Getting ready to build.. who can help me move some air??

S

Slim821

Well-Known Member
Hey whats up guys, this will be my 2nd op, looking for some help in some specific departments I'm not too sharp in.

-Op specs: haven't built this yet, but this is the space I have
60" wide X 30" deep X 72" tall
Wooden box, 1/2 inch OSB
I haven't decided if this is going to be soil, or aero yet. My first op was aero, loved the outcome but hated maintenance. that's for another day.

Here are a couple of my concerns, and why:
-Ventilation. where I'm at, its hot. all the damn time. luckily I'll be building inside of an a/c room that I will keep as close to 72-75 as I can. (room is about 20'x12, with a 12000 btu a/c unit) I currently have a 1000w hps, I will be trading in for a 600w. I'm going with a 'closed' vent system for my light, possibly cool tube running the air from the room through it. What size fan should I put on here? and where? (pushing, pulling) What kind of air circulation system do you recommend for moving in clean air and out with the hot air? I'm thinking I will need something serious, when its daytime I know temps will get up quick. I read something on here years ago talking about how quickly you should be able to clear your room, but I can't remember what it was.

-Smell. This is a big issue, where I am at I will have people at my location, I can not afford to have any smell leaking out. I have zero experience when it comes to carbon filters and smell, my last op this was not a concern. Is there a specific size or type of carbon filter that works the best from your experiences? Any help in this department is good.

I'll add more questions when I brainstorm them up.


Slim
 
R

riverchaser

Active Member
I just built a 4x4x6.5 ft 600w tent. I thought the light was a good purchase until I flipped on my inline fan and carbon filter combo. No smell at all, worth every penny. Check out gotham hydro, they had decent prices on combos. If you buy off their ebay store you get free shipping.

Sounds like heat is going to be a bitch. Probably need a 6 in fan in the 400+ cfm range to keep that light cool. I would also recommend piping that hot air outside if possible. Pull air through the light I believe is the general consensus on the matter. I might be wrong , but I think you will need another fan to suck the air out of the grow area and into the carbon filter too. You will have to make a few passive intakes/light traps to get air in the box.

Its winter where I'm at, and I've got the window open in the room with the tent just to keep it cool. Its 28 degrees outside right now and for the first time in a long time I am grateful for the cold. I know I need more fan though or another fan with an A/C hood.
 
hydrosoil78

hydrosoil78

Active Member
salesmen at the hydro store should be able to help you maybe if you just call them up. gotta get ducting , hidhut.com has cannon fans from 99.99. maybe you can find one cheaper, you gotta hang the fan from ceiling hooks or mount it on the box probably. shouldn't be too complicated get enough ducting to vent out of the room if you have to.
 
phillipchristian

phillipchristian

New Member
My opinion from experience...

- The ambient air around your box is going to help alot. By keeping the surrounding room cool it will make it a lot easier to control the temperature in your room. That A/C is more than enough to keep that exterior room cool and to handle any hot air exhaust from your hood.

- The theory on fans is you want to be able to turn over the air in your room every 5 minutes. In your case it does not apply though because you are exhausting only the air from your hood. i wouldn't worry about spending too much money on a high end fan for this application. Most of them in that mid range level can move 350-450cfm and that is plenty. What you should do in this situation is suck air into the ducting, through your hood, through your carbon filter, through your fan, and exhaust it out of the grow space. Carbon filter are easy to choose because they usually tell you what size space they are rated for. For a room of that size you'll probably be getting one of the smaller filters. With only one light in the space you will be able to keep the air relatively cool inside of the box by doing just this. By setting it up this way you are also creating negative pressure inside of your room. Essentially you will be sucking the air out of the room through your hood so that is why it is important to put the filter on this line. Doing so means that all of the cracks you have in the room will be pulling air into the room and not exhausting air (and smell) out. Some people will tell you to put the filter on it's own line but for a space that small it really would be overkill and you'd have to waste more money on another fan. Either way you may need to bring in some cooler air from outside to control the ambient temperature inside the room. My suggestion is to use the existing A/C in the exterior room to keep the air in there cool. Say 72 F. Purchase a $25 axial fan and a fan speed controller and/or thermostat. Use this fan as an air intake and adjust as needed with the controller to keep you temperature where you want them.

-I am not sure how you are setting this room up but I noticed one thing. You stated that you are switching to a 600w fixture. If you are planning on using the entire 60" wide for plants then you may not get enough coverage with a 600w. You may want to stick with the 1000w. Plus I would line the entire interior of the space (including the inside of the door) with a reflective material.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
 
SnoCap

SnoCap

Well-Known Member
You want to clear the air in the room between 1 and 5 times a minute, calculate your cubic footage and get a fan with a cfm rating that can easily clear it at least once a minute. As far as smell goes, I'd use an inline carbon filter, and you might want to get a duct muffler to depending on how loud your fan is.

EDIT: also, I'm about to start my first Aero grow, what were your main complaints about the maintenance?
 
S

Slim821

Well-Known Member
riverchaser: thanks for sharing, thats the kind of info I'm looking for. No smell at all? I'll check them out see what I can find.

Hydrosoil: Yeah I was def going to talk to the guys at the store when I pick up some materials.

SnoCap: I've never heard of a duct muffler but it sounds right up my alley. Thanks. As far as aero goes, I really enjoyed it, its def a method that the more time you put into your garden, the better the outcome. It was high maint. due my temps, I got some root rot, ended having to freeze 2L of water and swap them out of my res twice a day.. pain in the ass.


phillipchristian: MAN! dude thank you, great insight. I def agree with you... I might need to stick with the 1k, the only reason I planned to downgrade was temp control. I might try a 6" cooltube with the 1k, and if I cant get the temps to where I want them I'll go to the 600.
Are you running soil or hydro setup in your 4x4? Oh and the fan speed controller is a great idea! I never even thought about that. THANKS!

phillipchristian said:
My opinion from experience...

- The ambient air around your box is going to help alot. By keeping the surrounding room cool it will make it a lot easier to control the temperature in your room. That A/C is more than enough to keep that exterior room cool and to handle any hot air exhaust from your hood.

- The theory on fans is you want to be able to turn over the air in your room every 5 minutes. In your case it does not apply though because you are exhausting only the air from your hood. i wouldn't worry about spending too much money on a high end fan for this application. Most of them in that mid range level can move 350-450cfm and that is plenty. What you should do in this situation is suck air into the ducting, through your hood, through your carbon filter, through your fan, and exhaust it out of the grow space. Carbon filter are easy to choose because they usually tell you what size space they are rated for. For a room of that size you'll probably be getting one of the smaller filters. With only one light in the space you will be able to keep the air relatively cool inside of the box by doing just this. By setting it up this way you are also creating negative pressure inside of your room. Essentially you will be sucking the air out of the room through your hood so that is why it is important to put the filter on this line. Doing so means that all of the cracks you have in the room will be pulling air into the room and not exhausting air (and smell) out. Some people will tell you to put the filter on it's own line but for a space that small it really would be overkill and you'd have to waste more money on another fan. Either way you may need to bring in some cooler air from outside to control the ambient temperature inside the room. My suggestion is to use the existing A/C in the exterior room to keep the air in there cool. Say 72 F. Purchase a $25 axial fan and a fan speed controller and/or thermostat. Use this fan as an air intake and adjust as needed with the controller to keep you temperature where you want them.

-I am not sure how you are setting this room up but I noticed one thing. You stated that you are switching to a 600w fixture. If you are planning on using the entire 60" wide for plants then you may not get enough coverage with a 600w. You may want to stick with the 1000w. Plus I would line the entire interior of the space (including the inside of the door) with a reflective material.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
phillipchristian

phillipchristian

New Member
Slim821 said:
phillipchristian: MAN! dude thank you, great insight. I def agree with you... I might need to stick with the 1k, the only reason I planned to downgrade was temp control. I might try a 6" cooltube with the 1k, and if I cant get the temps to where I want them I'll go to the 600.
Are you running soil or hydro setup in your 4x4? Oh and the fan speed controller is a great idea! I never even thought about that. THANKS!
Click to expand...
My pleasure man. Always glad to help out when I can. I'm a long ways from a 4x4 now. Got a 8,000w flower and a 3,000w veg. I run hydroponics, Ebb & Flow system. It's what the guy who taught me used and I've just kinda stuck with it ever since. I've thrown a few in soil here and there just messing around but I've been running basically the same EF system for like 15 years. Just starting getting into water cooled environments about 3 years ago. Now we have a 100% water cooled system. Water cooled air handlers, hoods, Co2 generators, dehumidifiers, reservoirs, etc... Tinkered around with that for the last few years till I got it dialed in. Now my new fixation in turning my flower into a 100% automated system. Environmental controllers, VPN grow software and cameras, nutrient feeding systems, etc... Just finding ways to pass the time till fishing season comes back around. Lol

Let me know if you need anything else.
 
scroglodyte

scroglodyte

Well-Known Member
pull it through; not push. and maybe exhaust light and box with two separate fans. pushing thru a filter causes high pressures and kills fans.
 
S

Slim821

Well-Known Member
phillipchristian: that's whats up. I'm like you always ready to tinker with something to make life a little easier, your setup sounds delicious.

I will def be pulling air through my light fixture, I'm thinking I'll go with a 6 inch cooltube, a good 6" fan, just not sure how I feel about putting a carbon filter on the intake side of the light, I don't know if they restrict too much air flow, but I like the idea of keeping negative pressure in my box. I have a smaller 4" 171 cfm fan now I can use to move the air into the room, to help speed the process of exchanging the air.

My first setup was the rubbermaid aeroponics, I would like to use this again, but last time I had troubles keeping my res temps down around 75. They constantly creep up to around 85, causing me to put the frozen 2L in the tanks. I was actually thinking about buildling a NFT setup with some square fencing, and keeping the res outside of the box. Anyone else doing this? I don't mind if I can keep my res temps down to room temp (75f) I won't suffer root rot with my dutchmasters rootzone. That shit works miracles.

Of course there is always the option of going with soil, less maintenance, less temp issues, just seems like an all around easier way to grow, never done it though.

What do you guys think? with a room like the one I described above, would you go soil, or just stick with the triple tank aero I have currently, where I can keep about 18-24 fems flowering at a time. I don't really know how many flowering beauties would be possible in that size space in soil.

Thanks Again!
Slim
 
phillipchristian

phillipchristian

New Member
Slim821 said:
phillipchristian: that's whats up. I'm like you always ready to tinker with something to make life a little easier, your setup sounds delicious.

I will def be pulling air through my light fixture, I'm thinking I'll go with a 6 inch cooltube, a good 6" fan, just not sure how I feel about putting a carbon filter on the intake side of the light, I don't know if they restrict too much air flow, but I like the idea of keeping negative pressure in my box. I have a smaller 4" 171 cfm fan now I can use to move the air into the room, to help speed the process of exchanging the air.

My first setup was the rubbermaid aeroponics, I would like to use this again, but last time I had troubles keeping my res temps down around 75. They constantly creep up to around 85, causing me to put the frozen 2L in the tanks. I was actually thinking about buildling a NFT setup with some square fencing, and keeping the res outside of the box. Anyone else doing this? I don't mind if I can keep my res temps down to room temp (75f) I won't suffer root rot with my dutchmasters rootzone. That shit works miracles.

Of course there is always the option of going with soil, less maintenance, less temp issues, just seems like an all around easier way to grow, never done it though.

What do you guys think? with a room like the one I described above, would you go soil, or just stick with the triple tank aero I have currently, where I can keep about 18-24 fems flowering at a time. I don't really know how many flowering beauties would be possible in that size space in soil.

Thanks Again!
Slim
Click to expand...
Hey bud, I think you misunderstood me. You don't want the carbon filter on the air intake side of the hood. You want it on the exhaust side. It should go...Hood>Carbon Filter>Fan. Your fan pulls air through the hood and the carbon filter.

I'm not familiar at all with NFT techniques. I don't know anyone that uses them. Not to say that they are bad or anything. With hydro it's pretty much "To Each Their Own." Whatever you like and whatever works for you. I think keeping your reservoir outside the box will help with temps though. That might be the route to go. Also putting an airstone in a reservoir helps bring the temp down a little.
 
phillipchristian

phillipchristian

New Member
ak.fortyseven said:
View attachment 2065004here's a diagram for ya ;) Phillip's explanation is on point.
Click to expand...
I think the filter shoud go on the other side of the light. That way you are scrubbing all of the air being exhausted out of the tent. You do get odor creep in your hood and ducting. By putting the filter before the hood you are creating negative pressure in your hood. Basically you are pulling more air then your filter is allowing to pass through. Therefore you will either damage your fan if your hood is completely air tight or more likely you will be pulling air into your fhood from the room which will have odor in it that has not been scrubbed.
 
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