LED Grow Light Forum

I am in the process of trying to set up an indoor grow room...and could use a lot of help along the way! SME, we swapped a few in another forum the other night. I'm sure you will read this and respond...PLEASE DO!! LOL

This might get long, but hopefully will give enough info to to base good advise on....here goes.

I have dabbled with a couple of plants here and there over the years. One or two small outdoor plants, couple of indoor closet grows in soil, and lastly tried hydro/bubble/aero-ponics or something like that. From reading and searches online, I made up my own tubs with net-pots, rockwool, & hydroton, bought some water pumps, air pumps, hose and nutrients....oh yea, and some seeds! Just saying, my knowledge is limited, and growing....as is my experience.

But my experience is that I had good smoke for almost a year from that experiment and even had enough to give to a lot of friends in need... NOW, I want to get serious and grow some rock hard, kick ass bud!

I have invested in a few things to this point. What I have I want to learn to use to it's fullest potential...at least until I learn and can afford a better way. I know I will need to grow my room to gets top-notch results...but what I am starting with is....

---11 x 11 corner room, one window already light-proofed and sealed, one small corner closet. Attic above, basement below...(Ventilation??) One piece tarp on floor, plus 3" up each wall. Utility sink with running hot & cold, and 20 ft self-coiling sprayer hose..lol Two dedicated, 15 Amp Circuits, with four duplex outlets each...in addition to the shared 15 Amp circuit that was already in the room.
---4 x 4 x 7? Grow tent (Currently housing two of my tubs, with flowering plants.
---(2) 357 Magnum LED Grow lights.
---(3)HO-T5, 2 ft, 4 tube CFLs...(Mothers & Clones)(Vegging??)
---NEW AeroFlo2 AF60 System...(Only running 4 chambers).
---On Order, ActiveAqua 1/4HP Chiller.
---On Order, SS400 LED
---On Order, Hanna Ph, TDS, Temp System Monitor.

I have some clones, one week vegging under CFLs, in the AeroFlo. They are all sprouting roots and new growth. Trying to control temps, both air and nutrient has been a challenge! The air I am handling with room fans for the moment...ranging from 72 to 78. The nutrients I am trying to hold down using frozen water bottles...ranging 70 to 74...until my chiller arrives! I am using GH Flora nutes, on the Seedling mix...plus the Flora Nectar, which brings my ppm to about 640. My Ph meter is acting up(new one is in the mail!!), having to double check with the ole drops in the tube, next to a color chart...as best Ican tell it is about 5.8-6.0.

I know I need to get some ventilation going on with summer approaching. I am thinking I am going to draw fresh, cooler air up from the basement and exhaust the hot air up into the attic. But I don't know what components, flanges, filters for the ends, etc to get... I know I want a tight seal on each system, especially at the ends and where it goes through the ceiling and floor...to keep bugs & critters out!

So, I guess until I receive some of my orders I could use some help figuring out an air intake and exhaust system(s). For the exhaust air I was thinking about 275-300 CFM?? Can I mount the fan in the attic? Maybe just the flange and a "Y" on the room-side?? Fan, filter & screen in the attic? The attic vent is actually 3 stories up from the ground...do I need a carbon filter for odor or not a worry? Intake air I was thinking in a diagonal corner near the closet, on the floor. Maybe just a little 4", flanged through the floor with about 100-150 CFM?? Again, fan & screen on basement side of flange?

Any hints, comments, suggestions to help me succeed are welcomed!!

Thanx

How are you planning on using the 11x11 room and how high are the ceilings? Tents in the room or just growing without tents? What about the closet? Size/use?

AC in the house/room? Ambient temps inside, outside and basement? Summer temps?

Is the ventilation for heat removal, to bring in co2 from outside or both?

SisterMaryElephant wrote:How are you planning on using the 11x11 room and how high are the ceilings? Tents in the room or just growing without tents? What about the closet? Size/use?

AC in the house/room? Ambient temps inside, outside and basement? Summer temps?

Is the ventilation for heat removal, to bring in co2 from outside or both?

Thanx for the response... Ceiling is standard 8 foot ceiling. The tent I have I am planning to be my mother & clone tent...after these few are finished...So the AeroFlo is just in the room. Tent on opposite wall and 36"x 14" metal shelving unit in corner for mothers & babies. The closet is just storage for now.

The house does have AC, which I keep set at 72-74. Basement is unfinished and has no AC....temps down there run cooler than living space by about 10-15 degrees in summer...more in winter. Attic temps?? I live in the South, so not too cold in winter and fairly hot in the summer.

The ventilation is for both heat removal and to bring in new, fresh, Co2 air. I am using LED & CFL so the heat isn't that great...but left unattended, with everything running, the room will climb to 80...which raises nutrient temps...

I guess I am aiming for consistency in the environment I am creating for the plants... In my limited experience, it seems that when temps get out of control it affects a lot & bad things happen with the plants...

78-80 degrees while the light is on is fine so you'd want to regulate the AC and/or ventilation to make that your target daytime temp. 10F cooler at night (lights off) is good too. You'll also need to keep an eye on the humidity.

Depending on how fast/often you want/need air exchanges you'd might need more CFM. If you want exchanges 5 times per hour, just for co2, then you're fine with the fans you mentioned assuming you don't loose much from long duct work with a lot of bends or restrictions. If heat is also going to be an issue you might need up to 1000CFM.

Unless you live in the country with no neighbors/visitors, you will want a carbon filter (at least) on any air that leaves the grow room, even if it goes to the attic before leaving the house. On the intake side; I'd suggest a fine filter, not just a screen, to help keep the bugs out. Reusable/washable heppa filters are expensive but they work very well. Filters will add restrictions that reduce the CFM too.

You shouldn't root clones in the mother tent (unless it has it's own lightproof space) because a mother plant needs 24 hours of light and rooting cuttings like some dark time. Each tent will also needs fans. You'll probably want a separate veg tent, if you plan to setup a perpetual grow, too...

SME & ALL....bless the person that introduced the chiller for hydroponics!!!

After 2 bouts with root rot, due to soaring nutrient temps, and losing one of those battles, I finally got my chiller and installed it. OMG, what a difference!! 1-2 degree variation, keeping my nutrients between 66 and 68...and this group of plants is showing their appreciation!!

I learned the hard way...the value of a chiller in my system....they aren't cheap....but to me they are worth it!

I am a newbie...but I learn quick and the one piece of solid advise I can offer is ANYONE experiencing temperature problems in their reservoir...do whatever it takes to scrape up the cash and get yourself a chiller!!!

It beats the hell out of hitting panic high temps and trying to fix it with bags of ice and frozen water bottles or worse yet hitting deadly high temps and losing a whole grow like I did!!!

Could someone please steer me towards some good, quiet ventilation components? What I hope to end up with is a solid set of flanges to go through my ceiling...having just a "Y" coming through the ceiling into the room...the fan and carbon filter I would like to mount in the attic. Inside my grow area I have a 4x4 grow tent, and the reason for the Y is so I can exhaust the room as well as connect a short section of duct to vent my tent at night or whenever it is needed.

I have an total volume of about 1050 cubic feet. I am thinking about a 300+ CFM fan for the exhaust and making a hole in the floor, in the opposite corner as a passive intake to draw fresh, cooler air from the basement.

For the intake air I was thinking about starting out with a passive intake, cutting a 6" hole through the floor, framing a box between the joists below and putting some sort of filter and mesh screen over the opening...and if this doesn't prove to be enough I can easily add a small fan inside the air intake box in the future.

Does this make sense? Will it work? What controls? I would like something that would kick on when air temp hits 79-80 and will stop when the temps reach 75.

If this doesn't make sense, please guide me...if it does make sense, still please guide me..... Right now the only way I am able to keep my air temp under control is by keeping the door open(which I don't want to keep doing) and keeping 4 fans running!!

I need to install a ventilation system soon so I can close and secure my area!!

Type of fan? Brand? Carbon Filter? Flanges? Mounts? Bug screen/filter? I welcome suggestions on all of it...

Thanx

There are several ways you can vent those spaces but I wouldn't skimp on the fans or filters. I like Can Max-Fan fans, they seem pretty quiet and have great reputations but they're not the cheapest fans. Can and Phresh carbon filters have good reputations. I'd use a large, oversisized, heppa filter on the intake(s) to keep the intake air clean and have less restriction.

Passive intakes are fine as long as you can keep the undesirable bugs and spores out.

If you want the fan(s) and carbon filter outside of the grow room then you're going to need an inline carbon filter rather than the typical types that should be on the intake side. I wouldn't really do it the way you describe but you certainly could.

I'd use a larger fan, probably 8"-10", to vent the air out of the larger room and a smaller fan (something like a 6") to vent the tent to the larger room. I'd put the large fan in the attic and the smaller fan on top of the tent. I'd put the carbon filter in the grow room, connected to the hole in the ceiling on the intake side of the larger fan.

The make controllers that will allow you to set on/off temps and some will even vary the speed of the fan depending on need. Prices vary on controllers depending on desired features. You could use a simple manual speed controller for the tent and a better controller for the big room, if you wanted.

There are a 1000 ways to skin a cat...

Thanx for the response SME...

So you would suggest venting the 4x4 tent just into the main room and then have a carbon filter mounted to the suction side of the fan...and then elbow up through the ceiling on the discharge side of the fan, then a short piece of duct in the attic with a hepa filter/screen on the end?

I have found a Can Max fan, 8", rated at 675 CFM, for a fairly good price...would this be a good place for me to start??

I want a jam-up system that will not need to be upgraded or wear out anytime soon...plus it needs to be quiet.. Between the fans I have running, the fans in the lights and the Aeroflo there is already a lot of noise coming from a room that is supposed to be just an empty storage room... How do I go about reducing the noise that comes out of that room?

I would put the heppa filter on the intake.

8" would probably be OK but a 10" would be better and you could "dim" it down to make less noise while still providing enough air-flow and it would have more "reserve" should you need more airflow later. It's really up to you though...

Fan speed controllers work like dimmer switches and reduce speed and noise. That's one reason why you want bigger fans than you actually need so you can slow then down to make them more quiet.