First Grow Design- Opinions? Advice? All Appreciated.

So first off, I just want to say a few things; hopefully ill keep this reasonably short, thanks for reading and thanks for the advice!

Goals- High Yield, Hoping for minimum of 10 oz for the first run. Will also only be running a max of 5 plants.

The Room- 3 x 3 x 10, closet, (im aware this isnt ideal but hopefully after you read you'll think otherwise) where the old furnace used to be in the living room, its now in the basement. The door is going to be a pre hung outside door so its nice and sealed. i havent decided if im going to do the entire room in mylar or just paint it white yet..

The Lights- I've decided I'm def going go with an iPower setup, mh/hps with air cooled digital ballast. now the real struggle is 1000 vs 600. The ballast of the 1000 also offers 50% and 75% power. with the size of the room im thinking 1000 is going to be just too much due to heat, even though i would absolutely love to hang a 1000. thoughts? price is only $40 difference.

Ventilation- Bare with me, hope this is easily understood. (should NOT have smoked prior to writing up this post, haha). For air induction i will have 4" dryer duct sucking air in through a vent in wall of the room (used to be a return for the old furnace), across the floor of the room, through the floor to the crawl space in the basement, where an inline fine will be pushing it back the way it came, back up through the floor and released at the bottom of the room. since i wont be inducting from outside the temperatures should be steady around 72 almost all the time. i'll also be keeping my windows open as often as possible for fresh air. for exhaust i will have another 4" dryer duct running up the corner to the ceiling (opposite the intake), it will go from there down the corner, through the floor, into the crawlspace where another inline fan will be sending it into a charcoal filter which will then Y into my actual dryers ducting, which of coarse vents outside. I will also have 1-2 small fans inside the room as well. (the inline fans will only be placed in the crawlspace of the basement for sound control).








So... thats the general layout.. my main questions are: which size light? what size fans for cfm? any particular strains, nutes, soil, etc. you guys recommend? thanks again in advance!

Seems like a good setup to me, i run the Ipower 600w setup in 3x3x6 tent, works well.... the 1000 is overkill IMO, when i was shopping and asking around the forum most people gave me plenty reasons a 1000 is overkill, and yes the heat from a 1000 is MUCH more than a 600w, plus the 600w is also dimmable i run 300 watt 1st week 75 percent week 2-3 then full power...

Bump for input.

hey man

the 600watt will do u great the 1000 watt offers u a speical choice in bulbs
they are called dual arc bulbs (it is a 1000 watt bulb with a 600 HPS and a 400 MH ) in one bulb
they have a new kind of digital ballast out ............ select a watt ...........they are new to the market

here is the sum of the research i have done ..............Hid lights are the best the MH bulb will make them short and branch like all hell........when u go to HPS for flowering to controll the strech u want to have some blue light (the dual arc will cuase thicker dencer buds )

a 5 plant in a 3x3 is way to much .........unless u are planing smaller plants ...........look up autoflowering strain called Biodiesel Mass (17% thc and up top 400 grams a plant ).....as new we wil not get the 400 grams but u can safey figure on about a QP or HP with a hid light and good soil/feeding line ...............but to gain this u need to let the plant get big(4 feet tall about 1.5 foot wide) in a 3x3 u have room for 2 of them and this is using a SCRoG method of growth

i am having great results with this strain (one note u need some Cleated Zinc to add to soil once they flower it seemed to suck it all out)
but with it being a auto plant it does it own thing and the turn around is with in 90 days so u only have to aborb the cost of set up and running it

given the room is 10 foot high u could section off apart of the top and use that for a veggie and spourting area (in those stages they do like a little higher heat)
as for the exhust seems little complex little stoned myself (can u drawl something out)

strain ...............autoflower BioDiesel Mass
soil....................Fox Farms Ocean Forset
Size...................7 gallon air bags/soil bags
light ..................(depends on the money 1000 watt and lights best results 600 will do work fine in 3x3)
Nurtients.............the go box from general organics


extra gear
100 1 ml pippettes......this offers the best controll when mixing up the water
soil probe (temp water ph and light lvls) .............u can check ph(if u have issuse ph is first thing to check) and the water lvl(adviods over watering) untill u get better skills

justugh said:

(can u drawl something out)

Click to expand...

this was the best i could do with paint, but this is the general idea/layout.. thanks

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/708141-first-grow-design-opinions-advice.html#post9488299

justugh said:

(can u drawl something out)

Click to expand...

this was the best i could do with paint, but this is the general idea/layout.. thanks



the intake has around 15 feet round trip to complete the cycle and the exhaust has around 40-50 feet. and suggestions on CFM? again the room is 3x3x10

A single 6" 440 cfm inline and an air cooled hood should do the trick.

Heisenburg7 said:

this was the best i could do with paint, but this is the general idea/layout.. thanks



the intake has around 15 feet round trip to complete the cycle and the exhaust has around 40-50 feet. and suggestions on CFM? again the room is 3x3x10

Click to expand...

good thing u showed this ............the carbon filter must be the first thing in the exhust venting (all the air u want clean needs to be sucked tho this ) filter/ducting/fan/ducting is the order.........with a air cooled system it is filter/ducting/air cool hood/ducting/fan/ducting


yah 400 cfm with varible speed controllers .............the exhust keep it at maximum and the intake u vary it so it just under the exhust (will make your grow area negitive pressure) the carbon filter and the exhust fan must match CFMs a 6 in 400cfm would be phresh filters 6x16inch ........once they are hooked in the speed will drop some so u need to match it i am unsure the setting it would be ...........best way to test it is turn it on set it up no plants and blow a bong hit by the cracks in the area (if sucked in some u have negitve pressure and smell will be contained.......if blows out u have positive pressure u are good during veggie but at flower they will stink u out)

Ok. I'll be sure to put the filter inside the room instead of after the inline can.

So in your opinions 400cfm is necessary? With the room only being around 90 cubic feet wouldn't a 4" 175 cfm be plenty for exhaust and around a 125 for intake? And Def not trying to argue, just trying to understand.. I would like to keep it 4" instead of 6 if possible mainly for noise and heat but some for Oder too..the room will be pretty much sealed though.

Heisenburg7 said:

Ok. I'll be sure to put the filter inside the room instead of after the inline can.

So in your opinions 400cfm is necessary? With the room only being around 90 cubic feet wouldn't a 4" 175 cfm be plenty for exhaust and around a 125 for intake? And Def not trying to argue, just trying to understand.. I would like to keep it 4" instead of 6 if possible mainly for noise and heat but some for Oder too..the room will be pretty much sealed though.

Click to expand...

My grow is 43 cubic feet, 20 inches deep x 4 feet wide x 6 feet tall, and my 4 inch 180 cfm vortex is enough to maintain negative pressure. With your set up and doubling my sqf, I would say that a 4 inch 180 cfm fan is too small for 90 cubic feet, I would also recommend the larger fan.

Heisenburg7 said:

Ok. I'll be sure to put the filter inside the room instead of after the inline can.

So in your opinions 400cfm is necessary? With the room only being around 90 cubic feet wouldn't a 4" 175 cfm be plenty for exhaust and around a 125 for intake? And Def not trying to argue, just trying to understand.. I would like to keep it 4" instead of 6 if possible mainly for noise and heat but some for Oder too..the room will be pretty much sealed though.

Click to expand...

i said the 400 so u could have extra speed when u need it

using a 600 w or a 1000 w cooltube will still make heat from the light in the area and u need to remove that heat from the area so it does not increase the temp

with a 400 with varible speed controller......will allow u to run the 1000 watt or the 600 watt with extra power to spare incase u add some side lights to the wall

my room is 104CF i am using a 400 cfm exhust and a 240 booster for the intake ...................but i have 2 600 watts and 1 t5 on the wall as a side light for the blue in the hps run ..........i am at about the limit of what the 400 can do for my area (the 400cfm is not the true amount do to the bends in the ducting ) if i had to guess i say about 340

a 4 inch ducting and a 600 or a 1000 watt 4 inch is to small .........heck i think the cool tube come in 6 and 8 inchs only

when ever i build something i always add in extra for unseen needs or upgrades to the system later

if u like i found a great way to tell what fan speeds u need but it is some work on math (it accounts for all the varibles )

this is not my work i found it and been using it to help ppl and in my own grows

Dan's Method
Calculating By Room Volume You will find many calculations on the web for sizing a fan for ventilating indoor gardens; however, what many of these calculations fail to take into consideration is the friction loss on carbon filters and increased temperatures from HID lights. So here's my calculation method which you can use as a guide for sizing an exhaust fan for a growing area (keep in mind that this calculation will give you the lowest required CFM (Cubic feet of air per minute) required to ventilate the indoor garden.)

Step 1: Room Volume
First the volume of the room needs to be calculated. To calculate multiply length x width x height of growing area e.g. A room that is 8' x 8' x 8' will have a volume of 512 cubic feet.

Step 2: CFM Required
Your extraction fan should be able to adequately exchange the air in an indoor garden once every three minutes. Therefore, 512 cubic feet / 3 minutes = 171 CFM. This will be the absolute minimum CFM for exchanging the air in an indoor garden.

Step 3: Additional factors
Unfortunately, the minimum CFM needed to ventilate a indoor garden is never quite that simple. Once the grower has calculated the minimum CFM required for their indoor garden the following additional factors need to be considered:
Number of HID lights — add 5% per air cooled light or 10-15% per non-air cooled light.
CO2: add 5% for rooms with CO2 enrichment
Filters: if a carbon filter is to be used with the exhaust system then add 20%
Ambient temperature: for hot climates (such as Southern California) add 25%, for hot and humid climates (such as Florida) add up to 40%.


An Example
In our 8' x 8' room we have 2 x 1000w air cooled lights, and we plan to use a carbon filter. We also plan to use CO2 in this room. The ambient temperature is 90 °F (32°C), however, we will be using air from another room that is air-conditioned. Here's the minimum required CFM to ventilate room:
1) Calculate the CFM required for room (see above.)
2) Add 10% (for 2 air cooled lights.)
3) Add 5% of original CFM calculation (For CO2.)
4) Add 20% of original CFM calculation for Carbon Filter.
5) Air is coming from air-conditioned room so no need to add any other percentages.
6) CFM = (171 CFM) + (171CFM x 10%) + (171 CFM x 5%) + (171CFM x 20%) + ( 0 )= 231 CFM.
This is the absolute minimum CFM required to ventilate your room.
The next step might seem to match the closest fan to this CFM. However, for this example I'd choose a six inch fan with a CFM of around 400 or more, and a 6 inch carbon filter to match. The extra CFMs may seem a bit excessive (calculations on most indoor gardening websites would recommend a 4" fan and a 4" carbon filter) but it's always better to over-spec since we need to compensate for air resistance in ducting too.
Also, as we are using a carbon filter we will need to match the fan with the filter so that the fan that will neatly fit onto the filter.
If all the variables are kept the same and we changed the room size from 8' x 8' to a 12' x 12' then the minimum required CFM would be 519 CFM.


The All-Important Inflow!
An intake port can be anything from a gap under the door to an open window - even a hole in the wall. The best place for an intake port is diagonally opposite from your exhaust fan; that way, air has to pass across the entire room - very efficient. You can put a piece of screen over the opening to keep insects and animals out, a piece of A/C filter to keep dust out, or a louvered shutter or backdraft damper that opens when the fan turns on and closes when it turns off. You can also use a motorized damper. This gets installed in-line with your ducting and is plugged into whatever device controls your exhaust fan. When your fan turns on, it allows air to pass. When your fan shuts off, it seals completely, preventing CO2, air, etc. from passing. You can get creative with these devices and use one fan to control two rooms, etc.
One additional note about intake ports - you will see much better results from your exhaust system if you install a second fan to create an active (as opposed to passive) intake system. Normally, when your exhaust fan sucks air out of your room, air is passively going to get sucked back into the room. By installing a second fan on the intake side, you will reduce the amount of negative pressure created in the indoor garden, thereby cutting down greatly on the amount of work the exhaust fan has to do and allowing much more air to pass through. If you're not sure or you don't want to spend the money, start out with just an exhaust fan. If it's not performing as well as you thought it would, try adding an intake fan - you'll smile when you see the difference!

Personally I would not run any ipower ballast no matter the price. You get what you pay for and in my opinion ballasts are not something one should go cheap on. Get yourself a Galaxy or some other quality ballast. There are tons to choose from. Not sure how people trust those things in their house.

go for apollo .........i have 2 of them they come with 3 years warrenty replace or rebuild from the makers on the ballast themself ...........and after 3 years u should more then get money out of it (hell my first 4 plants paided for the whole set up and made me 500 bucks ....kept 2 for self save anouther 800)

167 bucks for the full 600 w set up (i had a issuse with one of the bulbs dying out in 48 hours i reported it to amazon they were cool as hell they told me order a new bulb from the apollo ppl and then they would refund the money for that new bulb so nothing out of pocket and i got the replacement bulb )

i told u this becuase the cool tube can be used with a 1000watt too(u just need to match the ballast and bulb ) so u can get the 600 watt use if not strong enough for u can order just the ballast and bulbs and u can upgrade to a 1000 watt

it is also the other reason i say 400 cfm fan with varible speed controller