LED Grow Light Forum

Hey everyone,
I've had a few successful grows in the great out of doors, but have decided to move things in under the bright lights of an LED. I've been researching the grow setup I want & I've ran into some speed bumps along the way. I want to do this right so I figured I should consult with some cats that have real world experience. I'm hoping that you awesome people may be able to give me some advice.

Here's my plan....
It's going to be an organic SCROG grow fellas

- 5x5 gorilla grow tent
- 4x4 Soma style grow beds
- 1 Black Dog Platnum XL-U 1500 watt/750 true watt Led with 300 leds, 5watt diodes at 2.5 watts per diode
- 2 or more 120 to 220 converter boxes
- 6in can fan 392cfm
- intake fan (not sure i need one)
- circulation fan (not sure which size)
- 4 small fans to attach to the PVC pipes in the grow beds
- co2 - co2 grow bags (not sure i need them)
- humidifier / dehumidifier (not sure i need one)
- thermostat
- timers for lights & fans
- co2 & humidity gauges
- charcoal filter

* note on the beds - I plan on seting them up like Soma said, except I intend to hook up 4 fans to the 2in PVC pipes in the corners that rise up from the beds. I'm also considering connecting the 2 inch PVC to a PVC grid with small holes running under the hydrocorrals. Thinking about stepping the 2in down to a 1in to hopefully build a little air pressure. Hopefully this will increase oxygen to the roots. Any comments on this would be awesome!

I really want to grow DJ Shorts Blueberry, but I might start with something simpler to begin with. Maybe Lavender of Jack Horror.

I plan to lST, supercrop, & defoliate as these methods have worked well for me outdoors. Also, I will be using compost from my worm bin as the base of my compost tea which I will use periodically.

Ok, here's where I run into some problems....
1) I know LEDs reduce grow room heat, but where I live summer temps can reach 110+ & my tent will be in the gerage. I'm not sure if i need passive ventilation, an intake & exhaust fan, or an intake with ac & an exhaust fan. I know the only way to really know is to set things up, but I hoped you guys can give me some insight on this.

2) when calculating watts/ft2, do you calculate for the size of the grow room, or the footprint of the light? It seems like it would be the square feet of the footprint to me.

3) Do I need Co2 in a grow this size, and are the co2 bags worth a try? Lots of conflicting info out on this topic.

4) Do setups this size usually involve humidifiers?

5) A are there energy efficient humidifiers, dehumidifiers?

6) Does raising the daytime temps with LEDs help? Can't find much info on this.

7) Will an ozone generator kill the beneficial bacteria & fungus I'm growing in the soil? From what I can tell it kills everything on the soils surface.

8) Would a light rail be needed if the footprint of my light is 1sq ft bigger than my grow bed?

I've been reasurching this project for almost a week now, so it's not like I'm not trying to put in the work, I'm just having problems digging up this info. I know I have a lot of questions, but if any of you guys could answer even one, that would be awesome & I'd be verry grateful! Thanks guys!

Peace

Forgot to mention I plan on growing 6 plants in my bed.
Thanks guys!

Welcome to the forums!

It seems that you have quite a plan ready; I'm not sure about all of it but that's the beauty of forums, everyone can ask questions and provide opinions.

I'll start at the top and work my way down with my questions and comments...

I assume you're using a larger tent than your grow area so you have room for other equipment, right?
I'm not fan of BD lights, mostly because of the BS on their website. I know people that like the actual lights as long as you take the claims with a grain of salt.
The 120 to 240 converters are for what?
CO2 can certainly help but I'd skip it the first time unless you want it for heat issues.
You'll need a dehumidifier and maybe a humidifier depending on ambient RH.

I'm not sure how those Soma beds drain since they are lined with plastic so I'm not sure if the fans in the pipes will help. We can talk more about that later.

I'm not a fan of defoliation but that's up to you...

Your questions:
1) If the ambient temps get above 80 in the garage, you'll need AC, either in the tent or in the whole garage. In the tent would be more economical, imho.

2) The footprint of the grow area (canopy) not the whole room/tent.

3) As I said above, it CAN certainly help but I wouldn't say necessary. I wouldn't use the bags.

4) They can, depending on ambient RH. Maybe not during the night cycle when RH usually rises.

5) Define energy efficient?

6) There is a theory that raising daytime temps during flower can help with LED yield but it's not been tested well enough to say one way or another yet.

7) I don't suggest using O3 generators inside a grow room. It's bad for living things, good or bad.

8) I'm not a fan of light movers and they only really help in one direction because they're usually linear. I'd make the canopy smaller or use a bigger light instead.


Hope that helps...

SME

Blueberry78 wrote:Forgot to mention I plan on growing 6 plants in my bed.
Thanks guys!

Soma usually does a SOG not a SCROG, I think. I could be wrong there...

Hey SisterMary, thanks for the quick response. So what's the deal with Blackdog? Are Epistar diodes no good or something? They were the highest wattage light I could find that had 5watt diodes with uv & ir. Pluss they have a great warranty. Also, the footpring is perfect for my grow bed. If you know something I don't than fill me in.

My grow tent will be 5x5 & 8ft tall. Being that my beds are 4x4, I won't have room for much equipment that can't hang on the wall or ceiling.

I'm curious how I would me able to add co2 without blowing it all out through the exhaust.

Thanks for your help!

I'm not a diode expert but, as I said; my biggest problem with BD isn't the light itself, it's the bogus claims on their website.

If you put the bed in one of the corners you'd have one foot of free space on two sides of the tent. The "footprint" is perfect if you believe the coverage claims from BD. I don't. I'd say the the light should only cover a 4x4 area not 4.5x4.5 like BD claims and certainly not 5x5. A slightly smaller bed would also leave more space for equipment. A full 4x4 tent instead of 5x5 would also work but then you'd have no floor space and you'd still want a slightly smaller bed.

You'd have to change the way heat is dealt with (like a sealed tent with AC or iceboxes instead of constant running exhaust fans) in order to add CO2 during the day cycle without sucking/blowing it out. Another good reason to skip the CO2 until you have more experience.

I see what you mean SisterMary.

So I just had an idea, maybe shrink the size of the beds by 3 - 5in/side. Then I can construct a 1/4/3ft resavuar from wood & wrap it in black plastic so it's waterproof. I can put it on casters for convenience. Then I could go with an icebox setup. What do you think?

Question, in a sealed setup, how big of a charcoal filter would I need? Also, would I need a fan for circulation?

One more thing, how big of a resavuar would I need for a humidifier? I wouldn't want to have to fill that thing twice a day.

Oh yeah, I mentioned the 120 - 220v converter boxes. I hear a lot about people switching fm 120 to 220 to save money. Couldn't I get the same bennifit by running whatever equipment I can from the boxes?

Thanks sooooo much for your help......you ROCK!

Yeah, I'd even go 3.5x3.5 for the bed allowing for upto 4x4 for the canopy.

Iceboxes require a chiller but, yeah, they seem to work if you don't skimp.

The price difference between a 4" and a 6" isn't much and the 6" would be better. Yes, you'd still want circulation fans.

That depends on on how much you'd have to run it, trial and error on that.

120 vs 240 won't save any money and the converters would cost money.

SisterMary, thank you soo much for all your help!

So I just checked out the Icebox deal, & those chillers are super expensive, almost $2000. There goes my dream of a sealed grow room.....hahahaha

You wouldn't need more than a 1/2 hp chiller which should be less than that.

YMMV...