

[matt79]

Update. I took the advice on this thread and decided to run a closed room with open reflecors. I decided on parabolics cuz i think they will be great with a scrog. I did a dry run today after getting 5 of the lights fired up. Running 5 600watters i was able to keep the 300sqft space a nice 64 degrees using just 1/3 of my a/c copacity, or around 12000btu.

This grow should be operational by the end of the week!

[matt79]

Fyi i had to stack up the cinder blocks cuz the ballast cords arent long enough! Will be swithching to digitals and fixing to wall after i crop out

[trichcycler]

64 degrees !!   brrrrr.

 

I use 12k btu in my 360 room with no issues in 5 years.

When you see temps above 79 you'll see an accelerated growth rate for the higher metabolism.

Don't forget c02 or else problems will ensue in higher temps. Plants demand will increase exponentially in high heat.

As long as resources are available cannabis can withstand very high temps. I've watched my greenhouse reach 125 F

and plants were fine. They wouldn't like that for very long though, and indoors they would die quickly. More resources are

available outdoors for their survival.

I have a water cooled c02 unit for 150$ or you can buy them new for 300 bucks. Mine uses about 20 bucks propane monthly to

 keep the rooms at 1500ppm for 12 hours of lights on in the flower room.  The c02 is shared between through a light lock

curtain between two rooms.

Sealed rooms need c02 augmentation for a complete finish.  A cheap monitor can be hung in the room to prove this. The plant needs around 400 ppm of c02 for proper photosynthesis, like outdoor air. Problem is indoors we cannot replace and move enough air to maintain he 400 ppm around every leaf, as outdoors can.

 

At 1500ppm the ambient c02 at each area in the room will maintain this requirement with normal air movement. Cannabis in a plastic bag @ 1500 ppm c02

will deplete to under 200ppm in minutes for thought as the plant consumes its favorite gas.

 

make sure the hot air exhaust form the ac units is managed on the other side of the wall. I have a solar powered attic fan, with the solar panel powered with one 1000 watt grow light during flower, that exhausts hot air out of the gable of the building.  There is a point when your ac unit will not produce enough cold air any longer because of high temperature  air on that side.  

 

 

your room looks pro ! good job!

[blackhorse]

Matt and Wildman, very nice rooms. Great job.

[PFC Stone]

Room looks great! Nicely done!

[matt79]

Thanks everyone! Hope to fill it with plants by the end of the week!

[trichcycler]

Genetics, genetics.......do tell, please

 

believe me, to some of us, reading  this is like hearing about friends giving birth to a newborn baby!

Edited May 10, 2015 by grassmatch

[matt79]

Grape ape, silver haze, vanilla kush, hindu kush.

 

Does anyone know if the a/c units will pick up the smell? I have a fenceline 3 feet from the wall and a house about another 10 feet away. I was thinking about an attic fan to vent the waste heat from the a/c but not if its super skunky

[wildman69]

My current (12k portable) ac does exhaust some air and smell outside and isn't doing a good enough job cooling. I am purchasing a 24k mini split AC ASAP and those don't vent any air to the outside.

Edited May 11, 2015 by wildman69

[matt79]

Yeah those "portables" suck. The single hose units use interior air to cool the coils and end up pulling room air outside. The double hise units dont have this problem as they use outside air to cool the coil.