Kitty's Commercial Grow Op-Bigger & Better Every Day!

phyzix

Well-Known Member
Hey kitty!
Im new to this site and I must say your op is amazing! Your op is definately something I will unfortunately never be able to do.
Im just starting to grow indoors in a micro hydroponic unit. Since im an electrical engineering major, im making my unit almost completely self contained with a wireless PIC32 board that will let me remotely control the height of my lamp, air intake, and feeding times and such.
Im very envious of your "800 grapefruit diesel seeds". I have like 15 seeds total :/
Sounds pretty awesome. Check out the attitude deal for March 20th, you can get a lot of nice seeds for cheap to expand your horizons.
 

theinhibitor

Well-Known Member
Probably HPS (400 W) since its the most versatile. It will be mounted on a ballast with a movable chain to lower and raise it when needed.
The funny thing is, simple semi-automated systems are pretty easy to make nowadays with the availability and resources of programmable boards like the Arduino. Im basically using a board I had from a robotics competition. Most of the stuff I'm going to leave (like the photodiodes and temp sensors). Just need to add a camera and IR led so I can always see the plants :).

Sorry for taking over the thread for a page :).

I agree with phyzix. Moar pics plz :)!!
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Two goofy things:

1.) Timer failure, lights were on for 24 hours. We'll see how bad that fucks stuff up. The timer is totally dead, blank screen and all, so it just left everything in the "on" mode. Why dont the MLC-16X controllers (or all of them) include a built in timer? So stupid to have to use a separate one on a 120v trigger cord.

2.) Digital camera pictures are toast, the SD card is unreadable in three computers. I grabbed a new one at walmart this morning ($5.99, man they are cheap now!), but no pictures of the last harvest are going to be up.

Shit. :(






On the Arduino note, its a cool platform, but expensive!!
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Ya, I figure report the accomplishments and the defeats all in the thread, trying to keep it as real of a journal as possible with all the pitfalls and the fun at the same time =) I've never had a timer failure like this, so I've no clue what the "damages are"................ 8 lights are flowering right now.
 

gumball

Well-Known Member
I think you will be ok from the timer failure. Now if it was more than 2 days to a week or more then there may serious issues
 

cmt1984

Well-Known Member
i think you'll be ok kitty. ive read a few posts on here about people's lights staying on for 3 or 4 days and it didnt noticeably effect the plants.

cant believe how cheap SD cards are now...last time i bought one is was $30 usd for a 2 gb card.

that all sucks, but its to be expected, shit always goes wrong somewhere...especially in a setup as big as yours.
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
Harvest #1 was 2 lbs 11 oz off of 4000w. (.311g/watt)

Harvest #2 was 2 lbs 13 oz off of 3000w. (.435g/watt)

With the lack of a full pound per 1000w light, we are purchasing CO2 this week. :) I'm thinking of a wall mounted unit from C.A.P. hooked up to BBQ Propane tanks. Hows that sound, and what's a good inexpensive but useful controller for them? So many units its hard to figure out how they all connect and work. I dont want to lug around CO2 Tanks. :)
 

woodsmaneh!

Well-Known Member
I have used a CAP controller and Co2 Monitor for the last few years and have had no issues with it. I use GreenAir Co2 generators with BBQ tank. A tank lasts me 7 to 9 days in a 10x16x7 room 1792 sq f. I like the greenAir for the safety switch and the easy to clean burner.

Controller I have the second one down on this page
http://www.randmsupply.com/dept.php?navid=30

and I use this room controller as it controls all the fuctions you need for Co2 + the monotor.

http://www.growwurks.com/cap-xtreme-greenhouse-controller-xgc-1e.aspx

Just a side note on Co2, it will give you a boost of up to 25% if you have everything else dialed in. Most people do not get much of an increase in yield because they think just adding Co2 is a automatic 20 to 25% increase, needless to say lots of disappointed people out there.

You will need more cooling and your plants will eat and drink more, they may also finish faster. You should also dial the Co2 back in the last 2 weeks of flower. I don't as I have 3 generations in one of the rooms all the time.

If you don't like changing tanks you can get Natural Gas one's if you got NG at your door. Or just get the dual BBQ adapter or by the big tanks.


Or there is this

http://www.randmsupply.com/productdisp.php?pid=387&navid=6

Co2 generator NOTE!! Make sure you do not run air pumps in the same room as Co2!!
https://www.greenair.com/browse/co2-generators.html

They have a calculator to figger what you need on this page also.
 

woodsmaneh!

Well-Known Member
Harvest #1 was 2 lbs 11 oz off of 4000w. (.311g/watt) Hummmmm this the ones you had issues with?

Harvest #2 was 2 lbs 13 oz off of 3000w. (.435g/watt) Getting closer to the average of .5 per watt.

With the lack of a full pound per 1000w light, we are purchasing CO2 this week. :) I'm thinking of a wall mounted unit from C.A.P. hooked up to BBQ Propane tanks. Hows that sound, and what's a good inexpensive but useful controller for them? So many units its hard to figure out how they all connect and work. I dont want to lug around CO2 Tanks. :)
They have a saying around here you can buy the hay before the cow eats it or after. Buy a good controller and room controller and it will last a long time and give you no grief. What ever you buy get the same monitor and controller.
 
Two goofy things:

1.) Timer failure, lights were on for 24 hours. We'll see how bad that fucks stuff up. The timer is totally dead, blank screen and all, so it just left everything in the "on" mode. Why dont the MLC-16X controllers (or all of them) include a built in timer? So stupid to have to use a separate one on a 120v trigger cord.

2.) Digital camera pictures are toast, the SD card is unreadable in three computers. I grabbed a new one at walmart this morning ($5.99, man they are cheap now!), but no pictures of the last harvest are going to be up.

Shit. :(






On the Arduino note, its a cool platform, but expensive!!

i took pics ... i can post them if that is ok? or email them to you.

btw ... pineapple express is beyond my new all time fav. the aroma fresh is so sticky and sweet you need a huge glass of water!
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
i took pics ... i can post them if that is ok? or email them to you.

btw ... pineapple express is beyond my new all time fav. the aroma fresh is so sticky and sweet you need a huge glass of water!
Send em to me first, let me make sure I remove your iPhones GPS data from each picture and can crop some stuff out ;) ;) (seriously!)
 

researchkitty

Well-Known Member
I have an air pump oxygenating my rezs and a CO2 propane burner in the same room. What's wrong with this setup? Didn't see anything on the link you posted...
"they say" that the extra CO2 in the room will decrease the amount of oxygen that your air pumps can provide to the reservoir. I dont see how this is possible since the air we breath is 21% oxygen (210,000 ppm) versus our CO2 is around 0.039% and in a grow op its 0.078% (1200 ppm ish). Does that extra 0.04% CO2 really make your reservoir water less oxygenated?
 

flamdrags420

Well-Known Member
"they say" that the extra CO2 in the room will decrease the amount of oxygen that your air pumps can provide to the reservoir. I dont see how this is possible since the air we breath is 78.08% oxygen (780,800 ppm) versus our CO2 is around 0.039% and in a grow op its 0.078% (1200 ppm ish). Does that extra 0.04% CO2 really make your reservoir water less oxygenated?
That must not be true then. The math doesn't add up. Unless some other gas is being intoduced to the environment? Water has mass even as a gas. Another biproduct of co2 generation is water vapor. You can check this out to see how much your rh changes when using a co2 gen.
 

Dipsomaniac420

Well-Known Member
Hey Kitty! So I'm subbed into the journal...thanks for all your hard work in the grow room and in the forum.

So you had a timer failure...bummer! I've had lights left on before and know well the consequences. I assume, because of what you're doing, that you're aware of the possible consequences. But I believe I read that you've never had such an issue so you may not know exactly what's to expect.

Ed Rosenthal, a god amongst growers (imo), writes about phytochrome and how and why plants use light to switch from vegetative growth to flowering and back.

Irregular light stress though will often times produce hermies or more correctly, but often confused with, monoecious plants (there's a difference). I've had this happen before and there isn't much you can do about it, if its close to harvest then I'd say ride it out, otherwise you have to pull anything with male flowers (obviously). I know this is again, obvious, but when the male pollinates the females you only have so much time before seeds begin to form. So if you can harvest before that happens, that's one option.
 
Top