New room setup, 200 sq feet, maximum 20,000 watts/day!

Hey guys and gals,

I read a lot of stuff about growing, and I'm just about ready to take the plunge. Contrary to most posts I've read on the subject, my grow room(s) will be limited by power usage, rather than space or cost. I have a nice enough budget for setup (lights and stuff), a reasonnable amount of space (8*24*8 than I can divide however is best, and a fairly good amount of time to invest in this project. I'm not worried about the number of plants I will have. I am a newbie, but well organized and I have a friend who could help me (a lot). I wasn't thinking of hydro, but would be open to it. I'd do SCROG, lollipop and pinching.

I want to setup a grow room for personnal use, but also to provide to other patients. I was thinking 24-30 plants flowering at a time (and a similar amount vegging), but that would all depend on the lights. Basically, the only limitation I have is power usage. I figured I could use about 20,000watts per day (not counting heating and/or AC) without attracting unwanted attention. By my calculations, a multiple room setup would look like this.
Vegging 18 hours a day with 400w is 7200W/day
Flowering 12 hours a day with 1000w is 12,000W/day
misc (fans, light mover, ...) 12 hours a day with 300w is 3600W/day
for a total of 22,800W/day.

Its a bit over the power usage what I would have liked, but since I wouldn't be vegging every week, the average would be a little less.

I was thinking of Vegging 7 weeks in a 6x6 room with a 400w lamp, and flowering 10 weeks in a 5x12 room with a 1000w lamp on a light mover. The drying room would be 2x8. All rooms would be built with the panda plastic (is mylar better?). I do not want to start another LED vs HID debate, but I'm open to any type of light, regardless of the initial cost if it gives me a better yield per watt.

So my question to all of you experienced people is : What do you think? How would you set it up?

Thanks!

So your plan is to run 1 400w for veg room and 1 1000w for flower room?? Im confused here because you said you where thinking of flowering 24-30 plants but you couldnt do that many plants under one light unless is was a S.O.G. but then you say you want to vegg for 7 weeks but you cant vegg for 7 weeks with 24-30 plants under one light they would be hudge and over crowding themselves then try and put 24 plants under 1k light it dont make sense......

If your plan is to veg for 7 weeks then you only need like 4-6 plants and if you want 24 plants in a 5x5 space which is max what one 1000watt light could even cover then you would only veg for like a week if that then go straight into flower which is what a S.O.G is .

So im a bit confused at what your saying here can you please clarify how many lights you plan to use and how much sq. feet are you thinking each light is going to cover?? before you answer, roughly 1000w covers 4x4, 600w covers 3.5x3.5 and 400w covers 3x3 and yes some will say 1000w covers 5x5 bla bla whatever my point is you have to choose your pot size, veg time, sq feet, and end flower height all in advance so you dont have big mistakes later..... You can just think that 24 plants vegged almost 2 months will fit under a single 1000w light so unless im mistakin something isnt adding up right....... let me know what your thinking here

What I'm trying to figure out is how to maximise the watt/gram variable. I have no experience doing this alone, but from what I've read, I tought that 1x 400W was enough for approx 24 veg, and 1x 1000W on a light mover would basically double the normal cover of a fixed 1000W light because I could run the light so much closer to the plants without risking burning them. If 1x 1000W covers 4x4, then on a light mover I tought it could cover 4x8, which might(?) be enough for 24 plants. But then again I very well could be confusing numbers I found on different forums and web pages regarding different types of grow (SOG vs SCROG...) That's probably why my math doesn't add up

So if you prefer, forget all the numbers I provided, and please start from scratch. IE suggest room surface areas, number and type of lights, durations of each period, type of grow, ... which would maximise the yearly yeald using an average of 20,000Watts a day.

Ok So its making more sense now lol... I suppose you could to a single 1000w in a 4x8 with a light mover and get results.... I have never done that i do 4x8 grow tent myself and i use 2 1000w, 1k per 4x4 foot print and i Do eather 9 3gallon pots per 4x4(veg to 18 inches) or i do 6 5gallon pots per 4x4(veg bigger then 18 inches) ... To give you an idea my avator pic is 6 5gallon pots at a little under 4 weeks of veg time in a 4x4 space under 1k light.... Now see how big they are after only 3.5 weeks?? can you imagine how big they would be if i vegged those for 7 weeks??

So right now i have 12 5gallon pot plants 2.5 weeks into flower in a 4x8 tent with 2000watts. and its pretty over crowded so im taking 6 of the plants out and moving them to my other grow room at a seperate location and then I will take the remaining 6 plants and put 3 under each 1000w light which will be 3 plants in a 4x4 footprint under a 1000w light each.......

I prefer to grow less plants with bigger size right now...... I think its cheaper and easyer... and most important it keeps you out of jail... I dont like buying 30 plus clones at 12 bucks a pop(going rate in norhting ca) and i dont like having to have another grow space for mothering plants and paying the Pg&e and buying extra meduim, pots,nutes, razors, cloning jel, rockwool,heat mats, humid. domes, CFLS etc etc etc .... Id rather just go down to the club and buy a few clones maxamise my space by vegging them to the propper corrispoding size.....

Even veterans make mistakes this is my first time dealing with blue dream i had baised my veg time off of my past experiance and in doing so i vegged too long and now my plants are what i would consider slighty too big to maxamise the penatration of my 1000w light so now im forced to change my plan move plants around and continue on ...

And yes i could leave all 12 in there because there not so crowed that its a problem but the point in vegging bigger plants is to get biggr yeilds and if i dont allow the light to penetrate down further into the bigger plant canopy that i have created then its counter productive... At that point im only going to harvest the tops of the plants and if i only harvest the tops then theres no point in vegging tall plants in the first place..

So the way you grow must correspond with your pot size, plant number, and the space and type of light your using......

For me in a 4x8 space I would do one of two options.... I would eather run 2 1000w aircooled lights in a row or i would run 3 600w aircooled lights in row but keep them slightly closer to the canapy then the 1000w..... that is what i would to for Maximum yield in a 4x8 space

If you still wanna veg for 7 weeks i would do 2 plants one under each 1k and i would top the shit out of it.....lol

thanks man!

Murphy420 said:

thanks man!

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No prob let us know what you deciede to go with and how its worked out

FootClan said:

Ok So its making more sense now lol... I suppose you could to a single 1000w in a 4x8 with a light mover and get results.... I have never done that i do 4x8 grow tent myself and i use 2 1000w, 1k per 4x4 foot print and i Do eather 9 3gallon pots per 4x4(veg to 18 inches) or i do 6 5gallon pots per 4x4(veg bigger then 18 inches) ... To give you an idea my avator pic is 6 5gallon pots at a little under 4 weeks of veg time in a 4x4 space under 1k light.... Now see how big they are after only 3.5 weeks?? can you imagine how big they would be if i vegged those for 7 weeks??

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Wow, I sure would like to see some pics of those (2) 1000 watters in a 4 x 8 grow tent. It seems to me that it would be very difficult. How are you exhausting out all that heat from the lights? How much cfm does it require? How many fans? In my opinion, the (2) 1000 watters in that small of an area is overkill considering that they are right next to each other. Unless you are somehow able to supply them with plenty of CO2. That would not be easy considering that you must be exhausting a majority of the air. I am not saying that it is impossible, but I am saying that I am interested in knowing more about how you have acheived this. I am very curious because I have done something very similar. I have (2) 1000 watters in a 4' x 9.75' area. It was quite the challenge to maintain temperatures. I kind of wish I went with a 5' x 10' area. I agree that a 1000 watter is only good for a 4' x 4' area, but when you put two of them together in a confined area. That changes the ballgame. In that size area (4' x 8') with two 1000 watters you would be pushing 62.5 watts per square foot. In my opinion, since it is confined and combined lights, it would be more like simulating above 100 watts per square foot. At least it is for me. What kind of bulbs are you using? I am not trying to poke at ya, I am just really curious. Here is a pic of my 2000 watt closet. I am pushing 50 w/sf and I truly believe I have exceeded the amount of light than what the plants can use without CO2 enrichment. Do you use CO2? What you see in the picture with the cooling fans is not all of it. There is also an 8" high output 740 cfm air exchange fan. That fan just pumps air out of the closet into the room. The fans you see in the picture are 6" high output that pump air to the outside. The glass has been removed from the lights and I have suction at both ends of each light to maximize cooling efficency. I would love to see your grow tent. This closet is the lowest wattage per square foot closet that I have ever grown in (I am used to growing 65 - 100 w/sf) but this closet at only 50 w/sf is by far more intense than any closet I have grown in. ----- View attachment 2011261

Nope it wasnt difficult at all....... 2 1000watters is perfect for a 4x8 tent.....My temps are right around 75 degrees when light is on......I achieve this by bringing in cold winter air from outside through a hepa filter into my tent.....I then use a 8" 700 cfm fan to cool BOTH my lights and extract old co2 depleated air .. This air is exhausted directly up through the ceilling and into the attic...... So i bring in fresh cool air from outside and then i exhaust old stale air BACK outside....... Im able to use only ONE fan to cool two 1000watters because i put the hoods in a Line tip to tip so the air flow is much more efficent with less bends in the ducting... I also use a 4" inline fan to bring in that cold outside winter air....... I noticed in your pic your hoods are NOT tip to tip but side by side and you have lots of bends in your ducting...That drasticly lowers the effiencey of your fans...... every 90 degree bend makes your fan work someting like 20% harder ... air acts the same as water when in a bend and my dad works for the water company hes always telling me about bends in pipe and how it effects air flow and water flow....Also if your just using the ambient air inside your home that could be another reason why your temps could be higher then mine...... Im not using Co2 in this grow i only use it in my "closed loop" system growanyways this is common stuff here ed rosenthal even talks about 2 1k lights in a 4x8 tent in his Oakstersdamn Course book........Now i run two cycles in the winter and i shut down this grow in the summer because im dependent on cold ambient temps to make this work.....In the summer i only grow at my other location which is 1k light in a "closed loop" system with A/c, humidifyer, heater, dedicated fan for hood.. this room i can grow in all year around because its closed loop and tightly regulated with computer prossecor heres a pic below of the control panel......So to anwswer you question 2 1k lights in a 4x8 is really standard proccedure.... The way to go is 3 6 watt lights also inline tip to tip ......... ill post some pics of my grow tent as soon as my light turns on which is in another hour i think.....

Grow Goddess said:

Wow, I sure would like to see some pics of those (2) 1000 watters in a 4 x 8 grow tent. It seems to me that it would be very difficult. How are you exhausting out all that heat from the lights? How much cfm does it require? How many fans? In my opinion, the (2) 1000 watters in that small of an area is overkill considering that they are right next to each other. Unless you are somehow able to supply them with plenty of CO2. That would not be easy considering that you must be exhausting a majority of the air. I am not saying that it is impossible, but I am saying that I am interested in knowing more about how you have acheived this. I am very curious because I have done something very similar. I have (2) 1000 watters in a 4' x 9.75' area. It was quite the challenge to maintain temperatures. I kind of wish I went with a 5' x 10' area. I agree that a 1000 watter is only good for a 4' x 4' area, but when you put two of them together in a confined area. That changes the ballgame. In that size area (4' x 8') with two 1000 watters you would be pushing 62.5 watts per square foot. In my opinion, since it is confined and combined lights, it would be more like simulating above 100 watts per square foot. At least it is for me. What kind of bulbs are you using? I am not trying to poke at ya, I am just really curious. Here is a pic of my 2000 watt closet. I am pushing 50 w/sf and I truly believe I have exceeded the amount of light than what the plants can use without CO2 enrichment. Do you use CO2? What you see in the picture with the cooling fans is not all of it. There is also an 8" high output 740 cfm air exchange fan. That fan just pumps air out of the closet into the room. The fans you see in the picture are 6" high output that pump air to the outside. The glass has been removed from the lights and I have suction at both ends of each light to maximize cooling efficency. I would love to see your grow tent. This closet is the lowest wattage per square foot closet that I have ever grown in (I am used to growing 65 - 100 w/sf) but this closet at only 50 w/sf is by far more intense than any closet I have grown in.View attachment 2011340 ----- View attachment 2011261

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here some pics its hard to get anyting in one pic cause the room is narrow so i cant stanb back far enough to get everything in one shot so i took a few shots hope it helps ya get a sense for what im doing.....You can see my ducting run alone to top of my tent then into the ceilling and on the other side you can see where it attached to my 8"fan that is jus sitting on top of the tent....My tent has an option to set a fan down into the exhaust hole instead of haning it inside.... You can also see my two hoods connected by insulated ducting and in one pic you can see my small hepa filter in the bottom corner and my 4" fan is connected to it outside the tent, only the filter pokes through the vent hole..... does this help you see what im talkin about??

FootClan said:

here some pics its hard to get anyting in one pic cause the room is narrow so i cant stanb back far enough to get everything in one shot so i took a few shots hope it helps ya get a sense for what im doing.....You can see my ducting run alone to top of my tent then into the ceilling and on the other side you can see where it attached to my 8"fan that is jus sitting on top of the tent....My tent has an option to set a fan down into the exhaust hole instead of haning it inside.... You can also see my two hoods connected by insulated ducting and in one pic you can see my small hepa filter in the bottom corner and my 4" fan is connected to it outside the tent, only the filter pokes through the vent hole..... does this help you see what im talkin about??

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Yes, it does help, thank you very much. Quite impressive. I understand about it being difficult to take the pictures, I have the same problem.
The cooling system for the tent is much different than how I am cooling my 2000 W closet. My closet potentially has the same options for cooling as the tent. However, I have removed the lenses from my lights and am cooling in a different way. I am curious on what the cfm and such on cooling the tent is. I would like to know because I believe my closet is capable of cooling similar to the tent. I would just put the lenses back in and hook the ventilation up differently. That is why I am curious about the cfm and the size and type of fans you are using. So, what cfm and size fans are you using for the lights? What size / cfm is the fan providing fresh air to the tent or removing stale air from the tent?
I have never had the opportunity to check out one of those tents. If there was a lot of light outside the tent, is it completely dark inside the tent? You know, no light leakage? Do you use CO2 in the tent?

FootClan said:

Nope it wasnt difficult at all....... 2 1000watters is perfect for a 4x8 tent.....My temps are right around 75 degrees when light is on......I achieve this by bringing in cold winter air from outside through a hepa filter into my tent.....I then use a 8" 700 cfm fan to cool BOTH my lights and extract old co2 depleated air .. This air is exhausted directly up through the ceilling and into the attic...... So i bring in fresh cool air from outside and then i exhaust old stale air BACK outside....... Im able to use only ONE fan to cool two 1000watters because i put the hoods in a Line tip to tip so the air flow is much more efficent with less bends in the ducting... I also use a 4" inline fan to bring in that cold outside winter air....... I noticed in your pic your hoods are NOT tip to tip but side by side and you have lots of bends in your ducting...That drasticly lowers the effiencey of your fans...... every 90 degree bend makes your fan work someting like 20% harder ... air acts the same as water when in a bend and my dad works for the water company hes always telling me about bends in pipe and how it effects air flow and water flow....Also if your just using the ambient air inside your home that could be another reason why your temps could be higher then mine...... Im not using Co2 in this grow i only use it in my "closed loop" system growanyways this is common stuff here ed rosenthal even talks about 2 1k lights in a 4x8 tent in his Oakstersdamn Course book........Now i run two cycles in the winter and i shut down this grow in the summer because im dependent on cold ambient temps to make this work.....In the summer i only grow at my other location which is 1k light in a "closed loop" system with A/c, humidifyer, heater, dedicated fan for hood.. this room i can grow in all year around because its closed loop and tightly regulated with computer prossecor heres a pic below of the control panel......So to anwswer you question 2 1k lights in a 4x8 is really standard proccedure.... The way to go is 3 6 watt lights also inline tip to tip ......... ill post some pics of my grow tent as soon as my light turns on which is in another hour i think.....

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Oops! missed this post, you have answered my questions here.

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. It gives me a better understanding on how the grow tents work.

As for my closet, I have no temperature problems all seasons. I like to run mine at 78 degrees due to strain preference, but I could run it at any temperature I want all seasons except for summer. In the summer, with a 12,000 BTU AC in the main room, my closet does not go above 84 degrees.

The bends in the pipe, it really does not restrict my airflow in my case. Here is why: on the suction side of the exhaust fans (6" fans), each fan is immediately Y'ed off into two 6" pipes. That has made it to where all flow restrictions have been eliminated. Another reason why I Y'ed it off like that is so each fan connects to each light. This gives me the option in the winter to only run one fan but still cool both lights. It also serves as a safety net. If I am running both fans and one fails for some reason, the other fan will still be sucking air from both lights. Each fan is also plugged in on a different breaker. You can never be too safe.

In my closet, the reason why I say that the light is extremely intense is because I used a light meter and the light output exceeds all of my other closets that I have built, 65 w/sf and up, with the exception of the one that was 100 w/sf. I am not sure how much extra light I am getting with the lenses being removed from the lights, but I am sure more light is getting to the plants.

Are those grow tents completely light proof? At least the quality ones like what you have?

Thanks again, I really appreciate it and am looking forward to your reply. That impresses me that you can get (2) 1000 watters in there. Too bad it won't work in the summer.

Ya i love tents there so user friendly and they make everything SOOOO much easyer...... Are they light proof well not to the extent a room with walls and drywall would be but they are more then light proof enough to get the job done...... In cheap tents you can usually see light poking through on the seams..... On a nice tent like mine which is about 600 bucks for the 4x8 size it has no light leaks at the seams what so ever BUT i can see dim light trying to get through around the zipper....

I keep my grow tent in my spare bedrom and i have made the bedroom light proof so any leak in tent dosent really matter because i keep the room door closed anyways so not only is the tent dark inside but the room the tent is in is pitch black........ I wouldnt suggest using a tent where there would be alot of ambient light during lights off is that answers your question.....

ya wont work in summer but thats ok i got plenty to keep me busy in summer i have a mastercraft ski boat and two motorcycles.......haha i dont need any extra distractions

FootClan said:

Ya i love tents there so user friendly and they make everything SOOOO much easyer...... Are they light proof well not to the extent a room with walls and drywall would be but they are more then light proof enough to get the job done...... In cheap tents you can usually see light poking through on the seams..... On a nice tent like mine which is about 600 bucks for the 4x8 size it has no light leaks at the seams what so ever BUT i can see dim light trying to get through around the zipper....

I keep my grow tent in my spare bedrom and i have made the bedroom light proof so any leak in tent dosent really matter because i keep the room door closed anyways so not only is the tent dark inside but the room the tent is in is pitch black........ I wouldnt suggest using a tent where there would be alot of ambient light during lights off is that answers your question.....

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Thank you, you have helped give me a better understanding on how the grow tents are useful. Very much appreciated.

FootClan said:

ya wont work in summer but thats ok i got plenty to keep me busy in summer i have a mastercraft ski boat and two motorcycles.......haha i dont need any extra distractions

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LOL you got that right!!

I have a 10x24 room and a 6x10 room i plan to have 3 rooms by spliting the 10x24 room. The 6x10 room i want to set up my germination and mother plant and the room i split would be my veg and flower i have only 4 ballasts thought i have plenty of lights but i have to get more ballasts i have one 400 mh one 600 mh and one 1000hps and 600hps im going to use the floresent for my germation room now since these lights dont work with out ballast and i only have 2 for each room i know there not going to cover the whole room can i use a combo of mh and floresent to compensate for now or how would u set up this room?

i am doing 40 seedlings in my closit under a 1000w in a 4wx8Lx8H space. hope it works

i got a floresent and reflector hood for 50 bucks and it equals 400MH...!1000 watt lightbulbs.com then hood from amazon...1000watt hps 20 bucks...400watt $9.59...ballast kits so cheap you will trip.

how is this grow going? did you ever get your heatdown?