Proposed Set Up for a Grow Virgin (I've Searched like a Madman, but Need Input!)

[TJefferson]

I'll try to be as brief and concise as possible so I don't waste your time, growing gurus. I've searched all over the forums for answers to my questions and I know a lot of it/most of it is dependent on your unique situation but please bear with me.

My situation:
I'm planning on doing a first time grow. I live in the state of Washington and have a Doc's recommendation so I will be doing this legally (on a state level, anyway). Given that, my inexperience, and my unwillingness to be harassed I've decided to go with a 600w hps and keep the number of plants to a minimum (4-8 ). I own my home, and will be growing in two tents (veg/clone and flower) in a 100 sq ft bedroom that faces the street which is about 30-40 ft away. Of course I have some questions.

Proposed Flowering Tent:
4x4x~7 pre fab tent, probably Grow Lab 120
600w hps
Cool tube or hood
Passive intake at bottom (open pre-fab vent)
Exhaust with inline fan (unsure on size), outside of tent pulling through a homemade C filter
Interior fan
Temp/hum gauge
6-8 plants
Soil

Questions regarding the flower tent:
1) Due to the road being so close, I don't really want to have the window open much..even with a C scrubber. If I am just going to exhaust into the room (100 sq ft bedroom) will it get hot as hell in there? I can leave the door to the room open most of the time so it will have ~1000 sq ft to dissipate to. But I'm just curious how hot it will get with the door closed. I have the option to vent up through the drywall, through the attic, and out but I don't want to be that invasive. It gets pretty hot upstairs in the summer as is, how much additional heat is the 600 going to kick out into the 100 sq ft room?

2) Hooking up the exhaust/fan...I'm kind of confused on how you hook up a cooled hood and an exhaust using one fan/exhaust port. I would assume you would duct them together or something inside of the tent to one duct going out into the C filter, then through the fan and out into the exhaust area. Is this correct? It looks like people do all kinds of funk stuff here.

3) Yield of 4 plants to 8 plants with 600 hps. Through my research it seems that the limiting factor in the yield is the lumens used. So, would I get the same yield with say 4 plants vs 8 if I were using the same light with each set up? I want to remain compliant as possible with state laws so I don't want to have 12 plants packed in there but I also want to maximize yield. So, all things being equal, could I expect the same yield (300-600g) with 4 plants vs 8? I will be researching diligently until I can start (about 2 months away) so I should be at least moderately competent, using soil.

4) Tent size. If I were to go smaller on plant #, should I get a smaller tent? I was thinking more space would make the temp easier to manage. But, a smaller tent would be easier to explain to the man, # of plants aside.

Veg Tent:
Was thinking about the HTG mother keeper (51.5" x 22.5" x 48.5) for about $125
Either a bunch of CFL's or a few T5's
Small exhaust fan/filter
Passive intake
Interior fan

Process:
My plan is to get 2 packs of 5 seeds, 2 strains of indoor friendly indica. Germinate and start to veg (hopefully) 10 plants. When ready, move 4-8 plants into flower tent. Use remaining plants to create clones. Put clones back into veg tent. Veg as long as flowering tent plants take to mature and be harvested. So, I'm looking at long veg times (60-80 days) and perpetual harvesting, every 60-80 days or so. Is there a problem with this? I figure this way I can have a constant supply and keep my plant #'s down. Also, but not using dedicated mothers, is that going to be a problem? I see most people have dedicated mothers. I am planning on just cutting up some of the extra plants for new clones. I'm eventually hoping for about a lb every 60 days, is this reasonable (given time to learn, picking a good strain, etc).

I've been obsessing over this for a while. I'd really appreciate some input. Thanks guys.

 

[*smokey*]

Hey mate, theres alot of question in there, but heres a few answers... I have a room similar size with a 600w in and exhausting in to the same room with the door shut it gets to about 34-36c after a few hours, with the room door open its about 26-28 ish.

To hook up a air cooled hood and carbon filter, you would go carbon filter>ducting>fan>ducting>hps>exhaust... Or carbon filter>ducting>hps>ducting>fan>exhaust

Sorry thats all i can answer for now, off 2 bed! Peace

 

[TJefferson]

Hey mate, theres alot of question in there, but heres a few answers... I have a room similar size with a 600w in and exhausting in to the same room with the door shut it gets to about 34-36c after a few hours, with the room door open its about 26-28 ish.

To hook up a air cooled hood and carbon filter, you would go carbon filter>ducting>fan>ducting>hps>exhaust... Or carbon filter>ducting>hps>ducting>fan>exhaust

Sorry thats all i can answer for now, off 2 bed! Peace

Hey smokey, thanks for the response. That's the info I was looking for on how hot the 600w hps would heat up the room. Damn, looks like it would be pushing the limit during the summer daytime hours. A portable A/C unit may be necessary (I saw these have charcoal filters in them as well, win). Extra watts on my circuit though, may have to consider wiring into the wall heater (however the hell I do that) if that is the case.

Still a little mindfucked on the C filter. If you are talking about a cool tube I suppose that makes sense as it would draw the 'tainted' air into it and then it would be clean through the rest of the system. I get that. I guess a cool tube would be the way to go then, just to keep it simple.

 

[TJefferson]

I might as well toss this in here as well. I have a 220v electric wall heater in the room I plan on growing in. This is on a 20 amp circuit. I have to check but I believe one other heater is on the circuit. Could I pull that heater out and either hook up a 220v outlet directly or convert it to a 110v outlet? Which would you recommend? I'm sure I could run a 600w ballast off of the 220v outlet and maybe find a 220v portable AC as well. Anyway, input on this? This would obviously help with the strain on the other circuit but don't want to get too over my head with anything too complex. I've been googling it but it's hard to find an appropriate application.

 

[jondamon]

1. The room will definitly heat up far too much but looking behond just the heat, the air in that room would quickly become depleted of Co2 .


2. Using only 1 fan for all is do-able. In order to control odour you must use some form of air cleaning, that can be a CARBON FILTER or a o3 generator. In your tent you will have the carbon filter hanging high up with some ducting connecting it to you air cooled light more ducting connecting your light out through the vent in the top of your tent into your exhaust fan, then you use ducting to direct this HOT air away from your growing area, Then you would open 2 lower vents in your tent for passive intakes.

3. There are far to many variables to consider when it comes to yield. An average for most people is around 3oz per plant times 4 plants thats 12ounces or around 350g.



4. I like a bit of space to work in my little garden. I say if you go smaller on plants keep the larger tent it will be helpful to have extra room for you to grab a chair and chill with them.





J

 

[TJefferson]

1. The room will definitly heat up far too much but looking behond just the heat, the air in that room would quickly become depleted of Co2 .

2. Using only 1 fan for all is do-able. In order to control odour you must use some form of air cleaning, that can be a CARBON FILTER or a o3 generator. In your tent you will have the carbon filter hanging high up with some ducting connecting it to you air cooled light more ducting connecting your light out through the vent in the top of your tent into your exhaust fan, then you use ducting to direct this HOT air away from your growing area, Then you would open 2 lower vents in your tent for passive intakes.

3. There are far to many variables to consider when it comes to yield. An average for most people is around 3oz per plant times 4 plants thats 12ounces or around 350g.

4. I like a bit of space to work in my little garden. I say if you go smaller on plants keep the larger tent it will be helpful to have extra room for you to grab a chair and chill with them.
J

Thanks for the reply, Mr Ganja. I was hoping that leaving the interior door open to the rest of the house (and maybe opening some windows/sliders in the rear) would provide enough ventilation. Ideally I would like the room to be self contained, but I don't want to leave the window open 24/7 if there is any smell or notable noise coming out. I guess I'll have to see how loud/smelly/hot it gets. If it's just hot, clean air in the bedroom and the smell is completely contained in the tent then I may just leave the window cracked. It still makes me uneasy. I may be more apt to drill a hole in my drywall and vent out of the roof lol.

I get the CF set up now. I was just on the impression it was always on the outside, at the end, as some people have done it (air being pushed through vs drawn through).

 

[TJefferson]

Shiit, it got to about 75 degrees today in the room that I want to set everything up in. The high today was only about 60. Wtf? I live in a split level house. Is it time to start looking for a different location..? Seems likely.

Edit - Or... I could just run the 12 hr flowering hps at night. /facepalm

Was looking into air conditioning units, considering putting up a fake wall under the stairs and creating a secret room with vents/electric brought in, renovating a shed....and then the simple and obvious idea hit me like a truck. lol

 

[jondamon]

i always run my flowering cycle 6pm-6am. i use a closet in a bedroom of my house. Passive vents pull in ambient house air of 20C my closet only drifts 2C-4C above this temp. But then i vent away from my grow.

I do use 2 inline fans. 5inch with matching filter for cleaning the air and a 6inch for my 600w sun systems blockbuster aircooled hood.


TESTING IS THE KEY TO GROW ROOM SETUP.




J