drooling over grow room gadgets

veilora

Active Member
I have an 11x12 room, and I'm going to have a 400wMH and a 600wHPS. My growing space is going to be about 4.5'x9' without walking room. and so my grow room I guess is just going to have a lot of extra floor space. I'm getting an intake blower and an exhaust blower both rated around 450 cfm.
My lights are gonna be aircooled, in a straight line, with a ducting that moves air from another room, through the lights, and out the outside wall with like a 15cfm little blower. I'm thinking about an inline HEPA filter because whether I'm drawing air in from another room or outside it's probably gross, since I smoke in my house and all. And I'm looking at a carbon air filter to deal with the odor before I exhaust it outside.

god i'm stoned. so anyways I live in LA, and the air conditioner in my house does not cool the room I'm gonna use at all! And sometimes its really hot during the day, and sometimes it's cold at night and the humidity chart for my city says that humidity is pretty much all across the board

and I'm thinking about the MCC-1 by greenairproducts, the super climate controller, and I'm thinking, do I really need all that crap? I mean my exhaust fan running on longer cycles when it's hot in the room might not do crap to cool it down, and if I set up a co2 enrichment system, that'd be getting wasted pretty quick on a hot day, when my exhaust system is exchanging all the air every 3 minutes almost constantly

so then now I'm looking at portable air coolers, and vornado heater fans, but air coolers don't do well if your humidity is too high or too low (I forget but my humidity range is going to be all over the place anyways) and should I just buy a portable airconditioner/heating unit for like $700 and plan on not keeping my goal of staying away from 240 V? (Side Note: The window in the room is not in a convienient place so all my ventilation everything is not going through the window, I'll just make new holes in the wall.)

I just would like to know how much effort I should be putting into this climate control deal, I know it's important, but can anyone clue me into more specialized areas I should be concerned about, I mean, am I gonna need a humidifier to keep it within that 40-60 range, or a dehumidifier? If the tempurature inside my room was naturally 78 degrees without any effort, then how often should I exchange the air in my room (in under three minutes)? Twice or three times an hour? And then do co2 enrichment 2-3 an hour?
(Seperate Question: How loud is a 465 cfm squirrel blower gonna be? At night time? Running in three minute incriments

That climate control master system whatever seems really cool, but I figure my lights and the ventilation for my lights could be set to a timer. The exhaust and the co2 can be set to run in timed incriments (not at the sametime). My watering can also be taken care of with a simple timer. And so now I'm just left with the question of whether running my circulation fans faster or turning on my exhaust fans more often is actually going to help maintain the tempurature or if I should splurge for evaportative air cooler/humidifier/air purification system/circulation fan 4-1 system for $80 (or 3 of them?):wall:

This is all jumbled around and I'm sorry but I'm just trying to figure out what is cost efficient, instead of just drooling over the promotional literature, and anyways I live in los angeles and I've got decent cash available and I don't want to waste money on climate control gadgets that only sound neato because I don't understand what I'm reading.
 

Old in the Way

Well-Known Member
Cool a real set-up to help with....give me a while to organize your thoughts and give you my feed back.

I run 4000watts of lights in a 300 sq.ft. 2 room op in a very hot area of the SouthEast U.S. and temp/humidity management are paramount when it comes to yield. High temps and high humidity will reduce yield as much as any other environmental factor-including quality of light.

Alright lets look at your post in more detail..................
 

Old in the Way

Well-Known Member
I have an 11x12 room, and I'm going to have a 400wMH and a 600wHPS. My growing space is going to be about 4.5'x9' without walking room.
You need more light 2-1kw at least.

You need to shoot for 50watts per square foot of canopy

and so my grow room I guess is just going to have a lot of extra floor space.
You should consider building out a seperate veg area to grow and maintain mums from which you can take cuttings and perpetuate your harvest by filling 25% of your flowering area with a batch of new clones every 15 days.

Then after 60 days you will pull more smoke than you can handle every 2 weeks or so.
Please go to the hydro section and read the sticky thread at the top of the section titled "get a harvest every 2 weeks".

I'm getting an intake blower and an exhaust blower both rated around 450 cfm.
Your intake fan should be rated at about 80% of the volume of exhaust to maintain a negative air pressure inside the room....thus all air leaks inward

My lights are gonna be aircooled, in a straight line, with a ducting that moves air from another room, through the lights, and out the outside wall with like a 15cfm little blower. I'm thinking about an inline HEPA filter because whether I'm drawing air in from another room or outside it's probably gross, since I smoke in my house and all.
Good, this is what we call a closed loop exhaust-you will need a more powerful fan but no need to filter since the air flowing through the duct and lights will never be mingled with the airmass in the grow room.

I'm looking at a carbon air filter to deal with the odor before I exhaust it outside.
You will need a carbon filter (6" and an 6" exhaust for your entire room-assuming 8-9ft ceilings in a 10x11 room)

god i'm stoned. so anyways I live in LA, and the air conditioner in my house does not cool the room I'm gonna use at all! And sometimes its really hot during the day, and sometimes it's cold at night and the humidity chart for my city says that humidity is pretty much all across the board.
Sounds like this area. My a/c keeps up but not when the flower room lights up at 7 every am.

and I'm thinking about the MCC-1 by greenairproducts, the super climate controller, and I'm thinking, do I really need all that crap? I mean my exhaust fan running on longer cycles when it's hot in the room might not do crap to cool it down, and if I set up a co2 enrichment system, that'd be getting wasted pretty quick on a hot day, when my exhaust system is exchanging all the air every 3 minutes almost constantly
Nice system........but no you probably don't need it.

so then now I'm looking at portable air coolers, and vornado heater fans, but air coolers don't do well if your humidity is too high or too low (I forget but my humidity range is going to be all over the place anyways) and should I just buy a portable airconditioner/heating unit for like $700 and plan on not keeping my goal of staying away from 240 V? (Side Note: The window in the room is not in a convienient place so all my ventilation everything is not going through the window, I'll just make new holes in the wall.)
Yes you will need a portable a/c-heater combo with a "Temp DNE" tstat for Custom Automated Products-or similar contoller from competitior.
You will need a DE-humidifier for sure. I run mine at night full blast with a pin timer. It puts off enough heat to keep the room warm and lower humidity to 40%-the room naturally runs 50%RH during the day with exhaust on 12 straight hours.

I just would like to know how much effort I should be putting into this climate control deal, I know it's important,
Probably the most important next to lights-but anyone can just buy the right sized light. Climate control is an art.

but can anyone clue me into more specialized areas I should be concerned about, I mean, am I gonna need a humidifier to keep it within that 40-60 range, or a dehumidifier? If the tempurature inside my room was naturally 78 degrees without any effort, then how often should I exchange the air in my room (in under three minutes)? Twice or three times an hour?
During "lights on" you will have to run exhaust non-stop from the heat produced by lamps and ballasts.

The exhaust fan should also utilize a tstat-such as the CAP-Temp DNE. Not a Timer to keep the room at the correct temps in conjunction with heating and cooling appliances.

And then do co2 enrichment 2-3 an hour?
CO2 enrichment requires computerized monitoring and solenoid activation for automated dosing to maintain desired levels in concert with "exhaust off" periods but during "lights on".


[QUOTE(Seperate Question: How loud is a 465 cfm squirrel blower gonna be? At night time? Running in three minute incriments[/QUOTE]

F that. Vortex fan or something like that-no more squirrel cage blowers, this is 2008.

That climate control master system whatever seems really cool, but I figure my lights and the ventilation for my lights could be set to a timer. The exhaust and the co2 can be set to run in timed incriments (not at the sametime). My watering can also be taken care of with a simple timer. And so now I'm just left with the question of whether running my circulation fans faster or turning on my exhaust fans more often is actually going to help maintain the tempurature or if I should splurge for evaportative air cooler/humidifier/air purification system/circulation fan 4-1 system for $80 (or 3 of them?):wall:
lights-timer(s)
air handling and exhaust/intakes-thermostat(s)
CO2-self contained system with monitoring and measured enrichment(skip the co2 till you can gro like a pro without it-unless you want it so you can run 85+ degree temps-without you must maintain a 74-78 range for max yield.
Oscillating fand are just needed to exchange the air around plants so they don't start rotting and shit-air flow, just air flow (there electric motors will warm the air they will do nothing to help cool)
You will need a/c, heater, dehumidifier for sure in SoCal


This is all jumbled around and I'm sorry but I'm just trying to figure out what is cost efficient, instead of just drooling over the promotional literature, and anyways I live in los angeles and I've got decent cash available and I don't want to waste money on climate control gadgets that only sound neato because I don't understand what I'm reading.
NP. Its alot to wrap your head around ain't it.....and def don't believe the hype or take op advice from the clerks. If they were weed barons why the fuck they working in a hydro shop...ya know. I have 300+sq.ft in 2 rooms and 15K in a pretty decent set-up (hydro) but I will try to pass along some of the mistakes I made so you save some frustration and cash.

YOU MUST READ THE POST "get a harvest every 2 weeks" it is a sticky at the top of the hydro section. HURRY before you design any more-it will change your approach i assure you.......

Hope some of this rambling helps-
Adios muchacho.....
-OitW
 

veilora

Active Member
I have read the two week harvest thread. I planned on starting a bunch of seedlings, all at once or in stages until I have 18-20 females that I would narrow down to 12 mothers. I'd take clones from 6 moms on the 16th and clones from the other 6 on the 1st of the month. I'd end up sending 6 plants off to flower/harvest every two weeks, I am looking very seriously at general hydroponics rainforest 66 aeroponics system or the eco grower drip setup. It would make it so that each two-weeks-age-difference group of 6 plants could be on their own nutrient regime. I also was thinking I could put each of those units up on a rolling cart, and build some sort of a frame to hold up the screen for a ScrOG grow, so I could spin the little 6plant units around 360 to give me room to work at tying them to the screen. Also the plants in the flowering area that are 12 weeks old won't overshadow the 6 week old plants, it will just have a fuller canopy vs the very beginning of reaching the height of the screen.

I want a vortex fan but this whole entire concept of exhaust. it's just awful. I'm just staring at the pictures going, well, but that's an inline fan. It's centrifugal that means it could handle a longer run better but how can I turn an inline fan into an exhaust blower? just make the inline fan the end of the "line"?

Duh.
 

Old in the Way

Well-Known Member
Good on ya for reading it. That sounds good. Your on the right track. You on an MMC? 6 plants every 2 weeks aint much unless you veg them into little bushes. I flower 96 clones every 20 days in a 6x4 area ( I have 3 6x4 areas with 1kw lights over each ) and harvest every 20 days(obviously) instead of every 14-15.

Any way that is 3/sq.ft till they are done. I only use 20-25 of my 60 mums to give me 120++ nice cuttings every 20 days.

With 12 mums you will have cuttings coming out your ass-The best of my mums give 14-15 clones on one pass of the scalpel. The worst give 7-9.....just so you know.
 

veilora

Active Member
okay so if i could just blurt out a bunch of crap, as if I haven't already done that, let me ask this.

so should I....

buy a portable air conditioner, and a ~440cfm intake fan , and a ~465 exhaust fan

or

use a through the window/wall a/c as my air intake, and a similar size exhaust fan to move the air out.

I'm not sure how much filtering the air coming in matters as far as pest prevention/funky problems goes.

I'm not sure how much the carbon air filter is going to effect the cfm of my exhaust fan.

and thank you so much for your help. when I was growing up, people used to always tell me how bright I was and I used to always respond, yeah well I seem to do alright with algebra and crap but if you ask me to turn on the ac I can't figure it out, and i was serious, and here I am now...so thanks a lot for your help.
 
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