I want to seal my 4500W grow.....help

So despite my powerful google-fu I can't find all that much information on sealed grow rooms beyond the basics: CO2 is added and monitored and the plants soak it in expelling all the oxygen needed for the grow with climate control being taken care of within the room. No air in, no air out, just CO2 in. Beyond that there's really little practical information that I can find. What I mostly want to make sure I get right is the whole oxygen thing... As I'm in the market for an air conditioner and CO2 supplementation system I might as well go the whole 9 and seal things off so that no CO2 goes to waste.

As it is I built the room by sealing a framework in with panda paper and gorilla tape, so It's basically a giant balloon with a garden in it. I've sectioned off and light sealed a quarter of the area for vegging and threw together 4 flowering 'modules' (4x4's lit by 1000w HPS in Adjust-A-Wings, either E&F or drips). At the moment two 740 CFM valu blowers ducted to 10"x40" carbon filters suck air out and a single 400 CFM valu blower pushes it in. A dehumidifier I bought at Sears keeps RH around 40% but with 3 lights on I'm going over 85 degrees any night the temperature outside floats above 55, So I'm going to add an AC. My house already runs on LP, so a gen is the obvious choice for CO2, especially since my garden ultimately fills a 16x9 area roundabouts and I feel like that's pretty big to be running a tank system.

So all that said; how does one calculate their gardens "respiration?" How much CO2 will a given area of canopy consume, giving off how much oxygen? I don't wanna get everything set up and then suffocate the first time I go in to fiddle with the ph! It can't be as simple as throwing an AC and gen in there and just sealing it shut. I'd also like to know if I can actually push the CO2 up beyond 5000ppm with a gen like growers will with tank systems to kill off pest invasions. I'd really love to suffocate all the spider mites that have been keeping me in my grow room on squish patrol.

I have loads of questions on the construction and maintenance of sealed grow ops so even if you just point me in the direction of some good resources that would be awesome; thanks everybody for your time!

Do some research on 'SoundProofing'. I built a sound proof music studio in my house a couple years ago. The walls are 7 inches thick with mass loaded vinyl, channeling mounted on rubber sound clips, insulation, triple drywalled, and caulked and sealed so no sound escapes. Sound is air movement. Low frequency, bass, is the most difficult to contain.
This is extreme for a grow. But the experience with the studio made building a framed grow room inside a room, much easier.
Use a good mini split ac system. They don't draw air from the outside. I don't even push air in the room. It's too hot out there anyway. Just recirculate and scrub with the filters. I'm running 6000 watts, and I turned the inline fans off and sealed the holes. I had to dim to 750 watts to keep the temp under 80f. So I guess I'm running 4500 watts just like you are. No spiders, dust, pollen or light getting in. And no smell or sound gets out of my room. Use a co2 controller when you burn. Expensive but worth it.
When you start to frame the room, Get a roll of soundproofing tape. Its only $10-15 for 100 ft. its 1 inch wide and spongy. Put 2 strips on the edges of the 2 x 4's that you mount on the floor. After you anchor the frame to the floor, you will have an air tight seal on the base of your room. Very important if you want to be sealed. And, it's not something you can do later. When the frame and insulation and walls are in place. Get the caulking gun and seal until your hand cramps up. Take a break and caulk some more. Now you can run your wiring and finish the walls. Make a good seal around the door too.
My goal was to create an artificial environment by not letting anything get in the room, or escape the room.
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phxrocks said:

Do some research on 'SoundProofing'. I built a sound proof music studio in my house a couple years ago. The walls are 7 inches thick with mass loaded vinyl, channeling mounted on rubber sound clips, insulation, triple drywalled, and caulked and sealed so no sound escapes. Sound is air movement. Low frequency, bass, is the most difficult to contain.
This is extreme for a grow. But the experience with the studio made building a framed grow room inside a room, much easier.
Use a good mini split ac system. They don't draw air from the outside. I don't even push air in the room. It's too hot out there anyway. Just recirculate and scrub with the filters. I'm running 6000 watts, and I turned the inline fans off and sealed the holes. I had to dim to 750 watts to keep the temp under 80f. So I guess I'm running 4500 watts just like you are. No spiders, dust, pollen or light getting in. And no smell or sound gets out of my room. Use a co2 controller when you burn. Expensive but worth it.
When you start to frame the room, Get a roll of soundproofing tape. Its only $10-15 for 100 ft. its 1 inch wide and spongy. Put 2 strips on the edges of the 2 x 4's that you mount on the floor. After you anchor the frame to the floor, you will have an air tight seal on the base of your room. Very important if you want to be sealed. And, it's not something you can do later. When the frame and insulation and walls are in place. Get the caulking gun and seal until your hand cramps up. Take a break and caulk some more. Now you can run your wiring and finish the walls. Make a good seal around the door too.
My goal was to create an artificial environment by not letting anything get in the room, or escape the room.
View attachment 2150523View attachment 2150524View attachment 2150525View attachment 2150527

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i've seen the room around phx, nice job man. just a quick question though...are you running 1000w bulbs dimmed to 750w? if so, check around man...all the ballast and bulb companies i have talked to say this isn't recommended. it actually changes the spectrum of the bulb and will reduce it's life faster. just letting you know man. sick room. keep up the good work.

phxrocks said:

Do some research on 'SoundProofing'. I built a sound proof music studio in my house a couple years ago. The walls are 7 inches thick with mass loaded vinyl, channeling mounted on rubber sound clips, insulation, triple drywalled, and caulked and sealed so no sound escapes. Sound is air movement. Low frequency, bass, is the most difficult to contain.
This is extreme for a grow. But the experience with the studio made building a framed grow room inside a room, much easier.
Use a good mini split ac system. They don't draw air from the outside. I don't even push air in the room. It's too hot out there anyway. Just recirculate and scrub with the filters. I'm running 6000 watts, and I turned the inline fans off and sealed the holes. I had to dim to 750 watts to keep the temp under 80f. So I guess I'm running 4500 watts just like you are. No spiders, dust, pollen or light getting in. And no smell or sound gets out of my room. Use a co2 controller when you burn. Expensive but worth it.
When you start to frame the room, Get a roll of soundproofing tape. Its only $10-15 for 100 ft. its 1 inch wide and spongy. Put 2 strips on the edges of the 2 x 4's that you mount on the floor. After you anchor the frame to the floor, you will have an air tight seal on the base of your room. Very important if you want to be sealed. And, it's not something you can do later. When the frame and insulation and walls are in place. Get the caulking gun and seal until your hand cramps up. Take a break and caulk some more. Now you can run your wiring and finish the walls. Make a good seal around the door too.
My goal was to create an artificial environment by not letting anything get in the room, or escape the room.
View attachment 2150523View attachment 2150524View attachment 2150525View attachment 2150527

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I have the same Sentinel controller, it's the shit! You def need a controller when you go to CO2 if you want to do it proper and not waste any CO2.

You really don't have to regulate or control the co2/oxygen relationship. Your co2 controller will keep you at your desired setpoint, typically 1500ppm. Your plants will absorb the co2 and your system will replenish it. that's it. Much more difficult to maintain is your temp/humdity but a good minisplit and small dehuey will take care of it

I think the "Kill Level" Co2 myth has pretty much been busted. After 3 years of looking I have yet to find one person who has had any success with this method.

I run my sealed 4k room at 78-82 degrees about 50%rh and 1000ppm co2. I do find that many pest including mites don't like the sealed environment. I rarely get outbreaks in my flower rooms even when I have a persistant problem in Veg. Of course I nuke em before they go in!

nuglets said:

i've seen the room around phx, nice job man. just a quick question though...are you running 1000w bulbs dimmed to 750w? if so, check around man...all the ballast and bulb companies i have talked to say this isn't recommended. it actually changes the spectrum of the bulb and will reduce it's life faster. just letting you know man. sick room. keep up the good work.

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Yes, 1000 watt digital phantoms from hydropharm dimmed to 750.
Thats funny you brought that up. I just replaced a bulb today. Been running them at 750 for a month to keep the heat down.
I'm gonna have to look into that though. Growth in week 5 has been great. Will changing the spectrum have any ill effects on the plants? I actuall y replaced the hps that wasn't working today, with an mh. IT was the only 1000 I had on hand. but i've been wanting to bring in some blue anyway,,

Thanks for the heads up!!

nuglets said:

i've seen the room around phx, nice job man. just a quick question though...are you running 1000w bulbs dimmed to 750w? if so, check around man...all the ballast and bulb companies i have talked to say this isn't recommended. it actually changes the spectrum of the bulb and will reduce it's life faster. just letting you know man. sick room. keep up the good work.

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hey nuglets i been using 1k dimmed to 600 and it works great. At the moment im running 1k's dimmed to 750. first week in flower. i'll keep ya posted on how its going. Also eye hortilux for optimum growth it recommends to replace every 9-10 months. If they do break down my local hydro store replaces them on the spot as long as theyre in the 1 year range

phxrocks said:

Yes, 1000 watt digital phantoms from hydropharm dimmed to 750.
Thats funny you brought that up. I just replaced a bulb today. Been running them at 750 for a month to keep the heat down.
I'm gonna have to look into that though. Growth in week 5 has been great. Will changing the spectrum have any ill effects on the plants? I actuall y replaced the hps that wasn't working today, with an mh. IT was the only 1000 I had on hand. but i've been wanting to bring in some blue anyway,,

Thanks for the heads up!!

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hey man, i talked to the guys at hortilux and the lumatek guys and they both said not to do it. bulbs are designed with a specific spectrum in mind. changing them will grow plants but isn't the idea with these crazy rooms we set up to get the optimal lighting? that's the way i see it. call the hortilux tech support guys. they can explain it a lot better.

kamie said:

hey nuglets i been using 1k dimmed to 600 and it works great. At the moment im running 1k's dimmed to 750. first week in flower. i'll keep ya posted on how its going. Also eye hortilux for optimum growth it recommends to replace every 9-10 months. If they do break down my local hydro store replaces them on the spot as long as theyre in the 1 year range

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that's great that you get that 1 year warranty from your hydro store. wish my guys gave me that. running them dimmed will grow plants but it's not optimal. check around and call some of the bulb companies. they all say the same.