Building small grow space in basement (8' L x 5.5' D x 6' H)

myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Inthestruggle said:
Hello everyone,
Been reading, first grow in over 25 years. Last was hydro, 4 separate buckets with pumps....was ~OK for what it was. Today, I'm looking for help nailing down the details. I have 20 White Widow seeds from ILGM, but am thinking of maybe looking at running something more compact for my space, unless you guys think its doable with LST, which I've never done. For my first run, I'm thinking of just 4-6 plants to figure it out. So far I have almost fully enclosed the space. I have:
1 - DWC home made fiberglass box 6' L x 3' W x 1' H with 18 sites in lid to fit the space with a little working room on each end
75 GPD RO water system
2 - 55 gal blue plastic food grade drums
4" net pots for each site
3 - Vivosun 1110 GPH 8 port air pumps
18 - 10" diameter air diffusers
6" air intake and exhaust to the outside
2 - 1000w digital ballasts with air cooled hoods
2 - 1000w HPS
1- 1000w MH
2 - Vivosun 6" 240 cfm boosters
1 - Vivison 6" 420 cfm
1 - 6" x 24" carbon filter
1 - 30 pint per day dehumidifier
My questions so far are:
I can get 2 - 48" tall CO2 tanks for $30, should I?No not worth the hassle
If so, how long will a tank of CO2 last in a 260sqft space?
Should I look for another strain for my space?no
Will the White Widow produce 110g/plant if vegged until 12" and flipped ("assuming" I can apply the knowledge from here, I don't burn them up with light or nutes and everything else goes Ok)?yes
Is the box too big for 6 plants..wasted nutes (14 gallons/plant)?yes, your lights will heat the water
Is the box big enough (84 gallons) to run 18 plants in SOG?SOG is best with a flood and drain table 1 galllon pots.
Should I make 18 - 1' x 1' chambers in the box or leave it open? Will root tangle be a problem if I run 18 plants?
Thanks in advance!
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I

Inthestruggle

Member
myke said:
You mentioned a cold air intake,is that maybe your fresh air in for the furnace?
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Not for the furnace, it's upstairs and a new high efficiency. There are 4 openings with grates, one on each side of the house, just below the sill plate, maybe to prevent mold?
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Inthestruggle said:
Not for the furnace, it's upstairs and a new high efficiency. There are 4 openings with grates, one on each side of the house, just below the sill plate, maybe to prevent mold?
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Yes,air flow.Do you have a high water table/sump pump?
 
xox

xox

Well-Known Member
i gave it some more thought i looked at all the photos again, im currently looking at this photo
20201027_143410.jpg
id say increase the size of the beam, add another layer or two depending on what the unsupported legnth is, modify the size of the pocket that the beam sits in to accommodate another layer, frame a wall along the right hand side with 2x4's, make a beam pocket in the walls framing might aswell since your already there couldnt hurt helping pickup that while your there since i cant see what the concrete looks like or if its even sitting on the foundation. i'd then frame another wall out of 2x4's right infront of the hot water tank running all the way to the back wall. make another pocket inside that wall to pickup the beam on the other side that should allow you to pull the post however im not physically there you should measure the beams size and measure the distance of the unsupported legnth and check in the building code to verify that the beam can be unsupported at the distance between the walls/foundations beam pocket thats picking up the beam there are fairly simple tables you can read that is pretty straight forward heres a website i just found using google this would be useful for you.
http://www.the-house-plans-guide.com/beam-span-tables.html
if your able to do that, it would free up alot of space in your basement not having those posts in the way. then you can frame a nice size room at the bottom of the stairs and box around those vents on the ceiling with framing like you saw on the ceiling in my room. you can then insulate your grow room in your basement and you'll then have walls to put wiring in for outlets for various things you'll need.
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
xox said:
i gave it some more thought i looked at all the photos again, im currently looking at this photo
View attachment 4726870
id say increase the size of the beam, add another layer or two depending on what the unsupported legnth is, modify the size of the pocket that the beam sits in to accommodate another layer, frame a wall along the right hand side with 2x4's, make a beam pocket in the walls framing might aswell since your already there couldnt hurt helping pickup that while your there since i cant see what the concrete looks like or if its even sitting on the foundation. i'd then frame another wall out of 2x4's right infront of the hot water tank running all the way to the back wall. make another pocket inside that wall to pickup the beam on the other side that should allow you to pull the post however im not physically there you should measure the beams size and measure the distance of the unsupported legnth and check in the building code to verify that the beam can be unsupported at the distance between the walls/foundations beam pocket thats picking up the beam there are fairly simple tables you can read that is pretty straight forward heres a website i just found using google this would be useful for you.
http://www.the-house-plans-guide.com/beam-span-tables.html
if your able to do that, it would free up alot of space in your basement not having those posts in the way. then you can frame a nice size room at the bottom of the stairs and box around those vents on the ceiling with framing like you saw on the ceiling in my room. you can then insulate your grow room in your basement and you'll then have walls to put wiring in for outlets for various things you'll need.
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I like the idea of framing out a bigger space up to the water heater but, when the snow melts and usually after heavy rain, I will get water weeping through the floor to the left of the first post and at the floor where the foundation meets the floor just below the black flexible ducting in the upper right is going through the wall to the second addition.
 
xox

xox

Well-Known Member
that sounds like something that needs to be addressed asap any water entering a building like that is bad.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
You can see on the floor where the water runs into the sump.Your space is where your tools are at yes?
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
xox said:
that sounds like something that needs to be addressed asap any water entering a building like that is bad.
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All of my neighbors have thier floors cored in the same way so that the water has a controlled place to escape. The spot under the black ducting gets wet and you can't see where its coming from. It's very common here.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Inthestruggle said:
All of my neighbors have thier floors cored in the same way so that the water has a controlled place to escape. The spot under the black ducting gets wet and you can't see where its coming from. It's very common here.
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ya,obviously you got it under control.
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
myke said:
ya,obviously you got it under control.
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It was like that when I bought the house 20 years ago. The agent told me that without a relief, the floor would crack somewhere as pressure built or a wall could collapse from pressure building behind it. There could be a better way, but this is the way being used by the natives. :|
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
I think I'm going to use this 45 gallon tub from Home Depot instead of the box that I built, for my 1st run.
www.homedepot.com

Argee 45 Gal. Heavy Duty Mixing Tub RG177 - The Home Depot

Argee Tubs are Tough and Rugged. These Construction Grade Tubs are Made from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), to withstand all the punishment Heavy Duty jobs can give. Extra-large capacity for the big
www.homedepot.com
The day and night temps here will be below freezing next week. I'm going to be running insulated ducting from outside to my hood. Do you think that it will condense and short my light or cause other issues?
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
Has anyone used this temp and humidity controller..$70 at Amazon? It has 4 outlets and can run AC/Heat/Dehumid/Humid up to 1800 watts and 15A total. The pic only shows 2 outlets but the vendor says there are 4.
I want to have it turn on the exterior fan when temps inside the room reach 80 and turn off at 72. I think I'll have the fans on the hoods come on/off with the lights and dump outside.
 
I

Inthestruggle

Member
Here's an update on the room so far. I'm hoping to have it done tomorrow. I didn't realize how bad my vision is/how hard is for me to judge depth when looking at the mylar film and trying to stick to the walls and ceiling. My wife is helping me tomorrow and with luck we'll get the intake/exhaust, fans and other 2 lights up. Next step, bring in the plants. I underestimated the time to get this done and planted 6 seeds after my last post. I hope the stress of not being transplanted doesn't make them herm or hurt full growth.
 

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I

Inthestruggle

Member
Day 2 of the plants in the room. I decided not to use my home made fiberglass container. Instead I took HomeDepot buckets and cut them down to 7". I flipped the cutoff top and glued it to help block light and for more support. I have one of three lights on with 1K watt MH bulb turned down to 500W. The top of the bucket lid to the bottom of the hood is 23". Without any cooling my temps with light on are 78-80F RH 43-45%, light off 63-65F, RH 60-65%. Should I turn up the light and raise or is this setup OK.
 

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Last edited:
.Smoke

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
Inthestruggle said:
Day 2 of the plants in the room. I decided not to use my home made fiberglass container. Instead I took HomeDepot buckets and cut them down to 7". I flipped the cutoff top and glued it for more support. I have one of three lights on with 1K watt MH bulb turned down to 500W. The top of the bucket lid to the bottom of the hood is 23". Without any cooling my temps with light on are 78-80F RH 43-45%, light off 63-65F, RH 60-65%. Should I turn up the light and raise or is this setup OK.
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Looking good.
As a fellow HPS grower, I would highly suggest you get a Lux meter if you don't have one. It makes things a lot easier than trying to "guess" how much light the plants are getting based off the hood height.

For the size your seedlings are now, you want your lux around 11,000-13,000 for the next week or so. Then you can crank the light up. I usually veg around 35,000 lux and flower around 50,000.

If you're new to Lux meters, there's one I use from Amazon that's about $30.
I put a post up on another growing forum a while back with a link to a video that shows the meter and gives advice for light levels.
Here's the link...

Accurate HID/LED Lux to PAR measuring for around $30

If you're like me and enjoy measuring your light intensity and distribution but don't want to spend the $$$ for a PAR meter, then this might just be the thread for you. I came across this video a while back made by Shane from MIGRO. In it he has done a side by side comparison test using an...
phenohunter.org phenohunter.org
I'll be following along. Best of luck to you.
 
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