Hello Everyone,
Ive been a reader of this forum for quite a long time. Thank you in advance to anyone who has any answers to any of the questions that I ask; I appreciate it.
Attached are photos of a racking system that I plan on using for a DWC setup (or possibly aeroponic; open to suggestions). The dimensions are as follow 8.5 L x 44 W x 48 H (2.59 meters x 1.11 meters x 1.21 meters). This gives me a usable screen area of 8x44 (2.43 meters x 1.11 meters). The gaps in the screen are 2x3 (5 cm x 7.5 cm); ample room to pull plants through for the screen of green method which is what I plan on implementing.
Each unit will accommodate four bins. Each bin will hold twenty gallons (76 liters) of nutrient solution and there will be four plants per bin, 16 plants (3 inch net pots) per racking unit. Medium will be hydroton. Each unit will have one 200 lpm air pump going to sixteen airstones; four airstones per bin.
Each unit will be on casters so that it can be easily rolled from the vegetative room into the flowering room. I also plan on manufacturing a light bar for the top of each unit that will hold two 600W or two 1000W reflectors.
My questions are as follows:
Again; thank you all for answering. All of my plans are still in the development stage. Being somewhat anal I tend to over think things way too much. Being somewhat obstinate; I tend to hold on to an idea of my own beyond its own usefulness to my own detriment. I appreciate any help that may come my way.
Ive been a reader of this forum for quite a long time. Thank you in advance to anyone who has any answers to any of the questions that I ask; I appreciate it.
Attached are photos of a racking system that I plan on using for a DWC setup (or possibly aeroponic; open to suggestions). The dimensions are as follow 8.5 L x 44 W x 48 H (2.59 meters x 1.11 meters x 1.21 meters). This gives me a usable screen area of 8x44 (2.43 meters x 1.11 meters). The gaps in the screen are 2x3 (5 cm x 7.5 cm); ample room to pull plants through for the screen of green method which is what I plan on implementing.
Each unit will accommodate four bins. Each bin will hold twenty gallons (76 liters) of nutrient solution and there will be four plants per bin, 16 plants (3 inch net pots) per racking unit. Medium will be hydroton. Each unit will have one 200 lpm air pump going to sixteen airstones; four airstones per bin.
Each unit will be on casters so that it can be easily rolled from the vegetative room into the flowering room. I also plan on manufacturing a light bar for the top of each unit that will hold two 600W or two 1000W reflectors.
My questions are as follows:
- My footprint is 8x44. If I use two lights my footprint per light will be 3.5x 4. In order to keep electrical costs down I am considering using 600W lights instead of 1000W. How does everyone feel about this? For the record; I know that more light is always better; but even with 600 W I am still getting about 42W per square foot on a scrog/flat horizontal growing area. In your opinion should this be sufficient?
- Am I crazy for trying to do a SCROG for a scale operation? Man, thats a LOT of weaving.
- Reservoirs. Each unit will have four individual twenty gallon DWC reservoirs; kind of a pain in the ass for flushing and such but nice for when things go wrong as they often can. I have been debating whether I should use a drip/aero/ unit in place of the DWC but I am familiar with the DWC method making it relatively painless besides the additional labor of additional reservoirs. But any help or suggestions in this would be greatly appreciated.
- Air Pumps. Each racking unit will have its own individual air pump. My concern comes when I am essentially dividing a 200 lpm pump into sixteen individual airstones. Is there a more efficient way that is also cost efficient?
Again; thank you all for answering. All of my plans are still in the development stage. Being somewhat anal I tend to over think things way too much. Being somewhat obstinate; I tend to hold on to an idea of my own beyond its own usefulness to my own detriment. I appreciate any help that may come my way.
