Get a Harvest Every 2 Weeks

Al B. Fuct said:

The double parabola shape of batwings assures all reflected light is going away from the tube and toward the plants.

Also, either a cooltube or cooled hood should have a closed air circuit and its own blower, sourcing and dumping air outside the room's airmass. Coupled with a main exhaust blower capable of shifting the room's airmass in 3-5 mins, this will make the room airmass temps very stable. Mine is now 25C +/- 1.1C at all times with closed ckt cooltubes and a 600CFM blower for a 500cu ft space.

A cooltube must have its own blower for a constant air supply during lights-on, plus a 15 min cooldown period after lights-off, necessitating its own timer as well. I've seen attempts to use the cooltube's blower as the room's main exhaust blower. Since one cannot run such a blower on a thermostat, the room temp stability is sacrificed. Room temp will be intake temp plus 1-3C.

Nah, run it at 1400 @ 5.8, the newbs won't mind a bit. I run all my flowering tanks there.

Not sure how you're going to go with air circ at 8/sf but I guess you'll cross that when you come to it.

heh, you need a big assed slab of 12mm thick PVC and a hole saw. Wot to do with all the offcuts?! Might make interesting beer coasters.

I'm using modified Adjust-A-Wings, but they're pretty expensive to buy and then just throw away the lamp mount and socket to fit a cooltube. AAWs are Australian but you ought to find them in the US & UK. You might consider making a homemade batwing reflector for your cooltube.

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I think I'll have to spend the $$$ on some sheet aluminum and roll it around a cylinder per your DIY thread. I'll plug your thread when it is done in my journal!

The FREE timer that comes with the HPS kit has two sockets and can handle 2000w MAX. So, I think I will run it on the timer with the cooltube on its own duct. Then have a seperate one with a carbon air filter for the vegetation.

I don't think I'll need 600cfm for just the cooltube...?

I'll need at least a 100cfm fan to exchange the air in a 4x4x6.5 sized room every 1 minute.

Is my math wrong?

4x4x6.5 = 104 cu. ft.

I'll test and tinker with the nute concentration.. but I will use 1000 PPM as a base and work up to the 1400 PPM mark.

Is the reason the levels can be so high because of the water level?

In the other DWC we never went over 700 PPM.. then again, I was security.. not horticulcurist in that op. (6 gal DWC /w 6 plants)

The excess PVC will probably be used for covers/supports at the base of the plants.. they sell them, but I'm and engineer.. we make use of ANYTHING!



Enigma

Enigma said:

I think I'll have to spend the $$$ on some sheet aluminum and roll it around a cylinder per your DIY thread. I'll plug your thread when it is done in my journal!

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heh, thanks. The FAQ item should be updated- I redesigned the socket mount to make it more mechanically robust but haven't run the update past a mod to have the changes put in the FAQ. Won't much matter to you as you will be using a cooltube with a socket & mount already fitted.

The FREE timer that comes with the HPS kit has two sockets and can handle 2000w MAX. So, I think I will run it on the timer with the cooltube on its own duct. Then have a seperate one with a carbon air filter for the vegetation.

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Problem with the cooltube blower sharing the timer with the light that when the timer for the light shuts off, the fan shuts off at the same time. The lamp/s will still be glowing hot. If airflow has been stopped, the heat will simply go into the cooltube glass and be transferred into the room's airmass.

This is why I use a separate timer for my cooltubes. The cooltube blower comes on when the lights switch on, but also runs for 15 mins after lights-off, to cool things down to ambient before stopping airflow. Puts the heat outside the room and may extend the HPS tube & socket life.

I don't think I'll need 600cfm for just the cooltube...?

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Oh mercy, no! You're quite right, a 150-200CFM, 150mm axial blower will be fine for the cooltube.

I run a Spectrum Customline C250L as my main exhaust blower. Has a 195W motor and is rated 280L/sec (593CFM). Believe it or not, that's the low noise, low flow version of this fan- and it is nearly inaudible at 1m away, with ducting fitted.

Spectrum also make a unit in the same 250mm housing but with a 480 watt monster motor, in their C250H model. C250H moves a wind-tunnel-like 420L/sec (890CFM). Will suck-start a Harley. Very little impeller noise from this unit, but because it moves air in units we in the biz refer to as 'fuckloads,' there's some air whooshing noise from this thing. I'd worry if I didn't hear some whoosh from a blower rated nearly 900CFM. A carbon filter shuts it right up, tho.

I'll need at least a 100cfm fan to exchange the air in a 4x4x6.5 sized room every 1 minute.

Is my math wrong?

4x4x6.5 = 104 cu. ft.

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No, your math is right.

It's a good rule-o'-thumb to have a main blower which can shift the volume of the room's airmass in ~3 mins. For a 104 cu ft room with a closed-air-circuit cooltube system taking care of the heat from lighting, you'd really only need about 34CFM for the main exhaust. You will probably have trouble finding anything that small. If you're not pushing into a carbon filter or long duct, just put another 150mm axial in as the main exhaust, just as you used on the cooltube. Use a centrif if you have a long, bendy duct or a carbon filter. It so happens that I WAY overrated my blower for my 500cu ft room, but that selection was made before I had cooltubes.

I'll test and tinker with the nute concentration.. but I will use 1000 PPM as a base and work up to the 1400 PPM mark.

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Always smart. There's a bell-curve to nutrient strength. There's 'too little,' 'just right' and 'dead.'

Is the reason the levels can be so high because of the water level?

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1400ppm isn't particularly strong. It's about 75% of where I see nute burn in the flowering area (~1800-1900ppm). I have found I can run the mums 'hotter,' at about 1800-2000 without problems. I suspect this is due to the very hungry vegetative mode of growth and 24/7 lighting.

In the other DWC we never went over 700 PPM.. then again, I was security.. not horticulcurist in that op. (6 gal DWC /w 6 plants)

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It's been so long since I ran my system as a DWC or aero that I have forgotten where I used to run the nute strength, but 700 sounds really pretty low. As long as you don't see deficiencies, lower is usually better.

Nothing stopping you from setting up a separate single plant system to do running tests with stuff like nute strength etc before you introduce the condition to the main grow. Until you have run your system for a spell and have a good idea of what's on to the point where you can mix tanks in the dark , some experimentation is good, but doing it in a way that won't wipe you out if things go horribly wrong is infinitely better.

BTW, failure to be diligent will bite you when mixing nutes. I was in a hurry the last time I mixed up a batch of nutes and just used figures I knew would work generally, without really checking. Seems my tapwater pH is suddenly a bit lower than normal... and I didn't check. Just used the usual amount of nutes, Ca & Mg additives and pHDown as I would when the tapwater is 7.1... but it's about 6.4 at the moment.

This 'blind' mixing resulted in a lower pH than I should have had, probably about 4.9-5.1. This caused 'rosetting' (stunted mainstem, small leaves) in one batch of plants, which hopefully will resolve after a couple of weeks with a proper diet. pH should be corrected after adding nutes. Most commercial hydro nutes have pH buffers which will get the pH pretty close for reasonable nute strengths and ordinary tapwater.

We spoke of fucking things up a few posts ago. There's an awful lot going on in any cannabis grow op and errors are easy to make. There's no operator's manual for this, you really have to know what's on well enough to make correct diagnoses and judgments on the fly. Errors accumulate to reduce yield. Your best crops will, of course, be the ones where you made the fewest mistakes in the last 12 or so weeks!

Al B. Fuct said:

BTW, failure to be diligent will bite you when mixing nutes. I was in a hurry the last time I mixed up a batch of nutes and just used figures I knew would work generally, without really checking. Seems my tapwater pH is suddenly a bit lower than normal... and I didn't check. Just used the usual amount of nutes, Ca & Mg additives and pHDown as I would when the tapwater is 7.1... but it's about 6.4 at the moment.

This 'blind' mixing resulted in a lower pH than I should have had, probably about 4.9-5.1. This caused 'rosetting' (stunted mainstem, small leaves) in one batch of plants, which hopefully will resolve after a couple of weeks with a proper diet. pH should be corrected after adding nutes. Most commercial hydro nutes have pH buffers which will get the pH pretty close for reasonable nute strengths and ordinary tapwater.

We spoke of fucking things up a few posts ago. There's an awful lot going on in any cannabis grow op and errors are easy to make. There's no operator's manual for this, you really have to know what's on well enough to make correct diagnoses and judgments on the fly. Errors accumulate to reduce yield. Your best crops will, of course, be the ones where you made the fewest mistakes in the last 12 or so weeks!

Click to expand...

But of course!

Soil has always been so very forgiving.. which why the mothers are squating in some Roots Organics.. that shit is dank ass soil. They love it.. updated pics in my grow journal soon...

Quad 48" T5 setup for veg coming next week!

Since this will be the first time keeping mothers, about 6, how long do they normally live? I figure they could last damn near forever if I treat them like a bonsai.

IF the DWC equipment isn't acquired by the time the room is setup I'll go with a soil op to tide me over then on to the hydro.

If I used one vent, say a 350cfm+ to run through the cooltube and slap a carbon filter on the other side to take care of both the lamp and room would that be sufficient to keep the tube within 16" of the canopy?

Yes-indeedy-do, that's a sure thing. You just fuck up less as you get more experience built up. I absolutely still balls it up from time to time. I've overwatered my latest batch of clones and had to recut about 10 of this last batch of 30 due to stem rot.[/quote]

Hey ABF, I may have done the same thing...
I took cuttings off of my plants before I put them into flower, now they are about 10 days old. Two of the plants in flower turned out to be male, another hermied (the first four weeks of it's life were very stressful). So I tossed out the cuttings that I'd pulled from them and checked for roots. None on any of them. I'm not sure if there's too much water in there or what. Most of the lower leaves are turning yellow, a few even brownish, and they look very droopy. I typically spray them 2x/day with PH'd water w/superthrive and let them breathe for a little while. It's plenty warm in there and they're covered so it's very humid. Parts of the stems had turned brown... You have any idea what I did wrong?

smartfood said:

Hey ABF, I may have done the same thing...
I took cuttings off of my plants before I put them into flower, now they are about 10 days old. Two of the plants in flower turned out to be male, another hermied (the first four weeks of it's life were very stressful). So I tossed out the cuttings that I'd pulled from them and checked for roots. None on any of them. I'm not sure if there's too much water in there or what. Most of the lower leaves are turning yellow, a few even brownish, and they look very droopy. I typically spray them 2x/day with PH'd water w/superthrive and let them breathe for a little while. It's plenty warm in there and they're covered so it's very humid. Parts of the stems had turned brown... You have any idea what I did wrong?

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From what I read you didn't let them root.

Take cuttings, use root hormone, and let them sit under blue light 24/7 for about 2 weeks or until roots show.. then flower.

hey Al do you live in the US or Australia. Also, do you use a green light in your room during sleep state to work.

Enigma said:

But of course!
Since this will be the first time keeping mothers, about 6, how long do they normally live? I figure they could last damn near forever if I treat them like a bonsai.

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I only keep them for somewhere between 4-8 weeks. They get fairly gnarly and unproductive after several passes of cuttings; they'll become rootbound and may pick up a colony of gnats. Too easy to raise up some replacements. I keep about 10 plants, 6 of which at any given moment are active donors and 4 are new replacements that are vegging up and perhaps being pruned once or twice before they go online donating cuttings.

If I used one vent, say a 350cfm+ to run through the cooltube and slap a carbon filter on the other side to take care of both the lamp and room would that be sufficient to keep the tube within 16" of the canopy?

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Not recommended- I covered that a few posts back. The cooltube's fan has to run at all times during lights on +15 mins after lights off. Can't run a thermostat on that fan, so if it's your only fan, you have no control over room temp. For best temp stability, you need two blowers, one for the cooltube, run on its own timer so you can have the 15 min overrun and one blower for the main exhaust, run on a thermostat.

smartfood said:

Hey ABF, I may have done the same thing...
I took cuttings off of my plants before I put them into flower, now they are about 10 days old. Two of the plants in flower turned out to be male, another hermied (the first four weeks of it's life were very stressful). So I tossed out the cuttings that I'd pulled from them and checked for roots. None on any of them. I'm not sure if there's too much water in there or what. Most of the lower leaves are turning yellow, a few even brownish, and they look very droopy. I typically spray them 2x/day with PH'd water w/superthrive and let them breathe for a little while. It's plenty warm in there and they're covered so it's very humid. Parts of the stems had turned brown... You have any idea what I did wrong?

Click to expand...

Any idea? Yeah... one or two...

OK, let's run the list!

* didn't establish mother plants in their own area with veg cycle light, now have no vegging backups from which to get more cuttings - cuttings taken from plants which have been under flowering light for more than a week or so are notoriously slow to set root and will take several weeks of veg light cycle before they will begin growing in pure veg mode
* didn't sex plants before flowering - should have established mums, taken cuttings, rooted cuttings, then sex THOSE under 12/12 to determine the sex of the donor plant
* droopy overall and yellow lower leaves on cuttings are classic overwatering signs, media is being kept way too wet, stem tips most likely rotted
* high air temp and humidity are not necessary to root clones and usually make matters worse - if overwet conds have caused stem rot, there will be little water getting to the leaves thru the stem - but high air temps will force faster transpiration from leaves, wilting them just that lil bit faster...
* misting plants can exacerbate fungal probs on leaves, really isn't needed if there's sufficient water uptake through a clean stem cut

Let's start over:

* sprout beans
* grow to sexual maturity (6-8 wks under veg cycle light, until preflowers are present at nodes)
* prune plants 1-3x during vegging to maturity to keep them short & bushy, lop the mainstems to force branching
* take cuttings when preflowers are evident - MARK the cuttings so you know which donor plant they came from
* when cuttings root, put them under 12/12 flowering light cycle, sex will display in about a week, perhaps less
* cull male donors, take a batch of cuttings from known females
* flower the cuttings when they have developed a good spray of roots
* in 2 weeks, the female donors (we can call 'em 'mums' now!) will be ready to deliver your next batch of cuttings
* and so on, every 2 weeks, replacing mums as they 'wear out'

got it?

Photoessay: A batch of clones in rockwool is a really rather thorough, illustrated guide to cloning.

bigal10 said:

hey Al do you live in the US or Australia.

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Yes.

Mostly in .au these days, but I got frequent flyer points like a pic-a-nic has ants, eh Boo Boo Bear!

bigal10 said:

Also, do you use a green light in your room during sleep state to work.

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I should but don't. I do restrict my out-of-lights-on work as much as possible to an hour after lights off and an hour before lights-on. To see WTF I'm doing, I use an 8W CFL, which you might see in some pics in my gallery, suspended above one of the batwings. This provides enough indirect light to read the LCD on my pH meter and mix nutes while not putting any direct light on the plants.

Al B. Fuct said:

Any idea? Yeah... one or two...

OK, let's run the list!

* didn't establish mother plants in their own area with veg cycle light, now have no vegging backups from which to get more cuttings - cuttings taken from plants which have been under flowering light for more than a week or so are notoriously slow to set root and will take several weeks of veg light cycle before they will begin growing in pure veg mode
* didn't sex plants before flowering - should have established mums, taken cuttings, rooted cuttings, then sex THOSE under 12/12 to determine the sex of the donor plant
* droopy overall and yellow lower leaves on cuttings are classic overwatering signs, media is being kept way too wet, stem tips most likely rotted
* high air temp and humidity are not necessary to root clones and usually make matters worse - if overwet conds have caused stem rot, there will be little water getting to the leaves thru the stem - but high air temps will force faster transpiration from leaves, wilting them just that lil bit faster...
* misting plants can exacerbate fungal probs on leaves, really isn't needed if there's sufficient water uptake through a clean stem cut

Let's start over:

* sprout beans
* grow to sexual maturity (6-8 wks under veg cycle light, until preflowers are present at nodes)
* prune plants 1-3x during vegging to maturity to keep them short & bushy, lop the mainstems to force branching
* take cuttings when preflowers are evident - MARK the cuttings so you know which donor plant they came from
* when cuttings root, put them under 12/12 flowering light cycle, sex will display in about a week, perhaps less
* cull male donors, take a batch of cuttings from known females
* flower the cuttings when they have developed a good spray of roots
* in 2 weeks, the female donors (we can call 'em 'mums' now!) will be ready to deliver your next batch of cuttings
* and so on, every 2 weeks, replacing mums as they 'wear out'

got it?

Photoessay: A batch of clones in rockwool is a really rather thorough, illustrated guide to cloning.

Click to expand...

I guess my description was a bit poor, but my order was probably off nonetheless. Here's what I did:
- germed Chrystal seeds
--> Heat stress for three weeks, very stunted
-germed Satori seeds as a backup
- Vegged Satori for 4 weeks with Chrystal (they caught up fast)
- Pulled 2 clones off of each plant and labeled which was from which
- Put Chrystal + Satori into flower at 10-12"
- Pulled 3 males so far, 1 hermie + threw out the clones associated with those
-Saw yellowing on leaves of clones (batch 1), decided as a safety precaution to use trimmings from plants at end of week one of flower as backup clones in case the others don't root (batch 2) --> that was 4 days ago
Plan: Once all the plants in flower are sexed, keep all female clones, keep ones with most desrireable traits as mums, throw the rest in to flower as the next batch. Vegg the mums (fimm or top) to keep them short, then begin what you're doing with multiple cuttings from the same plant.

I hope that makes more sense. I guess my only question is, I've seen most people's clones on here w/yellow leaves, but not yours. Is it because you take such large cuttings? I'm trying to be part of the elite minority with my clones, not the noob majority!

smartfood said:

I guess my only question is, I've seen most people's clones on here w/yellow leaves, but not yours. Is it because you take such large cuttings?

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I don't think it's the size of my cuttings as much as I (usually) get the watering right. Damp, never wet or saturated. This facilitates rapid rooting and allows the plant to replenish nutes before they are fully consumed from the leaves, which I believe to be the cause of yellowing. I get first taproots usually in 6-7 days.

If I stuff up the watering, my clones will get stem tip rot followed by yellow leaves by day 10-11 after cutting.

AL.B what is the max amount of clones that i can put in my 2x2 flood and drain tray using a hydroton bed and 4" rock wool cubes using SOG ? Can i fit more than 9 ?

stickyicky77 said:

AL.B what is the max amount of clones that i can put in my 2x2 flood and drain tray using a hydroton bed and 4" rock wool cubes using SOG ? Can i fit more than 9 ?

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Yes, at least 16, perhaps 20, presuming 400HPS, cooltube (as always) recommended to allow the light to be dropped to about 8" of plant tops, improving foliar penetration.

4" (100mm) cubes are not the best for cloning. Bit big for the job. They stay wet too long. They are intended as an intermediate planting medium, used commonly with hydroponic tomatoes, which are started in 40mm then nested in 100mm cubes and finally planted in NFT channels or in rockwool slabs until harvest.

Start your cuttings in 40mm cubes for quickest rooting with lower possibility of overwatering symptoms. You can then nest the 40mm in 100mm cubes or you can go straight to your pellet bed.

I'd prefer standard plastic pots (not netpots) of pellets in an empty flood tray to preserve plant mobility and reduce the amt of pellets per crop, tho.

Al B. Fuct said:

Yes, at least 16, perhaps 20, presuming 400HPS, cooltube (as always) recommended to allow the light to be dropped to about 8" of plant tops, improving foliar penetration.

4" (100mm) cubes are not the best for cloning. Bit big for the job. They stay wet too long. They are intended as an intermediate planting medium, used commonly with hydroponic tomatoes, which are started in 40mm then nested in 100mm cubes and finally planted in NFT channels or in rockwool slabs until harvest.

Start your cuttings in 40mm cubes for quickest rooting with lower possibility of overwatering symptoms. You can then nest the 40mm in 100mm cubes or you can go straight to your pellet bed.

I'd prefer standard plastic pots (not netpots) of pellets in an empty flood tray to preserve plant mobility and reduce the amt of pellets per crop, tho.

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I am using a 400W Super HPS. I will be starting the clones in 1" cubes and then transferring them into the 4" cubes. Will that work OK or should i just put the clones in the 1" cubes directly into the tray?

stickyicky77 said:

I am using a 400W Super HPS. I will be starting the clones in 1" cubes and then transferring them into the 4" cubes. Will that work OK or should i just put the clones in the 1" cubes directly into the tray?

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You could do either. I think the plants would stand up better while their roots are not yet hooked into the pellets if you do use the 4" cubes as an intermediate medium, but there's other ways of making a plant stand up while it is developing roots.

You would add several days to the schedule if using the intermediate cubes since you will need to wait until the roots are through the bottoms before they can go into the pellets.

In either case, the cube is nested in pellets but be sure the bottom of it is about 1/2" above the flood level. Pellets must be flooded a few times per light-on cycle. Rockwool will be totally and continuously saturated if flooded that often, which will result in overwatering symptoms (yellow lower leaves which may drop off, general wilt) in the first 8-10 days after you put the plants in the pellets.

Al B. Fuct said:

You could do either. I think the plants would stand up better while their roots are not yet hooked into the pellets if you do use the 4" cubes as an intermediate medium, but there's other ways of making a plant stand up while it is developing roots.

You would add several days to the schedule if using the intermediate cubes since you will need to wait until the roots are through the bottoms before they can go into the pellets.

In either case, the cube is nested in pellets but be sure the bottom of it is about 1/2" above the flood level. Pellets must be flooded a few times per light-on cycle. Rockwool will be totally and continuously saturated if flooded that often, which will result in overwatering symptoms (yellow lower leaves which may drop off, general wilt) in the first 8-10 days after you put the plants in the pellets.

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The cubes should be just at the very top of the flood level so just the very botom of the cubes get wet?

Al., can i get your POV on the following:

-Electricity usage, what is too much..&..what not to worry about.
-How effective are cooltubes and the like (i.e. air cooled hoods) on helping with the radiant heat put out by the light bulbs that are detected by FLIR & thermal imaging devices.
-Best ways to [help] dodge FLIR/thermal imaging.
-Polyshield? Bunch of crap or decent product? What about all those other insulated polys products?

stickyicky77 said:

The cubes should be just at the very top of the flood level so just the very botom of the cubes get wet?

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No!

Originally Posted by Al B. Fuct
You could do either. I think the plants would stand up better while their roots are not yet hooked into the pellets if you do use the 4" cubes as an intermediate medium, but there's other ways of making a plant stand up while it is developing roots.

You would add several days to the schedule if using the intermediate cubes since you will need to wait until the roots are through the bottoms before they can go into the pellets.

In either case, the cube is nested in pellets but be sure the bottom of it is about 1/2" above the flood level. Pellets must be flooded a few times per light-on cycle. Rockwool will be totally and continuously saturated if flooded that often, which will result in overwatering symptoms (yellow lower leaves which may drop off, general wilt) in the first 8-10 days after you put the plants in the pellets.

Click to expand...

Pellets will be sufficiently damp for roots about 1/2" ABOVE the flood line. You will want to handwater the pellets around the cube (NOT the cube) for the first several days, but the roots will find the damp pellets and work their way down.

If the cube is being touched by the flood level, you will have overwatering symptoms. The bottom of the cubes must be just above the flood level, by about 1/2".

Flood 3x per lights on in the first 2-3 weeks- at lights on, then 4 hours later and once again, 4 hours later. When plants are more advanced, you may need to increase to 4-5 waterings per 'day.' Avoid watering immediately before lights-off; water no later than about 2hrs before lights off.

LoudBlunts said:

Al., can i get your POV on the following:

-Electricity usage, what is too much..&..what not to worry about.

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Depends on where you have the op installed. Sorta.

As a general rule, if you pay your bill in full on time EVERY time, you're just a good customer. Power companies don't usually audit customers' usage unless there's a warrant from the cops. Power usage alone won't be enough for a warrant in most cases. However, I don't think I'd want to be pulling 5kW in a 1 bedroom apt.

My op draws 3500W for 12h/day and about 1100W for 12h/day. Of course, the bill is always paid without a whimper. Have been running this gear now for about 8 years.

-How effective are cooltubes and the like (i.e. air cooled hoods) on helping with the radiant heat put out by the light bulbs that are detected by FLIR & thermal imaging devices.
-Best ways to [help] dodge FLIR/thermal imaging.
-Polyshield? Bunch of crap or decent product? What about all those other insulated polys products?

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First and foremost, you must know that FLIR is NOT an x-ray. It's a surface temperature thermometer. You could have a megawatt of light in your basement and as long as you can keep the heat from warming the walls (insulation, ya know) or blowing a huge plume of warm air outdoors where there really shouldn't be any, FLIR is blind. With or without insulation, FLIR can only see the temperature of the surfaces of the exterior of the building housing the op. It can NOT 'see' a heat source through a wall. It CAN see a warm exterior wall.

Stealth aircraft reduce their exhaust IR signature by spreading out the exhaust gas and mixing it with cooler air. You can do the same with warm air from a grow op. Vent into an attic or crawl space which has several vents to outdoors. Job done.

Option B is to dump warm exhaust air into a disused chimney. Warm air is supposed to come out of chimneys, no reason for a FLIR operator to think otherwise. Don't try to share a chimney which is being used to vent gas appliances. You can blow carbon monoxide back into the living spaces.

Insulation is insulation. It all does the same thing, which is to stop thermal energy from moving through it. Any insulation product maker/seller which makes any claim about their product 'FLIRproofing' your op is blowing happy smoke up your ass. ALL proper insulation products blind FLIR.

However, it's hard to call Polyshield 'proper insulation.' It'll usually take more than a thin film with a foil layer stuck on your walls to fully block radiant IR from warming up the structure the op is in. I don't think I'd rely on Polyshield unless there was a significant air gap (3-6") between the Polyshield film and exterior wall.

You can buy pink batt rolls with a foil surface, R12 or better, which when used to line grow op exterior walls will prevent the outside of the walls from being any warmer than others on the house. It's the air gap in the pink fibreglas batts which stops most of the thermal transmission.

If your curiosity is getting the best of you, it's possible to hire FLIR cameras and get a good look at what the cops might see. In Australia, you can hire one from TechRentals for about $250/day.

However, you absolutely should not fear helos flying over your house- unless your back yard is full of buds.

Keep it in perspective; FLIR worries me a hell of a lot less than a nosy neighbour who notices fan noise.

is it pretty much legal in au.

Al B. Fuct said:

Depends on where you have the op installed. Sorta.

As a general rule, if you pay your bill in full on time EVERY time, you're just a good customer. Power companies don't usually audit customers' usage unless there's a warrant from the cops. Power usage alone won't be enough for a warrant in most cases. However, I don't think I'd want to be pulling 5kW in a 1 bedroom apt.

My op draws 3500W for 12h/day and about 1100W for 12h/day. Of course, the bill is always paid without a whimper. Have been running this gear now for about 8 years.



First and foremost, you must know that FLIR is NOT an x-ray. It's a surface temperature thermometer. You could have a megawatt of light in your basement and as long as you can keep the heat from warming the walls (insulation, ya know) or blowing a huge plume of warm air outdoors where there really shouldn't be any, FLIR is blind. With or without insulation, FLIR can only see the temperature of the surfaces of the exterior of the building housing the op. It can NOT 'see' a heat source through a wall. It CAN see a warm exterior wall.

Stealth aircraft reduce their exhaust IR signature by spreading out the exhaust gas and mixing it with cooler air. You can do the same with warm air from a grow op. Vent into an attic or crawl space which has several vents to outdoors. Job done.

Option B is to dump warm exhaust air into a disused chimney. Warm air is supposed to come out of chimneys, no reason for a FLIR operator to think otherwise. Don't try to share a chimney which is being used to vent gas appliances. You can blow carbon monoxide back into the living spaces.

Insulation is insulation. It all does the same thing, which is to stop thermal energy from moving through it. Any insulation product maker/seller which makes any claim about their product 'FLIRproofing' your op is blowing happy smoke up your ass. ALL proper insulation products blind FLIR.

However, it's hard to call Polyshield 'proper insulation.' It'll usually take more than a thin film with a foil layer stuck on your walls to fully block radiant IR from warming up the structure the op is in. I don't think I'd rely on Polyshield unless there was a significant air gap (3-6") between the Polyshield film and exterior wall.

You can buy pink batt rolls with a foil surface, R12 or better, which when used to line grow op exterior walls will prevent the outside of the walls from being any warmer than others on the house. It's the air gap in the pink fibreglas batts which stops most of the thermal transmission.

If your curiosity is getting the best of you, it's possible to hire FLIR cameras and get a good look at what the cops might see. In Australia, you can hire one from TechRentals for about $250/day.

However, you absolutely should not fear helos flying over your house- unless your back yard is full of buds.

Keep it in perspective; FLIR worries me a hell of a lot less than a nosy neighbour who notices fan noise.

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What i have read and heard Jorge Cervantes say about FLIR is that if you have your light cycles on during the day the FLIR is useless because the FLIR only works at night,which makes sense.