Moving out of tents and into a room. Any advice?

Hello all,
Im leaving my 4x4 and 4x8 tents and building a room in their place. This is my first move into a room - and I have only run 4 crops to date in my tents so i'm new. I'm interested in absolutely any sound advise, I wan't do only have to do this once.

Lighting:
1000W Nanolux DE (220vac)
800W @56% eff 3590s LEDs (currently run on 120vac - I run this between 3 and 6 inches off canopy now)
400W T5 (120vac)
200W T5 (120vac)

I also have a light mover 3.5

Power:
2x 120V AC, 15amp circuits - dedicated
1x 40amp 220V circuit (4 receptacles - installing next weekend)

Ventilation:
Got a nice large window, can fit up to 2x 10" tubes. Right now im running 8", ~500CFM if i turn it up.
No A/C, no plans for A/C. I will be dammed if my plants get AC before I do. Makeup air just comes from the rest of the house, the next nearest window is over 20ft from the planned door.

Basement room, 7ftx14ft is guaranteed. If I can relocate the hot water heater I may gain space to put a 4x4 tent on the end. Major challenge is room height, 7ft even.



I just insulated my ceilings with roxul safe and sound insulation. There is a wall on the right hand side of the diagram that exists and is non-insulated, and im building the bottom wall (14ft) next weekend. The cement walls (Top and left) are just exposed cement. House is over 20 years old - so walls are stable weather wise.
Do I need to insulate walls? Insulate cement? My basement is dry in the winter, a little muggy in the summer (we use a swamp cooler). My room is being sealed with 5.5mil panda film - would insulating the walls with an expanded foam and then putting up poly create a cavity for mold buildup?


My current grow style is flood/drain in rockwool. I have a serious ceiling height issue that has forced me to grow shorter plants - so I have my system now designed to use a remote reservoir and flood/drain similar to a bucket system with no need to rely on gravity (my trays can sit 2 inches off of the ground and work now). I will be removing the reservoirs I have and getting those 96gal trashcans from home depot unless somebody can advise a nicer solution (I like large reservoirs, I would love one that's 6ft tall. I only dump res once every 60-90 days right now. I have access to a drain and space for up to a ~3.5x3.5x6.5 res maybe - pumps of all shapes/sizes as well. Any ideas?). Is a bucket system a nicer solution at this point? Flooding has been stupid simple for me, and whatever I need to move to I would like for it to remain pretty simple.

If the bucket systems are a good idea, where should I go look to purchase them? What buckets should I avoid, what tubing, etc. Whatever sage advice you guys have is great. I have no issue DIY'ing the controllers. Budget is a concern, because I have to finish the other parts of the basement as well. I'm only allowed to use the 'spare' change. I'm in Colorado (Littleton) if there's anything local anybody recommends. (Want to spend about $600-800 for the whole hydro setup that's 4'x12' )

Thoughts? I have until about Thursday before its purchase time. Physical construction will start Thursday, and if its not done Friday - too bad so sad its not getting done this year.

Last question. How the F do you guys get around? In my tents there is no space for me, how would I maintain my room if I don't leave that walkway? I see guys with big old rooms loaded to the gills... how can they care for their plants and trim them if there's no space? Do they literally unload entire rooms weekly or something?


Can't forget a picture of a lady, this girl was at week 6? I have nothing in flower right now - but need to flip next weekend.

Looks great,
Do you use just rock wool or do you use a coco mat or Hydroton under the Rock wool?
Bless,
DZ

Dogenzengi said:

Looks great,
Do you use just rock wool or do you use a coco mat or Hydroton under the Rock wool?
Bless,
DZ

Click to expand...

right now I'm just using the Rockwool 6x6 blocks on a table, flooding 3 times a day.

I open my tents at night and started using a 14,000 btu AC unit. My space is the garage and I've temporarily sealed and insulated the garage door with styrofoam and aluminum tape and weather stripping. My point is the garage is sealed shut to the seam.

I never thought about the negative air pressure in the room. I have a 400 cfm 6in inline fan that takes cold air from the same room.

The garage door is bending inwards from the negative pressure in the sealed room. So much that some seams have opened and air is pouring in.

You need to figure out the issue of negative pressure in your room.

NVGrower said:

I open my tents at night and started using a 14,000 btu AC unit. My space is the garage and I've temporarily sealed and insulated the garage door with styrofoam and aluminum tape and weather stripping. My point is the garage is sealed shut to the seam.

I never thought about the negative air pressure in the room. I have a 400 cfm 6in inline fan that takes cold air from the same room.

The garage door is bending inwards from the negative pressure in the sealed room. So much that some seams have opened and air is pouring in.

You need to figure out the issue of negative pressure in your room.

Click to expand...

Thank You NVGrower,
are you able to rotate your crop under your light?

Do all of your roots just grow in your cube?

Bless,
DZ

Dogenzengi said:

Thank You NVGrower,
are you able to rotate your crop under your light?

Do all of your roots just grow in your cube?

Bless,
DZ

Click to expand...

Im running DWC buckets. I've not yet tried the flood and drain. I hear you can keep the roots cut short and the plant uses the ones in the cubes. I'd imagine it'd be easy moving the room to room if they've got s pole holding them straight.

Dogenzengi said:

Thank You NVGrower,
are you able to rotate your crop under your light?

Do all of your roots just grow in your cube?

Bless,
DZ

Click to expand...

the roots grow to the bottom of the cube and stop. If you want more roots you just stack it on another cube or slab. The cubes do get a little mushy after a few moves (I move them to a table that spins to trim and maintain my plants). As long as the table drains correctly... Standing water can support roots and they almost always get sick.

Hello Doc,

I just finished the move from tent to a grow room. It is very similar to yours. Mine room is a 14x14 flowering area setup for five 4x4 grow sections. I also have a 5x9 room for vegging. I grow in soil so I can't offer any advice on grow medium or setup. However, here are a few things I learned.

1. Outlets - As 2 of my walls are also cement, so I installed all outlets in the ceiling. I put in 3-15 amp circuits for lighting in the flower room and 1-15 amp circuit for fans, dehumidifier and AC unit. I am using just LED, also the 56% efficiency build, but 600W for each 4x4. 800 sounds insane, I'll have to try that. Your 2-120 circuits and the 240 circuit should be plenty. Plan on more outlets than you think you can use. I installed around 30. You end up with some you won't use, but better to have them and not need them.

2. Cement Walls - I painted mine with a Dry-Loc sealer and then 2 coats satin white. My basement is completely dry. However, I live in the northeast and in winter, the walls are cold to the touch. This caused condensation on the walls as soon as I warmed the room over 75. I was surprised. So, you can go with foam sheets and epoxy to the walls and then add a 2x4 wall. I did not want to give up with the space so I went with a reflective sheet insulation. Here is a link:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-48-in-x-25-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-BP48025/100052556

So far so good, It's just enough insulation to insulate the walls and as a bonus, its 95% reflective.

3. Ventilation - I went with a sealed room. I painted and caulked the walls and insulated with roxul as well. It's great stuff. If you just run Led, AC might not be necessary. I added a Co2 generator (9000 Btu) and I hoped I could get away with no AC. However, with the dehumidifier, Co2, fans and lights, I was hitting almost 90. Too warm for my liking, even with Co2, so I added a portable 12K room ac and vented it to the main basement. I will likely move to a mini split over the summer. But for now, I set the AC at 86, the room stays at about 84 and it only runs about 10 minutes and hour during lights on. But now I'm venting the hot air so the room is not sealed, but the Co2 usage has not gone up significantly. It takes 10 minutes to bring the room up to 1500 at lights on and runs 4-6 minutes an hour to maintain.

That's a few thoughts - Good luck on the build, I'll be following along.